21st September 2018

The Mermaid effect…is it just a ‘Fairytale’?

philippanestie Culture, Fashion, Image mythology, shopping

Last year it was Unicorns now it’s Mermaids I’m seeing everywhere, in fact there are still numerous Unicorns about…and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere, so demand is obviously still very high. Mermaids take me back to my favourite tale of Han’s Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid from my childhood. How my heart ached for that poor tragic Mermaid, who not only made huge sacrifice’s, but ultimately could never join her Prince which eventually led to her sad demise…oh how I wished for a happy ending…but it was not to be (though how realistic..).

So it’s definitely not true that all fairytales have a ‘happy ending’ this was definitely one with a bitter twist. Again I think the prevalence of Mermaids is the same reason for the Unicorn phenomena (https://philippanestie.com/what-the-unicorn-is-going-on/) in uncertain times we yearn and latch on to something ‘other’…be that ‘elusive’, ‘rare’ or ‘magical’, as Mermaids are definitely in the magical and ‘mystical’ realm.

When I  found out that Mermaids didn’t really exist,  I was horrified and followed all the stories and myths of Mermaid sightings, learnt about the Sirens and other ‘underworld’ creatures. Discovered the Victorian facsimile of an ‘actual’ Mermaid which was extremely ‘grotesque’, and very unlike the image of a Mermaid I had….They were said to be beautiful and alluring but their beauty was ‘deadly’, leading to the ‘deaths of many sailor’s’. I think the combination of beauty and ‘deadly danger’ held a very powerful spell for me.  I was like ‘right in there’ give me some of that please!

So now what do I see around me? Mermaid cups, bags, keyrings, T-shirts you name it may have a Mermaid reference on it or the ‘Mermaid effect’- scale like sequins and ‘glamour’ (in fact the word glamour comes from mythology and the realm of the fairy) beautiful colours, shimmering surfaces, iridescence it doesn’t have to have the word Mermaid written across it…So why now? Well with so much uncertainty (and not just Brexit) so many social problems (more and more homeless tents abound) violent assaults (stabbings, acid attacks and robberies) sadly that list could go on and on, in fact it’s totally overwhelming leading to a strong desire to ‘escape’ to enter ‘another world’ albeit temporary and far removed from not only the every day, but from issues and problems that we have no control over.

So why not align ourselves to beings that are ‘untouchable’ such as Unicorns and Mermaids? When such devastation surrounds us it can be very harmful to internalise…so maybe a safer way to ‘externalise’ without directing our issues to those who can or will not listen,  is to turn our attention to a realm that ‘doesn’t exist’…because it’s just possible we are really touching the real root nerve why fairytales came to exist in the first place…And it’s a long way from today’s flawed politicians and fractured society…so in need of  some ‘real’ fairy dust now…                                                                  

Though I don’t know how or ‘where’ I’ll get it for from…but maybe just carrying that iridescent Mermaid cup I may feel slightly ’empowered’…?  Or is that just a ‘joke’ and what the ‘powers that be’ want me to think and feel?  Now I’m starting a whole ‘other’ debate..?