Wait…the Little Mermaid was trans? (part 3 of 4)
It won’t cost you much…JUST YOUR VOICE
Look at this face Isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you say my transition’s complete? Wouldn’t you say I’m a girl? A girl who has…almost everything?
This article owes just about every inch of gratitude I can spare to the phenomenal writer, poet, and champion for anyone who loves to sing: Jenny Starr. Her ideas, insights, and experiences helped all of us at Transgender Soapbox see The Little Mermaid in a new way.
As for me, I’ll tell you how to support Transgender Soapbox at the end.
READ PART 1 and 2 FIRST!
Hey, I know you’ve seen the movie a million times, but this is not the same story. Read part 1 and part 2 or forever be demoted to the back of Sebastian’s chorus.
LET’S GET STARTED!
SUMMARY OF PART 1
SUMMARY OF PART 2
AND NOW: WAIT…THE LITTLE MERMAID WAS TRANS?? PART 3 (of 4)
“Ariel, dear, time to come out.”
After saving Eric, Ariel had gone home and told one of her sisters. And do you know what they said?
“Aries, no boy is ever going to love a limbo-lady like you.”
To Ariel, “limbo-lady” was as stupid an insult as calling someone a carp-harp or a newt-flute. But her DEADNAME?!
Aries.
A shudder ran through Ariel’s entire body.
Bad enough that her sisters used that name. Now Ariel had broken her vow to never use that name herself, not even in her thoughts.
Her deadname triggered all of her worst fears and the certainty she’d secretly dedicated herself to trying to avoid.
She turned to Ursula, her arms outstretched in desperation. “I can’t live like this. Please help me.”
Ursula smiled with such instant greed that the little mermaid almost changed her mind.
Almost.
“I’ll turn you into a real girl,” Ursula said. “I’ll make sure no one ever mentions your deadname again.”
If only Ariel had known the true cost.
“It’s she who holds her tongue who gets her man.”
A difficult journey brought her to the shore of Prince Eric’s castle. He found her, saved her, held her. Their eyes met — and it was everything Ariel had hoped for.
She felt like she was home. She would be his princess. He would be her prince.
“It’s you,” he said.
“It’s me,” she said, then put her hand over her mouth, startled by her own voice.
It was just as Ursula said. This new body was everything she needed her body to be. All it had cost her was her voice.
This new one didn’t just sound lighter. It had no other option. She couldn’t quite explain it…but the buzzy undertones were gone. Trapped beneath the water with her discarded heritage.
The grief of it let her know they’d need to talk later. But she let that grief hear that it was worth it. Because now? She had Eric. The one she’d given it all up to be w —
Then she saw his face.
And it was wrong. All wrong.
“At this rate, she’ll be kissing him by sunset.”
Ariel had once worried she’d never get rid of that voice. Now she couldn’t believe it was so easily gone.
And with it, her chance with Eric.
She couldn’t believe she’d gotten it so wrong.
How had this happened??
She’d believed her father. King Triton, he called himself. The only authority in the sea.
He’d told her any man would require her to be a traditional girl. The sort of mermaid that would open a concert for her sixteenth birthday with a voice that might never feel like it belonged to her, even if the body finally did.
In her desperation, she leaned harder into those lies. But with every false note, she lost sight of hope. She yearned for Erin with her eyes, but his downcast smile broke her heart.
She could see it in his face. She’d already lost him.
There had to be a way to fix this. A way to put things back to the way things were.
Hadn’t Ursula suggested just as much? A way to keep her mermaid body, her authentic voice, and the human who’d won her heart?
But as she turned to the sea, a sickening realization fell on her.
No matter what Ariel decided, things could never go back to the way they once were.
NEXT: The stunning conclusion to WAIT…THE LITTLE MERMAID WAS TRANS??
THE END (DAMN GIRL, THAT’S DARK)
Hi, it’s Stephenie!
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