Good Essay On Similarities And Differences Between Andersens Text And The Disney Version Of

Looking the versions of “The little Mermaid” by Disney animated film and Andersen’s text, there is a very clear similarity .In the Disney’s film, the Sea Kings youngest children is the Little Mermaid. The same scenario is repeated in the text by Christian Andersen. It is also seen in both the text version by Christian Andersen and the version by Disney that the King gives permission to his daughters to visit the surface once they attain a certain age.
The Little Mermaid sees the prince on a boat for the first time when she reached the sea surface. This happens in an incident then the storm strikes and hence the little Mermaid has to be placed in a boat for shelter. In both versions of the story, the narrator states that “ At the beginning the little Mermaid was overjoyed that she would there onwards be in the company of the Prince. Shortly, she becomes sad when she recalls that human beings could not stay alive beneath the sea water. The little Mermaid hence learnt that the prince could only make a visit to the palace of her father upon his death”
The Little Mermaid then saves the prince by taking him to the sea shore he becomes obsessed with him. The two versions are similar when they explain how the little mermaid makes her mind and seeks help from the Sea Witch. “I have already known your intention; you are very stupid if that is what you want. But don’t worry; I will do it for you if that is all you want. It is up to you my princess when you become sorrow as a result of this” said the Sea Witch. Finally, the Sea Witch serves the need of the Little Mermaid. She is given legs to enable her be human. However, she loses her beautiful singing voice.
Looking at the differences, The main difference that comes out between the two versions of the little Mermaid is that characters have been given names in the animated version by Disney. For example the Little Mermaid is referred to as Ariel while the Prince is Erick. It is quoted in the animated version of Disney “Ariel danced around and laughed with her heart filled with thoughts of death”
After the involvement of the Sea Witch, the stories version by Christian Andersen becomes sad. This is in contrary to Disney’s version that becomes happy after the incident. In Andersen’s story, the Little Mermaid returns to the shore so that she could drink the potion that she had been given by the Sea Witch. She experiences unbearable pain. The potion makes her tail to be split and become two legs as she had been earlier been informed by the Sea Witch. “Later on, your tail will split and shrink to become legs when you drink the portion. However, it will hurt. You will feel as if you have been slashed by a sharp sword” the Sea witch warned her. The pain is not brought out in the version of the story by Disney.
In the version by Disney, Erick is not willing to be in the company of Ariel since he is in need of a girl with a nice singing voice. Erick is unable to recognise Ariel since she had given a way her beautiful singing voice to the Sea Witch.
In the Andersen’s version, the Prince is asked by his parents to visit a nearby Kingdom. While on trip to the Kingdom, the sisters to Mermaid tells her of their family unhappiness with her. On arrival in the Kingdom, the Prince realises that the girl he intends to marry is the very same girl who had saved him. The Little Mermaid had nothing to do but to watch from a distance as the other woman is married by the Prince.
This is in contrary to the animated Disney’s version. In the version, the girl that Erick finds is one with a beautiful singing voice. The girl turns out to be the Sea Witch. A marriage is planned but fails to eventuate