As mentioned earlier, Ellie fell in love with Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" a few months ago. She and her sister Annie are still completely obsessed with it.* A couple of weeks ago we borrowed a copy of "The Little Mermaid," to try to expand their Disney horizons. They like it, but it's not as big a favorite as "Beauty and the Beast."

And with good reason. Re-watching both these films after having been borderline obsessed with them myself as a teenager when they were new, I am reminded why Belle is a much better person than Ariel, and therefore why "Beauty and the Beast" is a much better movie than "The Little Mermaid." Yep, I'm breaking my month-plus blogging silence by debating the relative merits of 20-year-old cartoons.

Here it is in a nutshell: Belle thinks about, is concerned about, and makes sacrifices for other people; Ariel is one of the most self-centered characters in the Disney pantheon.

Think about it. The whole conceit of the plot for "Beauty and the Beast" is based on the fact that Belle is so full of love for her father that she chooses to live the rest of her life in a dungeon, held captive by a monstrous, roaring, violent beast (or so she thought at the time she made the decision), so her father doesn't have to. In contrast, the whole plot of "The Little Mermaid" is based on Ariel forsaking everyone and everything she supposedly cares about so she can try out the notion in her head that it would be cool to be a human. Belle quite literally gives her life for her father; Ariel purposely and defiantly disobeys her father's most stern and ardent warnings and commands, which directly leads to him having to literally give his life for her.**

Other examples of Belle's charity abound throughout the movie:

- She is in the process of escaping from the castle when she's beset by wolves. The Beast, following her, fights them off, but is seriously hurt in the battle. Instead of continuing her flight, Belle actually turns back and nurses the Beast back to health***, for a second time literally choosing to give up her freedom to help someone else (this time someone she is afraid of and wants to escape from - it's one thing to give up your life for your father; it's another to do it for your enemy).

- Upon learning that her father is sick, she asks for permission and leaves the Beast - whom by this time she has grown to love - to help him, thus giving up a chance at happiness to go back to the poor provincial town where she is clearly not happy and will never find love.

- When Gaston leads a lynch mob to kill the Beast, Belle risks her life to go back to him and warn him.

And so on. In contrast, here is the complete compendium of instances where Ariel does something - anything - that might benefit someone else instead of herself:

- When she sees Sebastian on Grimsby's dinner plate, she beckons for him to hide on her plate.

That's it.

As far as selfish actions go, Ariel is constantly disobeying her father by going up to the surface, and collecting human whosits and whatsits galore. She makes fun of her best friend Flounder. She pretty much tells Sebastian to take a hike every time he tries to keep her out of trouble. The quintessential image of her is when she swims off with Flotsam and Jetsam (the eels, who she knows are trouble) to meet Ursula, her nose high, her eyes shut, and an insult on her lips for Sebastian, who is trying to help her. Heck, when we first meet her, she's forgotten that she's the star of a royal concert, because she thinks it would be more fun to go explore a sunken ship instead.

Belle does take some self-centered actions. She goes into the West Wing because her curiosity gets the better of her. Oh, and she decides that marrying Gaston is not a sacrifice of her own happiness for the sake of someone else's happiness that she is willing to make.

Beyond the specific selfless or selfish actions taken by each heroine, the themes and messages of the movies are starkly different.

"The Little Mermaid" seems to be teaching us to dream the most wild and crazy dream you can, and do whatever it takes to follow that dream, even if it means alienating, defying, hurting, and abandoning the people who love you. It'll all work out in the end, and you'll live happily ever after even if they don't, and that's all that matters.

In contrast, the theme of "Beauty and the Beast" is that we can all change from bad to good, and we can learn to love someone who at first doesn't seem worthy of love because everyone has something about them that is worthy of love, if we can just take the time to see it and draw it out of them. If you devote yourself to someone else and love them despite their faults, you can be happy together.****

Which character do you think I'd rather have my daughters emulate? Which lesson would I rather have them learn?

* Annie will constantly ask us completely out of the blue, "Why did Gaston lock Belle in the dungeon?" Cute, but after the 500th time of responding by paraphrasing Gaston's own words, "Because he can't have her running off to warn the creature!," a little exasperating.

** If you're foggy on the plot, as I was after 20 years, after Ariel fails to get Prince Eric to kiss her by Ursula's deadline, she becomes the property of Ursula, turning into one of those creepy little worm-like creatures featured in the song "Poor Unfortunate Souls." When King Triton finds out, he plays right into Ursula's hand, offering himself and his kingdom in exchange for Ariel - just like Belle did for her father - and becomes a poor unfortunate soul himself.

*** The big puzzler from "Beauty and the Beast": How does little old Belle get that ginormous Beast onto the back of her horse Philippe to take him back to the castle?

**** I also find it interesting that the villian in "Beauty and the Beast," Gaston, is bad mostly because he is uncharitable. He's not power-hungry or even necessarily evil for the sake of evil like most cartoon villains are (such as Ursula). He just wants to impose his will on Belle, and later, the Beast, regardless of what they think. While it's true that his brand of selfishness is a little different from Ariel's - he is vain and narcissistic whereas Ariel is simply unconcerned with others' feelings - I think Gaston and Ariel would have gotten along pretty well. Can't you just see her sitting beside those blonde airheads, singing, "He's such a tall, dark, strong, and handsome brute!"?