Disney Vs Traditional

We all grew up with Disney fairy tales and stories but how much do they differ from the original tale and which is better?

The Happy Ending...
Many Disney stories have the “happily Ever after’ or at least end with a whole bunch or mushy hope, But in today’s reality is that what children need? NO! In a recession, what we need is advice on how to save money, not assurances that we won't have to. A recession won't magically get better again and neither will any other life situation. Many original versions of fairy tales were designed to teach important life lessons, like 'don't go out in the woods alone at night' or 'don't trust strangers'. The consequences are bad because the characters made stupid decisions that should be punished, or because they were in situations where life wasn't ever going to go perfectly for them. Making the consequences to the actions positive instead of negative ruins the entire point of the tale. Disney Glorified the fact that you can do pretty stupid things and still get away with them and live “happily ever after’.

Disney has made icons out of their princess and virtually stopped little girl’s imagination on how a particular princess should look;
Cinderella- Blonde
Sleeping Beauty- Blonde
Rapunzel-Blonde... I’m sensing a theme.

A Traditional version of Sleeping Beauty
http://www.scottgustafson.com/WN_FT_painting.html

Disney Version of Sleeping Beauty found at
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/classic-disney/images/

They do seem to have placed the female gender with a decided helpless attitude. Henry A. Giroux in the Socialist Review says  ‘The construction of gender identity for girls and women represents one of the most controversial issues in Disney's animated films. In The Little Mermaid, the female characters are constructed within narrowly defined gender roles. All of the female characters in these films are ultimately subordinate to males, and define their sense of power and desire almost exclusively in terms of dominant male narratives. The Little Mermaid, Ariel in this film becomes a metaphor for the traditional housewife-in-the-making narrative. When the sea-witch Ursula tells Ariel that taking away her voice is not so bad because men don't like women who talk, the message is dramatized when the Prince attempts to bestow the kiss of true love on Ariel even though she has never spoken to him. Within this rigidly defined narrative, womanhood offers Ariel the reward of marrying the right man and renouncing her former life under the sea as a telling cultural model for the universe of female choices and decision-making in Disney's world view.’



I’m the biggest ‘the little mermaid’ fan out their but is this the story I want future little girls to hear. In the traditional Mermaid comes to the party too late and the Prince marries another. She becomes one with the sea again as she is transformed into sea foam... while this ending isn’t all happy is teaches a lesson about being true to yourself and thinking about your actions before you jump straight into something.
So in conclusion while I’m glad this long ago tale are getting out to the future generations of children, I am saddened that many good aspects of them are lost after the tales have been Disney-fied.

References:

Giroux, Henry A. Animating Youth: the Disnification of Children's Culture. Socialist Review 24:3 (1995), pp. 23-55. Reprinted as "A Disneyzacao Da Cultura Infantil," in Tomaz Tadeu Da Silva and Antonio Flavio Moreira, eds. Territorios Contestados (Brazil: Vozes, 1995), pp. 49-81. Viewed on 30 October 2011. http://www.henryagiroux.com/online_articles/animating_youth.htm

 'traditional sleeping beauty' Viewed 30th October 2011 http://www.scottgustafson.com/WN_FT_painting.html

'Disney Sleeping Beauty' Viewed 30th October 2011
 http://www.fanpop.com/spots/classic-disney/images