Photos From Second Life's Thriving Mermaid Roleplay Community - Including Riffs on the Disney Versions

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

With Disney’s Little Mermaid reboot upsetting people who think it’s okay to completely alter the storyline and the message of an old fairy tale so long as you leave the skin color alone, I thought it might be interesting to see what Second Life’s photographers are doing with mer-culture lately. Madame Chaos’ “Little Mermaid – Alternate Ending” made me laugh out loud. Yes, perhaps this is the only ending that can satisfy everyone.

For a more Disneyfied query into SL’s mermaid community, click here:

“When is it my turn?” by Matticus Marinea asks for some gender equity in the Disney world. It’s a valid question. Although there are several Disney films with boy heroes, is there even one with a romantic story featuring a Disney prince singing “someday my princess will come?” The stories with boys are more about adventure than romance. And seriously, do mer-boys even exist in Disney?

Cam De Vil’s “Part of My World” imagines Ariel’s revenge if she is rejected. She really goes all out for payback. Generally speaking, centering the subject produces a static, flat photo, but it works in this case because it so effectively mirrors the story. She is the center of the world now, it’s all about her.

Pepperthorn also imagines a bad end, this time for Ariel as she is rejected and curse comes into effect. She created this haunting version of Ariel called “Poor Unfortunate Soul” from Ursula’s epic song. To listen, click here.

I also like Hopey’s “I want to be part of your world” which imagines a mermaid saving a pirate. To listen to the song, “Part of Your World” click here. Hopey has a lot of mermaid pictures though they wander far beyond Ariel’s story.

I was beginning to think there were no Black mermaids in SL, but Loute Diesel showed up with “The Black Mermaid” is a lovely one, even though sideways, whose eyes close as she dreams of something I hope more ambitious that getting a prince to fall for her.

Second Life has a lot of mermaids and mermen. There are sims for the mer-people such as My Atlantis [teleport here] and Mermaid Park [teleport here.] Luckily, Second Life residents can breathe underwater, so go enjoy a swim today.

See all of Cajsa’s Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter, on her blog, and on her Ko-Fi.