Here’s the thing about Scuttle
I like the newer trailers more because they have more of a spirit of vulnerability and fun, if that makes sense
But you can’t turn Scuttle into a fisher bird that Ariel encounters underwater. That’s the only conceivable reason I can figure out for changing his species; that Female Scuttle will talk to Ariel underwater, not above the surface, because fisher birds can spend more time under water than seagulls.
You can’t turn Scuttle into a fisher bird for precisely that reason. Ariel needs to encounter Scuttle above the surface. Because the idea in the original film, before she sees Eric for the first time, is that she doesn’t have much experience with creatures that live out of the ocean.
She needs Scuttle because otherwise, where did this one mermaid in a sea of mermaids who hate humans get her new-fangled ideas? Where did she come up with the notion that human beings are not barbarians?
She needed to meet a creature that lived out of the water, and could explain things to her, yes. But more importantly: She needed to try going to the surface, and have an experience with a completely non-threatening animal of the air and sky. You don’t get much more non-threatening than Scuttle.
The point of Scuttle, for the story, is more than just “encounter a bird who can explain human stuff.” (If that were all it is, then having a bird talk to her underwater would be fine.)
The point of Scuttle, for the story, is actually “encounter a safe and friendly surface-dweller out of the sea, to prove its not as dangerous as everyone says it is.”
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I’M TELLIN YA”
Here’s the reason all of this matters: I have a feeling they’re going to try to make Ariel have her “first moment” out of the sea. Like, in the Live Action, we get to see what it was like when she went for it and stuck her head into the open air for the first time. That’s the only reason I can figure why Scuttle would need to be a fisher bird rather than a seagull.
And that’s dangerous. We don’t need that moment.
Because in the original movie, the idea was that Ariel had already been out of the sea multiple times, much to her father’s frustration. Building up to a scene where Triton loses his composure and destroys Ariel’s collection and pushes her too far is going to be a little harder if you make her stick her head out of the water for the first time in the course of the movie.
There’s less sense of a long-term period of building tension. There’s less understanding of how much Ariel is willing to sacrifice and how far she’s willing to go if she…hasn’t gone that far, yet. Just talks to a little water bird and gets near the surface, but hasn’t gone all the way yet.
That takes something away from Eric, too. Eric and her father’s outburst in the grotto work together as the catalyst for change in Ariel’s life. She’s already been to the surface before, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to do whatever it takes to live there. She’s even already encountered human stuff and good creatures like Scuttle, and no danger, when she’s gone to the surface; again, that doesn’t mean she’s ready to sacrifice everything to live there. It’s important that we see that.
It’s not until she encounters Eric for the first time that she reaches the next stage of longing, and is ready to leave her family after her father destroys his statue.
Going to the surface and coming back safely wasn’t enough. Going to the surface and meeting a friendly seagull wasn’t enough. Finding human treasures and seeing a human ship wasn’t enough. Getting yelled at by her father wasn’t enough.
Eric was the last straw. Eric, the human who’s free to make his own choice of bride. Eric, the human who prefers exploring to kingly duties. Eric, the human who would sacrifice himself to save a dog in distress instead of being the barbarian Ariel’s always been told about.
Scuttle being a seagull she has to go to the surface to communicate with is an important stepping stone on the way to proving that Eric was the last straw.
Besides, it takes a lot away from Scuttle. Scuttle is a wonderful character because the whole movie is about being understood, and communicating, and Scuttle understands nothing and has a really hard time communicating.
So in conclusion, everything matters, even the seagull, and Live Action Disney is ruining the seagull.
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