General
How are females defined in the story?
Females are defined to be fair-skinned, beautiful and risking to do anything to be with a man showing they are dependant on men.
How are males defined?
Males are defined as being strong like how the prince saved the little mermaid with the trident as well they are defined to recognize a women's identity like how the little mermaid is known to be the Sea King's daughter.
How do male and female characters relate to one another?
How this story shows males and females relating to each other is by both of them needing each other in order to be happy.
what contributes as femininity?
In the story hat contributes as femininity is being fair-skinned, having luscious hair, having a melodious voice and etc.
What contributes as masculinity?
In the story what contributed as masculnity is being strong and having a strong or powerful image like the Sea King representing the little mermaids identity which is why the witch seeked revenge with her.
Does the text challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
No, actually the text supports traditional views of a women for example looking a certain way to be beautiful like having long hair,fair skin, beautiful body and being dependant on another man.
If a female character were male would the story be different?
Yes, the story would most certainly be different but in that case, it would be showing that males are dependant on females and should look a certain way to be handsome still representing gender criticism through literature.
What power does a gender hold in this story? Why?
The power a female has in the story is to attract a male in the story with her melodious voice. For example when the little mermaid fell in love with the prince she started to sing making him getting attracted to the little mermaid.
How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness?
Since the little mermaid was single that showed her hapiness and main objective was to be with someone else like the prince in the story and fall in love with him.
Why do you think The Little Mermaid portrays females in this way? What importance does it serve to the movie?
Any relative awnser that makes sense will be rewarded points.