TRITON NEEDS PARENTING CLASSES, ASAP!

Don't you wish you could go back and re-live your childhood now that you are an adult whose days are filled with responsabilities, bills, mortage payments, etc.?

A good chunk of my memories were, me sitting in front of the 'telly' and falling in love with movies like The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid (which my brother kindly decided to count how many times I viewed it: 100 something), The Rescuers, Secret of NIMH, etc.

Like many of you who grew up in the 90s, most of my fondest memories are thanks to Disney and other animation studios.

Now that I'm an adult seeing these films all over again, I can't help but notice that some of the content and/or characters are incredibly shady!!

In our conversation, the Husband and I were discussing how King Triton (yes, Ariel's dear ol' daddy) is in actuality a horrible parent.

Oh, don't believe me?

Here's why:

(Source: prgn.dromila.top)

For starters he is a neglectful father...

• He was a widower of a bunch of young women, not to mention one who is a rebeliious 16 year old! In the film, other than singing in a concert in order to please their father, you don't see any (minimal) interaction between the daughters and their King Daddy.

• Ariel is left under the supervision of, not one of her elder sisters, but a CRAB!! Yes, a freaggin' musical instructor crustacean! Hello Triton, this is your offspring, be a parent, guide her for crying out loud. Oh, no but instead of parenting her, you decide to yell at her for being a typical angsty teen and go on a heated rampage to destroy her junk.

• Why is it Sebastian's responsability to look after Ariel? Couldn't her sisters do it? wouldn't it be better, they could guide her or atleast be somewhat of a moral support system. But, instead, dear ol' daddy, chooses a crab.

King Triton is a totalitarian dictator.

• He is the sole ruler (and probably self-appointed, as well) of Antlatica, or whatever it is called. NO cabinet, NO advisors of any kind, don't even think of bringing a parliament, NOPE, he's the sole decision maker. Yup, if that doesn't scream totalitarian regime, I don't know what does.

• He's not a good king, his subjects are made to follow dumb rules that just make no sense, and why, because he says so.

Don't believe me? here's proof:

In the straight to video Ariel's Beginning, we find out why King Triton imposed that law of no contact with the human world. And actually if you think about it it's dumb.

His wife sacrifices herself to save her family (or Ariel, it's a bit blurry) from being killed by an incoming boat. It was her decision, no one made her do it. Plus, the ship wasn't aware that they had inadvertedly killed the wife of the King. How is it their responsibility? 

Oh, nope, in Triton's mind they are responsible and for that day forward he decrees no contact with the human world, out of pure WHIM.

When he's in the cave with Ariel, he states that humans are 'barbaric,' 'incapable of any feelings,' blah, blah.... how does he know that?! He assumed! Just by that one tragedy he assumed that they were horrible. His decree forbid contact with them, when in the first place, he never really had a lot of contact with them to begin with!

He's violent.

• He didn't need to utterly destroy Ariel's cave to make a point. Besides, if he had had any kind of decent relationship with his daughters in the first place, he wouldn't have needed to lash out so viciously against her.

• If things don't go his way, he starts getting furious, which his subjects live in fear of their monarch's wrath. They know that someone will pay the price.

• He condones Sebastian spying on Ariel. That's just plain creepy, over possesive.

So, we all know how the Disney version ends, true love conquers all and our rebellious teenager who has only been on land for exactly 3 days gets to marry the so-called man of her dreams and her dad finally accepts it and they live happily ever after.

As a kid, my reaction was 'awww' like many 8 year olds who are sold of the 'prince charming' and 'happily ever after' cliche. 

But now, it's absolutely ridikkulus!!! (yes, 10 points for Ravenclaw for the HP reference.)

So, Triton let me get this straight, your child directly disobeys you, runs off, makes a dumb contract (underage no less), stays over a STRANGER'S house (palace), then you have to go and save her butt (or fins) and you are completely o.k. with this? 

Instead of being a good parent and finding an appropriate punishment for her actions, you reward her by not only letting her stay on land but getting married to a STRANGER who she only has known for 3 STINKIN' DAYS!!!

(Source: amazon.com)

No worries, huh? She's no longer your problem, but his?

If my daugher tried to pull off those shenanigans, her butt would go straight to a covent and the dude would be facing oh so many charges.

But alas, the magic of Disney makes us by-pass all common reason, yet again, it is a movie, so, I guess, it's o.k.

Nevertheless, I still know every single song and yes, whenever I'm taking a bath (or for that matter when I'm in a pool) i STILL pretend that I'm a mermaid, lol.

Being a kid is fantastic and having awesome memories of your favorite films is part of growing up. They remind me of simpler times and I wouldn't change it.

Hopefully you enjoyed this post (it was meant to be light-hearted and in no way am I ranting).

If you liked it, comment below & share!

Til' next time!

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All trademark, copyrighted material, logos, names, brands, partners and affiliates are properties of Disney, Andrea Dejas, Amazon.com, prgn.dromila.top, etc. 

This post is used with Copyright Act of 1976, 17, U.S.C., § 107. All commentaries made in this post (that are not copyrighted) are my own. This blog is intended for entertainment purposes.