Have you seen Disney’s The Little Mermaid? Ariel wants the cute prince to kiss her (needs her too). But she’s lost her voice. Sebastion (the crab) sings a sweet song (that turns into a full-blown animated production number) in which he speaks her wishes. Kiss the girl. Or maybe it’s actually “a heteronormative attack on [a] women’s right to oppose the romantic and sexual liberties taken by men.”
I didn’t write the script or the song so what do I know?
Related: The Latest Social Evil is “Toxic Geek Masculinity”
But someone at Princeton knows (or thinks they do).
An editorial titled, “Dear Tigertones, please stop singing ‘Kiss The Girl,’” published by The Daily Princetonian last month argued that the song “unambiguously” encourages men to make physical advances on women without their consent.
“The song launches a heteronormative attack on women’s right to oppose the romantic and sexual liberties taken by men, further inundating the listener with themes of toxic masculinity,” wrote The Daily Princetonian’s Noa Wollstein, Inside Higher Ed reported Monday.
The Tigertones folded like a cheap tent and apologized out every vocalizing orifice.
“We sincerely apologize to any of our past participants and audience members for whom our performance of this song was uncomfortable or offensive,”…
Now I will tell you what I know. Ariel is “the aggressor.” She tries to kiss the Prince who initially rejects her advances. A lesson the Tigertones could have learned if they had saved the knee-jerk capitulation to a lone editorialist long enough watch the actual scene in the movie.
Too Late. And it is audiences who will lose out. Kiss the Girl is an excellent acapella song. But the Tigertones will no longer perform it, in case their audience members are as ignorant as they.
https://youtu.be/axZ6mG__ZqU