We're Going To Need A Bigger Boat: The Little Mermaid

What would you do if you fell in love with a prince on a boat who ate oysters and fell overboard? Since you're a mermaid, you'd save him and fall madly in love with him, right? What would you do if you sold your singing voice to the sea witch and her flesh-eating eels to become human? What would you do if your husband kidnapped a mermaid and kept trying to feed her fish and potatoes when all she wanted to eat was human flesh? We explore these fascinating questions as we analyze the connection between food, horror and fairy tales in Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale The Little Mermaid, along with two other modern fish-female films The Lure and She Creature. So please jump on into the water and join us!

References:

Ondine (2009), directed by Neil Jordan.

The Lure (Córki dancingu) (2015), directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska.

She Creature (2001), directed by Sebastian Gutierrez.

Books

Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley: TQS Publications, 1972.

Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander (Outlander Book 1). New York: Delacorte Press, 1991.

Jarvie, Gordon (ed.). Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales. London: Penguin Books, 1992.

Mother Earth, Father Sky: Native American Myth. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991.