Hans Christian Andersen and The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen in Copenhagen, Denmark was unveiled in 1913.
Image | @kmitchhodge, Unsplash
«Wonderful Kopenhagen» was performed by Danny Kaye in the movie «Hans Christian Andersen» from 1952, and the song became an enormous promotion for the city of Copenhagen. The Tourist Board adopted the title of the song for their promotion of the city, and also figured out that they could use the fact that the 19th century author Hans Christian Andersen was one of the few world-famous Danes. You cannot go through the city of Copenhagen today without finding tons of souvenirs linked to his fairytales.
One of Hans Christian Andersens's well known and loved stories is about a mermaid, a ballet based on the fairytale was created by the Copenhagen Royal Theatre in 1909, and it became very popular. One of the spectators of the ballet, the rich brewer of Carlsberg beer and an art collector, Carl Jacobsen, was so fascinated by the beauty of the ballerina mermaid, that he asked the Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen to create a sculpture. Carl Jacobsen paid for it and offered it as a gift to the city of Copenhagen. The small sculpture of The Little Mermaid has become a must-see on any visit of the Danish capital; she is admired and photographed by visitors from the whole world.
Like other symbols around the world, the sculpture of the Little Mermaid has been mistreated throughout her life. Her head has been cut off twice, and an arm once, she has been overthrown with paint. In 1998, a Danish feminist group claimed the responsibility for a decapitation of her, as they said «to create a symbol of the sexually-fixated and misogynist male dream of women as being bodies without heads». More fun actions have been dressing her up as Mother Christmas, and at other times putting a Swedish or a Norwegian football jersey on her during important Nordic sports championships. Every one of these actions were sure to get the attention of the media with such an important symbol—but every time she has been repaired, cleansed, and is still sitting on her rock in the Copenhagen Harbour. For the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the city of Copenhagen decided to move The Little Mermaid, the very first time the sculpture has been moved from its rock. There she was for 6 months in the middle of a pool of the Danish pavilion, and as the architect of the pavillon, Bjarke Ingels, said: «it is considerably more resource efficient moving The Little Mermaid to China, than moving 1.3 billion Chinese to Copenhagen».
As a Copenhagener and a tour guide, I have often taken visiting friends and tour groups out to the harbour to see the Mermaid, but I am wondering about what they see—is it just a famous statue, like the Statue of Liberty in NYC, that you need to Instagram yourself with, or is there more to the little mermaid? What does she represent for the Danes and for foreigners?
In this video produced by Kongshaug Productions TV, people from all over the world share their enthusiasm for the Little Mermaid to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the statue created by Edvard Eriksen:
H.C.Andersen wrote the fairytale The Little Mermaid in 1837—a very sad story about a young mermaid who falls in love with a prince, and because of love, she is willing to abandon her family and her home. By drinking a magical potion she will lose her voice in exchange for human legs, but she will feel a pain like walking on sharp knives. She will be able to have an earthly life instead of 300 years of life as a mermaid. The story has a very sad ending. The prince is going to marry a neighboring king's daughter, and the little heartbroken mermaid is disintegrated into sea foam, after her attempt to murder the prince —a whole lot of sacrifices for love!
Or is all this just for love? An interesting (and my personal favorite) interpretation of the fairytale has been done by the American academic writer Maria Tatar in The Annotated Classic Fairytales: were the sacrifices done by a brave heroine to be able to explore the world, to leave her comfort zone, to discover the unknown and other possibilities? As a woman you can obviously get somewhat annoyed with the image of a woman just sitting there waiting for her prince! Other interpretations have been about the danger of self-sacrifice in the name of love, about the Christian idea of the human soul, or the expression of the lonely H.C. Andersen's impossible love for a man.
Several animated movies have been produced in Japan, a American produced live-action movie is on it's way, and of course there is the animated Disney version from 1989, which is a much happier story than the original, the Little Mermaid gets not only the prince but also her voice in the end.
You can interpret the symbol of the mermaid in many ways. In pre-Christian times she is mainly symbolizing fertility and youth. From Northern France, Luxemburg and the Low Countries comes the legend about Melusine, a female spirit of a sacred spring or river (also used as a logo of Starbucks products). Melusine was the inspiration for the story about Undine – a water spirit who marries a noble knight to gain a soul - by the German author Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué in 1811.
In the Greek mythology you can find the Sirens, dangerously beautiful creatures that will lure men in the depths of the sea with their beautiful voices, and also the Naiads in different bodies of water. The water spirit the Nix is German, and in Nordic mythology they have a man (!), the Näcken/Nøkken. Water nymphs and fairies can be found in many pagan cultures, probably all from common origins, from the ancient belief in water deities, as water is important for human survival. As these creatures are connected to the water, they may have the meaning of the source of life, but they can also be terrible enemies, like the dangerous waves that can crush us and take us into the unknown.
But for Danes and for foreigners, The Little Mermaid stays the important symbol of the fairytale and reminds us of the author Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote 156 fairytales, whose works have been translated into about 125 different languages, a record only beaten by the Bible.
Hans Christian Andersen
Image | Franz Hanfstaengl, Wikimedia Commons
Another Danish symbol is also inspired by a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling. The national bird of Denmark is a swan. A national voting was held in 1984, started by a Danish TV-host on his very popular nature show. Another bird, the skylark, had been the national bird since 1960. Over 200.000 Danes voted, the skylark was out, and the swan won. Not everyone was happy about the result. A petition wanted the skylark back as the national bird, because swans are known to be greedy, aggressive and selfish. But the choice of the swan was not surprising, the swan is present almost anywhere in Denmark, and it is known from by H.C.Andersen’s 1843 fairytale.
The story is about a swan egg ending up with a mother duck hatching. As the ducklings emerge from the shells, one of them looks different—bigger and white, not yellow like the others. Because he looks so different, the other ducklings and farm animals make fun of him. The ugly duckling will be hurt by their words, so he runs away. As he is wandering around in the wilderness, he sees a group of swans, he admires their beauty, but he is too young to fly with them. He survives a harsh winter, and in the spring he sees the group of swans again, but will be afraid of being rejected by them as he feels very ugly. To his big surprise, the swans will welcome him as one of their own! And then he understands, from a reflection in the water, he sees that, in fact, he is a beautiful swan..
Unlike many other of H.C.Andersen's fairy tales this one does not have any links to older folktales or myths. Many interpreters have seen the image of the author himself, he was described as a tall, ugly boy with a big nose and big feet, teased by the other children, but he grew up to be a famous and acclaimed author with a beautiful singing voice. The Danes like the symbol of how an ugly duckling can become somebody, be admired by others—especially when you live in a small country, without much to say on a global, political level.
The Danish national bird—the swan
Image | @tmillot, Unsplash
