{"id":306,"date":"2021-07-22T21:32:28","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T01:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/?p=306"},"modified":"2021-07-22T21:32:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T01:32:28","slug":"echoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/echoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Echoes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I was listening to Revisionist History talk about The Little Mermaid<\/a> – from the look of things they’ll be discussing it for quite a while, but even this first episode made a couple of interesting points, I think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d never really thought about how odd the Disney version’s portrayal of contracts IS – Ariel’s is rather Faustian, with the whole of the narrative sort of tacitly assuming that such a contract, once signed, is inviolable and unbreakable, never mind whether it was made on misleading or false premises, or whether all parties to the contract were of legal age (though now I really wonder just what the mermaid age of majority is<\/strong>, exactly.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younger me was pretty pleased with Disney’s happier ending for the story – Andersen’s original is pretty depressing, though if what Malcolm there says about him writing it in a kind of paroxysm of romantic rejection is true it…would actually make a fair bit of sense. The whole story is just searing longing, all the way down, and although Disney’s iteration has many fine points it doesn’t quite…burn like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, on Aria Code, La Traviata<\/em> surprised me by echoing that same fierce yearning – “Addio del passato<\/a>,” an equally searing representation of almost <\/em>and not-enough<\/em> and too-late<\/em>, of the acknowledgment that to pass now, like this, will mean to lie forgotten in a pauper’s grave, forgotten too quickly. Not having gained that immortal soul the Little Mermaid craved so deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it is that<\/strong> the original Little Mermaid wanted; the chance at more, at after, at a spiritual profundity that her long undersea life could not give her. The love of the prince was certainly nice, as means to an end go, but that Higher Thing…that more<\/em>. Something worth losing your voice and your identity for; something worth walking on knives for always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the same way Violetta – or the Lady of the Camellias<\/a> on whom she is based, or perhaps even the real-world woman who inspired her<\/a> – had a lovely life, of beautiful people and glamorous parties and witty partners, but love was something else, and to be remembered when she passed something else again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To dance at the wedding that means your doom; to bear a public shaming from the man you love most in the world, for reasons you cannot explain. To cast away the knife that could have saved you; to yield up your own love for the chance at happiness of another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Little Mermaid flung herself into the ocean, fully expecting to become nothing more than sea-foam. Violetta sings of the existential terror of a pit without even a cross to bear her name. Marie Duplessis was buried in a pauper’s grave at first, her worldly goods quickly yielded up to creditors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then, the Daughters of the Air, and a chance at something greater after all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, a kindness, and a tomb in Montmartre<\/a> where to this day some still leave camellias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little hope in the end after all. If only things didn’t have to be so very dire first to get there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I was listening to Revisionist History talk about The Little Mermaid – from the look of things they’ll be discussing it for quite a while, but even this first episode made a couple of interesting points, I think. I’d never really thought about how odd the Disney version’s portrayal of contracts IS – Ariel’s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Echoes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slice-of-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rampantbicycle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}