Go On and Kiss the Girl

Another softening of a story hit me as particularly disturbing yesterday. As you know, faithful reader, I have a weakness for pop music and Colbie Callait and Ashley Tisdale both rerecorded "Kiss the Girl" from Disney's The Little Mermaid. It's a good song, and both versions are fun and made their way onto my iPod. But as I was listening to the Colbie Callait version, it struck me how far from Hans Christen Anderson's original the Disney story had strayed.



Never mind that Ariel can walk without feeling like swords were stabbing her, like in the original, but if the mermaid can't get her true love to reciprocate by kissing her (or marrying her), then not only will she have sacrificed her 300 year long mer-life, but also any chance at an immortal soul.



So, when Colbie and Ashley sing:

Sha la la la la la ain't that sad
Ain't it a shame, too bad
He gonna miss the girl

They're really underplaying the stakes for Ariel.



I mean, jeez, she's about to end up as sea foam! Shouldn't there be more urgency than "ain't it a shame?"

Or maybe, again, it's just a pop song.

Oh, and don't get me started on what a mistake Ashley Tisdale made "fixing" her nose....