Wasn't Melody selfish?
Wasn't Melody a bit Self centured in the movie? She thought of noone but herself, and was hitched on becoming a Mermaid.
shareMelody wasn't selfish at all. Her parents made a series of extremely ill-considered decisions. They basically cut half of their family and friends completely out of their lives and decided not to be honest -- in fact, to be actively dishonest -- with their daughter. They lied to her about Atlantica and the ocean and refused to explain themselves. They weren't even involved enough in their only child's life to know that she loved the sea and genuinely felt like she didn't belong; Ariel blithely dismissed it as 'just being a teenager'. They didn't even do anything at the disastrous party until it was too late.
And honestly -- after that debacle, who could blame Melody for feeling resentful and hurt and like she didn't belong? She left to go to sea, which was the only peace she had ever known. She was presented with her heart's desire and resolved to have it. Morgana was literally the only person in the film that seemed to show any real interest in what she wanted; it's no surprise that Melody was willing to help her. Even later, when she hands the trident over, it's because it's been revealed to her that her mother has lied to her, repeatedly, over the course of her entire life.
It's pretty amazing for any character to have enough integrity to stick to what they may resolve, but especially noteworthy that Melody does it, considering her age. How many children like her would have just seen their mother and immediately obeyed or forgiven her?
Melody wanted to be herself, and she was deeply unhappy in a world where her peers were awful, obnoxious, and uninterested in relating to her, where her parents showed no real interest in her life or made any effort to understand her problems, and where she felt clumsy and awkward. She made a decision and took the opportunity to improve her life in the only direction that she had ever found happiness, and away from the people who were limiting and toxic to her. This isn't called selfishness. It's called making a healthy decision in awareness of one's own well-being.
There is a difference between that and selfishness, but if you want to see selfishness, look at the decisions Ariel and Eric made: instead of being involved with their daughter's life and instructing her in the dangers of the sea, instead of being attentive and protecting her so that she could live her life freely and in the way she wanted, instead of being honest with her about why they were making bizarre and confusing, seemingly arbitrary decisions, they shut out half their family and friends and lied to their only child for over ten years. And they realised this over the course of the film and apologised.
I think people knee-jerk to the tired trope of 'I can't stay here in a realm of magic where all my dreams have come true, I have to go back home to where things are familiar'. And whenever anyone chooses the realm of magic and their dreams, their hopes, and everything that really makes them happy, people react in a confusingly negative way. I'm pretty sure that if I were Melody, I would have done much the same.
Melody was inexperienced and a little naive, but she certainly wasn't selfish.
I agree with you that Melody wasn't selfish at all. However, I disagree with your comment about how Ariel and Eric were selfish in their actions. While it was indeed extreme of them to do that, they were indeed trying to protect their daughter (which is selfless), which like it or not was especially necessary considering what Morgana nearly did to Melody as an infant. Heck, need I remind you that Triton actually agreed with their decision? Now, had they been selfish, I'm pretty sure they would have just told her to get herself run over by a cart. You know, similar to Lois and Peter's treatment of Meg in Family Guy (which actually borders on having infanticidal thoughts about her).
shareI don't think that Ariel and Eric were selfish either. Parents do the best they can for their kids, especially to keep them safe, but regardless of their intentions, they make mistakes. Morgana actually said it best when she said that she was sure Ariel didn't mean to be "cruel and deceitful". Even Triton certainly screwed up royally in the first movie when he destroyed Ariel's treasure trove. No, Ariel and Eric didn't handle the threat of Morgana well, and they ended up driving their daughter away, just as Triton did in the first one, but they're intentions were good. It seemed like they were taking the "easy" way out. You know, Morgana is a threat, but she's stuck in the sea. Keep Melody out of the sea, no threat.
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