Walt Disney And The Disney Effects: The Disney Effect

Abby Gibson

Ms. Rollins

APLAC

28 Apr. 2014

“A Child’s Mind... The Disney Effect”

Once upon a time there was a man named Walt Disney who opened up doors of unbelievable fascination.Fascination so indescribable and so irresistible that everyone especially the children, adored the experience it let them live. Even to this day, Disney is a major part of childhood. Through a princess who is saved by her knight in shining armor, to a girl with magical hair, a singing mermaid with desire to live her own life, and a girl biting a forbidden apple, Disney teaches us to wish upon a star. But what Walt Disney didn’t tell us was the real misconceptions lying underneath all the fantasies. Because Disney portrays whimsical fairytales that lure our heart and mind into a state of complete fascination, children all over the world are trying to live up to the Disney expectation, a false reality that’s impossible to meet.

Misunderstandings underlie in the history of Disney fairy tales. Fairytales such as Cinderella, Snow White, and the Little Mermaid were not actually created by Disney. These characters and stories are a part of a long oral tradition. It is a mystery as to when and how this actual tradition started. There is no way to trace the origin of the first fairytale (The Cultural Evolution). Although Disney did not come up with these concepts entirely on their own, they did pick and choose the characters and their stories to match their view. This is the reason that characters, such as Cinderella, have different story lines depending on where the story is being told. (Walt Disney and Fairy Tales). Disney may not have known it at the time, but the way they chose to tell their fairytales, the details they included, would have...

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...s in the Disney fairytales, while watching them with their kids. In doing so, children won’t get confused and mistake the fairytale as an upcoming lifestyle for them in reality. By classifying the Disney princesses and princes as fictitious characters of entertainment, rather than believing that they are actual real people, children can grow up in a healthy environment. Looking up to independent strong role models such as moms, dads, and older brothers, and sisters, they can learn to follow people in their life who can actually support them in his or her life rather than characters who are behind the books and movies. In doing so children will grow up being their own person with their own dreams, and not the person society and the media has deemed as ”ideal”. May each child grow up and may their wishes be as diverse as each individual star that is wished upon.