When you consider Ariel to be an aspiring anthropologist, her wanting to be "where the people are" is not much different than Jane Goodall's desire to study chimpanzees or an astronaut to travel to other planets. But considering merfolk and humans in The Little Mermaid universe are both sapient, sentient, and speak the same language(s), Ariel falling in love with Eric is basically your classic alien-human romance.
Hence why Ariel deserves to be in the same rank with Belle as Disney's canon monster-fuckers. In this essay, I will--














