Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

*I’m mostly going to be talking about the live-action movie here, since that one has my heart, but plenty of this is relevant to the animated film as well.*

While 1) I wait impatiently for Doctor Who’s 60^th anniversary specials (can I please just get some airdates already?) and 2) my brain feels a desperate need to fit in a post about Our Flag Means Death every single week (season finale on Thursday!), I’m going to alternate the Sunday Who Review with some other stuff for a bit. Today, let’s head down Neurodivergent Alley!

Viewing Ariel as autistic is special to me. She was one of the final pieces that allowed me to “hatch,” to put together all the evidence that had been stacking up around me and realize that it made sense. For years, I’d heard that Ariel was an autistic-coded Disney Princess, or that her story could be used as a metaphor for autism. But after the live-action movie came out and I was reading responses to it online, I was surprised to encounter so many comments along the lines of “This is the Black autistic representation I need!” or “Ariel/Eric are Autistic4Autistic!” This wasn’t just I can see how you might view that character this way, from a certain angle. It wasn’t The story of this fictional mermaid follows beats that may resonate with the autistic experience. This was a number of people claiming Ariel as one of their own with their whole chest. I felt something at that, and as I started poking around to see what other characters autistic folks headcanon as autistic, I started understanding so much more about this identity beyond the stereotypes that pop culture often shows us when it intentionally sets out to create an autistic character. And within that, I could much more clearly see myself.

But enough about me. Ariel!

In both the original film and the remake, Ariel doesn’t fit in with her family or her community. Nobody understands her, largely because no one can understand the great passion of her life: her special interest, her deep and abiding fascination with the human world. She’s obsessed with collecting human objects, to the point that she’ll endanger herself by going into shark-infested waters for the sake of finding something new. Everything she finds, she takes back to her hidden collection. It doesn’t matter if she’s come across a particular item before—she’s got twenty thingamabobs!—she still wants this one. Her love for the human world drives her to break her father’s strictest rule, to go to the surface and observe real live humans for herself.

It's understandable that Ariel falls so instantly and deeply for Eric, because he’s all wrapped up in this love that she already had for human artifacts. But, as much as she adores him, the remake underscores the fact that he’s not the only reason why she takes such drastic measures to become human herself. As I’ve said before, she’s already longed to “be where the people are”—Eric just dials that desire up to eleven. And the moment that really clinches is for her is when she’s about to turn around and go back home, when Ursula says, “Go back home to daddy, and never leave again!”

That’s the moment. It’s reckless and really naïve, but at the same time I get it. Everything inside Ariel has been screaming that she doesn’t belong where she is, and all she wants is what she’s been told she can never have. In my estimation, there’s something deeply neurodivergent about uprooting everything your society has told you to be and creating a new life for yourself, maybe something you’re not “supposed” to want but something that you desperately need.

That doesn’t make her actions here smart. Ursula plays her easily, and Ariel’s shortsighted move gets her and others into major trouble later in the movie, a fact that she’s determined to put right. But within the mistakes, she’s also able to see that she can’t go back. She needs to be in this environment where things are new and confusing but where, for the first time, she can feel like she fits. It doesn’t really matter to Ariel that other people are picking up on her weirdness, that she doesn’t understand their norms and cues and that she combs her hair with a dinglehopper/fork. She’s fed here; she can fully enjoy her special interests in a way she never could back home, and what’s more, she’s found someone who understands them. Who understands her.

Parts of her story/characterization, yes, are metaphorical. It’s natural that, as a mermaid who’s only just come to the surface, she doesn’t understand human norms (but remember that she didn’t fit in where she “belonged” either.) And although she’s nonverbal for a long stretch of the film, that’s down to Ursula’s spell, not her neurotype. But within that, she shows that being unable to speak makes her no less thinking or feeling, no less herself, no less worth someone’s care and affection. And that may be metaphorical, but it’s a lovely portrayal for anyone who is nonspeaking or deals with selective mutism.

Favorite Characters: Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

*Does anyone still need spoiler warnings for The Little Mermaid? If so, here it is.*

Obviously, much of this characterization is the same in the original animated film, but since the live-action movie is 1) what I saw most recently and 2) awesome, I’ll mainly be drawing from that. As I’ve said before, Ariel can get a bad rap among the Disney renaissance princesses, and she really shouldn’t. While she makes some crucial mistakes, her flaws are a part of her character and don’t take away from her more admirable qualities.

The youngest daughter of King Triton, Ariel has never fit in. While everyone around her is content with life under the sea, she dreams of the human world above the surface. She’s fascinated with the objects they drop from their ships or that she finds in wrecks, not knowing what they are or how to use them but loving them all the same. She cherishes her collection of human things and will risk sharks near the shipwrecks for the sake of discovering more glimpses of humanity through the things they leave in the sea.

When she catches her first sight of real live humans, among them Eric, Ariel is understandably enchanted. She was already gaga over the human world anyway, and now one of the first ones she sees is handsome, charismatic, and puts his dog’s safety before his own? Come on now, what’s a teenager to do? Her first direct interaction with the human world finds her saving Eric from drowning when his ship goes down. Ariel doesn’t just brave the rough waters of the storm here—she also braves her father’s disapproval and everything he’s told her about humans being dangerous.

Ariel’s passion and bravery can be mixed with a strong dose of impulsivity, which comes back to bite her when Ursula tricks her into a misguided deal. Ariel gets what she wants more than anything—becoming a human herself, with a bonus of (hopefully!) getting to be with Eric. But she doesn’t realize that Ursula rigs the deal, making her continued freedom contingent on Eric falling in love with her while taking away the one thing he could recognize her by: her voice.

This is obviously a major setback for Mission: Get Eric to Kiss Me (and in the live-action film, Ursula also makes Ariel unable to remember this mandate in the first place,) but Ariel doesn’t let it get her down for long. Voice or no voice, she remains her bold, enthusiastic self, and she bonds with Eric over their shared love for worlds they long to be a part of. Even if he thinks she can’t be the girl who rescued him, it’s no wonder that he starts to fall for her anyway.

It's Ariel’s lust for life and longing for new experiences that make her a great princess, her tenacity at going after what she wants and her belief that she really can achieve it. I love her utter delight and wonder at exploring the human world, finding such joy in an open-air market or getting her first chance to use a real dinglehopper/fork! And at her lowest, when it looks like Ursula has won and is going to take everyone Ariel cares about, she wrestles back her voice from the witch who took it away and then fights back for the people she loves.

Relationship Spotlight: Eric & Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

*Spoilers for the live-action remake.*

As you may have guessed from the photo, I’m mostly talking about the live-action version of this pairing today. I certainly enjoy Ariel/Eric in the original film—they’re cute and fun—but live-action Ariel/Eric is where it’s at. The Little Mermaid joins the Disney remake trend of expanding on the central romance, giving the leads more time to get to know each other, flirt, and connect. I was already a big fan of Belle/the Beast and Aladdin/Jasmine, so their live-action counterparts just gave me even more of them to adore. But in this case, the remake takes this relationship from one that I like to one that I love.

In my review, I mentioned that one of the best additions the new film makes to the story is the way it fleshes out Eric’s character, and that’s crucial to fleshing out the romance. He’s still the lively, adventurous prince of the original, still the kindhearted soul who returns to a burning, sinking ship to save a trapped dog. In both versions, Ariel falls in love with him at first sight, and since she’s a human-obsessed teenage girl getting her first real look at a nice, handsome human boy, you can understand why.

But beyond that, the new film shows how Eric is a kindred spirit of Ariel’s. Just as she’s fascinated by the human world, he’s drawn to countries and cultures outside of his small island. He too has a collection of “treasures” he’s acquired, odds and ends from his travels. Like Ariel, he cherishes all these objects, even the ones he doesn’t understand—she has to show him how to blow into his conch shell. They’re also both familiar with having a loving but overprotective parent who doesn’t really understand them. Eric tries to impress under his mother that the new resources and techniques that he can acquire and learn about in the wider world will improve the lives of their subjects on the island, but his mother, fearing storms and shipwrecks, wants to keep him close to home.

As such, when Ariel makes it to the surface, it’s already so much more than “she loves him because she’s hot and charming.” (And again, it’s not accurate to say she “gave up her voice for a man.” She longed to be human before she ever met Eric.) He’s excited to meet her but deflates when he realizes she can’t speak, thinking it means she couldn’t be the girl who saved him from the shipwreck and sang to him on the beach. However, he remains gentle and kind to her, assuring her that she can stay at the palace for as long as she needs. It’s not long after that they spend hours looking at his collection and poring over his maps together, that Eric takes Ariel into town and she about bursts with happiness at exploring the human world, that they take a romantic boat ride together while Sebastian and co. sing “Kiss the Girl.”

Their unspoken courtship is sweet and nerdy, quick but somehow leisurely at the same time—love always races to be born, yet time seems to slow down when two people are in it. I also really like that, even though Ursula has taken Ariel’s voice, she still communicates. She uses actions and gestures to be an active participant as Eric shows her his collection, and whether she’s discovering a local dance or intimating that she’d like to go on a boat ride, her curiosity and interest is always clear. I enjoy the clever way that she tells Eric her name.

Even though Eric is convinced that Ariel isn’t the girl who saved him, he’s drawn more and more towards her anyway. His obsession with tracking down the girl with the captivating voice starts to cool. There are moments where he seems to catch that ardor waning and tries to reignite it, but at a certain point, it becomes more about what he thinks he’s supposed to do rather than what he truly wants. No, what he wants is to know the lively, adventurous girl in front of him, the one who delights in new experiences and shares his passions. Their connection is so strong that, after Ursula disguises herself and enchants Eric with Ariel’s voice, a part of him keeps trying to pull himself back.

On a final note, I love that Grimsby is quickly positioned as totally Team Ariel. Something of a human counterpart to Sebastian (although he’s unaware of the urgency of the situation,) Grimsby just wants what’s best for Eric, and as he sees how the prince is bonding with Ariel, he gently helps him to let go of the idea of his mystery girl. When Ariel’s sea friends crash Eric and “Vanessa’s” engagement party and the ring goes flying, Grimsby sees it on the ground and kicks it away. There’s a good man!