Characters
A boy, a mermaid, a boy's parents, and a military were the characters in this short film.
Setting
It took a place in a country where no imaginations are allowed.
What they want and what is the problem for them?
The boy wanted a freedom to imagine that a fish could turn into a mermaid, and that mermaids do exist. However, the military wouldn't let people think freely. They wanted people to have just a one way to think of a subject and believed that fish cannot be transformed into mermaids. The boy didn't give up to believe that mermaids do live and soon was forced to think ''the right way" that people at the time believed. Despite his torture, he persisted in his opinion throughout the story.
What is real and what is fantasy?
Well, I don't think mermaids do exist. However, I thought this short film reflects the real history, as people say that there was a time in the real world where you weren't allowed to do things freely in the past. At that time, what people could do to survive was to do things as emperor had told, no matter how they are refused to it, which fits in the boy's situation. For these reasons, I thought the creator viewed the history critically and made up the film, a hope that never to repeat the history over again included.
Ending
Unfortunately, all the tortures made the boy to forget what the mermaid looked like. However, his strong belief toward the existence of mermaid enabled him to meet with the mermaid again, after he had passed away.
Theme
In my opinion, the creator of the story probably wanted to tell us to broaden our minds. I guess what he wanted to tell us is that having a stereotyped way of thinking isn't good, but to look a subject from many different angles, understand that there are many ways of thinking, and accept each other's way.
