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Post by pokeria1 on Mar 8, 2008 13:32:53 GMT -5
Ok, There was a lyric that really confused me. Ok, In POTW, Ariel mentioned something that seemed extremely confusing.
She said something that made it seem like the only reason as to why Ariel couldn't go up to the surface was because she was too young (sort of like in the original), and yet, we all knew since Ariel and Triton arguing that the actual reason for her not going up to the surface was because Triton made it illegal to establish contact with humans.
This is the Lyric in question:
"When's it my turn? Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above?"
That line confused me. In fact, I spawned a theory that they originally decided to have it somewhat similar to the original book, with their going up to the surface by the age of 15, but decided against it, and forgot to edit it out of the song.
The reason why I am asking this on the movie forum instead of the music forum is for similar reasons for the "Would Ariel get her voice back if she kissed Eric" threads that spawned due to something Sebastian said in Kiss The Girl.
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Post by UmbrellaFish on Mar 8, 2008 16:16:57 GMT -5
I think that line meant more, "Someday, hopefully I'll be able to go up to land" like she's comparing herself with the humans by saying "when's it my turn...". Although, I suppose that line is up to interpretation.
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Post by Random Prince on Mar 8, 2008 16:57:35 GMT -5
It's a song. I don't think you're supposed to take it so literally.  |
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Post by Toastie2 on Mar 24, 2008 23:58:58 GMT -5
Random Prince is right. It isn't taken literally, it's more poetic and metaphorical. It's supposed to mean something like "When is it my turn in life?" or " When is it my turn to be happy?" The song even starts with "how could a world that makes such wonderful things, be so bad?" That goes with the idea of no one going to the surface because it's forbidden, because it's thought to be too dangerous.
I know that it's possible that in an early, early version of the story people could have talked about what they saw humans do and Ariel could have learned from them. In fact, in the original story the little mermaid's grandmother knew of towns and trees and birds, and what they were called. But the whole song is about Ariel's own collection. Did merpeople really give all those things to her? It makes more sense that she went in search of human information and collected human things and learned about what humans did herself.
I know the line is "love to explore that shore up above", but exploring the shore and visiting the surface are completely different. A mermaid could never explore the shore, she needs water and couldn't be on the sand for a long time, let alone go so far that she reached a street to see people "walkin' along down".
If it really was a mistake, the song would not have left in this huge, powerful line that's part of the climax of the song for such a long time, recorded over and over and sung by Jodie Benson over and over. It's stayed in the new Broadway musical, and that musical has changed things like making Triton and Ursula sisters, but has kept the idea that no one is allowed to visit the surface.
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Post by pokeria1 on Mar 25, 2008 17:35:57 GMT -5
Random Prince is right. It isn't taken literally, it's more poetic and metaphorical. It's supposed to mean something like "When is it my turn in life?" or " When is it my turn to be happy?" The song even starts with "how could a world that makes such wonderful things, be so bad?" That goes with the idea of no one going to the surface because it's forbidden, because it's thought to be too dangerous. True, I agree with that, I was just confused with the wording, that's all. Umm, I'd say that Merpeople could Actually breathe Air indefinitely considering how Ariel was able to stay with Prince Eric for almost half of the night to wait for him to regain consciousness. I mean, it was at the very least nearing midnight if not AT midnight, plus the storm destroyed the ship in a matter of minutes, leaving Ariel to drag Eric's unconcious body to the shore (It can't have been far from the crash site, since the rock it crashed into was far too big to be from the deepest parts of the ocean, plus, it was stuck on there while it was exploding, instead of sinking down to the bottom of the waves.) and she waited until sunrise, which logically would have been a few hours later, until he finally came into consciousness, all of this would NOT have been Possible if she couldn't breathe outside of water, since, if it was the case, then by the time Eric regained consciousness, she would have already been dead due to suffocation. Plus, if they couldn't breathe outside of water, they wouldn't be able to sit on rocks for long. |
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Post by WickedElphie on Mar 25, 2008 19:52:49 GMT -5
I think that merpeople CAN breathe air, but still need water to survive.
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Post by Random Prince on Mar 27, 2008 5:10:16 GMT -5
I think that merpeople CAN breathe air, but still need water to survive. I think so too. As long as they don't dry out, they're fine. |
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Post by Toastie2 on Mar 30, 2008 21:41:31 GMT -5
Yea, um pokeria, I never said they couldn't breathe on land for a bit. The series shouldn't count because it's not the movie, but for what it's worth, in an episode where she wished upon a starfish, Ariel was washed onto the shore, unconcious for a who knows how long, she woke up and put Flounder back in the water, saying he shouldn't be out of it, and Flounder told Ariel she shouldn't be out of the water, either. She went back in.
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Post by pokeria1 on Mar 31, 2008 17:35:38 GMT -5
Yea, um pokeria, I never said they couldn't breathe on land for a bit. The series shouldn't count because it's not the movie, but for what it's worth, in an episode where she wished upon a starfish, Ariel was washed onto the shore, unconcious for a who knows how long, she woke up and put Flounder back in the water, saying he shouldn't be out of it, and Flounder told Ariel she shouldn't be out of the water, either. She went back in. I think that line from Ariel was more of a reference to her Father's rules than whether she could stay out of water for a while. I mean, as you said, it was for quite a while, possibly for several hours at least, and at most would probably be about several days, or weeks, even. I mean, the mere fact that she was even OUT of the water for several Hours in the Movie seems to imply that she can breathe on land, just as much as she can breathe underwater. (Maybe Merpeople have their gills seal up when surfacing and going onto land.) I mean, if anything is a hinderance towards her being able to explore, it's the fact that she can barely move on land due to her tail. Also, sorry for the Misinterpretation, I thought that, when you said she couldn't be out of water for a long time, that meant she couldn't be out of water for even a few minutes (you know, like a fish out of water, and in certain cases, some aquatic mammals such as whales.) |
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Post by Toastie2 on Apr 30, 2008 17:43:29 GMT -5
No matter what, able to breath or no, Ariel's tail will still dry up if it's not in water, in not that long a time, as it is for fish, and that would make her tail dead. We don't know how long Ariel was unconcious in that episode, so it's hard to tell how long she can survive out of the water, but let's at least agree she can't live on the land.
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Post by macgregor on Nov 10, 2008 16:29:25 GMT -5
I think it's supposed to be taken as teen angst, like 'when is it my turn to live, to explore, to love.' Everyone thinks that at one point, usually as a teen, too.
Like, when's it my turn to go out into the world and just BE.
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Daniel 
