Final Friday Top Five!

Final Friday Top Five

Mermaid Representations

5. The Mermaids from Peter Pan

Picture from YouTube

When picturing mermaids I, for one, always pictured a serene half fish lady with long flowing hair and a clam shell bra. (Thank you, Disney, for that one.) However, the mermaids from Peter Pan  are the exact opposite. While they have the look, they are jealous, vicious, and even attempt to drown Wendy. I think this has something more to do with Peter than with mermaids as they are basically fishy versions of Tinkerbell - the original sassy bitch. I mean, I was totally in love with Peter Pan as a kid too, sooo, move over Wendy Darling?

 4. Ariel from Once Upon a Time

The one with the tail. Picture from OUAT Wiki

Once upon a time is one of my favourite TV shows. It's fairy tales gone wrong but sooo right. Robert Carlisle as Rumplestiltskin is incredible, Lana Parilla as the Evil Queen is a babe, and don't get me started on Colin O'Donoghue as Hook. (Clearly I have a thing for redeemed bad guys.) One character who pops up a few times across the series is Ariel, played by JoAnna Garcia Swisher, in both flash backs and the present day timeline. She's a bit ditzy and understands little of life on land, like her cartoon counterpart, but she's more than a petulant teenager. She's a badass who stands up for her friends. And she can travel between realms because mermaids are awesome.

Who doesn't want that power?

 3. Fiji Mermaid

This is actually a 3D printing! Picture from Reddit

Get me, an actual real mermaid on this list! Well, as "real" as any mermaid can get. In the 1800s, these were displayed in sideshows and sold as mummified mermaids. In reality, they were juvenile monkeys sewn onto the back end of a fish, but they made a pretty compelling picture! Even PT Barnum had one on display. (Yes, The Greatest Showman guy.) In fact, the one he displayed was the original creation, not one of the many replicas. It was claimed to be caught off the coast of Fiji, hence Fiji Mermaid. I think it is an incredible creation, cruel but incredible. It almost looks like something that could have existed. Dolphins and whales were once land creatures, maybe they looked a little like this at one point! Well, definitely not, but I can see how it could be believed in Victorian times.

2. Mermaids from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Second Task. Picture from YouTube

One of the things I like best about GOB is how many magical creatures are actually featured in the book. The film shows less, but then GOB was a doorstop of a book! We get dragons, grindelows, sphinxes, and, of course, mermaids. What I particularly like about the Wizarding World mermaids is that they are both enticing and scary. On the Prefect's bathroom windows, they are depicted as golden creatures of great beauty. But when Harry comes face to face with them, they are toothy beasts. They have their own language, which Dumbledore can speak (naturally), and they look so at home in the water. Great job from the SFX team there.

Honourable Mentions

The mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Me!

Just kidding, I mean the one from Red Dwarf in the episode Better Than Life. Cat's girlfriend is a mermaid who is a fish on the top, legs on the bottom. The better way around, he claims. 

1. Ponyo

HAAAAAAMMMM!! Picture from IFC Center

Since Netflix have announced they are getting all the Ghibli films from February 1st, I have been on a Ghibli kick in preparation. (Hence the playlist.) That is 21 films of anime-y goodness. Seriously, watch them all! Or, at the very least, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo. (I could go on and list all 21, but I won't. Just know that I want to.)

Anyway, back to Ponyo! Ponyo is the titular character from the 2010 film. Technically, it's from 2008, but the UK got it in 2010. She is a goldfish princess who becomes a human after forming a friendship with a human boy. So she is pretty much a mermaid. And would this really be FFT5 without me bending the rules?

It is a beautiful film, they always are. Hayao Miyazaki's attention to detail and world building are second to none. From Nausicaa to Arrietty, the animation is phenomenal. Absolutely breath taking. And Ponyo is no exception. The world floods at one point, with all these extinct fish swimming along below. It is gorgeous and no amount of describing on my part is ever going to do it justice. You'll just have to watch it on Netflix. Do it. Do it now! (Providing you are reading after February 1st!)

Another thing I love about Hayao Miyazaki is the subtle environmental messages he draws into his films. Ponyo has extensive litter and pollution on the sea bed, and in Spirited Away the river god is clogged up with pollution and trash. The sheer beauty with which Miyazaki depicts our world shows that he cares about it a great deal. He keeps retiring and then coming out of retirement to make just one more film. I pray he never fully retires. And that Netflix keeps the rights to show them all. 

My next twenty-one Saturdays are sorted.

Who are your favourite mermaids? Have I missed anyone good from the list? Are you going to marathon the Ghiblis like I told you to? Lemme know, below!

Listening to: Ghibli Piano