I, along with Chester and sloanesc believe Zipes' thesis to be "The great "magic" of the Disney spell is that he animated the fairy tale only to transfix audiences and divert their potential utopian dreams and hopes through the false promises of the images he cast upon the screen." (333)
Although Zipes' thesis may be true, I do not view Walt Disney in such a pessimistic light as Zipes seems to. If we take a pragmatic view on this, it is highly likely that Disney wanted to "transfix audiences" with his animations. In order to make more money, he would have wanted audiences to keep coming to the cinema to see his movies over and over again, and ways of doing this were to wow them with the filming techniques or to provide a happy feel-good movie. Disney did both of these things.
Since childhood I have loved the Disney movies (if you were interested, my favorites were the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and the Sword in the Stone) and I still love them today, but that is part of the beauty of the Disney movie. They appeal to both adults and children. Children are amused by the talking animals, the beautiful princesses and of course the handsome prince who saves the fair maiden from the evil stepmother/sea monster/unwanted lover. At the same time, Disney appealed to adults by having a number of levels. For instance, it is only as you get older that you begin to understand all the humor in the movies. Also, a child would not get the reference to Hitler in the Lion King - as the hyenas march past Scar (during "Be Prepared") it is very reminiscent of the Nazis marching past Hitler at Nuremberg. Walt Disney was trying to appeal to as many people as possible to make as much money as possible. For instance, if the original ending of Snow White had appeared in the Disney movie with the evil stepmother being burnt to death by shoes provided for by Snow White and her new husband, children would be terrified, and parents would not take their children to see the movie. In the end no one would watch it and Walt Disney wanted his movies to be seen.
Many of the false promises and cutesy nature of the Disney movies are there simply to explain the fairy tale more thoroughly. It is very hard to explain the end of the Brothers Grimm's version of Snow White, where she wakes up in her coffin to find the Prince (who she has never seen before) sitting next to her, and falls immediately in love with him. In Disney's version, the Prince sees Snow White at the beginning of the film and they sing a love song together. Although this brings in a Prince Charming figure (which could be seen as a false promise) it better explains why Snow White agrees to marry him at the end.
If it was Disney's intention was to "divert... potential utopian dreams and hopes through the false promises of the images he cast upon the screen," I do not believe this fact should be viewed cynically. Disney movies are loved worldwide by children and adults alike, providing happiness and laughter for all who watch them. It is true that his animations hold false promises; after all not every story ends with a Prince Charming and a happily ever after. However, as Zipes says, this is a part of their magic - they provide an escape from day to day life, where disasters happen, good people die and evil is not banished. In the Disney movies, we can live in a world where we know everything will turn out right in the end. Whatever motives he had, Disney rejuvenated the fairy tale, creating timeless classic after timeless classic, which live on in the hearts of many.
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I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with tooling the story to make it more appropriate for all ages. I re-screened "The Little Mermaid" over Thanksgiving a couple years ago, only to find out the reason I didn't remember the part at the end when Ursula gets big and then stabbed with a boat was because as a child that part was always fast-forwarded because it scared me.
ReplyDeleteI follow your point about filling in the plot holes, even though we have seen instances where the Grimm Brothers tried and failed to do the same. I obviously also understand the importance of censoring the original endings for children. However, the world of happy endings Disney created is riddled with things feminists, psychoanalysts, and republicans hate. While he may or may not have done it out of malice, do his intentions actually matter when considering just how much fairy tales changed because of him?
I find it interesting that you say Disney changes certain aspects of the story in order to have things make more sense, such as the prince showing up at the beginning of the Snow White tale so that it does not seem so strange that she marries him in the end. Yet I wonder why Disney does decide to have the Prince's kiss wake Snow White up, rather than the apple slipping out of her throat when the coffin is being carried and one of the servants trip. It seems that this could make just as much sense and be acceptable for children. I think the fact he has the prince kiss snow white definetly shows his intention to have the prince (the male figure) play a more active role compared to the passive Snow White.
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