Josh Benner

Tag: Disney

  • Ariel and Jesus: The Gospel in the Little Mermaid

    Ariel and Jesus: The Gospel in the Little Mermaid

    My favorite Disney movie is the Little Mermaid, and part of why I love the movie so much is because of tall of the gospel themes. 

    THE LONGING OF THE HUMAN SOUL 

    Ariel has it all. She’s a princess, she lives in a palace. she’s beautiful, she has an amazing singing voice, great friends, she’s adored. Yet what she really wants is a world that’s above (literally).

    While her hope and aspiration is to be part of our world, her understanding of it is imperfect. She finds various items and turns to her seagull friend Scuttle to explain the things of the world to her. He’s well-intentioned but often ill informed as he tells her a fork is used for hair and a tobacco pipe is a musical instrument. We also see her imperfect knowledge of the world in the song “Part of Your World” where she keeps repeating “what do you call ’em?” “what’s that word?”

    None of that changes Ariel’s desire to know our world. A world where they walk, where they run, where they stay all day in the sun. Sun is noteworthy in her association with the world as light is a nearly universal religious symbol of truth and righteousness. She desires the illumination of the world above over the dark world of the seas.

    A SINFUL HEART

    Ariel has a loving father, the king, but she is also disobedient to him. She goes up to shore in spite of being forbidden. She complains about her father’s rules in “Part of Your World” when she sings: “Bet’cha on land they understand, bet they don’t reprimand their daughters.”

    A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL 

    In order to make it to land, Ariel makes a deal with Ursula, the Sea Witch, who’s a demonic figure. Many had come before Ariel and made various deals with Ursula, only to lose and be turned into polyps.

    Ariel is betting on herself. But it’s a bet she will lose. She cannot ultimately prevail in becoming part of the world.

    A SAVIOR 

    Ariel was always a pawn in Ursula’s game. Ursula wants to rule the world of the seas. When Ariel loses her deal, her father Triton intervenes. There’s only one thing that can save Ariel. Triton exchanges himself for her and is turned into a polyp. He sets aside his crown so that Ariel can live.

    VICTORY

    Ursula is powerful. But she’s not all-powerful. In the end, she is defeated. There’s a resurrection of the people who’s lives she had taken. Triton gives Ariel what she could not give herself. He gives her entrance into the human world. The movie ends like the Bible ends, with a wedding celebration and a choir (only time in this movie) singing: Now we can walk, now we can run, now we can stay all day in the sun. Just you and me and I can be part of your world.

    THE GOSPEL 

    There are great themes in this movie. But it also is just a shadow of the real story. That we are sinful and need grace. Jesus is the one who took the penalty of our sin for us so that we could be forgiven and have our true home in another world.

    Thanks for reading! If you liked, please comment and share.

    Originally published November 22, 2019

  • The Gospel According to the Little Mermaid

    Movie_poster_the_little_mermaid.jpg


    With the recently launched Disney+, I’ve been rewatching many of the classic Disney movies from my childhood.

    I was struck by how many gospel themes are found in the Little Mermaid.

    The longing of the human soul 

    Ariel has it all. She’s a princess, she lives in a palace. she’s beautiful, she has an amazing singing voice, great friends, she’s adored. Yet what she really wants is a world that’s above (literally).

    (more…)

  • Focus on being the right person, not finding the right person

    photo-1519227052808-f41f4e405df0.jpeg
    We live in a soulmate focused society. We love the idea of finding the one.

    As a millennial, perhaps it’s because our generation grew up with VHS and we were able to watch and rewatch and rewatch the same Disney movies over and over again, seeing the happily ever after. But in fairytales, we never actually see the day to day of what the “ever after” ends up looking like.

    You don’t have a perfect person because YOU’RE not a perfect person. And a relationship takes two people. And since a relationship includes you, it’ll have problems. Now multiply that by two as you find someone who is also imperfect.

    The problem with trying to find the right person is that it’s inherently self-centered. It implies you can find one person who completes you, who builds you up, who makes you whole.

    That’s not how God designed us.

    It is God who makes us whole. It is in God that we find purpose and life.

    If we have the mentality that another person will be what completes us, we’re viewing the relationship as a taker. Thinking that a significant other or spouse’s sole job in life is to support you and build you up will lead to an unbalanced and unhealthy relationship. Too many relationships are made up of two takers.

    But that’s what we want. Instead of looking for that person, you need to be that person. You need to be a giver, you need to want to support and honor another person.

    “The doesn’t seem fair!”

    But it seems fair to look for someone who’s going to do that for you?

    Both people need to be focused on giving, being selfless, and serving the other. We’re imperfect and so we’ll do that imperfectly, but when people work to build that relationship, it’s a beautiful thing.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.