Inverted rainbow in The Little Mermaid

The rainbow sent by King Triton at the end of The Little Mermaid is inverted (blue is at the top).

Has this ever been explained by someone linked to the film's creators? Possibilities I can think of include

mistake (unlikely given how obvious it is, the budget, the professionalism, etc).
an allusion to the "reflected" nature of the undersea kingdom (their up is our down, etc)
a deliberate distancing of the world of the entire film from our own
an unwillingness to upset the Gen9:13 crowd by suggesting a classical god might have comparable ability or otherwise distinguishing the two events

But I'm not really interested in speculation, just creator-attested reasons, if any exist.

the-little-mermaid

Best Answer

I contacted Disney Animation through Twitter and asked if there was a reason why:

As you can see, the answer was: Nope.

Unfortunately, we may never know the reason why Disney chose to invert the colors of the rainbow in this scene.

Given the response from Disney Animation, we just have to assume that it's another bizarre "Disney-ism" that Disney likes to throw into their films.

However, there's an interesting point to ponder:

Disney used their Computer Animation Production System for the first time only for this specific scene.

The system's first feature film test was in the production of The Little Mermaid in 1989 where it was used in a single shot of the rainbow sequence at the end of the film.

Perhaps it was just a mistake due to the use of this new animation technique.

There may never be a definitive answer to this question, I'm afraid. I will have to take Disney Animation's response of NOPE as the answer.

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Is there a rainbow in the Little Mermaid?

In the movie's final scene, the rainbow is shown in the correct colors but in inverted color order. The little mermaid, Disney, Disney facts.

Is the little mermaid hand drawn animation?

The Little Mermaid was the last Disney feature film to use this hand-drawn method of animation. Starting with the 1990 feature film The Rescuers Down Under, Walt Disney Animation Studios began using a digital method of animation known as the Disney Computer Animation Production System (CAPS).

A Reverse Mermaid Sings Part of Your World - Eric Feurer

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Images: Sharon McCutcheon, Allan Mas, Sharon McCutcheon, Allan Mas