Beauty vs Beast: Fish Witch
Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at 3:53PM JA from MNPP here with this week's mite-late edition of this week's "Beauty Vs Beast" - sorry for the unexpected day-long delay, what can we say, a sea-witch stole our voice from us. Coincidentally The Film Experience is celebrating the year 1989 in the lead up to this month's Supporting Actress Showdown and whaddya know 1989 was the year that another gorgeous princess, not myself, had the exact same thing happen to her! I handled it with a much finer degree of decorum, natch, but she got Prince Eric so she wins. (Mmmm Prince Eric.) Yes I speak of Disney's The Little Mermaid, which is bringing us this week's animated face-off.
Life's full of tough choices... innit??? I feel like this one could go either way really, so making you cases in the comments could prove important. Sway the little fishies this way or that, people.
PREVIOUSLY If you felt a little falling sensation - kinda simultaneously plummeting forward and back - as you picked between Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in last week's Vertigo round you ultimately made like Hitch and came out blonde - well blonde eventually (inevitably) anyway - in the end. Judy, poor poor Judy, won your sympathies along with 71% of the vote. Said Leslie19:
"Judy is the perfect Hitchcockian heroine: A blonde puzzle, with a past. A great wardrobe and the perfect palette for techicolor, in this case his use of green. Is there anything more to say?"
Reader Comments (22)
"Life's full of tough choices, isn't it?"
Great timing... this has been on TV a lot lately. The music is sooo good!
I've always loved how Ursula had pointy hair inside the ocean. Must be that magnificent 'gel hair' of hers.
She can sell a one-liner like no one else.
"You have your looks. Your pretty face." The best way to tell someone he/she's dumb.
On the one hand Ursula is easily in the top 3 Disney villains of all time with Maleficent and take your pick. On the other, isn't Ariel also one of the greatest Disney princesses. She certainly has more personality than some plus a sexier wardrobe, a hotter Prince, and all those thingamabobs. so...
I mean, I could list all of the reasons, but after all dear, what is idle prattle for? Team Ursula all the way.
The Little Mermaid is so delightful and pretty, but the minute I start thinking about it beyond those terms, I get so sour on Ariel as a character. The sad part is that it still could've been a great film if the writers had given SOME consideration to social responsibility in the year 1989. Some of the allegorical/thematic suggestions about authority (and defying it for no reason in particular, on an infatuated whim) make me go "ew, really? We're supposed to root for this girl who makes foolish, dangerous choices, and never becomes thoughtful about her role in them?" It's like the anti-Easy-A.
Just imagine if we ditched the overbearing father / dead Disney mother trope and Ariel had had Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as sea parents.
Put away the knives--I haven't seen this. LOL
Ursula is modeled after a gay man (Divine) -- of course she'll win the poll over a pampered white girl.
Nathaniel, you are just going to HAVE to do a Disney Princess Smackdown, because I would favor Mulan or Belle over Ariel anyday.
No disrespect to Divine, but Pat Carroll had a great history in the non-princess roles in fairy tales. Who could forget her as Prunella in Stepsister's Lament in the 1965 Cinderella.
I am voting for Ursula
Ariel may be the leading lady we all love ,but a diva is a diva, and a diva is forever!
Leslie 19 -- ooh, what a fun idea for a "special" smack down. Should we do it just like the others?
Ursula is my favorite Disney villain, but I am a mermaid, so I have to go with Ariel. Also, the real little mermaid in Andersen's story sacrificed her own life for the one she loved, a version I wish someone would do. What ever happened to Sofia Coppola's live-action film?
Pam -- you are a mermaid? I've always wanted you to be real.
As a young redhead, Ariel was always my hair inspiration. Somedays I reach that peak hair glory and I feel fulfilled. So that's behind my voting here, even if Ursula has one of the swankiest villain songs in the history of villain songs.
This reallty is a tough choice. I feel like Meryl Streep. I love, love, love Ursula....best Disney villain by far...and with the best song. I mean, she shakes her boobs into the camera. But I just adore Ariel. I have to give my vote to her. She's the reason I love the ocean and I still have a thing for people with red hair.
This is tough for me. I don't want to vote for Ursula because my mom that she was kind of offensive. She essentially convinces Ariel that she doesn't have to speak/think and just be pretty and use feminine wiles and she can get a man. My mom was a teacher and didn't like that. But I don't know if Ariel is any better. She trades all of her talent and uniqueness for a guy she just met and he doesn't have to sacrifice anything and ends up with a hot teenage bride. Can I just call this a draw and vote for Elsa again?
I'm with brookesboy on this one.
@Tom: Well, Ursula is a villain...she's not supposed to teach a lesson. And Ariel doesn't trade everything for a guy she just met. Her dream is to be a human and be with humans before she meets Eric. He is just what pushes her over the edge, along with her father saying her dream will never happen. And Eric ends up killing a giant octopuss witch bitch. So I think he earned Ariel's love. :p
Ah, one of my favorite Disney movies!!!
I love redheads, so I voted for Ariel.
But I'd be also quite happy if Ursula wins.
She is one of the greatest Disney villains and I was a little scared by her, just a little, when I watched the movie first in 1989.
That also was the first Disney movie I've seen in a cinema. <3
I was a Little Mermaid obsessive as a child. Even back then when the film first came out, I was kind of rooting for Ursula to win. She had the best song and the best lines.
I'm going with Ariel, Ursula creeped me out as a child.
Eat the fish, bitch. Eat the fuckin' fish. Oops, wrong movie.