4

Disney finds away to add in huge arching themes for the gender roles of women. Disney decided to have the women in his version be very needy and wait to be saved by the oh so strong males (usually a prince). In the Fairy Tales the women are stronger and have more of a purpose. The focus is not always on their beauty compared to their status and placement in society. In the Fairy Tales there is more of a presence of families and direct relation of how real people can be really evil. The disney version is all about scary monsters and over the top distant family relations. 

Prompt #4

I think it was pretty obvious that Zipes thesis was to bring to light the manhandling Disney does in regards to the fairy tales of Perrault, Brothers Grimm, Anderson, etc. While I agree that Disney has changed the folk stories drastically, I think it is unfair for Zipes to criticize Disney's versions of the stories. So far this semester, we have read multiple versions of different stories. Take Snow White for instance. We read several versions where the details are completely different and we analyze the differences. We do not criticize the author for destroying the original story because we know that the "original" story was orally relayed several centuries ago. The fact that Walt Disney is telling his story not in print but on a screen should be judged the same in my opinion. I do however agree with one statement Zipes makes about Disney giving us false hopes for love. That's just a personal tidbit.

Prompt #4: Disney Spell

The message I thought Jack Zipes was trying to get across in his essay “Breaking the Disney Spell,” was that Walt Disney is given far too much positive credit and fame for being a disgrace to fairy tales. The entire time I was reading the essay, I couldn’t help but to be a little frustrated. For the past twenty years, I guess I have just accepted Disney’s version of these stories. However, now that I know the original versions, I understand the deeper meaning within these fairy tales, and am convinced that Disney was just making a visually pleasing movie. As Zipes states, “Disney was a radical filmmaker who changed our way of viewing fairy tales, and…his revolutionary technical means capitalized on American innocence and utopianism to reinforce the social and political status quo.” Clearly, Disney was a smart businessman but he took away so much from these firy tales. First, all possible interpretation and imagination of these fairy tales were taken away. He achieved this by putting faces, outfits, and voices to characters. Now, even when I read the Grimms version of Snow White, the only image that pops into my head is what is in the movie. In addition, he sneakily alters the story to focus on prince charming, a character who’s experiences mirror his own. By doing this, Disney shows himself as a hero by utilizing “self-figuration.”

Although I agree with Zipes for the most part, I think it is important to remember a few things. Walt Disney is not the only one responsible for the transformation of fairy tales from oral stories, to animated movies. The fairy tale revolution was jump started in the fifteenth century with the printing press, and have only continued to transform with different media types. As bad as it may seem, there is good that has come out of the Disney Spell. Without Disney movies, by now, I don’t think that the average child would know much about Snow White or Beauty and the Beast, and these fairy tales would eventually be lost. 

Assignment 4- Zipes

One of Zipes main arguments is stated explicitly in his claim that Disney’s “signature has obscured the names of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and Carlo Collodi.” (332) He argues that both children and adults today automatically perceive the fairy tale genre to be connected with Disney and that this association violates the history of fairy tales. For example, Zipes notes that Disney abandons the narrative focus for the opportunity to show off technological advancements of the film genre.

I do agree that Disney has a monopoly over fairy tales in today’s world -I had never come across the Grimm version of Snow White and automatically think of Disney’s take on the tale. However, I do believe that there are some holes in Zipes harsh take on Disney and his work. He admits that, “the literary fairy tale had long since been institutionalized, and they (the Grimms), along with Hans Christian Anderson, Carlo Collodi, Ludwig Bechstein, and a host of Victorian writers from George McDonald to Oscar Wilde, assumed different ideological and aesthetic positions within this institutionalization.” (335) With this statement, Zipes acknowledges that other known figures in the literary field of fairy tales have taken the stories and put their own spin on them. If so, what makes Disney’s “signature” so much more detrimental to the tradition of the genre? In fact, since the films and merchandise of the Disney corporation have become such an important part of American culture, could they perhaps serve a positive function to the history of fairy tales by bringing more attention to the genre and its traditions?

Assignment 4- 3.Feb 2009

Hey Erica, Keith, Mallory and Anna,

Below is your assignment:

Identify the thesis/the argument(s) in Jack Zipes' essay , Breaking the Disney Spell’. Do you agree or disagree with him? Justify the stance you take.

• Posts to be sent in by Midnight on Tuesday
• Comments on two other posts to be posted by Midnight on Wednesday

Looking forward to what you have to say.

Ann