Written by Mermaid Seraphine
Mermaids are mythical creatures living in the oceans, typically depicted as having a woman’s torso and a fish tail. In children’s fairytales, cartoons, and anime they’re portrayed as kind, magical, and beautiful. In teenage and young adult novels, they’re distant, secretive, and mysterious – but that doesn’t need to be the rule. Maxine Foti described them as rather friendly, open-minded and adventurous. You would love a friend like Edith or Greene.
However, because mermaids tend to be mistaken for sirens (half-bird creatures luring sailors to their death), some people wonder whether they can be evil, even dangerous.
The answer is: it all depends on source material. Mermaids don’t exist in the real world, so, there’s no scientific evidence that could point to them being good or bad, They are a product of human imagination, and as such, they’re the way we want to imagine them.
But taking into consideration all those tales and myths about evil sea folk, one may wonder: why would writers and poets of old age, willingly choose to portray them like that?
I personally think that this may have been related to people’s deepest fears. Captains, sailors, and fishermen, all knew that the sea wasn’t a joke. One storm could turn out to be enough, to make the whole crew lose their life. Many ships that ventured outside of the safe waters never came back. People who stayed back in the port didn’t know what happened; so, they tried to explain it to themselves. Stories about sea monsters, sirens, mermaids, and also pirates, blossomed easily on that ground. It’s likely that people wanted to portray missing men as heros and warn others not to leave safe waters. Maybe, they also wrote those stories to get some kind of closure.
However, men losing lives in the sea, is just one side of the coin. Another is the women’s fear of losing their husbands to seductresses. Yes, you read it right. A huge part of mermaid stories revolves around men spotting a beautiful mermaid, and being unable to forget her face, etc. Mermaid voice was like a love potion, enough to make even the most faithful gentleman forget about his wife. It’s likely that mermaid stories were told as warnings against seeking fleeting romances.
In more modern works, writers and artists like to describe mermaids as ravenous villains. There are endless movie productions based on thriller novels about drowning victims. Introducing a dangerous mermaid instead of the serial killer, is a twist for most readers.
Interestingly, ecological movies like to portray mermaids in the same, awful way. They portray mermaids as vindictive creatures, fiercely protective of their natural habitat. The goal of such productions is to obviously make people think twice, before they throw trash into the sea.
Related Posts:
- „The Mermaid Wife” – a short fable about selkies with a moral about unrequited love and one’s true identity
- “The Fisherman And The Merman” – a short fable about cooperation between humans and mermaids
- Mermaids in Ancient Greek Mythology
- Mermaids described in different world legends
Grab your copy of “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony” here…
English: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08T6BJ6RG
Spanish: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z8GK1JX
Italian: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0953PN3Y7
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