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This page regroups works based on "The Little Mermaid".
Original work:
- "The Little Mermaid", 1837 short Fairy Tale story by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.
Works based on The Little Mermaid:
Anime & Manga- Angel's Hill (1960-1961) by Osamu Tezuka.
- The Little Mermaid (1975)
- Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008), loosely inspired by the fairy tale.
Films — Animation
- The Little Mermaid (1968, USSR), a short produced at Soyuzmultfilm. Truer to the Text compared to most adaptations.
- The Little Mermaid (1989, USA), the Disney Animated Canon entry.
- The franchise that was started by the above.
Films — Live-Action
- The Little Mermaid (1976, Czechoslovakia)
- The Little Mermaid (1976, USSR)
- Splash (1984, USA), an 80s Romantic Comedy take on the fairy tale.
- Mermaid (2007, Russia). Set in modern Russia, the protagonist is human and the story has no magic.
- The Little Mermaid (2018, USA), a fantasy romance film directed by Blake Harris and Chris Bouchard.
- The Little Mermaid (2023, USA), the live-action remake of the 1989 Disney animated film.
Theatre
- Rusalka (1901), opera by Antonín Dvořák.
Video Games
- Dark Romance: The Swan Sonata
Western Animation
- Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid: A cartoon series airing in 1990 which, although not in continuity with the 1989 film, takes a lot of cues from it, such as the Sea Witch being the Big Bad and the prince reciprocating the mermaid's love.
- ''The Little Mermaid (1992)': A prequel cartoon series spinning off of the 1989 animated film.
Tropes associated with works based on The Little Mermaid:
- Adaptational Villainy: In the fairy tale, the Sea Witch is a neutral character who has no evil plans to conquer the world and, while her bargains come with dire prices, tells the mermaid what the consequences will be upfront with no ulterior motive of hoping she fails. She even lets the mermaid's sisters make a deal that would provide her a way out of the original deal. However, in various adaptations, the Sea Witch is a Wicked Witch who sabotages the mermaid's plans of marrying the prince or is simply described as being evil.
- Adaptational Modesty: The mermaid in the fairy tale is topless and various adaptations show her wearing a Seashell Bra.
- Adapted Out: Many adaptations do not feature the mermaid's grandmother, the Daughters of the Air, or the immortal soul theme.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The storybook by Van Gool portrayed the merpeople this way. The Mer King was red, his queen orange and daughters 1 through 4 being purple, blue, green and cyan while the title character, though resembling her mother, averts this and has a skin tone like the humans do.
- Animated Adaptation: Various animated films and television episodes have been made based on the fairy tale.
- Downer Ending: Many adaptations do not have the mermaid become an air spirit and instead have her die and not return in any form.
- Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: Some adaptations give the mermaid a sea animal sidekick. Usually, it is a dolphin.
- Happy Ending:
- Following the release of the Disney adaptation, many versions that followed have the mermaid marry the prince.
- Shirley Temple's Storybook had a happy ending years before Disney's. In this version, the little mermaid still fails to win the prince's heart, but as she is ready to accept her fate, Neptune steps in at the last minute, allowing the little mermaid to live and return home to the sea as a reward for her selflessness.
- Lighter and Softer: Various adaptations, especially ones made for children, omit the Sea Witch cutting off the mermaid's tongue.
- Named by the Adaptation: Most adaptations do this due to the story being a Nameless Narrative, but the 1968 animated Soviet Russian short film and the episode of The Fairy Tailer preserve the fact that none of the characters had names.
- Race Lift: In the original story, the Prince is described in a way that has had him interpreted as Middle Eastern. Most adaptations portray him as being Western European, no doubt based on the assumption the story is set in Denmark where the author was from, which a careful examination of the text shows to not be the case.
- Setting Update:
- A careful examination of the original story indicates a Mediterranean setting, but clues in the 1976 Russian film such as the Prince being from Normandy, the mention of the Duke of Norfolk, the Witch pretending to be the Duchess of Cornwall, the mention of a Duke of Navarre (which is definitely not Mediterranean) indicate a Western European setting. In addition, opposed to some vague time period that may have been Anderson's own 19th century, the film is set in the 13th.
- The episode from Shirley Temple's Storybook keeps the Mediterranean setting, but has the story set in ancient times with the prince's kingdom being Greco-Roman and the princess seemingly coming from a Mesopotamian state, going by her father's attire.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The storybook by Van Gool features the Mermaid's mother as still being alive, though her grandmother is nowhere to be seen.
- Sword and Sandal: The episode from Shirley Temple's Storybook has the setting being Bronze or Iron age with the prince's kingdom being Greco-Roman and the princess' Mesopotamian with the god Neptune even playing a role.
- Unscaled Merfolk: Many versions have the Sea Witch half sea animal that is not a traditional scaled fish.
- One illustration shows her half-octopus or cecaelia.
- World of Technicolor Hair: The 1976 Russian film features green-haired mermaids.
