I believe that the main point of this essay was to show how Disney commercialized fairy tales through his films and how this "'violated' the literary genre of the fairy tale" (352).
In class, Professor Figal told us to pick an issue or topic in the Zipes essay to "grapple with." An issue I had with this essay was that Zipes seemed to accuse Disney of sacrificing the old oral and literary traditions of fairy tales for the sake of appealing to his consumers and gaining fame and fortune. I feel that the beauty of fairy tales is how they are able to change and morph depending on who tells them, who is listening, and the circumstances and culture under which these fairy tales get passed along. Disney being a household name that we all associate with fairy tales is something that should be admired, not condemned. Maybe Disney was ultimately in it to make money and gain recognition, but in the end, our culture today is defined by these Disney films, and I just see Disney as another method of passing along fairy tales to the next generation.
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I agree- it does not matter whether Disney made the films to gain money or recognition: the point is, he created a marvelous finished product that affected many of us positively. He gave children an outlet for their imagination, and provided a pleasure for us to indulge in.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I completely agree with your statement that "the beauty of fairy tales is how they are able to change and morph depending on who tells them, who is listening, and the circumstances and culture under which these fairy tales get passed along." By no means do I believe that Disney had to adhere to the plots and characters that existed in the original fairy tales. Especially since there were a plethora of versions, who knew which versions that Disney connected most with, or had even been exposed to the most. Also, cultures change, and fairy tales have, throughout history, adapted to the changing times. Therefore, why could not Disney adapt? Why does he have to be condemned for creating his own version?
I do see your point about the "beauty of fairy tales". That is another way to look at Disney and what he did, and I always enjoy seeing other's points of views
ReplyDeleteI think Zipes' biggest error in his essay was lumping in Disney's suspect business practices with his objections to Disney's reinterpretation of the fairy tales--it made the article seem less effective to me because I just read it as a personal attack, and couldn't take it as seriously. Therefore I really didn't have a problem with the fact that Disney took liberties with the original texts, because I just saw them as that--reinterpretations.
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