Blog post 7: " The Little Mermaid": Message and Influence

On my first blog, I told you that "Little Mermaid" is one of my favorite Disney movies.  Even though it's a good movie for me and for others, other people thinks that this animated film is not a good movie especially for the kids.

The film's message

       We all know that "The Little Mermaid" is a film that its goal is to entertain children and learn a  good lesson from it. But, there is something wrong with the movie. It seems that it have a bad message and can influence children. From the article entitled "Why My Kids Will Not Be Watching The Little Mermaid" from the site huffingtonpost.com, Hilary Sheinbaum says that the moral lesson from the movie is, change what you really are so that people can accept and love you. In other words, being true to yourself can be a bad thing. It's awful right? Being rejected by others because they don't accept the way you do things, the way you act, the way you talk, the way you dress, etc... is such a painful thing. She said also that it portrays men as physically judgemental, only caring about the way a woman looks, bats her eyes and smiles -- that they do not consider any thoughts, feelings or concerns.

     Behind its good story and message that we all know, we didn't know that it has also bad message. Messages that can change our thoughts and our minds the way we think. It also tells us that men are attracted to those women who looks good and does sing perfectly.--- some will think like this. And when somebody thought of this, then eventually she will change herself to something she's not so that maybe someone can be attracted to her.

Influences to children
     

       When children watch tv expect that it can influence them. They might do the same thing from the movie they're watching. I've read an article, a mother is complaining about her daughter's attitude. In the article entitled, "I Regret The Day I Let My Daughter Watch ‘The Little Mermaid’"

from the site mommyish.com, Sarah Bregel, a mother, says that she made a mistake to let her child watch "The Little Mermaid". She regret it, because her 2 year-old daughter is obsessed with princesses and marriage, that for her it sounds strange. And also this is the first she heard her daughter to shout "I'm not a child anymore!" and she thought it was weird and mildly hilarious but, she realized that it was from the Disney movie film's "The Little Mermaid" line. 

       So this is one of the influences of "The Little Mermaid" movie to the children. Children are easily influenced by things they hears and sees, because they are still small and the way they think are different from the elders. They think that those things they see and hear are good, so they are easily influenced by it. So, every time children will watch television, make sure that they will be guided by adults. Don't just leave them alone watching inside the room.

Blog post 6: "The Little Mermaid": Original Story

Since our topic is about mermaids, let's move on to something quite related to our generation. Let's talk about the film, which is one of my favorite films of Disney, "The Little Mermaid". Now that we're leading to this movie, let me ask you something.. Do you know the original story of this? That's what will I'll be talking about in this blog.

The Untold Story.
      I was quite shocked when I figured out that "The Little Mermaid" movie is just a revised version. In fact it has its original story. This film is based from the story of Hans Christian Andersen. In the article entitled "The Little Mermaid" from the site andersen.sdu.dk, Jean Hersholt tells the original story of "The Little Mermaid".  The story goes like this, the little mermaid lives underwater kingdom with her grandmother, father and her five sisters. When a mermaid turns 15, she is permitted to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and when the sisters become old enough, each of them visits the upper world every year. As each of them returns. When the little mermaid's turn come, she rises up unto the surface and sees a handsome prince and falls in love with him from a distance.Then the little mermaid ask her grandmother, if human can live forever and if they can breathe underwater. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolks' 300 years, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven.

    The little mermaid went to the witch to drink a potion that will turn her into human, but in exchange for her tongue. She cannot speak. She will feel terrible while walking, as if she is walking on a sharp knives that her feet will bleed terribly. The prince must marry and love her in return to maintain her beautiful feet. If the prince cannot do it, she will die brokenhearted and disintegrate to sea foam. In the end, the prince didn't marry her.  She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her, but before dawn, her sisters bring her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their long hair. If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end, and she will live out her full life. But she didn't kill the prince, instead, she jumped into the sea and her body dissolved into sea foam.

Blog Post 5: Mermaids Symbols

There are several questions that came up to my mind about Mermaids. Of course the first two questions that came to my mind are: "Are they real?" or " do they exist?" and it was answered and discussed on my blog post 2 and 3. So, I came up to a new question: "What do they symbolizes?" and that's what I will be talking about in this blog.

What does Mermaids symbolizes?

            There's an article entitled "The Mermaid" from the site endicott-studio.com, Heinz Insu Fenkl  says that the word "mermaid" is usually read as "sea maid," but it is more properly glossed as "sea maiden" or "virgin of the sea." Because of the connections of the mermaid and the ancient Goddess, whose origin and power are associated with the sea. According to her the deep meaning of "Mermaid" is "virgin mother". In French the "mer" = "mêre" which means mother. The term "Virgin Mother" is linked to "Virgin Mary". There are three other bits of information worth bringing together here, all mentioned in The Woman's Dictionary, though gleaned from various sources ranging from the Oxford English Dictionary to Joseph Campbell's multivolume The Masks of God series. First, the mermaid and siren referred to prostitutes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Second, "The ancients insisted that women's sexual secretions smelled like fish, which is why the sign of the yoni came to be called vesica piscis. One of the Hindu titles of the Great Goddess was 'a virgin named Fishy Smell, whose real name was Truth'" (quoting from Joseph Campbell). And third, ""Medieval books of alchemy described the mermaid as the Siren of the Philosophers, crowned and lactating the milk of enlightenment."

        According to Scarlet deMason, that the mermaid's  "abundant flowing hair symbolizing an abundant love potential, was also an attribute of Venus in her role as fertility goddess. Her comb . . . carried sexual connotations for the Greeks, as their words for comb, kteis and pecten, also signified the female vulva. Thus the mermaid is the surviving aspect of the old goddesses . . . ." The mermaid signifies the fundamental mystery of female sexuality, particularly for men, because they cannot comprehend it, are simultaneously drawn to it and terrified by it. That is why the mermaid becomes so easily conflated with the siren and her irresistible call that leads men to their doom.

      So the mermaid's symbolism is that they symbolizes female sexuality. The 3 symbols are related to female sexuality. Mermaids have lots and lots of symbols, and meanings but people usually symbolizes mermaids as beauty and love but also relates to danger.

Other Mermaids symbolism
       If you're going to search on what does mermaid symbolizes, you'll found severals of it. There are several different symbols of mermaids. Mermaids is a broad topic actually, if you will search about them, it will lead you to a different topics about them. I found on this article entitled "Mermaid Meaning and Symbolism"  from the site whats-your-sign.com, Avia Venefica says that Mermaids are also deals love, as they are also associated with love goddesses like Aphrodite/Venus. They are also affiliated with other sea goddesses.

           They are matrons of enchantment, entreating sailors with beguiling beauty, grace and mesmerizing melodies. Seductive and charming, those who are in contact with mermaids are said that they are subject to their persuasion. Sexually tantalizing and devastatingly lovely, mermaids are perfect pinups for feminine power. It is said that, it's quite nice as mermaids also represent as wild, rebellious spirits and cruel independent.  

           

           Mermaids usually uses combs that are made of fish bones. It is an ancient nautical symbol of power over nature as sailors believed that fish bones divide and control storms at sea. Mermaids also hold mirrors that symbolizes the symbol of the moon which speaks as the reflective nature and also symbolizes self admiration too. Since mermaids are rarely seen, this could be taken for modesty. They know the heart of a man, and are legendary that they only appear to the true heart. When they are seen in the light of the moon between the hours of dawn and dusk, it is said that these the magical times when sight and perception becomes fuzzied in mellow whirlpools dawn/dusk glows. This is a symbolic of perfect timing to create magic in our lives by relaxing our vision. We come up to show ourselves in the glow of truly magical color .

          Other symbols of mermaids are: Love, Beauty, Elusive, Mystery, Allure, Private, Sensual, Emotion, Untamed, Femininity, Persuasion, Perception. See? Mermaids really have different symbolism, they have different symbols because people have different insights about mermaids. The symbols maybe a good or bad symbol to us. It is quite surprising that even their comb and mirror have symbols and meanings.

Blog post 4: Mermaid Mythologies

Like any other mythology, mermaids have different mythologies, came from different places and perspective view. Since mermaids are not real, I searched some mermaid mythologies on the internet.

MERMAID MYTHS: Death and Destruction

I found several articles on the internet about mermaid mythology. And I read an article that entitled "Mermaids and Sirens" from the site witcombe.sbc.edu, Proffessor Chris Witcombe says that, a powerful and often feared aspect of women is their ability to seduce men. In mythology, when a divine female seduced a mortal man, it usually culminated in his death and destruction. Almost every civilization has believed that life began in the sea and so water has been identified as female and associated with women. In mythology, the treacherousness of water is personified as alluring and irresistible women without souls who lure unwary men to a watery death. They may appear as mermaids, sirens, undines, ladies of the lake, nixies, or water nymphs.

Sometimes, I wonder where mythologies came from. Because some mythologies are somewhat weird. For example this one, they said that life began in the sea and water has been identified as female and associated with women. Weird but interesting, why is it like that. This article tells that the powerful and feared aspect of women, is their ability to seduce a man. That is why in mythology, when a divine female seduced a mortal man, or an ordinary man it is usually to be result of his death and destruction. Why? Because mermaids and other mythical water creatures in some stories, are great danger to humans. Mermaids lure and destruct sailors with their beautiful voices and drown them to death. They die because, mermaids are usually described as "irresistible" by their physical appearance and enchanting beautiful voice. So it seems like mermaids have powers. But in other stories, they do something good to sea men. They warn them if there is a storm coming. But it only happens when sailors do something good to mermaids.

According to Professor Chris,
"A  powerful and feared aspect of a woman, is their ability to seduce a man. "

For me, this is kinda' true, only for it is a powerful thing. Because when a woman can seduce a man, it only means she has the power of beauty. Why? Think why most men are seduced by women. It is because of their beauty right? It's all because of their physical appearance. That is why in these generation, men are more likely to like and court women who's attractive than women who has an average look.


OTHER MERMAID MYTHOLOGY

A medallion

           I read some articles about mermaid mythologies.. Some of them are being compared to Sirens, that some articles says that mermaids and sirens are most likely the same. In the article "Mythical Beings: Sirens/Mermaid" from the site quicksilvermint.com, Michael Stewart says that sirens and mermaids are not the same. According to him, in Greek mythology, the sirens were sea nymphs who lived on an island surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Approaching sailors were drawn to them by their enchanting singing, causing them to sail on the cliffs and drown. Odysseus escaped the Sirens by having all his sailors plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mast. He was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like. When he heard their beautiful music, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they ignored him. When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus stopped thrashing about and calmed down, and was released.

          He describe sirens as birds with the heads of women while mermaids as a female human head and torso (if it's male, it's called a merman) and the tail of a fish, which inhabits the water. Mermaids first appeared historically in Assyria, ca. 1000 B.C.E. Atargatis, the mother of legendary Assyrian queen Semiramis, was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine nature. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid - human above the waist, fish below, though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as being a fish with a human head and legs, similar to the Babylonian Era, precursor of the Biblical Noah. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo, where she was often associated with Aphrodite.

          As I was telling a while ago, Sirens and Mermaids are almost the same. The only difference between them are their appearance. In addition, since they are most likely the same, they are depicted as a beautiful woman or as a mermaid. That's why in some languages (such as French) the word for mermaid is Siren adds to this confusion.

Blog post 3: Reasons why mermaids does not exist

We have several questions in mind that we always seek for answers, sometimes we cannot find the real answers to our questions but we're not ending in there, yet sometimes we still look for the answers until we find them. I say I am an open minded person, but I say also that mermaids cannot be real. I just realized that. Why? So here are the reasons why. I found two articles, telling the different reasons why mermaids cannot live or exist.

REASONS..

     If you believe in mermaids, have you ask yourself on how can they live under the ocean? How? Well then it will be tough for them. In the article entitle, "Fishful Thinking: Five Reasons why Mermaids Can’t Physically Exist" from the site deepseanews.com,  Sheanna Steingass. says that, human-like body form will not survive in a long period of time under the water. There are areas of the ocean that are above 70 degrees- on the surface. Assuming mermaids would want to live out in the bottom of the open ocean, it is just too cold for them.  And, once you get down a few meters, water temperature drops dramatically. 

    Humans and fish are so far from each other. Humans are mammals, and mammals most likely have hair, fish does not have any. Human evolution is fairly well-mapped and is far from fish evolution. 

    How will they reproduce? They are human down to the waist, after all. Well, there are two options for that.  First, they could do it  on the mammalian way- with internal fertilization.  But what if you have fish parts down there?  Most fish reproduce externally- with females depositing eggs in the environment and males fertilizing them. And how about their digestive system? They will be constipated, because fish and humans' digestive processes are different. As for digesting food, where humans have well-developed large and small intestines, fish have one simple intestine.

   

    And lastly, if they are really true, it would literally change the face of science- and why would it be covered up if it's a real animal? 

    So that's why mermaids cannot be real, because they will freeze to death, the evolution line of fish and humans are so far that it cannot be connected, they will extinct and constipated, and there are no actually true evidences that are published. 

    "Could mermaids lay eggs? Think again!  The only mammals that produce eggs are the echidna and platypus- the monotremes of the class Mammalia.  And these guys don’t have any teeth, look nothing like a human, and really would make a poor excuse for a mermaid.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on sex ratio.  As far as I can tell, there are waaaay more mermaids than mermen." -  Sheanna Steingass

      She's right, how will they produce eggs? It's so impossible, having human body on the upper and a tail on the lower half. I can't imagine. But, there's also something wrong about her  last statement, how did she know if mermaids are more than mermen? If she says that mermaids does not exist? 

REASONS.. and MORE REASONS

 Do you want more reasons? Here I'll tell you, in the article "Five reasons mermaids are impossible" from the site doublexscience.org, Emily Willingham says that Fish and humans don’t even have the same organs and other parts arranged in the same way to make this possible. Where the hips meet the fish tail in picture? That’s parking a human colon on top of a fish liver, swim bladder, and stomach, among other things. Behold the comparative anatomy.

    Like on the previous article, she also states that mermaids cannot produce. Reproduction is the only way to multiply lives. Animals gotta get it on, either with themselves or others of their species, to be here. An all-female human-fish mashup organism without sex bits, much less some way to lay an egg (fish style) or push out a baby (human style), isn’t gonna be able to do that. 

   If the skin is immersed in saltwater, nonstop, 24-7, what will happen in an hour or so? Mermaid would not look like a beautiful, smooth-skinned maiden combing her hair with a conch while perched on a rock. And the human skin is presumably exposed under the sun. Between sun and saltwater, mermaid would look like shriveled. 

  In other words, if mermaids are two different creatures but in one body, still each of their body parts are important to them. None of them will survive or live when the one of their body parts are missing. They are not alike, so they cannot be put together in one body. Their internal organs are quite different, so if they will put together in one body, it won't work. 

Blog Post 2: Hoax Videos

On my previous blog, I talked about the "said" habits, look and sightings of mermaids. I also said on my first blog that mermaids are real, and they are just under the ocean hiding from us. Today, I find it wrong because of the fake videos about mermaids that I watched. The videos were entitled: "Mermaids: The Body Found" and its sequel, "Mermaids: The New Evidence" by the Animal Planet. When I didn't know that these videos are fake, I really believed that mermaids are real. Honestly the videos are really convincing.

MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND 


I found an article about the the video "Mermaid: The Body Found", in this article entitled, "One More Reason to Fear the Beach‘Mermaids: The Body Found,’ on Animal Planet" from the site nytimes.com, Neil Genzlinger says the content of the video. The film, created and written by Charlie Foley, begins with the real, actual fact that the Navy’s use of sonar systems is suspected by some scientists of contributing to whale beachings. And it takes note of an odd underwater sound known as the Bloop that was recorded in the Pacific Ocean in 1997.  There's also a particular scene, another evidence, there were two boys in Washington State caught something else on cellphone camera, at the side of the seashore, on top of a rock there's like a mammal resting on it. It has long tailed fish and its body looks like a humanoid body.  The video also shows the origin of the mermaids, The Aquatic Ape Theory, it says that some apes went to ocean to find food and they remain there forever until they evolved into a half human, half fish formation. There's also a scene which they found a mermaid-like inside the body of a shark, and then they reconstruct it.  But the public never got to meet this model mermaid because the whole project was confiscated.

When you watch the film, it will really convince you that mermaids actually exist because of the theories, sightings, evidences, stories that they showed in the film. Many people were fooled by this film. It is said that, this film gained a lot viewers on Youtube and it is the top 1 most searched on the internet. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), there were no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. In short, it's fake.

For me, I think this film is just giving us some new ideas about mermaids, since people are actually curious about it. 

MERMAIDS: THE NEW EVIDENCE

     Well, it's the sequel of the "Mermaids: The body found". In the article entitled, "Are mermaids real?
A new Animal Planet special claims to have surprising evidence.", by Gerri Miller, from the site mnn.com, the article says the interview on Charley Foley, “Mermaids” creator, writer, and executive producer and senior vice president of development for Animal Planet. He gave some insights about the film. In the film, there were two "scientists" that were interviewed. They show different evidences, such as pictures, video footage of mermaids under the ocean to tell us that mermaids are real.  Real public figures appear in “Mermaids: The New Evidence” including actual government agents, who speak to the possibility that mermaids are real, and the mayor of a coastal town in Israel that has had so many mermaid sightings, there's actually a million-dollar bounty for video evidence of one.

     Again, there are so many people who really think that mermaids are real because of this film. The film is only 34 minutes and it's in a documentary format film, where several interviews to some professionals were done. Several interviews, just to persuade that mermaids are real. But the thing is, why in the end of the film, they said that it was fiction and not true at all? It's so ironic thing. You made a film to tell that mermaids are real, then in the credits part you will say that the content of the film is not real. How is that? Maybe, they made the film just for entertainment.

    "I hope and believe that the evidence we present, including historical documents, interviews with eyewitnesses and government spokespersons and new footage screened for the first time on television, will capture the imagination of viewers as much as the original film and the story of our scientists who came forward with their extraordinary findings. And I further hope people watch with a sense of wonder and with an abiding sense of possibility."  - Charley Foley

They successfully did captured the imagination of the viewers. As I'm saying a while ago, many people thought that the whole film is true. Most of them tweeted on Twitter that mermaids are true. But then, I think this is also a bad idea. Publishing fake documentary films, make people to believe unreal information. What happens when they believe to a wrong information? Of course when they believe, then they will absolutely tell to other people, then it will pass and pass and pass to different people, and now the wrong information are spread, and that's the bad thing.