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Walt Disney and Fairy Tales

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Walt Disney and Fairy Tales
Are the Disney tales having a good or bad effect on children?

Fairy tales are very old; many of them had been orally passed on through the centuries, and evolved a lot. This kind of story, initially intended for children, often involved some fanciful creatures or extraordinary adventures. Fairy tales might include a moralistic stance or warning against dangers but always have an ethical undercurrent to the story, a "lesson" to be learned. In this paper, we are going to discuss the good and the bad effects of Disney fairy tales on children. Walter “Walt” Elias Disney was an American producer, very popular for recycling old fairy tales by turning them into famous cartoons. He adapted those stories for children. Fairy tales have both negative and positive effects on children but positive effects outweigh the bad ones.
Walt Disney has often been criticized for the movies that he made. People have found some dialogues racist or sexist. Despite that, nobody can deny that Disney movies have been parts of everyone’s childhoods, and that children have learned a lot by watching them.
In these following lines, we will try to demonstrate whatever Disney fairy tales teach children to be tolerant, teach children to be safe, and the importance of listening to their parents or guardians, or if Disney fairy tales have bad effects on children, teaching them some bad way of living.
Even if racism and discrimination are still important problems in our actual society, fairy tales can teach children to become more tolerant. In our society, acts of brutality and hateful speech are common, and often “engendered by increasingly young children.” According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), children between 2 and 5 years of age start to become aware of race, ethnicity, gender and disabilities. (They can accurately identify “Black” and “White” when labeling pictures, dolls and people.) Children learn stereotypes and attitudes about race from their



Cited: Page Campbell Grant, Walt Disney’s “Cinderella, Writing Across the Curriculum, L Behrens, L.J. Rosen John M. Grohol, Disney and the power of Love June 25, 2009. <http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/06/25/disney-and-the-power-of-heterosexual-love/6750.html>. Grauerholz, Liz. "Experts Say Fairy Tales Not so Happy Ever after." Purdue.edu. 11 Nov. 2003. Web. <http://www.purdue.edu/uns/html4ever/031111.Grauerholz.tales.html>. Pettinato, Minot. "Disney 's Positive Effects on Children." Weblog post. Www.ehow.com. Apr. 2011. Web. <http://www.ehow.com/info_8191660_disneys-positive-effects-children.html>. "The Psychological Effects of Children 's Movies." Association for Natural Psychology. Update Nov. 2011. Web. <http://www.winmentalhealth.com/childrens_movies_media_effects.php>. Raleigh, Kung. "What Are Kids Learning From Disney Movies?" Ehow.com. Update 26 Feb. 2011. Web. <http://www.ehow.com/info_7984224_kids-learning-disney-movies.html>. Susina, Jan. "Children 's Literature." Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. Web. 2008. <http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Ch-Co/Children-s-Literature.html>.

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