The Disney Adaptation of Faust You’ve Already Seen
So, for those who’ve never heard of Faust, or those who have heard of it but only have a passing knowledge on the story, let me explain.
Dr. Faust is a man who has become disillusioned and dissatisfied with the world around him. The principles of Law, Medicine, Logic, and Divinity fail to sate his curiosity, and feel like hollow ventures of study because of what they cannot teach him about the meaning of life and the universe. Hungry for knowledge beyond his means of obtaining, Faust turns to magic and attracts the attention of the demon Mephistopheles who comes to him on behalf of Satan with a proposition: twenty-four years of access to magic and the knowledge of the universe in exchange for his soul. Faust agrees, but subsequently ends up squandering twenty-three years using his magic for little more than party tricks to impress nobility. His time wasted, Faust tries with great futility to repent in a desparate attempt to save his soul, but he fails and he’s taken away by the demons of Hell when his twenty-four years runs out.
Now compare that to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989)
Much like the figure of Faust, Ariel is a character with a deep longing to understand the universe beyond her physical means, and turns to magic. Her drive to want to go to the surface world is primarily driven by intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn and understand more than she is currently capable of. Ursula plays an interesting dual role as both Mephistopheles and Lucifer. She comes to Ariel when she senses that the girl will be easy to manipulate, and promises her access to the kind of knowledge she seeks, that being knowledge about the human world. Much like how Faust was given twenty-four years, this deal is not permanent, though Ariel only has three days. Should she fail, she will literally belong to Ursula, just as Faust’s soul belongs to Lucifer, and Ariel would have ended up as one of the shrunken little cretins in Ursula’s garden, much like how Faust found himself trapped in Hell. Perhaps the most recognizable similarity is the use of a formal contract, as it is Faust which largely popularized the idea of signing a contract when making a deal with the devil, and both Faust and Ariel sign these contracts, albeit Faust does so with his own blood, while Ariel just uses some kind of fish bone skeleton pen. The key difference is of course that Ariel actually does succeed in her repentance and finds her reward in being allowed to keep the knowledge she gained from her deal, and to live happily in the world of her choosing.
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