Film Theory: The DARK Secret of the Little Mermaid (Disney)

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We all know and LOVE the Disney Princess, Ariel. She’s perceived as a beautiful sea creature in the Little Mermaid, but how would she look in REAL life? And we’re not talking about the live action remake with Halle Bailey. No! We’re talking about a real life, half-human, half-fish looking mermaid. Trust us, after watching this episode you’re NOT going to want to kiss da girl!
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*Credits:*
Writers: Matthew Patrick, Forrest Lee, and Bob Chipman
Editors: Dan "Cybert" Seibert, Tyler Mascola, Alex "Sedge" Sedgwick, and Koen Verhagen
Assistant Editor: AlyssaBeCrazy
Sound Designer: Yosi Berman
Thumbnail Artists: DasGnomo and Josiah
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#TheLittleMermaid #Ariel #Disney #LittleMermaid #Mermaid #Mermaids #HalleBailey #TheLittleMermaid2023 #DisneyLiveAction #DisneyPlus #DisneyMovies #Theory #FilmTheory #Matpat

[How-Do-I-Nezzy]

This isn't what I was expecting for a Little Mermaid theory, but now I want MatPat to do one about realistic centaurs. No idea how he'd justify it, or what he'd do for it, but I wanna see it.

[Production]

I like the theory centering around the voice because it elevates Ursula from a Petty villain to a legitimate monster. The more voices she has, the more damage she can do in her home.

[lauracerqueiramachado]

I once heard a theory that Ariel would be a collectionist, because she worked in that huge human collection of hers for years and that´s mostly why she is so fascinated with humans and stuff, and her "love" for Eric actually be caused by her obsession to "complete her collection" because she craved the only thing that she was missing to complete her human collection: a human being of her own

[goatplaysguitar]

I like how Mat is analyzing a bunch of details to find the location of the Little Mermaid while ignoring the fact that Ariel’s dad is literally a Greco-Roman god

[thepigvillage]

Something that would be interesting to consider about this topic is the strange and often counterintuitive ways humans pick their mates. The realistic mermaids would probably have a similar turn to conquering the sea before starting to prioritize things like singing voice, beauty, and nobility over strange new evolutions, the same way humans tended to shun people with "strange" traits like left-handedness back in the Middle Ages. Most of the conclusions you came to make sense for survivability's sake, but once their tool use, function, and intelligence hit the mark, I don't think they'll be praising baldness or camouflage.

[someoneudontknow]

11:28 so basically Ursula is the most scientifically accurate sea person in the show

Also if we were to go off size to noise ratio it'd be more likely that they would likely be about as loud as a seal which as matpat said was around 126Dp

In other words at most Ariel would be shouting just above the loudest recorded yell ( which was 121Dp )

Not only that it should be noted that is just how loud she CAN be it would be impractical if she couldn't adjust how loud she was ( matpat forgot inside voices exist)

[willmangrum]

What I'm taking away from this is that I'm not crazy for wanting to see an adaptation of this story where mermaids are literal monsters.

[XaviusNight]

One note on the hair thing - keep in mind that MANY animals show disadvantageous traits for purposes of mate attraction, as well as displaying warning colors and making themselves look bigger - all of which the hair can do while presenting a low-risk thing to have get bitten off if something does try to eat a Merfolk.

[loganentertainment]

There’s also the theory, that Prince Eric didn’t fall in love with Ariel. Mermaids are known (as the mythical story goes) to use their voice to sing and hypnotize sailors, typically, they can be called sirens. It would explain to why as soon as Eric hears Ariel’s voice, he fell for her instantly.

It would also explain why Ursula wants Ariel’s voice, because a mermaids voice is supposed to be powerful. Prince Eric’s love could all he a hypnosis lie, but I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts on this.

Also, I’m not the only one who thought of this theory. I forgot who made the theory, but I do know that I’m not the first.

Edit: Don't take this seriously, because I could be wrong. XD
But I still appreciate the feedback.

[naolmstead]

The realistic mermaid mammal evolution reminds me a lot about the likely evolution the human body would undergo after spending thousands of years in space looking a lot like the standard grey aliens.

[cornerIV]

I have an idea for how mermaids can still have long beautiful hair. What if it is something like a mating ritual? Like how birds have a lot of bright and colorful feathers to attract mates, mermaids want beautiful hair.

[ericthompson]

That's one of the excellent things about Splash: when Madison tries to tell Paul her actual name, it's basically terrifying.

[Garanseho]

The only reason I care about Disney live action remakes anymore is because I know MatPat will make an awesome theory on the animated originals

[dionettaeon]

"Mermaids: The Body Found" explores more realistic mermaids pretty well, imo, and are pretty similar to how you described. It features the aquatic ape theory, following a branch of early hominids adapting more heavily to a seafood diet, driving them further into the water. Over time, their hands and feet became webbed, their eyes grew larger, they lost their hair and external ears, and their skin became a mottled mix of blues and grays. Their legs became fused and far more flexible, and the fluke was comprised of what used to be foot bones and was shaped more like a scallop shell. They also developed a dorsal ridge from their forehead down their spine, and even more interestingly, a massive indentation in their skull showed that they were capable of sonar like cetaceans.
These mermaids weren't able to breathe underwater; like all marine mammals, they could seal their nostrils shut and hold their breath for long periods. They also couldn't speak like humans. Their vocalizations consisted of various "ah"s and sonar clicking. They were capable of crafting hunter-gatherer type tools like spears and nets, hunting both fish near the surface and squid in the darker depths. They even formed a mutualistic relationship with dolphins similar to humans and wolves, though more so as peers than pets.

On a side note, I was royally annoyed when I found out the documentary was faked like they did with "Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real", but I still like them both under the context of speculative evolution. I just wished that disclaimer was a bit clearer.

[DamonNomad]

The underwater volume of a mermaid's voice was actually addressed (briefly) in another live-action Disney movie from a few years before their animated version of "The Little Mermaid." In "Splash", starring Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, when the mermaid speaks her actual name, it creates a powerful shockwave that makes all the humans within earshot wince with pain and cover their ears, as well as shattering the many nearby TV screens (as the scene happens in the electronics section of a shopping mall).

[blahblahblah]

You should watch the documentary called "Mermaids: The Body Found", it talks a lot about what would happen if apes really did evolve to the sea as well and what they would look like. It's super interesting and honestly the most realistic view of mermaids yet.

[Draxynnic]

Immediate thought: Would she really be as loud in air as in water? Water is a better conductor of sound than air overall, and that means that sounds can easily get louder underwater than an equivalent sound in air. And this goes double if Ariel's vocal chords are optimised to use water. Combine that with her having had experience speaking to the seagull in air, and her observation of humans beforehand giving her some idea of how loud humans normally speak among themselves, and she can probably avoid blowing out eardrums. The bigger problem might be that a beautiful voice underwater might not be in air.

[rosscalhoun]

MatPat: "Mermaids have hair, so they must be mammals"

Also MatPat: "Mermaids don't have hair."

[PaulLoh]

I was a sonar technician on a submarine. I love how informative this video was about how sound travels through water. I had to learn all that in classrooms before I even made it to my first station. There's a lot of math involved in figuring out how far something is according to how loud or quiet it is. Of course there are lots of other ways to figure out range. But anyway, I've heard dolphins, whales, shrimp, fish, clams, and other sea creatures from underwater. You are correct in saying that their sound travels quite fast and far in water. Air does not have as much substance to carry sound with. You know those machines at Dave & Busters that have mechanical arms pushing tokens toward a coin collection slot? The more quarters there are, the more likely coins will fall into the slot. That's one way of possibly understanding why sound travels better in water than in air. And that is also why there is no sound in space.

[fucentauriel]

10:15 My swim coach told us that the whole shaving ritual is more to make you "feel slicker" than it is to actually reduce drag. Unless you're extra hairy, it doesn't make that big of a difference.

Also, no, you don't have to shave all your body's hair. If it's covered by your swimsuit, then again, it doesn't matter.