Disney: 5 Reasons Ariel & Eric Are The Best Couple (& 5 Why It's Belle & The Beast)
Disney's princess films are perhaps their crowning achievement, which is saying something given all that they have produced. But when it comes to fairytales and romances, no films are more beloved than these. In particular, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid have stood the test of time as two of the most beloved fairytales among the Disney canon.
At the heart of both of these movies is a grand, sweeping fairytale romance - between Belle and The Beast, and Ariel and Prince Eric. These two relationships couldn't be more different, however, and both offer very different interpretations of what love really means. But which couple is better?
10 Belle and The Beast: Defies expectation
Even for those familiar with the world of fairytales, the notion that a beautiful young woman would be able to fall in love with a hideous beast is one that would strain credulity. After all, the film's opening question is, "For who could ever learn to love a beast?"
But Belle does learn just that, and more, over the course of Beauty and the Beast. The initial disbelief and expectation of failure are resoundingly disproved.
9 Ariel and Eric: Relies on tradition
By contrast, the world of The Little Mermaid leans much more heavily into tradition with its romance, relying upon the traditional marriage plot of elements such as union, conflict, misunderstanding, reunion, and eventual marriage.
From the moment Ariel and Eric first meet, there is no doubt that these two are on a marriage plot, where the only goal is their union.
8 Belle and The Beast: Love transcends class
It's not uncommon for fairytales, and Disney movies as well, to rely upon the familiar trope of a prince and princess falling in love. They stand on equal footing, and there's no reason that these two people shouldn't be together.
But Beauty and the Beast entirely rejects that notion. The pompous and wealthy Beast (formerly Prince Adam) is romantically paired with the poor village girl and inventor's daughter Belle. Their love crosses their class boundary.
7 Ariel and Eric: Love needs no words
Though it's originally the sound of Ariel's voice that makes a romantic connection on Eric's part, Ariel and Eric's eventual courtship happens when Ariel has been stripped of her voice.
Yet though she no longer has the key trait that would identify her to Eric as the girl of his dreams, these two continue to find themselves drawn to one another. They get to know each other, and fall for one another, all without words.
6 Belle and The Beast: Opposites attract
It isn't just opposite classes that separate Belle and The Beast. Their personalities could not be more different as well. When Belle first arrives, The Beast is surly, violent, and cold. He is spoiled - accustomed to having things his way, and not having to care about anyone else's needs.
By contrast, Belle is one of the most compassionate princesses in all of the Disney canon. She offers help to everyone who needs it, and is equally driven by her heart as she is by her voracious love of reading and intellectual adventures. Yet no matter their differences, these two find each other in the middle.
5 Ariel and Eric: Love between worlds
If there is one thing that stands in the way of Ariel and Eric's union, it's the fact that they live in entirely different worlds - or, rather, different parts of the same world. As a mermaid, Ariel straddles the line between land and sea, just as Eric does as a voyaging prince of a seaside kingdom.
But even though Ariel may initially be bound to the sea, and Eric bound to the land, these two are able to meet each other along the boundary of the shore, before Ariel ultimately crosses into the human world on land.
4 Belle and The Beast: Second chances
Belle and The Beast's union represents second chances at life in many ways, not just for them, but for all of those involved in their union. Through their love for each other, Belle and Adam are able to break the curse placed upon him years ago.
And in doing so, they are also able to save all of those who inhabit the castle. Their love for each other also allows Belle a second chance at her own life, as she finally finds the adventure in the great wide somewhere she has so longed for.
3 Ariel and Eric: Love as sacrifice
Disney movies are particularly good at making viewers go on unexpectedly emotional journeys, especially when acts of love are involved. In The Little Mermaid, the theme of love as sacrifice plays out on a few occasions.
Most notably, Ariel sacrifices not only her voice, but her mermaid tail and her home in order to be united with Eric on the land for a chance at love. And in the end of the tale, Eric risks everything and nearly dies to save Ariel and her family from Ursula.
2 Belle and The Beast: Love redeems
It's clear through the symbol of the rose at the center of the film that The Beast's very soul is at stake within the film. But it's never made clearer than in the film's seminal transformation scene, one of the most literal and moving depictions of love as redemption in the entire Disney canon.
Through saving Belle in an act of true love, The Beast is allowed to return to his human form as Prince Adam, now a man changed both physically and internally by his love for Belle and her love for him.
1 Ariel and Eric: Love at first sight
There are few things more romantic in the grand scheme of literature and film than the notion of love at first sight. No matter how unlikely it may be in reality, love at first sight is a common motif in the world of fairytales in particular, so it's no wonder than Ariel falls for Eric as soon as she sees him - and he for her, as soon as he hears her.
Though Ariel and Eric's journey takes many twists and turns from this initial meeting, there are few things in the film more romantic than their first scene, when Ariel saves Eric and lovingly keeps watch over him to ensure his safety.