This story was originally published on March 24, 2015. But the theory is STILL mind-boggling!
About 25 years ago, a fun and fearless 16-year-old mermaid named Ariel became part of your world. The effervescent redhead (always accompanied by her charming companion Flounder) swam through the sea singing and dreaming about life on land. During a forbidden trip out of the water, she meets and falls for Eric, a human prince, and then plots a way to be with him. She finds that her only option is to make a dangerous deal with Ursula the sea witch — Ariel will get three days on land in exchange for her voice.
We all know the beloved Disney story. The deal crumbled pretty quickly. What we didn't realize until now; however, is that things could've gone differently. Better. All Ariel had to do was write a note.
This eureka moment came from Facebook user Mary Falls, who summed up the plot hole in a lengthy status:
"Well I found myself thinking, Ariel could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she had just learned to read and write. She could just scrawl out an explanation of her situation for Prince Eric like, 'Hey Blue Eyes, I saved your life and then you fell in love with my voice, which I could probably get back if you just used your love to try to suck it out of my throat through my mouth here,' but like nicer and in princess language. Then they could go ahead and seal the deal. But, then I figured, if she was the daughter of a king, she probably could read and write. She probably had the finest underwater education available, especially since she was the star of the under sea orchestral extravaganza, which had absolutely no room for scrubs. Then it occurred to me, duh — they can't write underwater without those special pens, and they'd have to be able to walk to The Sharper Image to get those. But, I'll be damned, she signed that contract with Ursula. So, Ariel is completely flipping literate and, in point of fact, has excellent penmanship! I had to give her the benefit of the doubt and think, well maybe she didn't want to explain herself cause she was trying to be a cool water fish about the whole deal and take her game to the next level. Except she tried to explain herself on the beach while dressed in a sail and miming like an adorable lunatic. Crushingly, Ariel absolutely could've closed from moment one and happens to be a moron."
We might not go so far as to say Ariel is a moron, but Falls has some great points. Ariel's signature, no matter how beautiful her penmanship, is what sealed her initial demise. That same handwriting could have gotten her out of trouble.
Ariel might have been a poor unfortunate soul, but at least now viewers have Disney characters like Anna and Elsa from Frozen to show just how independent, strong, and self-sufficient princesses and regular women alike are and have always been. We can rescue ourselves if given the chance, thank you very much. (Huffington Post)
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