Fairy Tale – Analysis Proposal

Everyone has the right to get an insight about the real meaning of their life with a purpose to be happy in the adulthood phase, for which he learns to comprehend the world he is surrounded with in order to get himself integrated socially. However, this is a gradual process which has been divided into varied phases to ensure the structured approach of developing his mind towards perceiving the environment he is a part of (Albers, 2016). Fairy tales are considered as a natural process to achieve the aforementioned purpose. Considering the stated reasons, in order to unveil the secrecy of the most popular Disney story, and further analyze the comparative features of the original version and the presented Disney movie, the researcher has selected Snow-white as a subject of study for this research. The main aim of this research is to highlight the differentiating characteristics between the two versions, analyze the extent to which these modifications in the Disney version impact cultural and attitudinal dimensions of children along with evaluating the positive and negative aspects of the story. The research will be performed by undertaking numerous online sources combined with the researcher’s perception about the selected story.

1937 was the revolutionary year in the cinema industry after the release of the Disney version of the story Snow white by the pioneer Walt Disney Animation studios. The release confirmed that no one could comprehend the idea proposed by Walt Disney unless they visited the theatre to watch the movie themselves. The animated version was a huge success which retained the audience for comparatively longer period of time and captured their interest while succeeding in invoking the emotions through presenting a story which demonstrated the efforts exerted by Disney team and huge investments. It was truly believed as a triumph in all the aspects which completely transformed the audience’s perception about animated stories and characters. Although it was a huge success yet it activated the critiques to put forth their views and opinions about the adapted and transformed version of the classic fairy tales into a motion mode. One of the most renowned psychologist states the Disney version of stories as an empty minded medium of entertainment withholding an interesting, pretty and simplified version with deeper meanings for equally attractive for both, the young and the children (Bettelheim, 2010). However, he also argues that the real essence of the story lies in the original version. Considering the mixed arguments, it is necessary to critically evaluate and compare the original and Disney version of the selected story Snow white because it neither depicts the true reflection of the original version nor does it demonstrate the loyalty towards the writing it has been adapted from. Given the fact, that this story is still considered as an influential work clearly defining the impact of transformed story on all the age groups.

Snow white is one of the most recognized fairy tale which has been applauded globally among all the age groups since countless decades. The underlying concept of the story has majorly been portrayed as the conflict between a beautiful girl names ad snow white with her wicked step mother who hates the beauty of snow white and shows a relentless fierce and cruel attitude. Furthermore, in both the versions, queen’s reliability on the mirror has been depicted which tells the queen that she is the fairest of all. While comparing Grimm Brother’s and Disney’s version of the story, these points have been categorized as the similarity ground where both the versions share similar conflict by adopting several fascinating ways. In summarized words, it can be stated that the original version of the story is more focused towards portraying the brutality and cruelty or extremism whereas the transformed Disney version is more emphatic in nature and represents the power of love by stressing comparatively less on the villain side of the queen while focusing towards empathic relationship between the prince and snow white following the constructive and divergent thinking approach.

The original version of Snow White by Grimm brothers portray the cruelty of the evil queen, step mother of Snow white who hates the beauty of her step daughter and attempts to kill her three times, which she succeeds in the third attempt (Grimm, 2004). Grimm Brothers have been presumed to be publishing folktales in their books where even more cruel versions exist. The difference between the featured movie and printed story is quite evident. Walt Disney decided to produce less cruel version of the story in order to grab the attention of the audience despite, his brother and wife were against the concept claiming that people can’t watch the cartoons for more than 15 minutes (Whitley, 2012 )The concept of producing less savage version got huge success where queen’s death was featured as herself dropping down from the cliff instead of dancing in the iron shoes to death; a common Medieval punishment (McGlathery, 1991). Furthermore, the original writing presents Snow white’s awakening when an apple fell in her throat, while the prince was holding her coffin, contrary to which Disney version depicted the power of love by showing her awakening due to the prince’s kiss. Similarly, in the original version of the story, the queen asks for the lungs and liver of snow white after killing her but the Disney has shown a less cruel story where the queen only asks to kill her daughter.

Perhaps the biggest influence in the pop culture and Disney is the audience. Disney started as a media house that aimed to entertain the children of the 20th century with funny animations and cartoons. These cartoons did not follow themes and were rather aimed at fun and comforting thoughts alone. Pioneer of the motion picture, Walt Disney’s ideology about Disney production house wasn’t authenticity on the plots but rather a story that could engage and influence a maximum number of audience for a repetitive experience of the same order. When cinemas displayed Mickey Mouse, the iconic Disney creation, the expectation out of the audience wasn’t to appreciate the plot but rather appreciate the cultural significance of the plot. Characters like Goofy reminded the audience about the far southern states of America; farmers with cockney country accents and good natured souls. Similarly, the creation of Snow White, Rapunzel and other famous princesses was not aimed to capture the stories with authenticity. Rather the same Grimm Tales that originated from all over Europe were commemorated with a new influence of Disney that made the stories uplifting, happy and full of hope to entertain a child audience. The purpose of this sort of cartoon Disney feature is to ensure that the folk stories of the modern times survive the times and also manage to entertain a large audience. Although this has changed the stories of brothers grim to a large extent, it has actually managed to create a genre of movies of its own. The animated movies of today follow the tales of the heroes in the same manner: an underdog being beaten about by the world, exploring his dreams (Zhang & Lauer, 2015). A lady love who is ready to explore his dreams with them and tells him to believe in himself. A random villain whose ideas of domination of world or business are against the person’s ideals. These when combined together make a Disney story where somehow, the hero always wins. Different characters are involved in the actual story but the key elements and the results shown by the story remain the same.

Even considering the modern adaptation of Snow White, we find the story of a girl who survives. She presents the story of a little girl who is being bullied by the family but doesn’t lose hope. She believes in the power of love and sings songs of a better tomorrow. Many little girls and women all over the world can believe and relate to this theme since everyone has some sort of bully in their life and when the main cast character shows bravery, this inspires brave nature into the cast characters as well. Furthermore, these stories also relate with the pop culture of today (Zhang & Lauer, 2015). Stories like Gnome and Juliet by Disney are a play on the classic Romeo and Juliet epic by Shakespeare, but does not strictly adhere to the story, rather changes the story entirely to fashion a kingdom of their own made up of garden gnomes. The primary plot remains the same, but the additions and deletions make the final outcome almost comical at times to suit the audience.

These modifications in the original story depict the cultural transitions from brutality to spreading love to leave a positive impact on the children stimulating positive perception in their minds. From the researcher’s point of view, the Disney versions entail a few detrimental aspects. The Disney perfect princess’s culture can lead to developing the complexity and body esteem issues among the young girls. This concept of perfection will impact the boy’s imagination, perception and expectations negatively. Furthermore, female gender stereotypical behavior is associated with such Disney characters representations keeping aside the existence of alternative role models for children in real lives. Disney has often been blamed for the creation of wrong role models for the girls being depicted in the story. The damsel in distress stereotype, the white knight to the rescue stereotype and the fact that women even in roles like warriors need a man to validate themselves are all stories that have been depicted through the platform and hence needs revision. People need to understand that Disney is as powerful a media platform, like ABC and CNN since it imparts cultural messages and subzones to different kinds of children and role models worldwide. In order to ensure the accurate and complete development and screening of the plots, the critics and censor boards should account for cultural misappropriations as well. Cultural misappropriation can and should be dealt with by censor boards in order to ensure the quality of the content and the protection of the audience watching. The audience is sensitive to content that can change or badly influence their children. If problems like racism, bigotry and sexism has to be dealt with in the society, the media influencing the children and teens of the society alike needs to be monitored and controlled to show better pictures. Disney has tried to create strong female characters like Mulan, Princess Elsa and Pocahontas but all of their stories revolve around a love interest that wasn’t returned rightly. Furthermore, stories like Aladdin and Rapunzel adhere to the classic damsel in distress story which builds up the image that perhaps young girls should behave girlishly or meekly in order to be accepted and revered by the society. This image is negatively influencing the people of not only America, but every Disney viewing country in the world.

It must be appreciated that Disney has tried to include stories from every corner of the world bringing people together through an appropriation of culture. Movies like Kung Fu Panda amongst others explore Chinese folk lore, but the primary lead does not even speak with an accent. Many of the roles are whitewashed in order to “appropriate” it for an American audience but this trend needs to change for the future of this industry. We find that the pop culture of the modern world is growing and people have become much more aware than they were before (Reynolds, 2017). This awareness has led to a gradual realization about the influence of movies over perceptions and people are much more vocal about their concerns regarding media being projected through these means. Thus, movies, which were never trying to be politically accurate have to conform their lines to match the current problems and scenarios facing the world.

Conclusion

Despite being an entertainment for the audience, the story being presented by Walt Disney in 1937 withholds numerous serious messages to be pondered upon. First, the story highlights the depression of the poor and underprivileged upon them being looked down by the rich or the upper class society. Snow white’s struggle is a motivation for those underprivileged to recognize themselves, get out of the depression and find or create their own place. The United Stated, no longer has only whites in the government which once used to be and resulted in building the inferiority complex among the blacks or poorer communities when compared to whites. The story has clearly depicted the phase of rejuvenation and sleep as the depression phase which snow white had gone through while contemplated in the glass coffin. The recreation of virtue has been presented through the prince’s kiss which has been considered as a kiss to the life leading towards the desired destination. Similarly, the mirror can be related to the regulatory authorities who develop and recreate our perceptions the way they wasn’t us to build it. One cannot get an idea about the reality unless he finds himself into such a situation which reveals all the facts in order to decide about the fairest in town.

The story withholds a deeper meaning and certainly puts an impact on our cultural and developmental aspects. Children are most likely to develop their perceptions through the fairy tales. The messages being conveyed into the stories develop their intellect, thought patterns and attitudes (Albers, 2016). Comparing the Disney and Grimm brother’s version, the reporter finds Disney’s stories far better than the original one with the concept of reducing the element of cruelty, hatred and fights.

In brief, stories impact the child’s understanding and interpretation of distinct gender roles and cultural values These stories are not only considered as the contributors towards the literacy level of children but also a mode which instills certain values, develops a set of beliefs and social norms while influencing their behavioral, thought and action patterns and shaping their perception into reality (Albers, 2016). The characters being introduced into such stories build a connection with the children and hence they begin to search for the commonalities in order to behave the same way as they had seen the characters in the story. Hence it is quite important to develop the stories after viewing a critical perspective in order to ensure positive integration and engagement of the audience specifically the children. Considering the subject of the study, although both the versions of the story follow distinct perspectives but can be considered as an important medium towards the development of children. Parenting a child matters a lot for the children to have an understanding about utilizing the distinct approaches in different manners (Reynolds, 2017). Hence, movies like Snow White amongst others are not focused over being accurate anymore and are trying to align themselves to being better in terms of the message being portrayed by them being positive. These positive images help the movie industry by bringing positivity to the genre.