Blog Post 11 - Romance in Pop Culture

The couple I've chosen to write about it is Ariel and Eric from the move The Little Mermaid. Ariel and Eric teach people that one day you will just stumble upon your romantic partner. This only happens after you've changed yourself however. This relates to the idea of "fake love" in that both Ariel and Eric are projecting their ideas of the perfect partner onto each other. Ariel knows nothing of the world and blindly follows the first man she meets. The movie ends with Ariel choosing to stay on land and keep her legs, and her and Eric getting married. They marry because they love each other, not because she needs financial security or anything of the sort. She wears a white dress and the wedding is lavish. This shows that Ariel has "succeeded" in life, she has achieved her goal and can be happy. Like any Disney movie, the story ends there. We are taught nothing about what the rest of the relationship is like.