Stereotypes In Fairy Tales: Cinderella And The Little Mermaid

Numerous traditional and modern versions of the Cinderella story have been recreated. These stories depict people of different race and ethnicities from all over the world. Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella can be best described as a traditional version of the story with a cultural

In becoming so focused on the negativity that she believes these princesses may impose, she doesn't realize the potential greatness that companies, like Disney, try to advocate. To some, princesses create dreams for girls and it gives them inspiration at a young age. It shows them to be brave, like Mulan or even strong-willed and persistent, like Cinderella. It gives developing guidelines for positive characteristics, this way, when they encounter difficult situations later on in life, they already have a premise for how to deal with it. In being so distracted with her strong feminist beliefs, she doesn't take the chance to see the beneficial possibilities of the princess

Many girls dream of their knight in shining armor, a perfect wedding, and a happily ever after ending. Disney princesses give them hope to find love and happiness along with emphasizing their want for the beauty and grace princesses illustrate. Authors of “Cinderella and Princess Culture” and “The Princess Paradox,” Peggy Orenstein and James Poniewozik respectively, agree that most girls like princesses. However, these articles convey differing parental opinions on lessons girls learn from princesses and the unfavorable effects this has at their young age. Orenstein describes her negative views on princesses through her experiences with her daughter and the knowledge of Andy Mooney’s business decisions on princesses.

From its onset with its first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Disney has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon today. But over the years, various parent groups, scholars and film critics have accused Disney for creating shallow, stereotypical princesses whose ultimate aim was to find her 'prince charming ' and live happily ever after. In her article, “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” in the New York Times, Peggy Orenstein expresses her concern over the effect of princess figures like Cinderella on young girls ' perceptions of themselves and how they should behave (“What’s Wrong With Cinderella?”).

Abstract Most of us have grown up watching Disney films but never really thought of what they exactly mean to us. Our understanding of what it means to be a Disney princess is probably one of the reasons to what made us subject to the regulation of cultural values. Cinderella and other similar Disney princesses may be recognised as a part of an individual’s childhood but the values and ideas it conveyed can still be reflected in our decisions and behaviour as adults. Many young girls perceive Cinderella as a role model and create expectations and beliefs based on what is portrayed through her unfortunately these expectations are not fulfilled and ends in dissatisfaction.

People of all ages throughout the years are very familiar with the concept of Disney movies. Some notable classics of Disney are “Beauty and the Beast” which was released in 1991 and “The Little Mermaid” which was released in 1989. Among the children, the Disney princesses left a good impression on them like Cinderella from “Cinderella”, Pocahontas from “Pocahontas”, and Mulan from “Mulan”. However, many believe that Disney movies serve as a good influence to young audiences but people should know that Disney also has its flaws. Disney have showed negative portrayals of Disney princesses in their films especially when it comes to their usual unattainable beauty ideal and portraying their princesses as inferior to men.

The said to be nature and source of the problem with adolescent girls are the fairy tales that are read to those girls at a young age. “Fairy tales capture the essence of this phenomenon,” (Pipher 12). These fairy tales show adolescent girls that if you go through a life threatening situation your prince charming will come to save you. It also teaches girls that through all of this they transform into “passive and docile creatures” (14-15).

Paterson read a book called The Paper Bag Princess to the students and asked them why the princess was always the one captured. The children responded in a predictable way by saying that she had to be captured in order for the prince to save and marry her. She expressed her worry about children who felt differently about the social norm of heterosexuality. “It’s really important to create inclusive learning environments for everyone in the school so that those voices aren’t being lost.” (Paterson) Everyone has a right to education and part of that right is to feel included and to no be criticized by any reason.

Everyone and their grandmother has watched Disney movies. Some of Disney’s most iconic movies are their modern day reinterpretations of common fairy tales and the princesses with in them such as Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White, and Rapunzel. However, anyone with eyes can notice that all of their princesses no matter their background rhave one thing in common; They are all fashionably, sometimes impossibly, skinny. And by contrast, many of the villains particularly the female ones are seen as undesirable. Being undesirable, particularly in the case of Cinderella, is shown by making her stepsisters fat and ugly.

They have tried to change their stories by making them fit with the new generation and include more modern understanding. Parents should know that children are like sponges; they absorb everything from their surrounding, so parents should sit down with their children and watch these Disney television shows, and films and decide whether to let there children continue watching those things or stop them. From Mickey Mouse, to sleeping beauty, to cars (CASTILLO.2006.para1) they are all common Disney cartoons that can affect children by teaching them stereotypes, Racism and violence. Firstly, when talking about stereotypes people will think directly of girls who keep on watching Disney cartoons and films that mostly includes princesses. Theses princesses can give girls a wrong idea of how they should dress, behave and even how they act as girls.

Disney also owns a history of controversies with their “magical” ideologies in films. In a study conducted by Chyng Feng Sun and Erica Scharrer, college students were asked to create a critique and analysis of Disney’s film, The Little Mermaid and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Seamaid. Obviously the students were highly entertained with the colorful images and the sing alongs in Disney’s version of the story, but they’ve made crucial statements. “I know they had to have changed the story because of the portrayal of Ariel and other women and how they have stereotyped Disney thin, more developed bodies than a girl of that age” (p. 50), states a student in Sun and Scharrer’s article. Then after reading The Seamaid, another student claims, “I realized how much the Disney version influenced me . .

As children grow up, they tend to forget the stories that once made up their lives and look down upon what they deem as “child’s play”; however, these stories raise children where parents are not present. Fairy tales characters for children are the construction workers of the adult world, and as the children mature into adulthood, the gates of imagination are opened and the storybook characters morph into newspaper headlines; suddenly, the clock strikes twelve and the glitz and glamour disappear as the realization that “human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real [and] life is harsh before it is happy” (Tatar 306) sinks in. James Braddock, as he attends the ball, assumes the role of Atlas, holding the weight of the working class

Portuguese Lore Research Paper Outline Introduce your topic Portuguese Lore Answer these questions: Introduce Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales. What does each of them entail? (If you found Tall Tales or Fables then introduce these as well) Legends are based on history, embellished, and told and retold. Myths are based on religion, supernatural beings, gods and demigods, and explain natural phenomenons.

Gender Ideology in Grimm and Disney Why are young girls in society expected to look up to perfect princesses as role models? When did singing with animals and loving to cook and clean become admirable traits? Since 1937, movies have been made about the Grimm fairy tale princesses that highlight these ideals. Not only are these things inaccurate in real life; they are also altered from their original stories.

Iconic fairy tales such as Grimm Brother's Cinderella and Snow White are not innocent tales about young girls achieving their dreams but are rather misogynist stories. The two fairy tales have the similarity of involving a young girl who is oppressed by a wicked step mother then later on, the girl is saved by marrying a prince. One can discover the misogynist and the men controlled society by examining how the writers represent women in their fairytales. Both, Cinderella and Snow White can be dissected and analyzed through the Feminist theory. The two tales contain gender roles stereotypes, unrealistic importance of superficial beauty and the view of men as salvation for the girl's oppressed lives.