2023-08-03 17:31:57
“Don’t worry, she’s coming. She has a little problem with punctuality. » You panic right away: it is not common for a gull to address you… But the bird, perched on a rock in the port of Copenhagen, is not like the others: it is Eureka, one of the best friends, and now the personal assistant, of Ariel, the little mermaid about whom Disney released a biopic last June.
After an hour of waiting, Ariel arrives on foot at the meeting place: the bronze statue of The little Mermaidmade by the sculptor Edvard Eriksen in 1913. A very symbolic place for her. “It represents the bond between humans and the people of the sea, the importance of dialogue between us”, explains the young woman with red hair. “And then, she too lost her mind… But not for a man! », she says mischievously, referring to the day in 1964 when the original head of the statue was sawn off and stolen, never to be found.
By hand, the princess pulls a rope attached… to a jar, itself placed on a wheeled platform, in which her childhood friend the Flounder fish paddles. “He so wanted to attend the premiere of the film, which we are going to right after! » For being late, she excuses herself carelessly: she was having tea with Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark. “Terran royalty is so stuffy!” Ever since I got married to Prince Eric, I can’t get used to it! », she confides, taking a fork out of her burlap bag. A sudden craving? No, a styling session: the wind is blowing along the North Sea. In her pastel blue dress – her favorite color – and sandals on her feet, Ariel shines, even under the clouds of Denmark.
The loss of his identity
When we compliment her on her good looks, the result of a year of traveling around the world with her husband, she bounces back: “My skin tone has been in the news since the Disney movie was announced, hasn’t it? she laughs. But my story, that of a person determined to achieve his dreams, is universal, regardless of the skin color of the actress who embodies me or the drawing by which they represented me in 1989. In 2023, I want every child to be able to say to themselves: despite the obstacles, I will make it. »
Getting married to the love of his life after three days? Trading a fin for legs? Killing his aunt Ursula, who has meanwhile become a giant and tyrannical octopus – her family history was complicated? She did it. It is a fire that burns under the apparent sweetness of the ancient mermaid.
She will talk at length about her greatest regret: having sold her voice, her “mermaid identity”, to the sea witch to achieve her ends. “In 1989, Disney Studios focused on me giving up everything for a man,” she remembers. This is still the case in 2023, but the screenwriters Jane Goldman and David Magee have added, on his advice, other dimensions to his character: emancipation, the desire for elsewhere, determination. While maintaining his candor.
“Losing my voice made me realize that all my life I had to fight to be heard. » Mainly from his father. “He’s a bit ‘old-school’, he wanted me to get married ‘in my parish’, as some humans say”, she gets annoyed. But also from underwater society, mermaids who want to live out of the water are very badly seen. Ariel will also not wish to comment on the scandal spread on the front page of the tabloids last year – her mother would have been one of the victims of overfishing – which would explain the fracture between the two peoples.
Woman-mermaid and woman-human
Having been deprived of her voice made her particularly sensitive to the condition of women among humans, “too often forced into silence”. One image has marked her deeply: the acts of rebellion of Iranian women last September, even if she admits that her story is not comparable to their tragic fate. “They say a mermaid has no tears and her heart aches more, she breathes. But these women have neither the right to tears nor to the consideration, life and freedom of speech that should be due to every human being by existence, regardless of gender. »
Princess connected since her marriage, she has also closely followed the #MeToo movement, which gave her the idea to change the lyrics of certain songs from 1989. In the old English version of Kiss the Girlthe character of Sebastian sings to convince Eric to kiss Ariel in order to break Ursula’s spell: “She might want it too, only one way to find out/There’s no need for a word, not a single word/Go ahead and kiss her.” »“At the time, it was not too shocking and millions of children listened to it”, she recalls. Today, she rejoices in the importance placed on consent. “ As if it were normal for Eric to jump on me without asking my opinion!»
The crab Sebastian, mentor and friend of Ariel, who plays in the 2023 version his own role, has also refused to sing these words. Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, composers and lyricists of the film’s music, have come to an agreement. It will be : “She might want it too/Use your words, boy, and ask her/If it’s the right time and it’s tonight/Go ahead and kiss her.” »
Another subject raised many questions in her: the censorship in the recent version of this monologue by Ursula from 1989, when she sings Poor lost souls : “Humans don’t like chatterboxes (…) When a woman knows how to hold her tongue, she is always much more charming. »“If a man had sung it, it would have been problematic, butnuance ArielI found it good in the cartoon that Ursula describes the ambient machismo that can sometimes reign in the human world. »
An influencer siren
These positions, she shares them regularly on her favorite social network: Instagram. “The most wonderful thing I have discovered in humans is photography,” marvels the young girl. On her feed, images of her travels or original earthly objects (rolling pin, iPod, curling iron, etc.) rub shoulders with videos of her singing along. This is his new professional project (« Faire The Voice ! »). Her community of around 450 million subscribers – last June she surpassed the most followed woman on the social network, actress and singer Selena Gomez – is also a vehicle for her fight to protect the oceans.
At the prince’s castle, on an island inaccessible to the general public to avoid the influx of fans, she has created a nursery for sea turtles. “Besides, I have to hire collaborators to help me, the babies are sometimes teasing, they often escape from their salt water ponds. » She remembers that spring day when the tension was at its height: Eric’s mother, Queen Selina, absent from the cartoon but present in the film, found a dozen wading in her bathtub!
End of the walk, in front of Amalienborg Castle. Flounder is still in his jar, and the sky has cleared. A look at his pocket watch, a gift from Prince Eric. “I don’t know if I should see a subliminal message there”, and the mermaid princess takes her leave. On a mischievous: “I’m not going to hold your leg any longer!” »
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At the origins of the character
This portrait of the Little Mermaid was made from various sources:
He counts them The little Mermaid by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) published in 1837.
The 36th animated feature film from Disney Studios The little Mermaid, released in cinemas in 1989, which depicts Ariel’s meeting with Eric, and the young woman’s desire to become human. Many mythical songs, composed by Alan Menken (Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame…) et Howard Ashman (The beauty and the Beast) punctuate the cartoon, like Going there or Under the ocean, respectively interpreted in French by Claire Guyot and Henri Salvador in the original version of the dubbing.
The Disney Studios Live Action Movie Directed by Rob Marshall The little Mermaidreleased in France on May 24, 2023. The main character is played by Halle Bailey, accompanied by Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula and Javier Bardem as King Triton.
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