Fairy Tales And A Dose Of Reality By Catherine Orenstein

Fairy tales are magical stories about fantasized beings and happy endings. They are told orally and are also found in a literal form. Disney was one of the milestones in the American history of fairy tale stories. With out Walt Disney there would not be more than 70 years of “classy cartoons”. Not only Americans are influenced by these fairy tales, we can conclude that over 50% of the world has an idea of this “American dream” of life that is portrayed.

James Poniewozik of "The Princess Paradox" and Catherine Orenstein of "Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality" focus their writing around modern day fairy tales. Both authors describe that media has the prioritization of wealth in mind and alters the fairy tales to appeal to the audience. Orenstein focuses on the changes of some reality television shows reflecting based off of the initial fairy tales. (284).While Poniewozik focuses on the changes movie makers have made, by making a new type of "Cinderella" who is strong and independent but still wanting a "happily ever after"(324).

In her article, “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality,” Catherine Orenstein is aware of the fact that most readers associate “Cinderella” with images of “true love” and “happily ever after.” In her argument, however, she challenges these concepts. She examines the difference of fairy tales based on different eras, this helps the reader better understand society’s perception based on the time period. She discusses how television’s fairy tales have affected today’s society, this helps the reader understand how television has changed our opinion of love. She also questions if reality TV is really real or just a staged lies that help the actors get a profit.

Fairy tales is the term also used to describe something adored with unusual happiness, like “fairy tale ending” a happing ending or “fairy tale romance”, though not all fairy tale as a happy ending. A fairy tales is a type of short story that consistently features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy Tale Fairy tales may be acclaimed from other folk narratives such as legends which generally involves belief in the veracity of the events described and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables. Fairy Tale." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. According to Arthur Schlesinger, classical tales “tells children what they unconsciously know-that human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real, that life is harsh before it is happy-and thereby reassure them about their own fears and their own sense of self” (229). Fairy tales, according to the British illustrator Arthur Rackman have become “part of our everyday thought and expression, and help to shape our lives” (229). Fairy tales are mostly used in any story that is not only true, but could not possibly be true. Maria Tatar the author of numerous articles on fairy tales and also ten scholarly books wrote that “fairy tales are up close and personal, telling us about the quest of romance and riches, for power and privilege, and, and most important, for a way

For most of society, the word Disney elicits warm feelings: memories of early Saturday mornings with family watching cartoons, family trips to Disney World, or a movie that was so encapsulating it was watched over and over again. Disney achieves a high level of regard from most of society unparalleled by other companies. Penn State education professor, Henry A. Giroux, accompanied by Grace Pollock, argues in his book The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence that society is blinded by Disney’s façade of “childhood innocence” and that Disney’s marketing tactics are far from innocent at all.

Unlike any other form of literature or entertainment, Fairy Tales help children to discover their identity and suggest experiences needed to develop their character. In Bruno Bettelheim’s “Life Divined from the Inside” Bettelheim states that “Fairy Tales intimate that a rewarding, good life is within one’s reach despite adversity-but only if one does not shy away from the hazardous struggles without which one can never achieve true identity (Bettelheim 106). Anne Sexton’s “Cinderella” is a perfect example of Bettelheim’s definition of a Fairy Tale.

Fairy tales are an entertaining and memorable way to teach valuable lessons to children. However, things have not always been this way with fairy tales. In the past, fairy tales could serve as an outlet for unpopular ideas and thoughts, or a way for people with little value in society to express themselves. Fairy tales were often tightly related to their author’s culture, possibly because it made the story more familiar. In Hans Christian Andersen’s “Den Lille Havfrue”, better known as “The Little Mermaid”, Andersen uses prominent mythological and cultural ties to display the struggles of a young girl who wants to see what the world offers, as opposed to staying at the bottom of the ocean and living a mermaid’s long, but soulless and definite life.

Cinderella, Snow white, Rapunzel, and other original fairy tales changed my perspective on Fairy tales because the mood/tone was different and The prince's were creepy. I’m here to tell you why. Get your soda and popcorn, and get comfy. Let's get into it.

When you see or hear the word “Cinderella,” you probably think of the classic fairy tale you watched as a child. It may have even been your favorite Disney princess story or movie. Even if you did not, you probably heard about the story or get a sense of what it is about. The classic story seems to be popular for little ones, and it also makes them feel happy and want to become a fairy tale princess themselves. Walt Disney excluded the use of gore and violence in his version of “Cinderella”, but Anne Sexton did not. She brought back the gore and violence just like the original Brothers Grimm version of “Cinderella.” Anne Sexton’s poetic version gives and eye-opener twist to the classic fairy tale. The reasons she brought back this version of the story may relate to her life. Throughout Anne Sexton’s life, she faced many traumatic events and became very depressed

Fairy tales are stories that range from originating folklore to more modern stories. The same story of the fairy tales can be found in the different version in various languages throughout the world. Those stories inspire people, especially the children, even though the stories made up false, but it builds up based on real life story. Going back to history, when women had no real power, the Brothers Grimm version of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” tells a story about women who have no control over lives, or how a child can be neglected by the adults or what can be done for the legacy/status. This fairy tale story, “Snow White with the Seven Dwarfs,” talks about an evil Queen who is expecting to “fairest them of all,” who is Snow White; she is an innocent beautiful girl, who loves to sing and interact with people.

Modern fairy tales are classic examples of tropes and how authors use the cauldron. In the 1950 film Cinderella, the tale follows an unloved girl called “Cinderella” ridiculed by her evil stepsisters and stepmother. They force her to be their maid. She is visited by her fairy godmother and is sent to the ball where she meets her true love, the prince. The directors of Cinderella; Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske masterfully incorporate familiar tropes from the Grimms’ Fairy Tales into the Disney remake that children know and love.

Media plays major roles in our today’s society. Almost everyone grew up watching Disney films; we remember the characters and the story lines well. Most of us watch more than once for our favorite movies. Many little girls wanted to grow up to Cinderella or Snow White and many little boys wanted to be Aladdin or Hercules. These characters were our idols and role model; they represent everything that we wanted to be when we were young. Especially, Disney is the best company out there which kids are learning from for both good and bad. Disney is one of the first experiences we have with these ideas of beauty. A lot of them have major stereotyping on men and women behavior, appearance and expectation with impossibility. Fairy tales are something

The mention of Disney often takes people back to childhood memories about animated films that portray messages such as love, friendship, believing in one’s self, morals, good versus evil and happy endings for the princes and princesses. However, the stories themselves have a large of amount of gender stereotypes, cultural biases, class differentiation, and unrealistic expectations of how society is supposed to be compared to real life such as being a gorgeous thin Caucasian girl or a muscle man. Even though the stories have been made to be more mainstream than the original fairytales written by Charles Perrault, the Grimm brother’s and Hans Christian Anderson; the stories still keep the idealistic portrayals of gender types from their

Women have played an extremely important role in the growth of society around the world. Along with that role, women have been ridiculed, persecuted, and considered inferior to men. Why has inequality between the classes and sexes been so ubiquitous for so long? Caliban and the Witch is a historical book written by Silvia Federici, an Italian-American scholar, that discusses this question along with the growth of capitalism and the reformation of society itself. Silvia Federici compares different eras and the role of women in them. She looks at the Middle Ages, and the Early modern period. She draws from different sources from around the world and combines them to form Caliban and the Witch.

Society has its own idealized versions of every human sentiment. It relays on physical features as the best description of beauty itself, and follows an enchanted realism that leads to the disappointment of adults’ soul. Looking for happiness, one grows up searching for the perfect sweetheart that would honor Disney’s standard of true love. Shortly, reality hits the mind and one realized that not everyone lives in a castle. And now, all the eyes can see are peoples’ imperfections and every piece that is wrong with them. What most fail to realize is that there are more imperfect things in the world that princesses and princes in Disney, and that Cinderella is a handmade character; humans are actually given birth to. Influenced by the enchanted