Vox Hunt: I Love This Part

Video: Show us your favorite movie scene.
Submitted by Caroline.

     It may be funny that my favorite movie scene of all time is from a film I have loved since the age of nine. The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie. Many of the elements that appealed to my nine year old self still appeal to me now: great music, a well-written, well acted heroine, absolutely beautiful animation, and more. So what is it about this one scene that gets me?

    It is in this scene that we get our glimpse of just how determined Ariel is. This is a stranger she has rescued, fascinated that he's a human, but feeling the spark of potential for more. Still mostly just curious, she makes a promise that she'll return and at the same time, that is a promise to explore that potential she sees in Prince Eric.

     This is no longer the sad "wish I could be part of that world"; the curiosity that is the human world with which she has never interacted. It is "that" world in the previous song. This is where it's sealed that it's become very personal. This is a genuine promise, made partly out of naiveté, but partly out of genuine determination on Ariel's part. "Someday, I'll be part of your world." Her curiosities have taken root, not just because she's finally interacted with the human world, but because she's found someone that intrigues and attracts her at the same time. And all these factors taken together have sealed her fate.

    The part near the very end of the scene is my absolute favorite movie shot of all time. We see Ariel watching, pondering, and then  Ariel is singing upon that rock, wind blowing through her hair, and at the moment she brings herself forth, the wave crashes up behind her. It still gives me a bit of a chill, both for its beauty and for the meaning in that moment. For that is the moment when Ariel truly makes that promise and shows us what she's made of.