Problematic because: "She targets Ariel when she’s isolated, angry at her father, and desperate to be human. Ariel is sixteen, and Ursula knows exactly how to use that - she offers her the one thing she wants most, hides the worst parts of the deal in “fine print,” takes her voice as payment, and gives her only three days to get Eric to kiss her. When it looks like Ariel might actually succeed, Ursula cheats by turning herself into Vanessa, hypnotising Eric, and using Ariel’s stolen voice to make him choose her instead. She frames the whole thing like Ariel made a fair bargain, but she’s clearly manipulating a vulnerable teenager into a rigged contract. She’s also generally awful to anyone who owes her anything. Her cave is full of merpeople turned into little shrivelled polyps, which strongly suggests Ariel is far from the first person she’s trapped through deals like this. Once she has power, she doesn’t just want freedom or revenge on Triton, she wants control over the entire ocean. She takes Triton’s crown and trident, grows massive, nearly kills Ariel and Eric, and declares herself ruler."
Propaganda: 1. "I mean, it’s Ursula. The design, the voice, the song, the way she moves, the little hand gestures, the dramatic cave full of cursed former clients. She’s one of those villains where every second on screen feels fun. She is absolutely scamming Ariel from the start and then cheats anyway when Ariel might win, which is horrible, but also very funny villain behaviour. Like she cannot even let her rigged evil contract play out normally. She has to put on a wig and commit identity fraud too."
2. "she is the blueprint for so many people’s love of theatrical villain women. she’s mean, clever, petty, powerful, and she makes being evil look like a full time cabaret act. poor unfortunate souls alone would be enough honestly. also i do think the actual setup is nastier than people sometimes remember. ariel is a teenager, she’s just had this huge fight with triton, she’s upset and embarrassed and desperate, and ursula sends the eels after her at exactly the right moment. she doesn’t just wait around for customers. she hunts for the emotional weak spot, then starts talking like she’s the only adult in the room who understands. the voice thing is especially creepy because it’s not just “payment,” it’s taking away ariel’s ability to explain herself, argue, ask for help, or tell eric what really happened. and then after all that, when ariel might actually get the kiss, ursula still cheats. incredible. terrible. zero respect for contract law from the sea witch who keeps making contracts."
Problematic because: "He's canonically a selfish jerk who is mean/rude to everyone, goes out of his way to be hurtful and inflict pain on others, and almost ruined every circus members chance of escaping because he had a panic attack and freaked out."
Propaganda: 1. "I think that he's a deeper character than some give him credit for and there are aspects of him that resonate with people that have a hard time accepting reality for what it is and that have a hard time coming to terms with having trauma that affects people other than themselves. He exhibits a trauma response that is often stigmatized or not acknowledged."
2. "He's got layers to him and absolutely needs therapy; the (potential) root of all his behavior stems from trauma he's accumulated both in (and maybe outside) of the circus and he pushes people away so that they don't get too close to him or try to become his friend. No one can leave you behind if nobody wants you around anyway, right?? /sarcasm"
3. "he's FASCINATING. everything he does is motivated by overwhelming fear. he was hurt in the past and that got him SO bad he decided nothing matters because none of them are real people. highly trans-coded but terrified of facing that. scared of vulnerability in himself so he punishes it in others. you could vivisect him and there'd always be another layer."
areudirty
origamiaround
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
discoholicmusic
