Let's face it. Little girls absolutely adore Disney princesses and many even one day hope to become one. I'm going to give you a couple of different reasons on why it is not always good to give glory to just any pretty princess you see on TV.
Top Reasons Why Ariel is a Bad Influence
1) She almost kills her best friend.
You can sugarcoat this any way you want, but Ariel starts the movie by completely peer-pressuring her friend Flounder into swimming around a dangerous boat area where a huge man-eating shark almost kills the both of them. Ariel has every opportunity to get away, but selfishly goes after her little purse instead. She finally causes the shark to get stuck and then giggles about the entire experience, while poor little Flounder clearly has to deal with the terrible side effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
2) She is a kleptomaniac.
Her dad's the king of the ocean and yet she's got a bedroom full of stolen items that she hides from her father. Seriously. The girl needs therapy. Or 5 to 10.
3) She disobeys her father.
I don't care if her dad is right or wrong in this situation. If she decides to turn into another species, run far away without so much as a word goodbye, dang near send her dad into cardiac arrest and send an entire search party on a wild goose chase to find her, she definitely has some control issues that she clearly needs to work out.
4) She plays gambling games with the devil.
Ariel sells her soul to gain a pair of legs, something that her dad clearly has the ability to give her anyway, yet chooses not to. There are obviously other effective methods in getting your way, I don't care how solid your dad seems to be on his decision. For example, if you merely threaten to sell your soul for all of eternity if your dad doesn't give you what you want, he'll probably comply. At least try that first, Ariel.
So basically, Ariel is a suicidal criminal who rebels against her dad and sells her soul to dark forces. Really, Disney? We've been promoting this character to small impressionable children since 1989? Oh, Disney. If we see an increase of maniacal, possessed, shoplifting women between the ages of 22-27, I am totally holding you accountable.
