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Impact of fairytales on children
Fairytales and their impact on human development
Impact of fairytales on children
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When discussing gender, people often already have preconceived ideas on how each gender is supposed to act. Ideas of gender or the roles of a specific gender, typically changes as people evolve; and as new ideas become accepted into society. Fairy tales began being used to display ideas or judgements on a specific gender. Fairy tales and stories, for many years, were used to help children learn and understand lessons that could potentially benefit them in the future. As society progressed, fairytales began to be known to teach adults lessons as well, therefore connecting people with common values. “By comparing the folk tales that we find in different cultures and knowing something about the historical relationships among those cultures, we …show more content…
A popular Disney fairy tale called “Beauty and the Beast”, is a primary example for how fairy tales display ideas of a specific time period. “Beauty and the Beast” is a story about a beautiful girl named Belle, who sacrifices herself for her father, making her the prisoner of a Beast who is actually a cursed prince. The curse being that the Beast has to fall in love before petals last fall on an enchanted rose, or he would remain cursed forever. The two cinematic versions of “Beauty and the Beast”, one was created in 1991 while the other was in 2017, as well as a similar story version titled “Tiger’s Bride” by Angela Carter; show the societal norms and expectation of people during the different time periods. All three versions of the story show that women and men were expected to behave a particular way and if not, they were viewed as substandard. Ideas discussed in both the films and the story help build an understanding of how the concepts can represent current expectations, while also encouraging people to further recognize the standards being displayed in modern
Fairy tale is a story that features folkloric chapters and enchantments, often involving a far-fetching sequence of events. Fairy tales have been around for thousands of years, whether it comes from Grimm’s Fairy Tales which is what most people consider the “classic” or “traditional” fairy tales to Disney movies, the idea of the fairy tale fills our society with lessons and examples of how we should behave and live; fairy tales teach the same things in different ways, or teach different things with the same tale. A couple of these tales are “Beauty and the Beast”, by Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont and “The Pig King”, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola. They are both tales about falling in love with someone despite their appearance. The similarities and differences between “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Pig King” is captivating while still depicting a similar tale. They are similar in the way they find love and their love story but they also share a similar behavior pattern in the way the girls behave towards the prince. However, the two tales do display a difference in the attitudes of the princes and their actions towards their love
As one is growing up, childhood is solely based on things like obtaining the latest toys, learning how to riding a bike, but most importantly watching Disney movies on Saturday mornings. “Beauty and the Beast” focuses on building traits like kindness, selfness, and love. In the original story, by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont, the moral is that one should not be quick to judge others by their appearance, but instead learn who they are as a person. In 1991, Walt Disney altered Beaumont’s story and produced a touching, animated movie also titled Beauty and the Beast. Disney’s main alterations to the plot can be seen in the significance of the rose, the Beast’s emotions, and they ending. Although the original story and movie are different in some ways, the moral of the story remained the same being that one should not judge book by its cover without reading the pages first.
My childhood has been just like every kid growing up in the 20th century. It revolved around the Disney story’s that were filled with magic and dreams. From Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty, my beloved children 's stories were controlled by male characters. At a young age this taught me that women are not as useful as men. These stories made me learn what it means to be a boy, girl, man, or woman. The ratio of males to females as main characters was so outstanding it lead me to question how these stories impacted how I view men and women.
Through the three revisions of Beauty and The Beast, the fairy tales retold share many similarities as well as many differences according to their time period. In all three versions femininity and masculinity are presented in many ways. Femininity is shown through all three main female characters, Belle from the famous Disney film “The Beauty and The Beast”, the narrator in “Tiger’s Bride”, and Psyche in “Cupid and Psyche”. In all three versions, the female characters breaks society’s expectations of a typical woman. In CP Psyche stands up to Cupid’s mother Venus and accomplishes these activities usually performed by males. She shows society that women can overcome male activities and have strength to complete the same tasks. She breaks tradition of the male character fighting for her because in this version she takes on the hero role and fights for Cupid. This was not something ordinarily done by woman characters during this time. In TB the narrator breaks the tradition of the innocent stereotypical woman figure. The narrator exposes and does things most woman would never have the nerve to do. She shows society that women can fault their beauty in other ways. Even if society does not make it acceptable to have sex before marriage, she shows that women can expose their body and beauty in many ways. In DB version Belle is a great example that women should not be looked at as dolls and let males have control over them. She shows society that woman can be independent and educated. She does not get married to the most handsome male in town however she goes after someone who deeply cares about her. She displays a great example of how woman have their own mind and can think for themselves. Woman are allowed to make decisions and have ...
Produced in 2009, The Frog Princess is a Disney animation inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, The Frog Prince. Both The Frog Princess and The Frog Prince deal with a multiplicity of issues, all of which contribute to supporting positive messages and morals (Ceaser, 2009). However, though The Frog Princess is based on a classic fairytale, it is far from being the same. The writers at Disney have taken a classic fairytale and created a “Monster” (Prince, 2001). This essay will examine the evolution of the original Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, the messages both main characters represent, and how the adaptation to fit a modern child readership diminishes a classic fairytale. Through discussing these arguments, this paper will prove that Disney’s adaptation into The Princess and The Frog is counter-productive in representing the original story’s messages, morals, and values.
Once upon a time, there was a 16 year old mermaid princess named Ariel who gave up her voice, an important part of her identity, in order to be with a man who she became infatuated with at just one glance. Ariel has a very traditional gender-stereotypical role in the film, as the helpless, clueless, naive, physically weak, submissive, and attractive female protagonist that Disney films, especially the classics, portray so often (England). There is a lot of controversy surrounding this film in regards to its patriarchal ideals. The Little Mermaid, like most media, is build for the ‘male gaze’, a term coined by Laura Mulvey that suggests that visual entertainment, such as movies, are structured to be viewed by a masculine consumer. I will argue that the male gaze perpetuates harmful gender-stereotypes in The Little Mermaid.
"For most of history, anonymous was a woman", quotes Virginia Woolf. (1) Throughout history, women’s lives were restricted to domesticity and family, and they were left oppressed and without political voice. Over the decades the roles of women have dramatically changed from chattels belonging to their husbands to gaining independence. Women became famous activists, thinkers, writers, and artists, like Frida Kahlo who was an important figure for women’s independence. The price women paid in their fight for equality was to die or be imprisoned along with men, and they were largely forgotten in written history. However, the roles they took on were wide-ranging which included working in factories, tending the troops, taking care of children and working at home. Frida Kahlo was a talented artist whose pride and self-determination has inspired feminists and many others. She was an important figure in the women’s movement not because she fought for women’s rights in an organized way, but because of the way she lived her life. “I suffered two grave accidents in my life. One in which a street car knocked me down, the other accident is Diego” (2), says Frida Kahlo. She was in a turbulent relationship with her husband Diego Rivera, but she claimed her independence from him. The experiences in her life shared with her nature and strength made her famous and well-known worldwide as a woman of independence, courage and nonconformity. Women like Frida Kahlo have fought for their independence and contrasting the modern-day women to the women in 1900s, we can see that their roles have changed and in return they received their independence. After centuries of conforming to female stereotypes, women are gradually taking control of their own image of...
What is stereotype? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stereotype as “believing unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.” Stereotypes are everywhere. Stereotypes cover racial groups, gender, political groups and even demographic. Stereotypes affect our everyday lives. Sometimes people are judged based on what they wear, how they look, how they act or people they hang out with. Gender and racial stereotypes are very controversial in today’s society and many fall victims. Nevertheless, racial and gender stereotypes have serious consequences in everyday life. It makes individuals have little to no motivation and it also puts a label about how a person should act or live. When one is stereotype they
Fairytales, existing for several generations, have evolved through time, catching the attention of many belletrist, demanding an explanation of how feminism plays an essential role in today's culture. Both James Poniewozik and Peggy Orenstein discuss this topic through connecting to the real world and fairytales. Furthermore, in Poniewozik’s article, “The Princess Paradox” he discusses the “girls-kick-ass culture” (323) and how males naturally have an advantage on females. Whereas Peggy Orenstein’s article, “Cinderella and the Princess Culture” approaches the issue of feminism within fairytales in a more feministic manner. While both authors address feminism, Poniewozik shows his concern among the culture of fairytales in movies while Orenstein
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
There is a common saying ‘that all men are from Mars’ and ‘all women are from Venus’ which has the tendency to stereotype the individual differences as gender differences. When it comes to psychological traits like empathy, sexual attitudes and behaviours, and personality traits like extroversion and openness there is no clear evidence to suggest men and women can be divided into two distinct groups. Critical thinking challenges stereotypes and proves that there are more similarities than differences between men and women. Men and women have the same desires, wants, dreams and fears. It can be said that gender stereotypes are in most cases a result of 'nurture' more than 'nature'.
Gender stereotypes are ideas simplified, but strongly assumed, on the characteristics of men and women, that translates into a series of tasks and activities that are assign in each culture. Along life, family, school, and environment, Society thought us what is right and what is not in being men or women. Starting with the form we dress, talk, express, behave, to what we can play or what sport to participate. The margin of the biological endowment differences males and females; the fact of being women or men implies a long process of learning and adaptation to the rules established starting with work, personality, love and desires. In the movie "The Ugly Truth." you can see different situations that reflect what society is teaching us for
One of the most loved Disney movies of all time, the 1991 animated movie Beauty and the Beast directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale features talking teacups, enchanted castles, gorgeous animation, catchy songs, and large helping of traditional gender roles. The countless favorite of many children and adults, many people know the story well. Belle, the bookish, dreamy, and beautiful daughter of an inventor is the talk of the town and the fixation of the most handsome guy around, the pushy and egotistical Gaston. After sacrificing herself for her father, Belle becomes imprisoned in an enchanted castle. Everyone in the castle is under a spell due to the selfish prince who lived there due to his failure to see what was inside of people. As a result, he is turned into a hideous beast and all of his servants are turned into household objects. To break this spell, he must fall in love with a girl and have her love him in return, despite his hideous exterior. But unfortunately for the Beast it’s not only his exterior that’s hideous. He treats Belle with no respect, even going so far as to threaten and yell at her. He eventually changes her heart with the help of his enchanted friends and she changes his through her kindness. Gaston tries his utmost to make Belle his own, entrapping her and fighting the Beast, but eventually he is unsuccessful, the good guys win, and the whole castle and its inhabitants are transformed by love and everybody lives happily ever after.
Brumley, Jared Writing 121 Mr. Rodger March, Beauty and The Beast Beauty and The Beast, is a classic for most children in America. This film has a stunning storyline, mixed in with great music, and a classic love tale. Looking deeper into a gender based lens you’ll see that many of the roles within the cast have many traits that you’d expect out of a Disney film. The main characters are the finest examples of this. The trait of being gentle and kind as a female drives this story even further with being male, being portrayed as a large, strong, angry person.
Beauty and the Beast is probably one of the most well known fairy tales that the Grimms’ reproduced. In it’s original form it was a long, drawn out story that was catered to adults. The Grimms’ changed the story to be more understood by children and made it short and to the point. Unlike many of the other fairy tales that they reproduced, Beauty and the Beast contains many subtle symbols in its purest form. It shows a girl and how she transfers to a woman; it also shows that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The one major thing that separates this story from all the rest is that Beauty gets to know the Beast before marrying him.