I dare say, 2023 Ariel became human for Eric more than 1989 Ariel did.
Disclaimer: this post does not involve mermaids trading their voices for a vagina.
My analysis is supported by these points:
1. Up until Ursula makes her human, Ariel literally idolizes the human world. Then, as soon as she sets foot in Eric’s palace, her bubble is burst, as we can see in the song ‘For the first time’. The only thing easing her discomfort through that time is spending time with Eric in his library;
2. The next day she goes on a trip to the village with Eric, and we see do several things - combing her hair with a fork, eating a flower - that are considered weird by the villagers, and that, again, cause her discomfort. Hadn’t she been with Eric at that moment, the day would have been really awkward for her, possibly ending with her feeling out of place and unwelcome on land;
3. The final scene indicates that Ariel and Eric are leaving their castle to explore uncharted waters, which has Ariel especially excited at the perspective. No mention of the fact that she is gonna miss her new home on the land. Then, right before leaving, she makes this face at the ocean
which clearly indicates that she misses her old home more than the new one. It’s only when Eric brings her attention back to the present, that she literally puts a happy face on for him.
Through the entirety of the movie, the directors make a point of showing Ariel loves the sea more than she loves the land. Which means, Ariel chose to become human because she loves Eric, not because she loves the land.
So, 2023 Ariel is the one who actually left the sea for Eric. 1989 Ariel left the sea because she loved the land.
I actually think it's the opposite: 2023 Ariel left the sea for the world whereas 1989 Ariel left the sea for Eric. I think it would be disingenuous for me to claim Eric wasn't one of 2023 Ariel's motivating factors for her desire to be human, especially after he risked his life to help rescue her from Ursula. But I feel that 2023 did a better job showing Ariel became just as enraptured with learning about the human world as she was with Eric.
Though they are interconnected, there are 2 separate relationships growing at the same time: Ariel's relationship with the human world and Ariel's relationship with Eric.
And that's the thing. Her idealised and idolised version of the human world bubble does get popped, almost immediately. And then hope rises again when she thinks she'll at least have Eric. And then the bubble gets popped again when he doesn't recognise her and she essentially gets rejected. So agreed, the human world loses some of its shine for her.
But that's a good thing, because in the place of the naïveté, she learns a great deal of a lot more about the world, the REAL version with her own two eyes and her own perception. And despite some stuff giving her discomfort, she still falls in love with the world all over again anyway. This regrowing love for the human world is what drives her motivation to continue discovering the world and living with humans instead of running back under the sea. This regrowing love for the world comes across much more sincere and genuine.
And we're shown numerous times the beautiful things she is growing to love about this new world despite feeling lost and scared after FTFT and despite the things she doesn't like about it. She discovers Eric's library on her own and is enraptured by all the trinkets and tools, the globe, the telescope, all his little souvenirs. She excitedly pushes more maps in front of him to know what all the established places are and all the places that haven't been charted. Racing in a carriage and feeling the winds is exhilarating. The bright, sunny blue sky leaves her awed. The strange animals in the human world have her fascinated.
We also see her marvel at beautiful cloths and rugs and a colourful, vibrant marketplace. Discover the joy of sandals. Listen to spirited music from fascinating instruments she's never heard or seen before. Learn how to dance. Enjoy dancing and moving her feet. Experience being on a rowboat and learn how to make it move. See beautiful flamingos flocking and flying and fireflies brighten the night. Watch the twinkling starry night sky and learn about stars and their names. All of these, she never knew while living under the sea. And this is just a taste of what she can experience and she wants to know even more.
Eric is present for all of this, and his presence made these experiences better, but he is not actively influencing her to enjoy these things in any way; she's coming to love what she's discovering all on her own. She is comfortable with Eric, but in these moments, he only serves as a conduit or guide to answer her questions, teach her about the things she doesn't understand, or help her make more discoveries. She's spending time with him, but her focus isn't tethered to him only. Her attention is on discovering and uncovering the mystery of this new world.
From the library up until the end of Kiss The Girl, he spends the whole time he's with her pretty much chasing after her in some way, trying to figure her out, and especially trying to keep up with her as she flits about and wanders around without waiting for him and explores new things, good and bad. One could even make the argument that up until the end bit of KTG under the weeping willows, her eyes are on everything else, but him. Removing the caveat of having to get a kiss in 3 days from her memory in the 2023 version actually helps with that, because we know her motivation in exploring the village with Eric has no ulterior motive of getting a kiss. She truly does just want to see the world he'd told her about.
Ariel is drawn to Eric because she knows he's as curious and openminded as she is. The theme that surrounds Ariel and Eric as kindred spirits is their curiosity and their connection to the sea. What they want out of life aligns: her desperate desire to explore the world above the sea and his desperate desire to explore the world outside of his kingdom. They're both perpetually seeking out adventure and discovery. So it makes sense that she would feel comfortable and want to be with someone who espouses the same ideals. But as I mentioned above, we're shown that it's not only about Eric because the things she's seen about the world have only made her more deeply in love with being part of this world and learning more about it. But just when her journey to learn of the world above the sea had started, it was taken brutally away, so I see her longing at the end as two-fold: missing Eric, but also missing what he and the new world offer: the chance for discovery and adventure and exploration. (And I see Eric's longing for her in the same way too).
The final scene and their decision to explore uncharted waters ties back to the point I mentioned about Eric and Ariel's similar wanderlust. There's no mention of her missing her new home on land because in this version, it was never about land or the kingdom specifically and it was never about loving the land more than the sea. It was always about uncovering a new world, learning about the human world, exploring the unknown, and being part of Eric's world. Which she gets to truly do now with Eric. The final scene is actually a great way to connect the different relationships I mentioned to give them the best of both worlds: their curiosity with the world, their connection to the sea, and how both of these inform their love for and connection with each other.
The final scene is also a wedding send-off and a party in which all the humans are there celebrating her nuptials and impending honeymoon, but none of Ariel's mermaid family was present at the wedding. Scuttle, Sebastian, and Flounder are there, and they're the ones who probably told Triton about Ariel's wedding. But yet, despite that, her family isn't there. I interpret that look and her wistful stare at the sea as disappointment, rather than homesickness. She's about to leave on a trip for a very long time and hasn't had a chance to say a proper goodbye to her family since re-obtaining legs. And quite possibly, there might be sadness that she thinks her family rejects her marriage to a human; we've seen throughout the film how terrible the tensions have been between merfolk and humans. The humans accepted their Prince's marriage to a mermaid; she was likely hoping the merfolk would accept her marriage to a human. Their absence makes it seem like they reject it, and so her expression to me conveyed that melancholy. That's why the final scene with the humans and mermaids together is so poignant: it explicitly showed Ariel that their separate worlds are now united, that her father and family understand her, and that they accept her love for a human and welcome the humans they've always hated so much as part of their family now as well.
I don't think it's Ariel missing her old home more than the new one because she tells her trio of animal friends that she'll be back by the next Coral moon. Sebastian responds with "don't be late this time". So that tells us 1) she has already made plans to visit back home and 2) she can still become a mermaid at will, so she has options if she misses home. Plus, she'll be travelling by sea to the uncharted waters, so she's not far from water.
To your final point, I think 2023 shows Ariel's love for the human world better than the 1989 version. Both 1989 and 2023 Ariel love this idealised version of the human world while under the sea, but only 2023 shows Ariel relearning to love the world, warts and all, after those rose-coloured glasses come off. And 2023 is the only version that shows her discovering parts of the world she loves without Eric being the motivating factor despite his ongoing presence. 2023 Ariel's reasons for wanting to return beyond just falling in love with Eric are more believable.
