Reconsidering Ariel, Again

After reading Roberta Trite's "Disney's (Sub)Version of Andersen's Little Mermaid" I am again reconsidering how I view Ariel. I'd still never want to be her in either the H.C.A version of The Little Mermaid or in the Disney version, however I can see Trite's point about how at least the H.C.A. version isn't focused exclusively on romantic love as the soul pursuit of the protagonist. I may have just been off put by the H.C.A version because personally I don't think religious concepts of heaven should necessarily to stressed to children in order to respect their and their families' religious autonomy, however I do agree with Trite that the principles of charity and forgiveness are valuable to learn. I also agree with Trite that Disney's fairytale presents more extensive opinions on what makes a "good" physical shape that the H.C.A. version. Although in H.C.A. the witch says that the Little Mermaid's beauty will help her attract her prince, H.C.A. never specifies what about her is beautiful. In the Disney fairytale, Ariel is slender, fair, and has a doe-eyed innocence, where the evil villain Ursula is fat and has skin that is a grey-ish tone. One could say that this is Disney's commentary on the superiority of pale skin, but more definitely it represents the weight conscious ethos of America beginning around the time that The Little Mermaid was produced where hyper-thinness began to be considered the ideal (also known as the heroin-chic look). While some facets of Trite's argument seemed like a stretch to me (she seemed very keen on the presence of phallic objects within the story but most seemed a little far-fetched to me, same with the whole H.C.A's having the mermaid feel as if she were stepping on glass as a metaphor for menstration), I could get on board with much of it, including the Paradise Lost allusion relating Ursula to a Satan-figure. If my issue was the presence of religious allusions, then I guess this would make that a mute point and judging the stories otherwise especially after reading Trite's paper, I'm surprised to say that the original story is actually more relative and valuable as a children's story meant to teach ideals than the more modern Disney version. The songs and everything are clever, but I'd rather have little girls learning that goodness will grant them a happy ending than learning marriage is the key to their happily ever after.