I like the escapism of them. The good vs evil themes. The over all fantasy of it all. There seems to be a lot of blame and anger towards fairy tales for the unattainable expectations of girls in today's society. I find this laughable.
Why do fairy tales get the bad rap? Why not current events? Video Games? Music? Why not all fiction? I recently read "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin. It was a cute book as well as a cute movie. I did not go into either expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised with the end results of both. The book, as well as the movie, were entertaining and made me laugh. They were a nice escape, which is exactly what they should have been. Did I come out it thinking that falling in love with your best friends fiance was acceptable? No, but I do understand that things happen for a reason.
I came across this post on tumblr and it's bothered me.
OUR PARENTS ASK SOCIETY WHY THE KIDS IN THIS GENERATION ARE SO BAD:
But Disney taught us.
SNOW WHITE lived with seven men on the same house
CINDERELLA snuck out of the house to go to a party
ARIEL and MULAN ran away from home and defied their fathers
not to mention MULAN pretended to be a guy
SLEEPING BEAUTY talked to a stranger prince guy and afterwards did nothing but sleep
BELLE fell in love with an animal-like creature and lived with him
POCAHONTAS always loiters around the forests and goes everywhere without permission
So you see parents…
DISNEY TAUGHT ME ALL I KNOW
DISNEY MADE ME WHO I AM
BLAME DISNEY
If all this person has learned is this, then I feel sorry for them. Is this person trying to say she never defied her parents or snuck out of the house? Did she never fall for the wrong person or talk to a stranger? I think the examples used are extremely weak and the greater point is being missed.
Yes, Mulan did pretend to be a male. To fight for her country for what was right. Shouldn't she be praised for her bravery and independence? I think so.
Belle showed us that by loving someone for who they are on the inside and not judging a book by it's cover, that great thing can happen. It was also magic and I'm pretty sure, in my limited experience, that handsome princes do not get turned into beasts by petty witches.
And shame on Sleeping Beauty for talking to a stranger. To the best of my knowledge, no one in modern times ever fell into a deep sleep from doing so. Bars and clubs across the globe would be out of business. Now, in Beauties case, this "stranger" just happened to be a prince who over came the evil Maleficent and rescued our fair maiden from a life time of dreaming.
If Disney is to blame, then lets blame 20th Century Fox as well for given us the "Star Wars" trilogy. I mean that didn't happen either and no one walked away with any false expectations. And while we're at it, I'd like to have a word with the C.S. Lewis estate. I've been looking in wardrobes for the passage to Narnia for ages and have yet to come across it. Don't even get me started on the world J.K. Rowling has created.
Too many people look too deeply into things that are simply to be enjoyed. Further more, too many people look for someone else to blame instead of taking responsibility for themselves. Perhaps if they'd stop blaming Disney and fairy tales and got in touch with themselves, they'd be happier, but I doubt it.
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