Dear Andrew: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Chiara Hirt

Instructor’s Introduction

In WR 120 Reimagining Fairy Tales, we spend the semester reading, thinking, and writing about fairy tales from diverse perspectives, considering how these stories shape our cultural understandings of romance, sexuality, class, disability and so forth, and asking how telling the tales in new ways might change those understandings. For the final creative project, students have the chance to put what they’ve discovered into practice by “reimagining” a fairy tale themselves, choosing their own mode of creative expression. I was stunned by the profound imaginative depth Chiara Hirt achieves in “Dear Andrew,” a gorgeous graphic retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” In part by changing the focal perspective to the character of the “prince” (in the classic tale, he is unaware of the mermaid’s affection until it is too late), but even more by reimagining the story’s events through the lens of disability, Chiara illuminates and redefines the tale’s themes in precise, empathetic, and moving ways. I was particularly struck by the recurring visual motif of being “underwater,” a metaphorical expression of the characters’ isolation—the isolation of being disabled in an ableist world, and the loneliness of not being heard, seen, understood for who you are—which is used to devastating effect. I’ll never forget Chiara’s beautifully performed presentation of the story to the class, which included signed as well as spoken language; many in the room were close to tears by the time we reached the story’s heartbreaking catharsis. When you read her story, I hope you can share in what we felt together.

Amy Bennett-Zendzian

From the Writer

We live in a world filled to bursting with stories of magic, adventure and love, but for all the stories out there, so many of us find it exceedingly difficult to find our reflection in any of them. The main character of the story always seeming like a cookie-cut copy of the last, the love interest we are meant to desire always so different from what our hearts truly seek, the individual who is different must always be fixed and turned back to “normal” by the end to live their happily ever after. I wanted to change this with my story, let what is normally not even considered in mainstream media be the normal in my world and focus the story on a friendship between two girls who had disabilities seen rarely in much of today’s media.

Before you begin reading, there is a focal point of my story that should be addressed as a warning and serious trigger for some. I have chosen to include suicide as a non-explicit but heavily emphasised topic in the second half of the comic. My reasoning for including such a sensitive topic was the result of a lot of self-reflection. I am not considering self-harm by any means, however while I was sketching my story board, planning the tales’ progression, I took a long look within myself and asked, truly, what would I do in this situation that I had placed my characters in. What options would I, or anyone consider, if they were just emotionally compromised enough, just vulnerable enough, when faced with these circumstances. As much as we love magic, the reality of our world is so often heartbreaking, and I feel it is important that we all can look at our reality for what it is instead of shying away and favoring escapism instead.

Dear Andrew: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Trigger Warnings: This story contains direct and indirect references to suicide, substance abuse, drugs, alcohol, blood, depression, self-harm, trypophobia

Artist Statement

Although Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is one of the most well known fairy tales to date, even being the first tale I remember reading on my own, I can’t help but have issues with the original story. After analysing its themes of “romance” in class and reading Amanda Leduc’s book about the problematic way disability is portrayed (a common theme in fairy tales), I chose to retell the story to address some of these issues, as well as better reflect my own experiences and transform the story into something I can better relate to. 

My retelling, which I have chosen to frame as a letter/suicide note in a graphic novel/comic style, is set in the modern era. One of the problems I see over and over again in fairy tales is to what extent it highlights the importance of romantic love, while those like platonic and familial are often overlooked for their impact. While romantic love is present in my story, the central relationship from the perspective of the main character is purely platonic. Their relationship also does not spawn out of purely physical attraction like seen in the original, as I wanted there to be a different reason for their connection. That being the ability for the mute ‘mermaid’ character to communicate with the deaf main character through sign. 

Another theme I wanted to touch on in my retelling is loneliness. In the original, the little mermaid’s desire to live on the surface has no depth outside of wanting an immortal soul. In my version, I want loneliness to be a real factor, on both sides, that causes an unrelenting need to be around people and connect with others. I have had my fair share of experience with loneliness, and wanted to express that feeling in the comic, how it could feel like you were underwater, so far and separate from everyone, but can shift to be an overwhelming, drowning feeling at any moment. 

I decided to use digital illustrations as my medium, as I found that while I could just write it out, I’ve never been extremely skilled with writing, and I don’t think I could ever express these deep feelings through writing alone without making them sound hollow. I decided to use a palette of black, greys and white for this comic so that I could play around with contrast, and how dull the world can be when steeped in loneliness, and to really highlight the rare times I do use colour.

Chiara Hirt is a freshman currently studying Biology and Computer Science at the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a pre-med student who has a deep interest and love for the art of people, and expresses her fascination most through her passion for art. Her thanks go to her sisters who have supported her and her art journey since the very beginning, offering their feedback and careful eyes, to her friends who had inspired her to make this comic and patiently sat through the works in progress, and her WR120 professor, Amy Bennett-Zendzian, for hosting the Reimagining Fairy Tales class and encouraging her to submit her project to Deerfield.