After reading Zipes’s essay, this is what I have pulled as the thesis, “…Disney was a radical filmmaker who changed our way of viewing fairy tales, and that his revolutionary technical means capitalized on American innocence and utopianism to reinforce the social and political status quo.” (333). So basically, Zipes does not seem to be the biggest fan of our “beloved” Walt Disney. According to Zipes, Disney has changed the way fairy tales are meant to be viewed and extracts new meanings from these tales. After reading through Zipes’s essay, and reflecting on the many Disney movies I have viewed in the past, I have to say I agree with him, though under certain terms.
I grew up on Disney movies and would watch classics like Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid over and over again. They are part of most children’s upbringing and to this extent I think Zipes is a little harsh on Disney because I would never want these films to change or disappear. However, I believe Zipes is correct in his criticism of Disney in that he indeed does change our way of viewing fairy tales. In his films we are not seeing accurate portrayals of the Grimm’s tales. Disney installs new themes, like that of the Prince in Snow White that does imply a patriarchal society, and that innocent and beautiful Snow White can only be saved by this male figure. Here, as Zipes claims, Disney tries to enforce a “social status quo” as good woman are seen as objects that are only useful in their domestic nature, while males take on the active roles.
The Disney franchise also takes away some of the grotesque features of the Grimm’s fairy tales in the reproduction of The Little Mermaid. The Disney tale does not mention the pain the little mermaid must suffer upon walking on her feet, which in the Grimm’s she is described as having to endure the feeling of walking on knives while on land. Disney, indeed, tries to preserve an innocence and cheeriness in his films that is acceptable for children.
Although Disney does change the classic fairy tales so they are not as rich and complex as before, he has created something that Americans love and deem part of their cultural identity. Rather than thinking of Disney’s movies as adaptations of fairy tales, I like to think of them as their own entities and forms of entertainment that should continue to be shown to children for years to come.
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I agree with you that it is a good idea to think of Disney films as their own entity. They are so different to the fairy tales of old - much more child friendly. But, to be honest, the Brothers Grimm changed many of the tales themselves, making them more child friendly (changing the mother in Snow White to a step mother for instance) so really Disney has just carried on the tradition. Even though, you believe Disney films should be seen as their own entity, do you think it is fair to say that Disney is the fairy tale teller of the 20th Century, as important to the fairy tale as Perrault, Anderson and the Brothers Grimm?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the Disney movies should continue to be shown to generations of Americans, and all children, to come. I think that Disney should be viewed as adapting fairy tales, but that is an acceptable thing. The Grimm Brothers obviously edited their tales. There are dozens of versions of each tale historically. Were we to pretend that the published versions had the tales right and they should never be changed again, we would both kill the genre (because no new growth would ever occur again) and slowly alienate all audiences from the tales. Society will continue to change even if the fairy tales won't. So to me, it is important to view Disney as one more step in the evolution of fairy tales and both expect and encourage those daring enough to follow in Walt's footsteps. Or has Disney killed the genre in his own way, because there can be no more progress on what he has done?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that it is an accurate statement to propose that Disney movies should be viewed strictly as their own entities instead of adaptations of fairy tales? If Disney did not create his adaptations from Grimms' tales, how will there be more entertaining films in years to come?
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