I did not watch the Animal Planet fake mermaids documentary. I was busy watching The Little Mermaid with my kids. Contrary to popular opinion, the funniest part of this movie is not Sebastian trying to avoid being cooked or Scuttle mistaking a fork for a comb and calling it a “dingle hopper”.
It’s that poor, naive Ariel thinks young women are more liberated in Renaissance Europe than in Triton’s undersea kingdom:
Betcha on land they understand
That they don’t reprimand their daughters
–Little Mermaid, “Part of Your World” (by Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
The Finch and Pea 