WEBVTT - Little Mermaid Part 3: Honestly Ever After 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:28.516 Pushkin exterior ocean the ship Magic Hour, Ariel grabs onto 0:00:28.556 --> 0:00:31.956 a portal window. She hoists herself out of the seas 0:00:32.196 --> 0:00:34.876 scales the side of the ship toward the deck. The 0:00:34.956 --> 0:00:38.316 final bars of cannon ind float down from above as 0:00:38.356 --> 0:00:39.236 Ariel ascends. 0:00:41.236 --> 0:00:46.596 Do you, Prince Eric, take Ursula to have and to 0:00:46.756 --> 0:00:50.556 hold in sickness and in health for as long as 0:00:50.596 --> 0:00:51.716 you both shall live. 0:00:53.156 --> 0:00:56.476 Ariel throws one leg over the starboard railing. The guests, 0:00:56.596 --> 0:00:59.796 enraptured by the perfection of the bride and groom, don't even. 0:00:59.556 --> 0:01:00.476 Notice her arrival. 0:01:01.396 --> 0:01:05.076 Eric looks deep into Ursula's eyes, hypnotized. 0:01:05.076 --> 0:01:05.316 I do. 0:01:08.916 --> 0:01:12.236 My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, 0:01:12.476 --> 0:01:17.636 my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. This episode is 0:01:17.676 --> 0:01:21.636 the third and final part of our investigation into the 0:01:21.636 --> 0:01:27.516 Walt Disney Companies nineteen eighty nine princess blockbuster The Little Mermaid. 0:01:30.796 --> 0:01:33.636 In parts one and two, we told you what was wrong. 0:01:33.396 --> 0:01:34.916 With the movie. 0:01:35.196 --> 0:01:39.276 In this part three, Revisionist History brings you our production 0:01:39.516 --> 0:01:44.916 of The Little Mermaid, a version finally fit for your children. 0:01:52.116 --> 0:01:56.076 Allow me to reintroduce you to the creative force behind 0:01:56.516 --> 0:02:00.396 our version of the Little Mermaid the actor and screenwriter 0:02:00.996 --> 0:02:04.836 britt Marling. We met her in the previous episode where 0:02:04.876 --> 0:02:08.196 I asked her to reimagine a better ending for The 0:02:08.236 --> 0:02:13.316 Little Mermaid, to identify precisely where Disney went wrong and 0:02:13.436 --> 0:02:13.876 fix it. 0:02:14.636 --> 0:02:16.876 Look, there's something very true at the center of The 0:02:16.876 --> 0:02:20.556 Little Mermaid, and that's what makes it sticky, both the Hans' 0:02:20.636 --> 0:02:24.596 version and the animated version that came from Disney. And 0:02:24.636 --> 0:02:29.116 the sticky thing at the center is that women do 0:02:29.356 --> 0:02:33.516 often lose their voices at around that age, and so 0:02:34.036 --> 0:02:36.436 any myth that doesn't have something true at the center, 0:02:36.876 --> 0:02:39.276 you just fades away. It doesn't really last the test 0:02:39.316 --> 0:02:41.396 of time. But a myth that gets something right will 0:02:41.396 --> 0:02:42.076 stick around. 0:02:43.156 --> 0:02:46.396 In both the original Hans Christian Anderson version of The 0:02:46.396 --> 0:02:50.116 Little Mermaid and in the Disney version, the Little Mermaid 0:02:50.196 --> 0:02:52.916 must surrender her voice to the Sea Witch in order 0:02:52.956 --> 0:02:54.716 to participate in the real world. 0:02:55.556 --> 0:02:58.556 To get to a true, happy ending, you have to 0:02:58.596 --> 0:03:02.156 acknowledge that the tear in the story is maybe correct right, 0:03:02.236 --> 0:03:05.956 that it functions as a cautionary tale. Young women sometimes 0:03:06.036 --> 0:03:10.116 do lose their voices, and that or that point of 0:03:10.116 --> 0:03:14.556 no return promises an obligatory scene and the obligatory scene is, well, 0:03:15.076 --> 0:03:17.076 how does she get her voice back? Does she get 0:03:17.076 --> 0:03:19.556 her voice back? What does she say when she has 0:03:19.596 --> 0:03:24.716 her voice back? And on those counts, the Disney version 0:03:24.876 --> 0:03:29.836 really fails to inspire a genuine happy ending about how 0:03:29.876 --> 0:03:31.836 a young woman might get her voice back and then 0:03:31.836 --> 0:03:32.236 what she. 0:03:32.276 --> 0:03:33.036 Might do with it. 0:03:34.156 --> 0:03:37.236 Someone just randomly gives her voice back, Like did she 0:03:37.316 --> 0:03:38.956 go to the loss and found that it happened to 0:03:38.956 --> 0:03:41.676 be there? I mean, it's it's about as unsatisfying as that. 0:03:42.276 --> 0:03:44.756 I mean I went back and rewatched it, Malcolm because 0:03:44.796 --> 0:03:46.436 I was like, I can't be as bad as I 0:03:46.516 --> 0:03:51.156 think it is, but it's worse. She's standing on the 0:03:51.236 --> 0:03:55.116 dock watching the wedding ship go out into the sunset, 0:03:55.556 --> 0:03:57.916 knowing that Eric is about to marry this princess and 0:03:58.396 --> 0:04:01.636 when the sunsets, she'll be turned into this algae creature 0:04:01.716 --> 0:04:04.356 that's a lost soul in like Ursula's Garden of lost 0:04:04.356 --> 0:04:07.276 Souls under the sea. So she's crestfallen and she's standing 0:04:07.276 --> 0:04:12.636 there and then skull the seagull comes flapping and he's like, 0:04:12.676 --> 0:04:15.156 oh my gosh, I look through the portal window. 0:04:14.876 --> 0:04:18.956 And it's Ursula who's marrying Prince Eric and Jeriel flings 0:04:18.956 --> 0:04:21.996 herself off the dock, lands in the water and she 0:04:22.036 --> 0:04:23.036 can't swim. 0:04:23.316 --> 0:04:24.636 So then like, not. 0:04:24.516 --> 0:04:26.756 Only does Flounder have to drag her to the boat 0:04:26.796 --> 0:04:28.716 on the back of a barrel, but then when she 0:04:28.716 --> 0:04:32.156 gets up onto the deck, she's standing there and it's Scuttle, 0:04:32.716 --> 0:04:34.276 the seagull that goes. 0:04:34.076 --> 0:04:36.836 And gets the shell off Ursula's neck, throws it on 0:04:36.876 --> 0:04:39.996 the floor and it just happens to land where she's standing, 0:04:40.196 --> 0:04:43.956 and she just happens to reabsorb her her voice through 0:04:44.196 --> 0:04:46.156 literally no agency of her own. 0:04:52.196 --> 0:04:55.396 Brit believed that the Little Mermaid could only be saved 0:04:55.476 --> 0:04:58.876 with a completely new kind of aerial But who could 0:04:58.876 --> 0:05:02.396 play her? I called up Avy Kaufman, one of the 0:05:02.476 --> 0:05:06.316 top casting directors in Hollywood. I sent her Brit script 0:05:06.556 --> 0:05:09.396 and I asked her to find as someone to body 0:05:09.476 --> 0:05:13.276 the spirit of a teenager, a mermaid teenager, but one 0:05:13.396 --> 0:05:16.036 with a certain amount of moxie edge. 0:05:16.596 --> 0:05:22.476 So, you know, in thinking about child actors and Jody 0:05:22.596 --> 0:05:28.396 and people we love, I think Jody could have done that. 0:05:28.996 --> 0:05:33.716 Jody being Jody Foster. Jody Foster, who famously played an 0:05:33.796 --> 0:05:37.996 FBI agent in Silence of the Lambs, and long before that, 0:05:38.356 --> 0:05:43.636 a child prostitute in Martin Scossese's taxi driver. Why do 0:05:43.676 --> 0:05:45.116 you want me to go back to my parents? 0:05:46.556 --> 0:05:47.316 I mean they hate me. 0:05:48.116 --> 0:05:49.756 Why do you think I split in the first place? 0:05:50.516 --> 0:05:51.436 There ain't nothing there. 0:05:51.716 --> 0:05:53.036 Yeah, but you can't live like this. 0:05:53.516 --> 0:05:55.636 It's a hell the girls. 0:05:55.716 --> 0:05:56.396 You'll live at home. 0:05:58.156 --> 0:05:59.596 Did you ever hear of Women's Live? 0:06:00.956 --> 0:06:01.196 Yes? 0:06:01.916 --> 0:06:05.236 That Jody Foster. That's where we're going with this. We're 0:06:05.276 --> 0:06:09.516 thinking that the young Jody Foster ought to play a 0:06:09.596 --> 0:06:10.956 Disney princess. 0:06:11.196 --> 0:06:15.876 Yeah, Jody could have done that believably, believably, and Jody's 0:06:15.996 --> 0:06:21.876 kind of like that. She's got that toughness inside that's 0:06:21.916 --> 0:06:23.956 surrounded by the big heart. 0:06:24.796 --> 0:06:28.436 And the intelligence you're talking about. We would believe that 0:06:28.556 --> 0:06:30.396 she could make that leap. 0:06:30.516 --> 0:06:31.276 Jody could do it. 0:06:31.316 --> 0:06:31.756 There you go. 0:06:32.116 --> 0:06:34.556 The young Jody Foster could not have been well Disney's aerial, 0:06:34.876 --> 0:06:38.156 not in a million years. No, back her eyelashes and 0:06:38.276 --> 0:06:40.036 let someone else save her. Are you kidding me? 0:06:40.156 --> 0:06:43.396 Like, she wouldn't have taken the role because she wouldn't 0:06:43.396 --> 0:06:44.836 have had a clue what to do with that. 0:06:46.676 --> 0:06:48.836 She would have said, are you sure you're not looking 0:06:48.876 --> 0:06:50.036 for another Jay Foster? 0:06:51.116 --> 0:06:51.156 No? 0:06:51.676 --> 0:06:53.356 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:06:53.596 --> 0:06:56.516 Did we ask Jody Foster to play our aerial to 0:06:56.676 --> 0:07:00.716 join the Pushkin players? Did she say yes? Let me 0:07:00.756 --> 0:07:05.116 answer that with another question, have we hit Revision's history ever? 0:07:05.396 --> 0:07:10.836 Let you down? While in England, I grew up hearing 0:07:10.836 --> 0:07:15.956 the BBC program Listen with Mother, every episode of which opened. 0:07:15.596 --> 0:07:17.516 With are you sitting comfortably? 0:07:19.676 --> 0:07:20.316 Then I'll begin. 0:07:22.716 --> 0:07:25.236 You've all been patient, all of you. You have listened 0:07:25.396 --> 0:07:28.116 as we have taken swing after swing at the bloated 0:07:28.196 --> 0:07:32.116 pinata that is the original Little Mermaid. It's time to 0:07:32.236 --> 0:07:36.796 raise the curtain. Are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. 0:07:38.076 --> 0:07:41.236 We're in the story's final act. Ariel had hoped to 0:07:41.276 --> 0:07:44.356 win the heart of the handsome Prince Eric. Marrying him 0:07:44.436 --> 0:07:46.596 was the only way she could stay a human. But 0:07:46.636 --> 0:07:49.436 the prince is chosen to marry another woman who is 0:07:49.476 --> 0:07:53.636 actually the sea witch Ursula in disguise. The soon to 0:07:53.636 --> 0:07:57.236 be newlyweds are on a boat. There are guests, music, 0:07:57.356 --> 0:08:01.276 dancing all manner of merriment, and into this spectacle comes 0:08:01.436 --> 0:08:06.756 our badass, Ariel. So with that, may I present The 0:08:06.836 --> 0:08:12.316 Little Mermaid two point zero, Written and narrated by Britt Marling. 0:08:17.516 --> 0:08:19.596 Ariel grabs onto a portal window. 0:08:20.436 --> 0:08:23.716 She hoists herself out of the sea, scales the side 0:08:23.716 --> 0:08:26.276 of the ship toward the deck. The final bars of 0:08:26.356 --> 0:08:30.676 cannon ind float down from above as Ariel ascends. 0:08:31.596 --> 0:08:36.996 Do you, Prince Eric, take ursela to have and to 0:08:37.156 --> 0:08:40.956 hold in sickness and in health for as long as 0:08:40.996 --> 0:08:42.116 you both shall live. 0:08:43.716 --> 0:08:47.276 Ariel throws one leg over the starboard, railing The guests, 0:08:47.436 --> 0:08:50.156 enraptured by the perfection of the bride and groom, don't 0:08:50.156 --> 0:08:55.676 even notice her arrival. Eric looks deep into Ursula's eyes, hypnotized. 0:08:56.036 --> 0:09:02.436 I do and do you Ursula? Take Prince Eric. 0:09:03.476 --> 0:09:06.476 Ariel, soaking wet, wreathed, and seaweed red in the face, 0:09:06.636 --> 0:09:09.756 charges forward, leaps onto the stage head's right for the 0:09:09.796 --> 0:09:12.996 couple to be like a charging bull. The guests gasp 0:09:13.036 --> 0:09:16.516 at this invasion, A scorned woman come to sabotage the 0:09:16.516 --> 0:09:22.276 wedding to throw Eric's fiance overboard. Ariel barrels forward, arms outstretched, 0:09:22.476 --> 0:09:24.836 and just when it seems like Aeryl might strike Ursula, 0:09:25.316 --> 0:09:29.196 who she collides with her in an embrace full of feeling. 0:09:30.236 --> 0:09:33.356 The guest's jaws drop God in heaven. 0:09:35.076 --> 0:09:39.276 Ursula, shocked, disgusted, lets the mask of perfect bride slip, 0:09:39.556 --> 0:09:41.676 her true voice laced with bitterness. 0:09:42.356 --> 0:09:45.036 Get get off me, you fool. 0:09:45.476 --> 0:09:49.076 Ursula tries to extricate herself from Ariel's arms, but Ariel 0:09:49.236 --> 0:09:52.716 holds on with a strength of heart, impossible to unravel. 0:09:53.036 --> 0:09:58.276 Ursula strong, Oh, Ariel, what are you doing? 0:09:58.996 --> 0:10:02.236 Everyone looks on in a shock at this truly bizarre scene. 0:10:02.676 --> 0:10:06.116 One woman cugging another woman who wriggles, squirms. 0:10:05.996 --> 0:10:09.676 Fights to escape this embrace, but cannot break it. Seems 0:10:09.716 --> 0:10:13.436 to not really want to. The force of. 0:10:13.396 --> 0:10:16.796 Ariela's kindness gains the power of actual magic, and the 0:10:16.836 --> 0:10:20.276 shell around Ursula's neck that holds Ariel's voice begins to glow. 0:10:20.876 --> 0:10:22.436 Hum tog away from. 0:10:22.396 --> 0:10:24.836 Ursula as if possessed, and move toward Ariel. 0:10:28.756 --> 0:10:31.476 Stop stop, stop, I say, but. 0:10:31.516 --> 0:10:35.076 Ariel doesn't stop. By the heat of Ariel's love. 0:10:34.996 --> 0:10:38.836 Ursula begins to transform back into her original form. Her 0:10:38.876 --> 0:10:43.036 slender limbs morphed into thick, barnacled covered tentacles, her wedding 0:10:43.116 --> 0:10:45.796 dress verse that that seems to reveal her sea slick 0:10:45.916 --> 0:10:46.876 octopus body. 0:10:47.636 --> 0:10:53.396 A woman in the audience screams, shrilly, good, God, disgust. 0:10:53.796 --> 0:10:57.316 What is she? Children cower under their seats grown men 0:10:57.516 --> 0:11:00.916 back away in horror. Eric stumbles and nearly falls over. 0:11:01.596 --> 0:11:05.836 Oh oh, I almost married an octopus. 0:11:06.596 --> 0:11:10.316 But Ariel doesn't stop hugging this creature that everyone else 0:11:10.396 --> 0:11:14.596 is so revolted by the force of Ariel's feeling, compels 0:11:14.636 --> 0:11:17.476 her own voice out of the shell around Ursula's neck. 0:11:18.196 --> 0:11:21.316 The light of that voice slips its prism and hovers 0:11:21.356 --> 0:11:26.756 in mid air a moment the audience gasps, the priest faints, 0:11:29.076 --> 0:11:35.356 The light floats into Ariel's open mouth, and then she sings, 0:11:35.356 --> 0:11:37.996 in a voice as radiant as a song that breaks 0:11:37.996 --> 0:11:45.156 a summer storm. Eric, realizing it was in fact Ariel 0:11:45.236 --> 0:11:47.596 who rescued him, rushes forward to her. 0:11:48.476 --> 0:11:50.556 Ariel, it was you. 0:11:51.796 --> 0:11:53.156 It was you all along. 0:11:54.556 --> 0:11:56.236 Duh. 0:11:56.476 --> 0:11:59.156 Too little, too late, Eric, And honestly, Eric was not 0:11:59.236 --> 0:12:00.916 really the point and never has been. 0:12:02.756 --> 0:12:05.836 Aril's arms still rap Ursula, who, in spite of herself, 0:12:06.316 --> 0:12:09.556 leans into the embrace. Aril turns back to her Ursula 0:12:09.556 --> 0:12:11.276 and says softly into her ear. 0:12:11.996 --> 0:12:15.516 You hurt me, but I understand why you hurt me. 0:12:16.756 --> 0:12:19.836 What do you know, you idiotic? 0:12:20.196 --> 0:12:21.516 Do I teenager? 0:12:22.836 --> 0:12:24.756 I know that you are kicked out of the kingdom 0:12:24.756 --> 0:12:27.356 by my family. I know you were left in the 0:12:27.436 --> 0:12:30.716 dark part of the ocean to die alone. And I 0:12:30.756 --> 0:12:33.876 know you have suffered greatly. I know you made me 0:12:34.116 --> 0:12:38.556 and many others suffer greatly. All I have is the 0:12:38.676 --> 0:12:39.676 art of cruelty. 0:12:40.716 --> 0:12:41.876 All I have is. 0:12:41.796 --> 0:12:47.476 Your hate, everyone's hate. I don't hate you, Ursula. 0:12:48.356 --> 0:12:52.476 Ursula scoffs at this, but her eyes go wide with feeling. 0:12:53.156 --> 0:12:57.076 No one has said a kind word to Ursula in years. 0:12:57.076 --> 0:13:01.356 And in time. Understanding you better and why you've done 0:13:01.356 --> 0:13:05.916 the things you've done, I could maybe even love you. 0:13:06.276 --> 0:13:09.596 Ah, Ursula cries out, as if bitten by the words. 0:13:10.556 --> 0:13:14.076 For a moment in Ariel's embrace, we see Ursula as 0:13:14.076 --> 0:13:17.076 the magic of Ariel's empathy allows Ariel to see her. 0:13:18.116 --> 0:13:22.276 Ursula at Ariel's age sixteen, the age before Ursula's heart 0:13:22.356 --> 0:13:27.196 was broken. She's open, full of vigor and young magic, 0:13:27.316 --> 0:13:30.796 curious and alive like Ariel is. Had they met at 0:13:30.796 --> 0:13:33.116 this age, they they might have been best friends. 0:13:33.156 --> 0:13:36.476 They might even have been lovers. The two young women 0:13:36.516 --> 0:13:37.956 regard each other a moment. 0:13:39.116 --> 0:13:43.236 You've taught me the power of my voice. I could 0:13:43.676 --> 0:13:46.036 actually even thank you for that. 0:13:47.876 --> 0:13:50.716 Ursula weeps now like the teenager she is in Ariel's 0:13:50.716 --> 0:14:01.476 eyes unbidden, unstoppable tears. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Ariel 0:14:01.516 --> 0:14:04.156 looks to Ursula, now still holding Ursula's hands. 0:14:04.676 --> 0:14:08.716 It's okay. Someone hurt you, just like you hurt me, 0:14:09.196 --> 0:14:10.556 and I think I know who it was. 0:14:16.356 --> 0:14:20.516 The sky has darkened and the sea froths now in anger. 0:14:21.356 --> 0:14:23.076 Waves rock the craft. 0:14:23.756 --> 0:14:27.076 The guests pulled onto their hats in a sudden fierce wind. 0:14:27.836 --> 0:14:31.356 Eric grabs a sword off a nearby guard in fear. 0:14:31.996 --> 0:14:35.396 Ariel let's go of Ursula's hands in surprise, and Ursula 0:14:35.436 --> 0:14:40.076 becomes her true age again. Just as King Triton emerges 0:14:40.116 --> 0:14:44.356 from the ocean, huge bearing his trident and riding an 0:14:44.476 --> 0:14:48.436 enormous wave toward the ship, an army of spear wielding 0:14:48.476 --> 0:14:54.996 merman behind him. His voice booms like thunder, Stay away 0:14:55.036 --> 0:14:58.236 from my daughter. Lightning cracks the skuy from the force 0:14:58.276 --> 0:15:01.036 of his rage. Triton wounds over the ship now like 0:15:01.076 --> 0:15:01.756 a giant. 0:15:02.676 --> 0:15:05.956 I was too kind when I banished you from the kingdom. 0:15:06.196 --> 0:15:08.556 I shook have destroyed. 0:15:09.236 --> 0:15:10.836 And lifts his tried and high. 0:15:11.396 --> 0:15:15.756 It sparks with electricity drawn from the sky. He aims 0:15:15.836 --> 0:15:19.836 that laser beam of death toward Ursula, who suffused with love, 0:15:19.956 --> 0:15:21.396 has no ready counterattack. 0:15:21.716 --> 0:15:24.396 No, Ariel shouts powerfully. 0:15:24.956 --> 0:15:27.676 She throws herself in harm's way to protect Ursula. 0:15:27.836 --> 0:15:30.556 You kept me and my sister's prisoner in the castle. 0:15:31.516 --> 0:15:37.356 You exiled Ursula from family, friends safety because she dared 0:15:37.396 --> 0:15:40.036 to practice in magic, and you want it to be 0:15:40.036 --> 0:15:45.196 the only one with such power. That I have magic too, father, 0:15:46.076 --> 0:15:47.316 we all have magic. 0:15:48.676 --> 0:15:52.396 And then Ariol begins to use the power of her voice, 0:15:52.476 --> 0:15:57.196 which is real magic, to sing. It's so hypnotic and 0:15:57.356 --> 0:16:00.876 so true that the sea begins to calm under her spell, 0:16:01.516 --> 0:16:03.756 and the anger surging in the bodies of the Merman 0:16:03.836 --> 0:16:08.516 soldiers begins to dissipate. Ursula looks to Ariel in wonder 0:16:09.196 --> 0:16:12.156 and joins her song a lower note in perfect harmony. 0:16:12.676 --> 0:16:15.396 As Ursula sings, the lost souls of her garden shake 0:16:15.476 --> 0:16:18.556 free from the terrible purgatory of her old spells. They 0:16:18.596 --> 0:16:21.076 swim to the surface as Murr people once again, and 0:16:21.156 --> 0:16:23.556 sing with the passion of the newly freed. 0:16:25.756 --> 0:16:26.196 Citizen. 0:16:26.276 --> 0:16:29.036 Mr People, drawn to the sound of real freedom, break 0:16:29.076 --> 0:16:33.316 the surface of the sea and sing too, sebastian and floundering. 0:16:33.716 --> 0:16:39.836 Even Scuttle sings a little off key, but committed altogether, 0:16:40.036 --> 0:16:43.036 they make the most beautiful music humaneers have ever heard. 0:16:43.676 --> 0:16:45.236 Eric weeps from the sound. 0:16:47.796 --> 0:16:50.956 Beautiful. So do many of his wedding guests, who have 0:16:50.996 --> 0:16:53.596 not allowed their hearts to become too hardened to life. 0:16:54.396 --> 0:16:58.676 Some of them, the brave ones, begin to sing too. 0:17:00.076 --> 0:17:02.956 The music travels so far and so wide that even 0:17:02.996 --> 0:17:06.836 townspeople on land begin unconsciously humming this melody they've never 0:17:06.876 --> 0:17:08.396 heard before, but. 0:17:08.356 --> 0:17:10.236 Feel they have no always. 0:17:11.876 --> 0:17:14.956 The cloud's part, the setting sun is round, and pink 0:17:15.276 --> 0:17:19.636 birds land happily on the shoulder of Triton, And this big, proud, 0:17:19.876 --> 0:17:22.756 vain old king cannot help but be moved by his 0:17:22.836 --> 0:17:25.316 young daughter and her magic to unite. 0:17:25.076 --> 0:17:26.956 Across genders, across. 0:17:26.596 --> 0:17:33.276 Generations, across species. Triton looks at Ariel with tears of 0:17:33.356 --> 0:17:36.676 humiliation mixed with tears of all Aril stands on the 0:17:36.756 --> 0:17:37.996 edge of the balcony level within. 0:17:39.796 --> 0:17:43.796 Dad, you don't need to be the most powerful to 0:17:43.876 --> 0:17:45.116 be the most loved. 0:17:46.716 --> 0:17:49.356 Triton's eyes widened at the wisdom of her youth. 0:17:50.236 --> 0:17:51.916 The tear, too, falls from his eyes. 0:17:53.596 --> 0:17:58.316 I'm sorry, Area, I've not been a very good listener. 0:17:59.836 --> 0:18:01.916 Cat'n we begin again. 0:18:04.676 --> 0:18:08.036 Ariel nods and embraces her dad over the railing and 0:18:08.116 --> 0:18:12.716 now the sun. Finally, sex Ursula's old spell wears off. 0:18:13.516 --> 0:18:17.276 Ariel transforms into a mermaid once more. The guests have 0:18:17.396 --> 0:18:20.276 no reaction at this point, they've really seen it all. 0:18:21.116 --> 0:18:24.116 Ariel laughs as her legs morphed into a powerful bit. 0:18:24.836 --> 0:18:26.476 Eric drops down to her side. 0:18:26.996 --> 0:18:28.676 Hey, I mean thank you. 0:18:29.116 --> 0:18:31.276 Your look saved my life. 0:18:31.596 --> 0:18:32.996 Ariel smiles at him. 0:18:33.396 --> 0:18:34.156 Don't mention it. 0:18:35.276 --> 0:18:37.596 All she really wanted was a thank you. It may 0:18:37.636 --> 0:18:38.956 be all any of us ever really want. 0:18:39.796 --> 0:18:40.596 Ariel turns to. 0:18:40.596 --> 0:18:43.276 Ursula, Hey, shall we go home? 0:18:44.316 --> 0:18:49.996 Ursula nods, Yes, let's go. They take each other's hands 0:18:51.476 --> 0:18:53.036 and jump. 0:19:08.036 --> 0:19:11.756 Let's take a moment to discuss our revised and greatly 0:19:11.756 --> 0:19:15.276 improved ending to The Little Mermaid. First of all, to 0:19:15.356 --> 0:19:18.836 any executives of the Walt Disney Company who happened to 0:19:18.876 --> 0:19:22.436 be listening, please feel free to use our ending in 0:19:22.516 --> 0:19:25.036 the remake of The Little Mermaid that I understand you're 0:19:25.076 --> 0:19:30.116 working on. Go right ahead. Ariel and Ursula deserve a 0:19:30.276 --> 0:19:33.036 better fate than you have given them for the past 0:19:33.076 --> 0:19:37.756 thirty years. Speaking of Ursula, did you recognize that voice? 0:19:38.436 --> 0:19:40.676 Did you figure out who we got to play this 0:19:40.916 --> 0:19:42.236 most critical of roles. 0:19:43.076 --> 0:19:45.836 Get get off me, you fool. 0:19:47.156 --> 0:19:50.236 We couldn't use just anyone in the role, because Ursula 0:19:50.436 --> 0:19:53.316 is not a two dimensional villain anymore. We're not murdering 0:19:53.356 --> 0:19:57.076 her off, we're redeeming her. BRIT's point was, why is 0:19:57.116 --> 0:19:58.916 she even the villain in the first place. 0:19:59.476 --> 0:20:03.836 It's just that who do young women lose their voices to? 0:20:05.676 --> 0:20:10.356 Not really wise old women living on the edge of right, Like, 0:20:10.836 --> 0:20:14.236 that's not the culprit of who takes women's voices from them. 0:20:14.676 --> 0:20:18.556 And so I think that's the problem you're contending with 0:20:18.836 --> 0:20:22.916 at the end, which is like the idea of a 0:20:22.956 --> 0:20:25.876 witch is a kind of smoke screen that prevents us 0:20:25.876 --> 0:20:30.596 from thinking about where the forces of antagonism against women 0:20:30.836 --> 0:20:31.996 actually lie. 0:20:32.436 --> 0:20:34.916 So Ursula has to be played by someone who can 0:20:34.996 --> 0:20:36.876 do more than a garden variety witch. 0:20:37.796 --> 0:20:43.196 So how old is Ursula? Right, you'll get off me. 0:20:44.196 --> 0:20:45.516 No, I think you get off me. 0:20:46.076 --> 0:20:48.796 What I think you could play her older for sure, 0:20:48.876 --> 0:20:51.276 because that's sort of the trope, the older witch on 0:20:51.316 --> 0:20:52.876 the edge of town kind of thing. 0:20:53.516 --> 0:20:59.196 Okay, all right, that's Brit directing Glenn close. We got 0:20:59.236 --> 0:21:02.236 Glenn close, of course we did. It was only right 0:21:02.316 --> 0:21:06.796 to have Disney's nineteen ninety six Cruella Deville returning as 0:21:06.796 --> 0:21:12.996 revisionist Histories twenty twenty one. Ursula, Now, what about Prince Eric? 0:21:13.556 --> 0:21:16.596 Britt and I had a long planning session on the 0:21:16.796 --> 0:21:17.556 Eric problem. 0:21:18.236 --> 0:21:18.716 He is a. 0:21:18.676 --> 0:21:22.396 Completely cardboard figure who only is allowed to have any 0:21:22.476 --> 0:21:26.716 kind of meaningful role when he kills somebody. 0:21:27.036 --> 0:21:30.996 Oh, oh, Malcolm, I love that. Yes, I love that. 0:21:31.716 --> 0:21:34.036 We're doing a lot of talking right now about the 0:21:34.076 --> 0:21:37.276 ways in which we need to liberate women through stories, 0:21:37.676 --> 0:21:39.756 but we should also do a lot of talking about 0:21:39.756 --> 0:21:41.636 the ways in which we need to liberate men. 0:21:42.596 --> 0:21:46.396 We didn't need a murderous vigilante anymore. We needed a 0:21:46.436 --> 0:21:47.236 liberated man. 0:21:48.116 --> 0:21:50.676 Hi, I almost married an octopus. 0:21:51.916 --> 0:21:55.476 Did you recognize that voice? The embodiment of male liberation? 0:21:55.996 --> 0:22:01.396 The actor, comedian podcaster extraordinaire Dak Shepherd. Here he is 0:22:01.756 --> 0:22:05.836 during our taping, taking direction from our producer mim and Gistu. 0:22:06.356 --> 0:22:08.836 Oh, I kind of wanted you to do it, kind 0:22:08.836 --> 0:22:10.236 of like a clueless himbo. 0:22:10.596 --> 0:22:11.196 You know what I mean? 0:22:12.316 --> 0:22:13.436 Tell me what a himbo is? 0:22:13.476 --> 0:22:18.796 And himbo was the male version of exactly exactly. 0:22:19.076 --> 0:22:20.916 Male version of a what bimba? 0:22:21.716 --> 0:22:22.356 Oh, Bimbo. 0:22:22.596 --> 0:22:29.076 Okay, Ariel, what what are you doing? 0:22:30.956 --> 0:22:31.516 Oh? 0:22:32.116 --> 0:22:34.476 Ariel, what are you doing? 0:22:36.116 --> 0:22:36.316 Oh? 0:22:36.356 --> 0:22:36.916 That was great? 0:22:36.956 --> 0:22:37.436 Thank you. 0:22:38.996 --> 0:22:42.516 As for King Triton, the King is played by Ethan Herschenfeld, 0:22:42.796 --> 0:22:46.596 stand up comic actor and former opera singer, which was 0:22:46.636 --> 0:22:50.036 a delight for our in house musical genius Louis Kara. 0:22:50.796 --> 0:22:53.076 It's a little more urban feeling, you know what I mean. 0:22:53.556 --> 0:22:55.156 Urban I can kind of do because I grew up 0:22:55.156 --> 0:22:57.356 in the Bronx, but it was Riverdale, so you're hearing 0:22:57.396 --> 0:22:59.156 the Riverdale the Bronx. 0:23:00.836 --> 0:23:05.196 It sounds awesome, So Dak Shepherd, Jody Foster, Glenn Close, 0:23:05.316 --> 0:23:09.516 Ethan Herschenfeld, I mean all star asked. 0:23:11.596 --> 0:23:15.636 Triton lifts his tried and tie. It sparks with electricity 0:23:15.716 --> 0:23:19.556 drawn from the sky. He aims that laser beam of 0:23:19.596 --> 0:23:24.036 death towards Ursula, who suffused with love, has no ready counterattack. 0:23:25.676 --> 0:23:27.636 Ariel shouts powerfully. 0:23:28.956 --> 0:23:29.236 To me. 0:23:29.356 --> 0:23:32.836 The most beautiful moment in your new ending is when 0:23:32.916 --> 0:23:36.556 Ariel throws her body in the line of her father's 0:23:36.676 --> 0:23:43.156 trident to save Ursula. Right, she will sacrifice herself on 0:23:43.236 --> 0:23:46.596 the behalf of someone who has hitherto in the plot 0:23:46.676 --> 0:23:50.716 being seen as irredeemable, that somebody would sacrifice, someone in 0:23:50.796 --> 0:23:51.956 good standing. 0:23:51.916 --> 0:23:54.476 Would sacrifice themselves. 0:23:54.196 --> 0:23:57.756 For someone who is conceived of is irredeemable. The princess, 0:23:58.676 --> 0:24:03.556 the heir to the throne, the beautiful whatever, would sacrifice 0:24:03.756 --> 0:24:11.396 everything for the sake of a witch, of an outcast. 0:24:09.996 --> 0:24:14.676 Which feels so right because the witch has been miscast 0:24:14.716 --> 0:24:19.116 from the beginning, right. I mean, I think cruelty was 0:24:19.156 --> 0:24:23.396 done to Ursula, and it made her cruel and I 0:24:23.516 --> 0:24:28.116 believe that Ursula could actually be redeemed, and that all 0:24:28.156 --> 0:24:31.076 it really takes is one person in an act of 0:24:31.156 --> 0:24:34.676 tremendous bravery and kindness. I mean, that's the thing that 0:24:34.716 --> 0:24:37.276 I keep thinking about these days, is how can you 0:24:37.636 --> 0:24:42.796