I don't think that Disney intended to forever change the story of Snow White. The film medium is very powerful because it is so wide spread and pervasive in our culture. Parents now show their children the story of snow white through the movie instead of reading to them. We have let Disney dominant our idea of the fairytale through laziness.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I think that Zipes' attitude towards Disney is too harsh. Disney was exploring a new medium in filmaking, and chose to use the storry of snow white because t was well know to people of all ages. This way he would have a wider audience base. It is totally unfair for Zipes to blame Disney for the downfall of historic and cultural fairytales. Disney's editing and watering down of the fairytales can be explained by the fact that if Disney had included the whole story, it would have been to long in production and running time. Also Disney wanted to create something accessible to all audiences of his time, something with a happy ending and full of innocence. People wanted to leave the theatre full of hope and happiness.
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I think your point about our own laziness is very important. It is not Disney's fault that we no longer read to our children, and that we basically just put a movie on tv for them to watch instead. Blaming Disney is somewhat akin to blaming the creator of the internet for why so many people read books today. We don't expend the effort anymore, and Zipes's claim that Disney is a major reason for the cultural and historical downfall of fairytale literature is completely absurd.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the major problem is not so much that Disney retold the fairy tales as he did, but rather the place his films have taken in society. I do think that it is a problem to lose appreciation of the fairy tale tradition, but this is part of the larger problem in our society that no longer values reading, etc as a form of entertainment for children.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that the film medium is more accessible and requires less effort, laziness isn't necessarily the cause of Disney's pervasiveness. Our unconscious associations come from what was presented to us, whether or not our parents read to us or not. I was read to plenty, and Snow White is still a Disney movie first for me. But is Dr. Seuss any less of an influence on our unconscious childhood? No. Popularity and successful production are as much a part of it as laziness, and ease of access is not the same concept as laziness either.
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