She was also encouraged to soften her singing voice almost to the point of speaking so that the song would feel more intimate. When recording the vocals for Ariel's theme song " Part of Your World", she consented to Howard Ashman's suggestion that the lights in the studio be dimmed, to "feel a bit more enclosed" and create the feeling of being deep under the sea. Jodi Benson, who was predominantly a stage actress when she was cast, was chosen to voice Ariel because the directors felt "it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking voice." Co-director Ron Clements remarked that her voice had "sweetness" and "youthfulness" that was unique. She has been compared to past Disney heroines from Walt Disney's lifetime but is more physically similar to Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast, as they all have big eyes, a broad forehead and a small mouth and chin. The sea-green color of her mermaid tail was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab the color was named "Ariel" after the character. A challenge in animating her for the film was the color required to show her in the changing environments, both under the sea and on land, for which the animators required 32-color models, not including costume changes. Her appearance was also based on model Sherri Stoner, who provided live-action references for the animators during the development of the film and also inspired the look for Belle. During development, the studio officially gave their Little Mermaid the aquatic-like name of "Ariel".Īriel's original design was developed by animator Glen Keane, who had reportedly said in an animation lecture that she was based on his own wife. However, the development team indicated that the changes given for the film coincidentally matched up with the changes Walt Disney made during his attempted take on the film. In the mid-1980s, the project was finally reopened, yet Disney decided to disregard the dark and grimy aspects of Andersen's story and make the film a more child-friendly version with a much happier ending which worked better for the company's brand. There have been alternate statements, however, that indicated that Disney may have intended to go for the happy ending route. However, after writing the script and illustrating the storyboard the project was shelved to focus on other projects also in the works such as Dumbo, Bambi, and Fantasia. The feature was to be a very faithful adaption to Hans Christian Andersen's tale with the Mermaid dying and turning into sea foam in the end. Walt Disney himself and artist Kay Nielsen began work on the story of The Little Mermaid in the 1930s and early 40s. At the age of 16, she unexpectedly becomes deeply infatuated with a young and handsome human prince named Eric and sacrifices all things dear to her for the chance of being with her one true love. She is the youngest and prettiest princess of the sea but spends most of her time outside the palace walls of Atlantica singing, daydreaming, and adventuring with her best friend Flounder the guppy fish, and sometimes Sebastian the crab who is also the royal adviser to Ariel's father. 4.6 Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witchīackground Official Description Ariel is an independent, headstrong and determined young mermaid.
4.2 The Little Mermaid Marvel serial comics.