Or more exactly, lyracist Howard Ashman (1950-1991) failed biology. How did I come to this conclusion? Check out the lyrics to "Under the Sea", the signature song of the movie The Little Mermaid. What do they got - a lot of Sand?
We got a hot crustacean band.
Each little clam here know how to jam here under the sea.
Each little slug here cutting a rug here under the sea.
Each little snail here know how to wail here,
That's why it's hotter under the water,
Yeah we in luck here down inthe muck here under the sea!
Clam: Not a crustacean, but a mollusk.
Slug: Also, not a crustacean, but a mollusk.
Snail: Yet one more mollusk.
In fact,
The newt play the flute,
The carp play the harp,
The plaice play the bass and they sounding sharp.
The bass play the brass,
The chub play the tub,
The fluke is the duke of soul (Yeah!)
The Ray he can play,
The ling's on the strings,
The trout rockin' out,
The blackfish she sings,
The smelt and the sprat,
They know where it's at,
And oh that blowfish blow!
Do you see any crustaceans in that list? Add in the sturgeon and the sardine, the other two sea creatures mentioned inthe song. Still no crustaceans.
So the only crustacean in the entire song is Sebastian himself. Hmm... a little self centered, aren't we?
This is not an indictment of Disney in general. At least Walt properly identified seven diminuitive men as dwarves rather than midgets.
