New little mermaid

楊斯琪 陳柳伊 郝晉淵

I began researching my favorite Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales and came up with three that I liked since my childhood. I finally decided to choose “The Little Mermaid”as the basis of this project， meanwhile， I also wished to incorporate two other Hans Christian Andersen tales， “The Princess on the Pea”， a story of a girl who is tested by a prince to prove her royal lineage by placing a pea in her bed to see if she feels it and “The Little Match girl”， a tragic tale of an orphan girl who dies alone in the snow. Its “The Little Mermaid” that I feel really standing-out as a story. This fairy tale depicts a little mermaid who on her fifteenth birthday finally gets to see the human world and ends up saving a prince from drowning. Her grandmother tells her about humans shorter life and eternal soul. The little mermaid is eager for an immortal soul and makes a deal with the Sea Witch. Though being warned by the Sea Witch about the bad consequences， the little mermaid still determines to go through with it. The dark nature of the deal is that in exchange for legs the little mermaid has to give up her sweet voice. In the end， the little mermaid loses her tongue and keeps feeling great pains while walking. She spends time with the prince trying to get him to fall in love with her. Unfortunately， the prince married a princess from another country. The little mermaids sisters try to save her by giving her a dagger， which they got from the Sea Witch. She goes to the princes chamber but cant kill him because she loves him. Consequently， she sacrifices herself to become bubbles. Andersen's fairy tales are always sad and profound， in which the little mermaid impresses me most. In most fairy tales， the protagonists have happy endings， such as Snow White and Cinderella. The little mermaid is not that lucky as the heroines in other fairy tales. In children's literature she is a tragic image， and also a sharp and vivid image in Andersen's story “The Little Mermaid”. Aristotle thinks that the ideal tragic character should be someone who has some defect or fault. From my point of view， the little mermaid has her faults and defects. She is very immature and rushes into things without thinking of the consequences； however， recklessness and courage often go hand in hand. She is very brave leaving her family and life in the sea to be a part of a new world， which she knows nothing about. She is also a heroine in Andersens tale by sacrificing herself instead of killing her beloved prince， accepting the consequences of her actions in the end. “The little mermaid” is not only a touching and poignant love story， but also reflects some social reality， for example， the little Mermaid's lost voice is the key to her tragic fate. "Lost voice" has a certain symbolic meaning， indicating that women have lost the right and freedom of expression. In their view， The Little Mermaid approaching the prince on condition that the sound is lost implied that women's silence in front of men was the first law in the male-dominated world. The other two stories are also created by Andersen. Whether “Princess on the Pea” or the “The Little Match Girl”， they reflected the certain social reality. “The Princess on the Pea” tells the story of a princess with extremely sensitive skin， she can feel a little pea under the blanket of over twenty layers. Some people say that Andersen aims to satirize the fragile feudal aristocracy who cannot stand a single blow. I quite agree with that.

I wished to skillfully combine three well-known stories， the little mermaid is my main role， and the other two characters are the princess on the pea and the little match girl， they will be in my story as well. In the adapted story， the little mermaid still maintains her brave and reckless nature and I will give her some human frailty to make the whole story dark. The happy ending of Princess and Prince will be changed， the little match girl will sell out all her matches. In my adaptation of the faire tale， the little mermaid saved the Prince and fell in love with him at first sight. She exchanged the human legs with her voice with the Sea Witch， went to the Prince's castle to find the prince. She happened to see a notice pasted on the wall of the castle in which it was said that the prince was looking for a real princess to be his wife. She was overjoyed and very confident that she was the real princess， so she queued up with many girls outside the castle to be tested. The people in the castle made them do a strange test that they all need sleep in the bed with the very thick mattress. When she woke up the next day and found that the prince and the princess on the pea were married， she was very angry， but could not speak， she ran out of the castle in a rage， vowed to avenge the prince. She met a little girl who sold matches， and then she bought all the little girl's matches， set fire to the prince's castle， and then returned to the sea.

Most of the fairy tales that children hear now always have happy endings， like all the Disney animations. fairy tales can mislead children into thinking that they are living in a safe， risk-free world， so that children will believe that everything has a happy ending. That proper fidelity to the original is good for the children in my opinion. In addition， fairy tales should not only be made for children to see， some adaptations showing the new plots to adults who could compare it with their once familiar fairy tales is also a very interesting thing. Adapt the fairy tale based on two points， one is to show people that there is an ugly side of human nature， and another is to use a dark comedy style to bring viewers a fancy and unique experience， which is different from before.

References：

1.Experts：

[1]Aristotle （Aristotle 384 BC～322），ancient sages，the ancient Greeks， one of the great philosopher，scientist and educator in the history of the ancient world， called the master of Greek philosophy. He is a student of Platon， a teacher of Alexander.

[2]Lu Xun （Lu Xun （September 25，1881 October 19th 1936），The famous writers and thinkers， the important participants of the 54 new cultural movement， the founder of Chinese modern literature.

[3]Neil Gaiman（Neil Gaiman，1960--）The literary biography dictionaries listed him as？one？of？the？ten？postmodern？writers.

2.Book：

[1]Neil Gaiman， 2009， Coraline， Juveniles and Children's Publishing House China.