A villain who has the power to look like anyone, but chooses to be a white-haired half-octopus with drag queen-inspired makeup? That’s a diva worth celebrating, three decades since she was first onscreen.
Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of “The Little Mermaid,” the Oscar-winning musical movie that ignited Disney’s animation renaissance. And so it’s also a time to celebrate Ursula, the character who recently, with Queen Latifah in the role, became the clear highlight of ABC’s otherwise-panned “Little Mermaid Live!” special.
But what makes the tentacled antagonist (originally voiced by Pat Carroll) the most beloved, in a category filled with woebegone lions, sultan wannabes and Dalmatian murderers?
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Ursula doesn’t bother hiding her villainy
She does have Scar-like motives: Ursula wants to rule the kingdom. But she handles her problems in a way that’s much more decent than flat-out organizing a stampede to try and kill the king’s offspring. Instead, she draws up a contract for Ariel, who fully knows that Ursula is a sea witch, and watches the mermaid sign it willingly. Later, she comes for Ariel after the mermaid tries to back out of the voice-for-legs deal. As evil plots go, that’s as fair as you can be.
And unlike Jafar, who wants to marry Jasmine and become sultan, Ursula relies on her own magic to get what she wants (as opposed to bribing Aladdin to fetch a Genie lamp). Sure, she has some help from smooth-talking eels, but otherwise uses her own clever proposal and ability to shapeshift – a power she doesn’t employ nearly as much as she could – to try to get what she thinks she’s owed from Ariel’s father, King Triton.
Cruella de Vil doesn’t even get to belt her own baddie song (Roger Darling sings her theme), and she makes fun of the Darlings for their modest home as she walks around in huge furs. Ursula, on the other hand, has one of the best villain tunes, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” while managing to make a nice sea cave for herself complete with a vanity and cauldron, on no budget.
She actually had good reason for her fury
Part of her appeal also comes from her mystique.
Anyone who’s seen “Little Mermaid” knows the basics: Ursula gave Ariel, in love with a human prince, a pair of legs in exchange for the mermaid’s voice, before ultimately trying to imprison King Triton instead. However, the movie never quite explains Ursula’s motive for evil, aside from the fact that she was exiled from the sea kingdom and that, as she admits, “in my past I’ve been a nasty.”
It turns out there have been songs cut down or removed completely that help explain the diva’s nastiness. The “Little Mermaid” 30th anniversary DVD shows that Ursula’s first song, “Silence Is Golden,” was cut, and there are deleted scenes from the film that include exposition about how Ursula was King Triton’s jealous sister.
But wait. What did Triton do to her?
Things get even fishier: Ursula’s song in the “Little Mermaid” Broadway musical once talked about how she was given half of the sea kingdom, but Triton banished her to become the only ruler. But that song was omitted and replaced with a tune about Ursula struggling for her parents’ attention.
She would have won ‘Drag Race’
Of all of Ursula’s origin stories, though, this one is probably most important: The character was inspired by drag legend Divine. For this reason, the queer community has embraced the curvy theatrical queen who always has a full face of makeup (including killer red lipstick she squeezes out of shellfish) while singing about how she has the power to help souls “in pain, in need” who are “longing to be thinner.”
Does Ursula magically change her appearance to look classically beautiful like Ariel? No. Instead, the sea witch embraces how she’s different, and pities “miserable, lonely and depressed” merpeople who want to change the way they are.
Accordingly, there are many fans who were hoping that Ursula would be played in the forthcoming live-action “Little Mermaid” film by someone from a minority community, perhaps an actor who’s black and/or queer. So reports that white, cisgender actress Melissa McCarthy will be cast in the role have been met with some backlash on Twitter, with many lobbying for the role to go to a drag queen or singers Lizzo (who has dressed and sung the part) or Tituss Burgess (who says he should have played Ursula instead of Sebastian on Broadway).
But no matter who embodies her or where she surfaces in her sparkly eyeshadow, Ursula still gets a huge reaction.
When she showed up at Disneyland’s recent “villains parade” during the Halloween season, there were gleeful shouts of “Ursula!” as she went by, hair high, shell necklace bright and with a signed contract from Ariel in hand. Unlike other villains, she didn’t need a movie-themed float to be recognizable. Instead, Ursula confidently zoomed by solo, arms extended wide in a dramatic fashion.
That made it easier for us to embrace her.
