As the mother of a girl-child, I was appalled by Disney's "The Little Mermaid." And then I reread the original by Hans Christian Andersen. Disney was pretty faithful to the original, and it shouldn't have been.

The original was a product of its times, and should be read and studied as such. It's also in the public domain, and Disney did young girls a disservice in glamorizing outdated notions of the roles women should aspire to. Then again, without nonsense to rebel against, would we have had any of the women who made history?

We can argue that they shouldn't have had to be so exceptional, and that's true. But maybe we make exceptional people by having literature and art and that provoke conversations and movements and show us what's wrong with how things are, as much as some show us how much better things COULD be and should be. Maybe the real shame of it is in blaming Disney, and not letting parents share the burden of having these conversations with their little girls.