Hm..

I'll make more of these later, probably. I think I'll stop for now.

It's a difficult one :P

At least Ariel doesn't run away from her problems

these questions are totally subjective, ariel is a better role model for me

She means well, and still has other people's best interests at heart (and sacrifices a lot for what she feels is her sister's and citizen's safety) even if she doesn't execute it very well.

Most definitely. She never purposefully did anything wrong and she always has people's best interests at heart. She's not the best, but she's better than Ariel.

Elsa never has herself well put together.. Ariel takes risks to get what she wants and doesn't settle for anything less.

One thing comes to mind. Ariel admits that she went to see Ursula in front of dear old daddy. When confronted first by her sister, and then by Hans for what she has done, Elsa flat out denies that she can do anything to fix things. Ariel was willing to become a worm for her choice, and didn't want her father to take her place. Elsa just yells, "I can't!" at the top of her lungs.

Ariel confronts her problems. Elsa denies responsibility, and runs away. Ariel for me.

What Tygers said. Ariel does not have bad intentions either, but she doesn't really have good ones. And I don't buy the whole "proactive heroines are better role models" thing Disney critics and fans always say. Elsa is pretty passive but it's your attitude and choices that matter, not going on adventures or whatever.

I wouldn't say Ariel confronts problems though. Just the opposite. when Triton destroys her collection, she does run away. but Elsa does do it way more I admit.

8804: What? Ariel "admits that she went to see Ursula in front of dear old daddy" AFTER he's already found out and the jig is up. It's not like she comes forward with the information.

In fact, she doesn't even take responsibility. Even when she apologizes, she still makes excuses. "Daddy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't know." "Didn't mean" to what? Go to the sea witch? Sign the contract? "Didn't know" what? That Ursula has a reputation for being evil and untrustworthy? Has a whole garden of "poor unfortunate souls" who came to see her before? Would own your soul and likely turn you into a polyp if you didn't meet the terms of the contract you knowingly signed?

In fact, even after Ariel's father gets turned into a polyp, she still does not admit fault for her actions. Every time I watch the scene where he shrinks in front of her, I half expect Ariel to whisper, "What have I done?" INSTEAD, she glares at Ursula and shouts: "YOU MONSTER!" While Ursula indeed shares fault, when all's said and done she didn't force Ariel to come to her lair or sign the contract. She didn't keep the terms of the contract hidden from Ariel. Heck, she didn't even try to hide how sadistic she is, or how many victims she has under her belt.

Ariel knew the risks going in, chose to do it anyway, and STILL makes excuses for herself ("I didn't mean to, I didn't know") and shifts the blame onto someone else ("YOU MONSTER!") instead of admitting "It's all my fault," "What have I done?" or "I shouldn't have done this." That's not "taking responsibility" for me.

And it's not like Elsa doesn't try to make things right in her own way. She may say "I don't know how" when Anna and Hans ask her to unfreeze it, but she doesn't let herself off the hook either. She still spends the rest of the film torturing herself over the winter, trying with all her might and main to suppress her emotions and thus suppress the winter. She only stops actively trying to "Conceal, don't feel" when she's, you know, hunted like a dog, about to be killed, dragged into prison and about to be executed.

Could she have handled it better? Yeah. Should she have allowed Anna to try to help? Yes. Should she have tried a new method instead of locking herself away chanting "conceal, don't feel" when she KNOWS that has never worked? ABSOLUTELY!

But if you want to talk about denying responsibility, Ariel's got Elsa beat six ways to Sunday.

I think being a good rolemodel is about when a characters learns a lesson in the end and the audience gets the message of that. Yes, Elsa runs away form her problems bu that was never supposed to be a good thing. Her problems are still there unsolved in Arendelle. She doesn't encourage people to run away fromt heir problems. Look at what Anna had to go through to find her. In the end she learns that her problems will not go away if she runs form them and she faces them and understands that in order to face her problems she should be able to love and accept herself and not hesitate to ask others for help. I think that's what makes her a good role model.
What's the lesson that Ariel has learned?

^ I actually have the agree with manu on this. Both Elsa and Ariel make terrible mistakes and messes for other people, but Elsa's is portrayed as a serious character flaw that she needs to overcome and a lesson she needs to learn, which she does by the end. (The more she tries to run from her problems, the worse they get; only after she stops running is she able to fix her own mistakes.) Meanwhile, Ariel's is portrayed as just fine. She doesn't need to learn or grow or change, other characters need to learn that Ariel deserves to get what Ariel wants, then put their lives on hold and risk their lives to help her even though she never does the same for them.

*I don't think Elsa is well developed enough to be a good role-model*

I guess.

Ariel is real with her feelings and emotions. She doesn't suppress them. Elsa does and while I can understand why, it still wasn't the best way to deal with her problem. As someone who has had depression and even anxiety, panic attacks. I think Ariel is the better role model in this aspect.