The Little Mermaid is considered a classic by a range of generations. What many people don’t know, is that Ariel’s character has a direct correlation to an older mermaid; Madison from Splash.
It turns out, mermaid movies are some of the most popular as just like The Little Mermaid, Splash was a huge success as well. In fact, it was so massively popular that the Social Security Administration credits Hannah’s character for popularising Madison as a baby name. Five years after the release of Splash, Disney put some serious thought into what they wanted their own mermaid character to look like.
According to Oh My Disney, “The colour of Ariel’s hair was a point of contention among the team.” They originally wanted Ariel to be a blonde, perhaps inspired by Madison, but in the end, they didn’t want to make the two too similar. Since red is a complementary colour to Ariel’s green tail, the choice was made, and the beautiful redhead we all know and love was created.
