Most children growing up in America are familiar with Walt Disney Animation Studios and, more importantly, the princess films they make. Most films feature a joyful protagonist (a woman) overcoming an obstacle in her life. The obstacles will vary from prince to princess but at the end of the film the woman will have achieved a "happily ever after" with another person of the opposite sex. These films, known above all for being joyous, originate from a once tragic story. Two Disney princess stories that didn't originally have happy endings for all of their characters are The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. One of Disney's most successful films, The Little Mermaid, earned $211,343,479 after its release (CITE MERMAID). This film is known throughout the world for its protagonist Ariel: a kind young mermaid daughter of the king of the sea, Triton. The version of The Little Mermaid that almost all people know is the 1989 version directed by Ron Clements and John Musker and written by Roger Allers (CITE MERMAID). This movie consists of the basic plot as mentioned before; a woman overcomes an obstacle and ends up happily with a man. More specifically the story is about a mermaid who curiously swims towards the surface of the ocean out of the ship above her. She quickly falls in love at first sight with a human prince on the bridge named Eric. That same ship encounters a bad storm and the little mermaid (Ariel) ends up saving Eric by swimming him back to shore. In that moment on the shore, Ariel becomes infatuated with the idea of ​​becoming human in order for her and Eric to fall in love. Ariel's father, Triton, strongly discourages any idea of ​​meeting hu... middle of paper... er heart” and was devastated that she was losing his love and would die. Ariel's heartbreak was much more painful than her physical pain. After Ariel saw her love get married and her chance at an immortal soul slip away, her six sisters swam before her with their hair cut off and holding a knife saying, "We gave our hair to the witch," they said, "to get help for yourself, so that you do not die tonight. He has given us a knife: here it is, see that it is very sharp. Before the sun rises you must plunge it into the heart of the prince; when the warm blood falls on your feet, they will grow back together and form a fish's tail, and you will be a mermaid once again, and you will return to us to live your three hundred years before you die and turn into the salt sea dawn. (Hans Cristiano, 2007).