Fairy Tales
Alexis Zora
Professor Motaleb
English 115
July 31, 2014
Fairy Tales: Old VS Modern While Disney developed a formulaic approach to fairy tales (basic elements in its formula: good prevailing over evil, emotional, catchy songs, cute sidekicks for comic relief, young romance, funny jokes) it also created a formulaic approach to how young girls set goals or standards (Chan 231). The plot usually containing a story of good prevailing over evil usually occurs with an older woman who is jealous of the young princess. All of the princess movies are also turned into musicals with the princess having a beautiful sing along voice and the cute sidekicks are always around to help save the day. The young romance helps fulfill the ideal of a “Happily Ever After” life that includes the princess and her prince, and the life that they are about to embark on together. Some good morals can come out of the stories, but it often leads young girls to believe that they should just wait for their prince and that is all there is to life. As the popular culture is evolving and women are beginning to be seen as stronger figures, Disney has decided to modernize the princesses as well. These movies mock the old values of the other princess movies by making them hard working and independent woman. Children, mostly girls, can begin to grow up with a better look on what will be important to them in the future as Disney continues to create more modern princesses that can relate to all children everywhere. Fairy Tales have been able to shape young girls’ lives. They begin to learn their morals through these enchanting stories. They should not leave all of their hope in the hands of some nonexistent prince, but should instead try to make the best of their own lives. The Princess and The Frog, is about a hardworking girl named Tiana. She wants to build her own restaurant and does whatever she can to become successful on her own. Brave is about a girl named Merida, who does not want to just
Professor Motaleb
English 115
July 31, 2014
Fairy Tales: Old VS Modern While Disney developed a formulaic approach to fairy tales (basic elements in its formula: good prevailing over evil, emotional, catchy songs, cute sidekicks for comic relief, young romance, funny jokes) it also created a formulaic approach to how young girls set goals or standards (Chan 231). The plot usually containing a story of good prevailing over evil usually occurs with an older woman who is jealous of the young princess. All of the princess movies are also turned into musicals with the princess having a beautiful sing along voice and the cute sidekicks are always around to help save the day. The young romance helps fulfill the ideal of a “Happily Ever After” life that includes the princess and her prince, and the life that they are about to embark on together. Some good morals can come out of the stories, but it often leads young girls to believe that they should just wait for their prince and that is all there is to life. As the popular culture is evolving and women are beginning to be seen as stronger figures, Disney has decided to modernize the princesses as well. These movies mock the old values of the other princess movies by making them hard working and independent woman. Children, mostly girls, can begin to grow up with a better look on what will be important to them in the future as Disney continues to create more modern princesses that can relate to all children everywhere. Fairy Tales have been able to shape young girls’ lives. They begin to learn their morals through these enchanting stories. They should not leave all of their hope in the hands of some nonexistent prince, but should instead try to make the best of their own lives. The Princess and The Frog, is about a hardworking girl named Tiana. She wants to build her own restaurant and does whatever she can to become successful on her own. Brave is about a girl named Merida, who does not want to just
Cited: Works Brave. Disney, 2012. Film. Chan, Joseph. M, ―Disneyfying and Globalizing the Chinese Legend and Mulan: A Study of Transculturation‖. In Search of Boundaries: Communication,Nation- states, and Cultural Identities. Ed. Joseph M. Chan and Bryce T. McIntyre.Westport, CT: Ablex, 2002. 225- 248. Cheung, T. Y. (2005). Reading beyond ―happily ever after‖: refiguring the disney narrative of femininity. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Philosophy, Philosophy at, Hong Kong, Japan. Retrieved from http://repository.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/41373/1/FullText.pdf "FEMINIST IDENTITY OF MERIDA PORTRAYED IN BRAVE MOVIE | ARIYASNI | Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa FIB." FEMINIST IDENTITY OF MERIDA PORTRAYED IN BRAVE MOVIE | ARIYASNI | Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa FIB. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014. Frozen. Walt Disney, 2013. Film The Princess and the Frog. Walt Disney, 2009. Film.