Talk:Jiminy Cricket (House of Mouse)/@comment-1672596-20170609134347

To be honest, I really hated that gag in this episode where Ariel was holding the sign saying she lost her voice again and Jiminy Cricket basically told her not to sell her voice for a cute guy because it wasn't worth it. That whole thing I would have expected to be in something like Nostalgia Chick, not people who presumably would have knowing extensively about Disney lore as part of their job description.

First of all, Ariel didn't simply sell her voice to Ursula just for Eric. While he was undeniably a part of the reasoning behind that decision, there were plenty of other factors to take into account, like the fact that she wanted to experience the human world first hand, not to mention the fact that a few minutes earlier Triton proceeded to blow up her grotto just because she not only saved a human at all, but fell in love with said human as well. In fact, the whole becoming human thing played more of a role than Eric himself. All he did was give her a push in the right direction.

Second of all, the way it was done basically made Ariel seem like a bimbo overall, and most likely added more fuel to the fire of Ariel haters hating on her. I mean, what, did Jimminy Cricket tell Belle not to sell out her friends to get out of a lam? That would have been an appropriate life lesson to mention there, yet AFAIK (since I admittedly haven't watched this episode OR House of Mouse), Belle doesn't get that kind of criticism even when that actually WOULD have been warranted.

Third of all, as I implied with the first and to some extent second points, it completely ignores a fundamental element of Ariel's character, that she was innately curious and was ultimately driven to become human to learn more about it. Heck, she didn't even initially PLAN on becoming human, not yet anyways: She was merely content with simply asking Eric questions about humanity if her rattling off that plan right before Under the Sea was anything to go by. It wasn't until Triton blew up the Grotto and some sweet-talking from that psychopath Ursula that Ariel even bothered to become human. And what's worse, Ariel was clearly in mermaid form when that gag occurred, meaning it's implied that she sold her voice again for no real reason. This... I'm sorry, but they sacrificed a huge amount of what made Ariel very respectable and charismatic for the sake of a cheap joke at her expense.

Now, I'll admit, Ariel had her flaws in the original film, and even the sequel, but of all the flaws she did have, such as recklessness, stubbornness, some forgetfulness, and naivety, she wasn't some sort of bimbo even in the original film. It's almost as if they created that gag specifically to attract Ariel haters. In fact, had I been in the audience and I saw Jiminy Cricket give that audience, I'd probably say to that cricket "Yeah, Jiminy? Screw you! Ariel didn't simply do that for Eric, she did it to become a human, you idiot!"