Tag Archives: mermaids

Sirenomelia

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In the short film Sirenomelia, there is a mermaid that is seen swimming in a decommissioned NATO base. The part that I particularly found interesting was the noise and camera angles of when the mermaid was in vision. The beginning of the video states the sound is “white noise” but I noticed that when the mermaid was in frame it sounded like a disruption in audio. Exemplifying a disruption in reasoning and belief of the reality that mermaids could exist.

The changes in audio and video quality was evident throughout the whole film, another notable change was when the camera was closer to the water/ in the water the video quality was blurrier or not as clear and the audio was stronger—in a almost eerie kind of way. Where as the beginning and the end of the film, once the camera was panned out or in aerial view the video quality was more clear and the audio was more of tranquillity. This detail in the film definitely ties into the description of the film stating that the creators wanted to show “The Future is Certain; It’s The Past Which is Unpredictable…history can both be rewritten and imprint itself on the future.”

The contrast of blurrier images and sounds replicate the past that was something the present could only understand through the lenses of others that show unclarity. Where as the clearer images show the future and the progression that future is advancing in.

Value

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A particular line that stood out to me In The Blue Humanities by John Gills was “The focus was almost entirely on the ships and the skills of the men who manned them.” Gills explains the acknowledgement that the ships and skillful men received while there was a disregard for the foundation— the sea. The sea is the foundation for the ships and the sea is what the skillful men had to not only work with but obtain some knowledge about in order to be successful in their travel. So why was the sea undervalued?

Tracing this back to what our discussions about mermaids/sirens being considered dangerous and unfit for society, there is a similarity considering the sea was was also considered “…as dangerous and repellant, ugly and unfit for literary or artistic representation.” The value of mermaids have had a similar value that the sea had at one point. Gills explains “…and more attention was paid to extracting the wealth of the seas…” Humans extract the parts of the sea that is of importance to them because it is benefiting to them. There is a lack of empathy towards the sea, the only value that the sea held was in a form of travel, whaling, etc. Much like the mermaids, who offered knowledge, their beauty, etc. Ignoring the fact that there is more knowledge that was missed out on to understand the depth of the sea, much like the mermaids as a being.

The Silence of the Mermaids

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In Merepeople: A Human History, Vaughn Scribner says that mermaids act as a means for symbolism for the shift in humanity and their conceptions of myth, religion, science, and capitalism (27). Mermaids perfectly reflect that change in humanity from believing in something mythical to exorting it. Mermaids were viewed as grotesque to some, simply because they’re half-human and half-animal. Whereas some mythological creatures like angels, for example, are very much also hybrid beings–half bird and half human–are symbolic in a different way; a way that is full of purity and transcendence. Mermaids were vilified while angels were, quite literally, angelic and uplifting. The stark contrast between those two hybrid beings shows how gendered interpretations chose whether a hybrid was to be celebrated or condemned.

I feel like the human half of the mermaid should’ve invited sympathy, which could’ve been symbolic in a way that allows people to connect their own experiences to life, not just on the surface, but as Princess Ariel’s good friend, Sebastian, once said, also under the sea. But instead, the difference between merepeople and humans was just too vast, and humans couldn’t relate to them, and that’s what began painting them as monstrous. Early portrayals of merepeople started with mermen, and they were associated with being strong and as a force in nature. But as religious and artistic traditions changed, women were physically and figuratively becoming the face of the merepeople. Triton’s wife, Amphitrite, and other mermaids were sexualized and defined with less autonomy and more by how they reflected a man’s anxieties and desires as time progressed.

It’s also very important to note that Christianity very much weaponized this villainization of mermaids. Christians used mermaids as symbols of sin and as a warning against feminine temptation, “A scriptural passage from the Wisdom of Sirach simply stated, ‘better the wickedness of a man than a woman doing good’. Women, for early Christian leaders, represented lust, weakness and man’s fall from grace” (37). When mermaids started to be transformed into sirens and their “siren song” epitomized the danger of a woman’s voice. Instead of letting mermaids be protectors of the ocean, they became basically a scapegoat for male weakness…I totally feel like the chance to see mermaids as a protector or guardian of the sea, and it’s marine life, was overshadowed by how they were portrayed to be dangerous seductresses. By turning mermaids into monsters, humans have definitely taken away a potential voice for the environment and the natural world.

Ultimately, mermaids show how femininity, but when connected to power or danger, their feminity has been weaponized against women themselves. I wonder if the silence of the mermaids can be changed if we tried to reimagine them as protectors of the ocean rather than something that kept people out.