Sun Tzu and Entertainment: The Little Mermaid’s Grotto Tragedy
Inspired by The Little Mermaid and The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
In military tactics/strategy, one name has long reigned supreme as the go-to expert: Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War. This 2,000-year-old masterpiece not only revolutionized how to conduct war with its simple phrasing, it set the standard for all future manuals, especially due to its stated goal: winning. That legacy is so enduring that countless experts have all said the same thing: follow Sun Tzu, and you’ll win; ignore him, and you’ll lose. Furthermore, his wisdom is universally applicable, hence its subsequent adoption by everyone from businessmen to politicians and even athletes to achieve victory.
Yet, one medium remains untapped regarding this knowledge: pop culture plotlines. If it’s universally applicable, why not here too? To better illustrate this, we’ll use it to analyze one of the most shocking moments in Disney history: the destruction of Ariel’s grotto in The Little Mermaid. More specifically, we’ll be looking at through its most commonly applicable Sun Tzu principles: morality, leadership, foreknowledge, improv, recklessness, cowardice, a hasty temper (anger from now on), delicacy of honor (DOH from now on), over-caring, and underestimation.
Here’s the background: the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, a world of the mer-people, is ruled by King Triton, a widower with multiple daughters. As the film begins, he’s attending a concert put on by his closest advisor, a crab named Sebastian, featuring all the girls, each known for her delectable singing voice. Yet, the star of said performance is meant to be Ariel, his youngest, who has the best voice of them all…but when the seashell she’s supposed to emerge from opens, she’s missing, immediately causing Triton to go into a rage. It’s a bad sign. Although being upset is understandable, the depth of his reaction is a shocking violation of one of Sun Tzu’s Five Fatal Failings of Leadership, anger, as well as one of his Five Essential Victory Factors, good leadership.
We now find Ariel elsewhere, exploring a shipwreck with fish BFF Flounder, looking for human-related items due to her fascination with people. Unfortunately, she soon violates another Fatal Failing, recklessness, by not watching her surroundings, and is soon pursued by a shark. But, thanks to a clever use of another Sun Tzu principle, “be flexible; according as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans,” or improv, she’s able to escape and heads to the surface. Up top, she shows her haul to seagull companion Scuttle, a supposed expert on people, making the latter move a nice use of the principle, “what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men is foreknowledge.” Yet, when Scuttle mistakenly claims a pipe is meant for music, it causes Ariel to reveal she’s violated recklessness and foreknowledge this whole time by forgetting about the concert.
When she returns to the palace, Sebastian and Triton are still understandably upset, but then Flounder violates recklessness by accidentally mentioning “seagull”. It evokes a shockingly hard reaction from Triton, who’s revealed to have a perpetual fear/hatred of humans, a stunning violation of another Essential Victory Factor, morality, as well as another Fatal Failing, DOH; worse, it’s revealed he’s forbidden his daughters from going to the surface based on that same fear, which violates two more Fatal Failings, cowardice and caring too much about the troops AKA over-caring. When Ariel tries to argue, he violates anger and leadership when he cruelly scolds her, ultimately sulking on his throne in the aftermath, a childish act that makes said violations far worse.
In the aftermath, Ariel heads to her grotto, which contains a collection of human objects, where she reveals to Flounder she wants to be with people…only to find she’s violated another principle, never underestimate a foe, when they find Sebastian has followed her. The latter tries to lecture her but, when confronted by Flounder, ultimately promises to keep the location/its contents secret from Triton. Later, following a caveat of leadership, “There are…commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed,” Ariel returns to the surface, where she spots a ship. It’s carrying Eric, a handsome prince whom Ariel falls for at first sight, but then the former and his party find they’ve violated underestimation when a storm erupts, swamping the ship. In an incredible use of morality and improv, Ariel saves Eric and deposits him on a nearby beach before heading away, leaving the latter enthralled by her voice in the aftermath.
The next morning, Ariel is buzzing with joy, naturally leading Triton to think she’s in love, only to violate underestimation by assuming it’s with a merman. Yet, in that same notion, Sebastian uses foreknowledge by listening to Ariel talking about Eric, and then quickly uses improv to try and persuade her to remain underwater. But Sebastian violates underestimation in turn when she swims off at the end, leaving him in a sulk. He returns to the palace, only to violate underestimation once again when Triton confronts him about Ariel being in love and demanding to know who it’s with. Unfortunately, Sebastian makes a huge mistake: in a colossal violation of morality, leadership, foreknowledge, recklessness, and cowardice, he breaks his promise about the grotto, a move that’ll cost all dearly.
In the grotto, Flounder reveals, a in a great display of morality, improv, and the leadership caveat “He will who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces”, he’s managed to have a statue of Eric they’d spotted aboard his ship brought to the grotto. Tragically, her joy is short-lived, for Triton appears and promptly violates DOH, anger, and over-caring by going into a rage about both her collection and her returning to the surface. It only gets worse when Ariel reveals she saved Eric, at which point Triton shockingly violates morality and DOH when, as she mentions he was drowning, he counters by saying “One less human to worry about!” Yet, during this childish rant, Triton finds he’s gravely violated underestimation, courtesy of Ariel blurting out she loves Eric. That phrase shatters Triton, leading to one of the most horrifying moments in any Disney film: in a sadistic violation of morality, the leadership caveat “know when not to fight”, foreknowledge, and every Fatal Failing (the only such example I’ve ever seen), he tries force his hatred of humans on Ariel by using his trident to destroy the grotto’s contents. This needlessly cruel act leaves the latter crushed and crying, a scene only made worse by Triton’s further violating cowardice by not trying to comfort her, instead simply leaving. It’s a sight that leaves Ariel wide open for his evil sister, Ursula….
This was a perfect example of how hatred and indifference can destroy someone without even trying. Triton’s foolish decision will soon have grand consequences, all self-inflicted…but that’s a lesson the former, like so many, had to learn the hard way: if you follow Sun Tzu, you’ll win; if you ignore him, you lose.