Thanks, y'all, for watching this video! <3 I just wanted to clarify some mistakes:


1) when I cite lyrics directly from "Mob Song", I accidentally cited some of Tim Rice's lyrics from the 2017 film. But my points still apply, so here's a similar stanza from the original 1991 film:

Through a mist, through a wood
Where within a haunted castle
Something's lurking that you don't see every day!

It's a beast!
One as tall as a mountain
We won't rest 'til he's good and deceased

Sally forth! Tally ho!
Grab your sword! Grab your bow!
Praise the Lord and here we go!

2) I say towards the end that Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were responsible for igniting the Stonewall Riots. Though they were influential figures and Johnson participated, it seems agreed upon that Stormé DeLarverie was the one to actually initiate the riots.

3) I list Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey under the label of "lesbian blues artists" when this is incorrect--both were explicit about their bisexuality/pansexuality throughout their lives.


4) I pronounce Bruz Fletcher's name wrong in the beginning of the video (it actually rhymes with "does")

Thank you again for your patience and support! This was my second video, so admittedly I was still getting used to making things in this format. Since making this video, I've developed a stronger method for vetting my scripts and research with the intention of not making mistakes like these again.

Gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul.... you know, it’s interesting that both Ariel and Adam (the beast) go from animalistic characters to fully human at the end of the film, achieving what they want.... to be seen as people.

Why was his work so good?
Because he understood kindness. It's just that. Kindness.

I think one of the lyrics that highlights this most is the villagers singing ‘we don’t like what we don’t understand, in fact it scares us’   Just can’t help seeing it as anything other than people demonizing queer culture

that little speech from his life partner had me in tears, R.I.P Howard Ashman.

I just love how the stories that made people’s childhoods are just... gay as hell. And that homophobic people just don’t know, and their lgbtq+ children are allowed to at least see this legacy even if they don’t yet know what that legacy is.

I remember when I was just realizing I was a lesbian way back when I was an 11 year old kid in 6th grade, I sang Part of Your World  in my school's talent show. I was borderline obsessed with it, as I even learned and memorized the song on my clarinet. I played it so much in band class that I heard my band director humming it in the halls, and one day he gave me a certificate that said "Worlds Biggest Earworm." That same year, when that same band director was transferring to a different school, I wrote the song lyrics of it along the back of a poster we were given to say goodbye to him.

The song helped foundation my love as a musician and discover my identity, and I am so grateful for it.

there is a heartbreaking longing in all of Howard's songs that resonated with me before I even knew I was queer. I would cry every time part of your world came on, before I knew why

The little mermaid was and will always be my favorite Disney movie, maybe my favorite movie in general. When I was little and growing up I just wanted to be a mermaid they were my favorite things to read about and discover. When I was coming to terms with my trans identity mermaids came back into my life and I started to see the connections between my story and Ariel's. Before I started to take testosterone I recorded myself singing two songs, Reflection from Mulan and Part of Your World, in the hopes of doing a voice comparison years later after my voice had changed. Howard's music means the world to me and knowing more about his story makes me so happy and yet so sad at the same time. I wish the world had gotten to hear more wonderful music from him.

I'm very gay myself, but I think that Ariels silence was a metaphor for something else
she trades her voice for legs, her inner self for being able to stand on her own as she's leaving home (like you have to get a shitty job and be nice to customers to get your first apartament)
she uses this new found illusion of maturity to impress the prince, trying not to reveal her more intimate self as one would in a new environment

Howard's life partner looks like Adam/Beast O.O

This was phenominal and I am currently crying

Not to mention the lines of the reprise or part of your world: “I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I can feel something starting right now; watch and you’ll see, someday I’ll be, part of your world” always felt queer-coded to me too

And I always wondered why I most identified with Ariel and her story. This is yet another reminder that our childhood was super gay lol. But seriously, when you listen to Ashman's "Part of Your World"  the context takes on a whole new meaning. You really understand his perspective.

As an aside "The Pansy Craze" Is an excellent name for a band.

Watching this ...I'm left wondering... was the human form of Beast / the painting of beast based on Ashman's partner?? Cause seeing him accept the award... this towering man with the hair and angular face with those eyes and nose... it just... it feels like there at least was a reference point...

Ah, finally someone explains why "Part Of Your World" still resonates so much with me, an enby, after so many years. Everybody I know complains about Ariel being dumb and The Little Mermaid being outdated and corny, but she is one of the closest characters to my soul, and it is because thay yearning of being "there" with "them" in a place where (and I am translating from Spanish here) "nothing is forbidden".

the bit where you talk about empathizing with ariel but not really knowing why really spoke to me as a bi/queer woman who's always thought the connection to ariel and belle in particular. there's a sort of optimistic...desperation for acceptance and freedom in both of their narratives but spoke to me obviously as a young girl, but now speak to be more in the sense of being a woman who is ~different~ (i.e. queer, disabled, etc.). this video with great and gave lots of new perspectives to what we already know about howard's work with disney.

just a quick note, however, bessie smith was what we would today refer to as bisexual, but since all wlw back then were referred to as lesbians, i can understand the use of the label in that context.

anyway, well done. :)

I'm a gay girl, and I've always felt connected to Ariel since I was really little. I even think she was my first crush (her and Sailor Moon). I often joke that Ariel is my favorite Disney Princess because "she's me." Dramatic, hoards things she likes, obsesses over stuff, I could go on. Seeing this queer interpretation adds a new layer to her character that only draws me in closer. It's like, the human world is a world where she can be herself and be accepted for who she is, and seeing her get that happy ending feels far more beautiful now, especially when her previously unaccepting father finally gives her his blessing after seeing everything she's been through and sHOOTS A RAINBOW INTO THE SKY AT HER WEDDING. I know she married a man (no hate to Eric, he's a good guy that took in a stranded mute girl when he didn't have to) and I doubt all or even most of what I just said was intentional, but it certainly makes me happy to view the film this way, so thank you for giving me the jumping off point to a deeper connection with part of my childhood. The Little Mermaid section of this video nearly brought me to tears, which is a rare thing for a video to do to me.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THE BEAST’S HUMAN FORM LOOKS JUST LIKE BILL LAUER 😿😿😿😿😿