Real Lawyer Reacts to The Little Mermaid

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Sorry, occupational hazard: This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney-client relationship. Also, some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. But if you click, it really helps me make more of these videos! All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

Special thanks:
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[LegalEagle]

⚖ Did I miss anything in the Little Mermaid?

[Dullaheart]

Ariel should have consulted LegalSeagull for this contract.

[RWAsur]

I never expected to live in a reality where I watched a real lawyer talk about a cartoon and plead for the cartoon fans to not send actual paramilitary to his home

[inkbetweens]

Fun Fact: The reason we avoid putting lettering on documents in animation is to avoid needing to replace it when released in non-English locations. Its a lot of work to make and keep multiple versions of same animation so we try and avoid it when we can. (though its a lot easier now than it was back then)

[philtkaswahl]

Devin: "I was an extremely litigious five-year-old."

Day care workers: "So like every other five-year-old."

[michaelblueknight]

"But since daughters who listen to their fathers don't exactly make for good movies"
I LAUGHED SO HARD

[gabrielbruce]

The scene where Triton destroys his daughter's treasure trove scared me as a kid, because my mother had a habit of doing the same every time she "helped" me find something. As an adult I know this was abuse and a huge invasion of privacy

[girlnextdoor]

When I was in law school I wrote a law review article about the illegal contract in “The Santa Clause.” Shockingly, it was not published.

[CalliopePony]

The fact that the contract appears to be mostly written in gibberish could actually be plot-significant. There's a theory that the merfolk have different written langage than humans. The parts at the beginning and end of the contract that we can read only appear to be in English due to translation convention (the movie shows them non-diegetically in a language that the audience can understand for the sake of storytelling), and the entire contract is actually written in merscript. That's why Ariel couldn't write an explanation to Eric: Even though they understand each other through spoken language their writing systems are different.

[mellyq]

Fun fact: in the original story the contract is different. the sea witch isn't really the antagonist of the story but closer to tattoo artist that says "you want to do what? Thats insane but sure i can do that." There is no manipulation or interference on her part because she's just doing her job. The problem in the original arises when the prince decides to marry another girl. In the original if he married her she would gain a real human soul, if he married no one she would stay the same, and if he married someone else she would turn into seafoam. The sea witch only comes back into the story because her family comes asking for help finding a way out. The sea witch abliges by creating a special knife in return for her sisters' hair. The knife has the power to keep her from turning to sea foam if she stabs him with it on his wedding night. The little mermaid plans to do so but in the end cant bring herself to hurt him so instead accepts her fate. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the legal ramifications of the original.

[malvoliosf]

It was the breach of good faith that struck me when I watched the movie in the theater. Unconscionable contracts are par for the fairy-tale course: your first-born, your immortal soul, whatever. But actively preventing the other party from fulfilling the contract? Obviously that means you don’t WANT the contract fulfilled and are hoping for the penalty, and that is not the way contracts are supposed to work.
Also, I did not realize at the time that Ariel was underage. Is Ursula not civilly and criminally liable for custodial interference? You cannot just take other people’s minor children, whatever you promise the child.

[zmythos]

Objection: Ariel is not the 16-year-old heir apparent to Triton's kingdom, she has six older sisters who would come before her in that regard, making the fact that she marries into the royal family of another kingdom in the end not that unusual for a seventh daughter princess like herself.

[ArmstrongEA]

This was amazing! I'd like to request that the Parent Trap be lawyered. My friend and I had a field day theorizing over all the international laws the parents break in that...and we aren't even lawyers!

[runawaypony]

I would pay good money to watch a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid as a legal drama where Ariel and Ursula battle it out in court complete with a show-stopping jury instructions song number

[michaelbiscay]

Ok, but here's what I've always argued. When Triton replaces Ariel's signature on the contract, the contract isn't revised or rewritten. So, contractually speaking, shouldn't Triton be given three days with legs and no voice to try and get Eric to kiss him?

[GoddessKelly]

"Flotsam and Jetsam pounce on a crying Ariel like a credit card company on a college freshman." So true! Good intro to explaining the concept of "agency." 🤣🤣🤣

[CherryBomb_Games]

I think it could be argued Ariel was under duress before signing the contract. She had an extremely emotional incident with her father beforehand, and Ursula presses things implying this contract was under a timer and a one time offer.

[deeanna]

"Lawyers are more powerful than a magic sea witch" is my favorite line from a legal video 😂

[jasonmack]

I always wondered about the last point as a kid, like, "How didn't Ursula interfering screw up the contract? I know it's a magical contract but surely there are rules, even in the magic. She might has well have just locked Ariel in a cage for three days if the spell didn't care about that approach."

[DanielGutierrez-rfzt]

Objection: Even if the contract was fully enforceable, there’s still the fact that King Triton is, well, a king. The very fact that Ariel is a Disney Princess, not just in Disney marketing, but does have royal blood, proves this.

Assuming an absolute monarchy, even if the law was completely legal in Antlantican law, that blast from King Triton would have cut through that contract like a hot knife through butter.

The fact that Triton couldn’t destroy the contract means that Antlantica is at least some kind of constitutional monarchy.