pretty girls(2002) is a japanese drama that follows the trials and tribulations of our cast of characters in a department store that has seen better days. watching this drama now, it is easy to see it as a response to the economic conditions of the time. some of the issues that inform the material of the drama include the struggle department stores to remain in operation and decreased consumer spending in a time of economic turmoil in japan. it is amusing to see how in an attempt to keep the institution of the department store alive in a new world order, things like "lifestyle packaging" based on acquisition of detailed customer profiles and data amongst other things are sold to viewing audience through the medium of the drama.
another noteworthy aspect of the drama pretty girls is the allusion to the little mermaid. this theme crops up in a lot of japanese drama. i think it is worthwhile exploring this fairy tale since it appears to have a certain psychological power with the audiences in japan and elsewhere in the orient.
the little mermaid is a fairy tale written by hans christian anderson. a lovely young mermaid falls in love with a prince. when his life is in danger she rescues him. for love of him and also because of a longstanding curiosity about the land above the waters, she sacrifices her voice and leaves her family to be with the prince. in her bargain with the sea witch, she creates an opportunity for herself that is breathtaking and perilous. if she succeeds in winning the love of the prince and he marries her, she will remain human and acquire a soul. if she fails, she will turn to sea foam. it is an all or nothing bargain.
unfortunately, while the prince is very fond of the little mermaid, he does not love her. and in time he marries another princess. her sisters who have remained in contact with the little mermaid are aghast at this news. they in their turn go and bargain with the sea witch and return with a dagger. they give this dagger to the little mermaid with the instruction that she is to use it to pierce the heart of the prince as he sleeps with his bride on his wedding night. when his blood falls on her feet, she will become as she once was, a beautiful mermaid able once again to live under water and rejoin her family to live out the remainder of her days allotted to the lifespan of a mermaid.
the little mermaid decides to forgo killing the prince and his bride on their wedding night. thus, she loses her chance to reunite with her family. with this decision she not only gives up her lover and her family, but also her own life. why does she decide to do this? she had sacrificed both her voice and being with her family in a gamble to win the love of a young prince. both he and his world are alien to her but she risks all in the hope she will not only gain his love but another family, a new life. instead the lack of a voice prevents her from building a bond with the young prince to whom she is devoted. in a world alien to her she has to not only learn how to walk, an activity that is immensely painful and exacts a bloody toll, she has to learn the norms and culture of the world her prince lives in and she has to win the prince's heart. each day she lives with the knowledge that the success of her project is not in her hands. every day she confronts the likelihood of her failure. but she continues to hope.
unfortunately the prince never falls in love with her. early on in their association, the prince had revealed to the little mermaid his heart belongs to the maiden who rescued him from his shipwreck. unbeknownst to him, it was his new-found companion who as a mermaid had saved him in the treacherous waters of the stormy sea as his ship was sinking. it was she who had held his head above the raging waters, protected him from the deadly debris of the shipwreck and brought him safely to shore. if there is anyone who has a right to claim she saved him, the little mermaid certainly has the right. but the woman the prince associates with his rescue is a young princess who was attending a convent by the sea when she happened upon him on the beach as he lay there after the ocean rescue during a morning walk.
the little mermaid with her fishtail could only bring him ashore to the edge of the beach. her domain was the ocean; on land she was powerless to help him further. she could only mutely watch as the young princess woke the prince and called for assistance. this mute watching is replayed day after day once she acquires her land legs and waits on the prince as his page. she is doomed to simply be in his presence without ever being able to express her love, without ever being able to engage the prince in conversation to elicit the warmth of friendship and perhaps love. however, she does all in her power to serve him faithfully in all the ways that are available to her. but in the end, all her service and attention to him are fruitless.
it is seductive to think the little mermaid loves the prince. it is easy to feel frustrated when the prince does not recognize his true savior. this implies that the prince only loves his betrothed because he believes she saved him. the little mermaid knows in her heart the truth. the prince's love is not his to give nor hers to acquire. the prince does not love his betrothed because she saved him; he loves his betrothed simply because he loves her. there is no reason for his love other than its birth and existence.
it is easy to bewail the little mermaid's situation. however, she has the satisfaction in knowing all her decisions and actions are of her own choosing. she is guided in all of her actions and decisions by what she wants, what she feels. in this she has remained true to herself. she is not a victim of circumstance. she knew that she was walking into a difficult situation even if she did not anticipate how difficult. she remained hopeful. but love is not a thing to be purchased with rescuing someone nor acquired through proximity or service. she may have saved him. she may think she loves him. but neither of these conditions entitle her to the prince's love. love is something that neither the little mermaid or the prince can control. she won for herself the privilege of unlimited access to the prince's presence, the opportunity to remain beside him and serve him. if love for her does not blossom in the heart of the prince of its own accord, is she to manipulate it into existence with words and conversation? what sort of love is this? can such a thing even be called love? what is love in the first place?
what the little mermaid learns is that love is not the sort of thing that one grasps. love exists. love is not a single faced thing. love is pain and pleasure, beauty and ugliness, acceptance and rejection. love is another way of pointing to existence in all its murky, enthralling complexity. in this regard her adventure which made her leave her home, give up her voice, endure much pain to win the prince's love brings her to freedom. by being able to accept the pain of his
rejection, she has freed herself from attachment. love is usually one of the most potent methods to seduce the mind to hold on to something. but life, reality, the universe is about multiplicity, of change, of things always in flux, starting and stopping, of constant rearrangement.
ultimately holding on to the prince would only have harmed her. her decision to spare the prince is in keeping with her habit of making difficult decisions that challenge and force her growth. when she ceases to struggle to hold on to the prince and her life, she transcends her attachment to both. with this she is free to soar as a bird, a spirit of the air, not fixed to any one emotional experience but free to see all the varied range of emotional experiences of those who do exist. one can compare the freedom the little mermaid wins for herself to a state of enlightenment and liberation commonly expounded in the traditions of asia. in transcending her pain, she transcends limitedness, limitation. but there is still much for her to learn.
she takes this step into enlightenment unconscious of what she is doing. she simply decides it is not worth it to her to kill the prince to rejoin her family under the waters. what she has been granted in life is enough. she accepts this truth with grace. she accepts her time with her family with its joys and pains and the passing of that time. similarly, she accepts as a gift the time she
was allowed with her prince. she accepts the close of this time and the close of her life. she has no regrets. it is enough.
in this regard, the little mermaid is not a superfluous fairy tales. in general very few fairy tales are superfluous or silly. but this particular fairy tale is about transcendence, enlightenment, moksha, nirvana, of attaining one of the ranks of bodhisattvahood. not all fairy tales dwell on this particular theme. this is heady stuff to use to sell a department store's attempts to survive.
