Fallen

Fallen Princess

The pictures painted by Disney’s versions of widely known fairy tales leave little to be imagined. The lives of these perfect prince and princesses have some trouble in them, but most, if not all, end happily ever after. Dina Goldstein, the creator of Fallen Princesses, obviously saw a much more dark and bizarre version of these children’s stories. In Goldstein’s version of Ariel, a mermaid princess who married a prince and lived happily ever after has turned into an attraction at an aquarium for all to see. While this is a stark deviation from Disney’s storyline, it is very important to have read or at least heard of the version this paper will refer to Knowledge of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, in which Ariel is the princess, is needed to understand the irony and cynicism that Goldstein’s version conveys. The Fallen Princesses’ creator uses this juxtaposition between her version and the Disney version to speak towards an underlying internal human conflict between those who are on display, like Ariel and the child, and those who admire them.

Adequately detailing the story that this picture is juxtaposing is of utmost importance. “The Disney versions almost always have sad beginnings, with an overbearing female villain, and the end is predictably a happy one. The prince usually saves the day and makes the victimized young beauty into a princess” (Rideout). The widely known version of The Little Mermaid is no exception; Ariel is an ambitious mermaid that is fascinated by land. Her sad beginnings happens to be that she is remarkably innocent in a world full of realists, like her father and her companion crab, Sebastian, who is by all accounts incredibly crabby. She stuck in Atlantica watching the activities that happen above; longing only to break away from her fins so she can live above water with the people and things that she observes. This knowledge compels an overbearing female villain, the evil sea witch, Ursula to take advantage of...