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I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but I think it’s safe to say that most of us are pretty familiar with Walt Disney’s synergized version of The Little Mermaid as opposed to Hans Christian Andersen’s original version. I also think that most will agree that Walt Disney’s version is a corporate appropriation of the original - which Walt Disney film isn’t, right? In any case, both merit discussion since they inadvertently find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum. I’m not going to go into detail about each version, you’ll have to do the leg work on that one yourselves. However, if you’ve seen Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid, then you’re half way there. I will say that as a scholar I feel a respsonsibility to introduce Hans Christian Andersen’s original version of The Little Mermaid. As an educator, I feel quite the opposite. For example, I think Hans Christian Andersen’s version should wait on deck, so to speak, until children are old enough to understand and as a result, appreciate the complexity of the original version.