Mermaids

So I'm heading to south Florida tomorrow to meet a client whose looking for models for a more realistic and dark side of mermaid culture. Everyone assumes merculture is like the little mermaid from disney. It's not.Many of the European myths are evil creatures who lure men to their deaths. In Pacific culture, their seen as a form of nature. Many see them as a sign of good luck. But, the one thing that is known is that merfolk exist in pretty much every culture of the world. I love the dichotomy of the mermaid mythology. Its like saying their as much human as they are fish.
Anderson's "Little Mermaid" may seem sweet, but its a very sad tale (pun intended.) She was forced to choose between what she knew and the unknown world above. In the end, the prince she fell in love with chose someone else whom he thought was the one who rescued him and married the princess from the temple. The mermaid threw herself into the sea to drown but Anderson wrote two different versions of what happened after this. One version just ends with her turning into sea foam, whereas the other version turns her into an air spirit who must find 300 good child to go to heaven. For each bad child she finds, a day is added onto her 300 year sentence. To me, this seems wrong but was very much in keeping with the victorian morals of the time.
I hope I get chosen for this dark slice of life. We get to try on really crappy tails first just to see if we have the "right look" for being a mermaid (or merman in some cases) and then from there, they'll order some custom-made tails for the shoot to be done in september. It would be a lot of fun especially as I'm a really good swimmer (i used to pretend to be a mermaid in pools and the tub) and would love to do one of the underwater shoots. From what I understand, swimming in those tails is hard work, but you get used to it after a bit. Wish me luck kiddos!