The “magic” of the Disney universe is undeniable, although not as one would first think. Walt Disney created an empire of fantasies, dreams, and magical adventures, but the true magic is the power Disney has to instill these fantasies and dreams into children’s minds. Of course, these fantasies are not always realistic. The easily impressionable thoughts and ideas of the children can be easily altered in their most susceptible time of life to believe these extravagant fantasies. The particular fantasy that is most often presented is the one of every story ending “happily ever after”, which usually goes hand-in-hand with the fantasy of finding the one Prince Charming. By buying into these fantasies, children in society lose the true sense of reality and what to expect in life.
The origin and purpose of fairytales are just as important as the revolutionary innovation Disney brought to the scene. However, the fairytales of ages ago were quite different from what people of today’s society would imagine them to be. The schism of the illiterate and the well-educated masses created an audience of high class folk who could read the printed fairytales (Bell 25). Since the majority of the tales were targeted at adults, the fairytales of this time would generally be considered too crude for children, although this would eventually change. As literacy rates rose, the children of the times were included more and more into the world of fairytales. By the end of the Nineteenth century, children were actually one of the main targets of fairytales. The stories were often told by a parent in a nursery, school, or bedroom to soothe a child’s anxieties (Bell 26). The tales would often be idealistic and, certainly, the “happily ever after” fantas...
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...cal in general. Disney films undoubtedly have an influence on the young impressionable minds of children they’re targeted at. The fantasies that are usually presented by these films are optimistic, idealistic and often improbable. It is easy for children to view these fantasies and come to expect similar events in life. Rags-to-riches stories, finding true love in a Prince Charming, and living happily ever after are three of the main delusional concepts in Snow White. The revolutionary technological achievements used in Snow White add to the false realism of the story, which could make the fantasies more believable. The children that grow up to these stories and believe the fantasies they see could have a skewed sense of reality and even a false optimistic hope. Bad things can happen to good people, and unfortunately, not everyone lives happily ever after.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future.
Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite their mask of progression, Disney princesses still have the potential to corrupt the minds of young children through sexism and racism.
Walt Disney, creator of all things “happily ever after”, renowned for his work in movies and tv, is not only a famous animator and film producer, he is also a pioneer in American history by changing the lives of many through his encouraging work in movies. Walt Disney is important to the study of American history because he created movies and tv shows that taught happiness and heartbreak to children. He taught them that being small cannot hold you back from being mighty and doing the right thing. He revealed different cultures to children, and broadened their views on the world around them. In doing this, he widened global communication and the understanding of varieties of cultures and ethnicities (4).
If children or adults think of the great classical fairy tales today, be it Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, they will think Walt Disney. Their first and perhaps lasting impression of these tales and others will have emanated from Disney film, book, or artefacts (Zipes 72)
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
For all we know, it is possible for "Snow white and the seven dwarfs" to contain hidden messages with-in the movie and story-line. If the Hidden messages are there, what kind of effect could this have on children? The possibilities of the play, to contain these hidden messages, I think, raise's the questions about what effect it could have on your kids, and I hope, to extend our ethical perspectives on prevention of such messages, hidden or not-hidden, if they exist, and can be interpreted with thought about what we watch.
Everyone knows and loves the enchanting childhood fairytales of magic, princes, and princesses, but very seldom are privy to the detrimental impacts of “happily ever after” on the developing youth. Fairy tales are widely studied and criticized by parents and scholars alike for their underlying tone and message to children. Peggy Orenstein, feminist author, mother, and fairy tale critic, has made it her personal mission to bring these hidden messages to the surface. In the article, “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” Orenstein dissects the seemingly innocent tale of love and magic, and the princess many know and love, and points out its flaws and dangers. Fairy tales, Cinderella in particular, are not suitable for children because upon deeper evaluation,
Fairytales express the creative fantasies of the rural and less educated layers of common man (Cuban, 1984). They are characteristically full of magic, often involving upper class characters (Cuban, 1984). In short, Fairytales are organically grown with the creative material of a collective group. The Grimm Brother’s fairytale, The Frog Prince, is no exception. The Grimm Brothers’ fairytale is about a handsome prince trapped in the repulsive body of a frog, but who nevertheless overcomes and transcends this bewitched state through his wit, perseverance, and magic (Prince, 2009). Until the seventeenth century, it was the adult population that was interested in fairytales (Cuban, 2009). Their allocation to the nursery was a late development (Cuban, 2009). This allocation can be credited to the rejection of the irrational, and development of the ra...
Many of us have seen a Disney movie when we were younger. Disney movies captured our attention with their good morals and successful conclusions of finding their true love. The animations and music transform us into a land of magic where anything is possible if we just believe. Disney movies wrapped us in the idea that good always triumphs evil, that happy ever after exists. We have become the generation of Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmatians, Dumbo and Snow White as children now have not heard of these or have watched them. Some of these movies have been recreated and released in high definition and on DVDs in the past few years, but the structure and themes of the movies stays the same. However, we never stop and think about the undertones in Disney movies. They contain abuse, violence, dysfunctional relationships, and gender stereotypes, which is not appropriate for children. They may not understand what abuse, violence, dysfunctional relationships, alcohol or gender stereotypes are at their ages but do we want them to think that it’s normal. When we think that little girls watch these movies where the female characters are controlled by man or need a man to watch over them, they are not creating good role models for them. Would we not want them to have a better understanding that women do not have to have a prince charming to be happy, women can be independent and have careers and yes find love but not give everything up so their prince charming has the control.
America has always seen the great fairytale of going from rags to riches in popular culture. One of these is movies that are seen by America’s youth, with popular Disney movies such as Aladdin. Aladdin the movie is a classic story of a poor person finding love and becoming rich (Aladdin). The story shows how it is possible to become rich if you are poor (Aladdin). It also depicts how love can be found through all of this. Little kids may not understand the concept fully but they watch these movies and understand and believe anything is possible. They also learn to follow their dreams and don’t ever let anyone stray them away from their dreams. This is also seen in the movie Cinderella; this movie is very direct of how one thing in your life can change your life (Cinderella). All the sudden Cinderella goes from a poor mistreated girl to royalty (Cinderella). This all happens in a very short period of time due to a shoe that fit her after she had gone to a lavish ball (Cinderella). The girl had left one of her slippers at the ball and when t...
The most well known adaptation of Snow White is the one animated by Walt Disney during the Great Depression. During this time adults and children alike were yearning for a story of good defeating evil. It can be said that this could be the same for all cultures, as the story of Snow White is known far and wide, each culture having its own variant. From the brothers Grimm to the Seven Dwarfs.” However, the question can be raised, how does Snow White and it’s cultural variants reflect real life?
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
In the first opening scene, Snow White is referred to as a “lovely little princess.” In her first appearance, she is cleaning and looks as though she is in despair waiting to be saved. Snow White is portrayed as young, virginal, pretty, obedient and incapable of helping herself. This movie having been released in 1937, conveys what the “proper” gender roles of the time were. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, power is segregated between genders and even to this day, the stereotypical gender roles seen in this movie still hold some weight in our society.
We all grew up hoping that we were the princesses who met the dreamy prince and lived ‘happily ever after’ like in a fairytale.People debate over whether or not Disney fairytales are beneficial for children. Like Melissa Taylor the author of the piece ‘10 reasons why kids need to read non disney fairy tales’, I am against disneyfied fairy tales. In this essay I will argue on why kids should not only watch disney fairytales but also the real versions.
Over the years, fairytales have been distorted in order to make them more family friendly. Once these changes occur, the moral and purpose of the stories begin to disappear. The tales featured in the many Disney movies - beloved by so many - have much more malignant and meaningful origins that often served to scare children into obeying their parents or learning valuable life lessons.