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Dad Diary

 My family tried "The Croods," which was pretty to look at, but lacking in substance. Then Marc suggested "The Little Mermaid."


Susie will watch almost anything; Josh is a mixed bag. I find the best strategy is to allot thirty minutes, toward the start of the day. Small children can focus--briefly--at an early hour.

Let me concede that "Mermaid" isn't perfect. Scuttle and Flounder are boring (and they established an unfortunate template for the "cutesy animal friend," which provided diminishing returns, over a span of years, in the nineties. Witness "Pocahontas.") Eric is a misfire. The weird choral music at the end puzzles me. "Now we can walk, now we can run...." Why not just give these lines to Ariel?

All that said, I'm astounded by the brilliance and gayness of this story. Ariel is, quite clearly, a young gay man; she is Howard Ashman. She will "bed" a bipedal creature--rules be damned.

Ariel's nemesis--Ursula--is, also, a gay man. Though modeled on Divine, Ursula makes me think of Stephen Sondheim or James Marshall, an artist/outsider with penetrating insight. "On land it's much preferred.... for ladies not to say a word...." (Could a straight man depict heteronormative insanity in this same way?) "Men dote and swoon and fawn....on a lady who's WITHDRAWN!"

It's difficult not to cheer for Ursula--and this is the result of Ashman's subversive gift.

I'm actually not sure what my family made of "The Little Mermaid," but I had a great time.
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