Zipes and Mollet Summary Tracey Mollet is a modern history researcher. She received her BA from Oxford and her MA from Leeds. Primarily she researched the Nazi regime in Germany, from 1933 to 1945. However while she was working on her MA she became more interested and captivated in the animation produced by the famous Disney Studios during World War II. This particular subject has not been researched or studied on: which made her even more interested and motivated. Her theses on her research paper argues that Disney Productions since 1932 presents as an adaptation mechanism for the depression of the era. She used mainly the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story to support her argument that …show more content…
He argues that Disney took original stories and used them to tell stories that would sell rather than benefit others. Zipes states that he is very disappointed in the fact that Disney took credits and benefited from the literary genre of the fairy tale. Well, his “modified genre of the fairy tale” (page 40) and put his names on merchandise and made his profit enormous. As long as Disney got the profits he did not really care to improve about communal aspects on narrative.
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.
Tracey Mollet’s view over Disney’s positive influence is interesting. I understand how she feels like these positive and happy ending stories shed light on a depressing time in America. In my opinion it also glorified the idea of the existence of “American dream” and what exactly it looks like. Her article gave me an idea of the effects and importance of history in any social matter: especially in the literary form. Walt Disney personalized fairy tales tailored it for the American
Since the 1930’s, the Walt Disney Company is known for producing characters, images, as well as stories which have created happiness for audiences around the world. This corporation has grown from a small cartoon studio run by famous Walt and Roy Disney to a million dollar business. In Janet Wasko’s novel, “Understanding Disney”, Wasko explains Disney as corporation calling it “The Disney Empire”. Throughout her novel, Wasko argues that Disney is set up like a typical profit seeking corporation, as well as creates and manufactures fantasy, and lastly re-invents folk tales by “Americanising” them.
Imagine yourself as one person trying to totally reinvent the way that families are entertained. I will be talking to you about a farmer that became an animator. A farmer as a visionary leader, impressive. That is the story of Walt Disney. By all rights, Walt Disney was an excellent animator, but he had the self-awareness to know that he could not make his vision a reality on his own. I believe that Walt Disney is a visionary leader and I will show you how he used “Team Building”, “a group organized to work together”, (Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012)(p.2) skills, “Diversity”, “a composite of individuals characteristics, experiences, and abilities”, (Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012)(p.3) skills, and Full Range Leadership Development, “Contingent Reward”, “When the follower fulfills the leader’s expectation, a reward is provide to reinforce the demonstrated positive behavior.”,(Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012),(p.14) skills to inspire people to buy into his vision and motivate others to help him accomplish his vision. I informed you earlier that I believe Walt Disney is a visionary leader, but that doesn’t make him an ethical leader. Through Walt Disney’s violation of “Honest”, “the bottom line is we don’t lie”, (United States Air Force Core Values, 1997), (p.1), “Openness”, “the free flow of
In Tatar’s article, An Introduction to Fairy Tales, she draws us in by describing childhood books as “sacred objects.” She takes a quote from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. describing how the stories give lessons about what a child subconsciously knows - “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,” (Tatar 306). She describes how many adults long for the simplicity of enjoying those stories in their childhoods, only to realize that they outgrew them, and instead have been introduced to reality. The original stories were more for adults rather than for children. Nowadays, stories have been adapted to be more suitable for children. Fairy tales may allow a kid to wonder due to their charm, but they also can
Background: The history of Walt Disney, and the Disney Corporation, is one shrouded in admiration and accolades for the accomplishment of the American dream. Walt Disney himself is an icon for the American work ethic, i.e., hard work pays off. He is seen as a Horatio Alger, "rags to riches," success story. Beginning his work in animation in the 1920s, Walt Disney gained fame worldwide for his films and theme parks. But Walt Disney created more than films and theme parks. By infusing them with an ideological stance glorifying "the American way of life," his brand of democracy and conservatism, he created a cultural institution. The moralistic stance of his enterprise became common knowledge and it is said that his 1933 version of Three Little Pigs was the last of his cartoons in which the film’s moral messages were open to interpretation [3]
Fairy Tales are not just stories that parents tell to their children, but stories with hidden valuable messages which are mostly left on a side. In the article “An Introduction to Fairy Tales,” Maria Tatar clearly explains how people need fairy tales in their lives. Tatar also states how fairy tales have the ability to take the listener, especially children’s, into a journey in which they can play with their imagination so that they can discover their deepest fears and wishes. Personally I agree with the author, because of the fact that in an individual’s lives as they get older, they will try to define themselves, sometimes comparing their own life with a character from their favorite story or Fairy Tale.
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.
Walt Disney; When that name is spoken faces of children and adults alike light up with looks of sheer joy. When debating what to see at the movies the newest Disney flick is almost always decided upon over the others. With Disney people are 100 percent sure to walk out of the theater happy and smiling. From the catchy theme songs to the thrilling theme parks Disney has built the fantasy empire. Although he built the fantasy world Disney was not a man who walked around with his head in the clouds. He used his animation and film making skills to not only make fantastic movies but to also bring joy into times of war, fun into times of education, and excitement into times of vacation
The Disney Corporation has had both positive and negative effects on American society. Disney has majorly affected both the youth and adults in America by way they interact with each other, what they expect from each other, and how parents bring up their youth in harsh and unrealistic expectations according to Disney. Disney has fostered a strong sense of imagination in the past, present and future youth of America. This sense of imagination is necessary to the development of children when it comes to success in life and self-confidence. The Disney Corporation knows how to work it’s audience for a profit and mastering that skill has allowed Disney to accumulated billions by advertising and selling fantasies to young children and their parents. It’s also these very ideas that influence what Americans believe our government and policies should be founded on. In “The Mouse That Roared” the author states “Education is never innocent, because it always presupposes a particular view of citizenship, culture, and society. And yet it is this very appeal to innocence, bleached of any semblance of politics, that has become a defining feature in Disney culture and pedagogy” (Giroux 31) This quote defines Disney at large. Disney has created the idea of ‘imagination’ in American society and perpetuates it in everything America does and influences everything America stands. In everyday American life, politics and business, The Disney Corporation has a hand in it.
Fairy tales as we know them today began between the years of 1812 and 1857 with two young German librarians, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They published a collection of tales that became one of the most influential works of folklore in Germany, then ultimately, the world. These tales are based on the difficulties faced by families at the time. The tales were taken from German oral tradition, a successful attempt to preserve their cultural heritage (Gillis, 2000). These tales were made for adults, never intended to meet the ears of children. Many of these tales have been copied and ‘fine-tuned’ by Disney to make them more “child-friendly”(Tatar 2003) . Disney is described as a force that impacts cultures which influences more than just the film industry. Davis (2006), both a communications professor and Disney film researcher, argues Disney has,
The standard morals of the country were undergoing a transformation. Walt Disney recognized this and sought to provide an outlet for those longing for the ethics from the days of yore.
He described a term that he referred to as “Disneyfication”, which he defined as “an idea of taking an environment and creating a fantasy world out of it by sanitizing it and making it devoid of any sort of impurity, Disney as a corporation tries to do that, and it affects children” (Stereotypes, 2013). While their parents are off running errands, or working their children rush home from school and turn on the T.V. to their favorite Disney channel movies, and get lost in the fantasy world of Walt Disney where all things can happen, characters are shown ideally and therefore unrealistically and there is always a happy ending.
As children, people grow up watching Disney movies wishing that one day they could be the beautiful princess that is saved by the ultimate fairytale prince or the town hero that slays the mighty dragon. The power Disney has on the public is unmatched by almost any other corporation as they have the power to influence the minds of young children. Disney movies have central ideas that are being put into the minds of kids and conveying the wrong messages about society today. Disney’s portrayal of Andersen’s short story ultimately destorys the story for what it is. In Disney’s Sub/Version of Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, the idea that Disney is selling the concept of love short is brought up multiple times by Roberta Trites. Disney presents
Fairy tales have been a long tradition in almost all cultures, starting as oral traditions to and gradually evolving into written texts intended for future generations to enjoy. Today, a common medium for relaying these ancient stories is through animation. The Walt Disney Company is probably the most well known for its animated portrayals of many classic fairy tales. These fairy tales are considered, by fairy tale researcher Justyna Deszcz to be “cultural institutions, which exist within an institutional framework of production, distribution, and reception, as well as fulfilling specific social functions, such as the preservation of the cultural heritage of a given country.” The
This quality of constant mimetic reproduction has always been of prime importance in fairy tale scholarship. As Jack Zipes observes, the very universality of certain folk or fairy tales imply that its
Sometimes growing up does not always mean that one can no longer enjoy anything room one’s childhood. A stubborn seven-year-old looking to be like the “big kids” might argue that they are too old for bedtime stories; that they have out grown them what they see as being meant for the younger children. Not everyone, however, is a stubborn seven-year-old. Just because they are older does not mean that someone cannot enjoy something that they were fond of in their childhood; it simply means that they will likely enjoy it in a different way. The same is true with fairy tales; a person’s understanding of a tale evolves as they get older. As a person has had more experiences and learned to think more critically, they are likely to have different ideas on tales than they would have when first hearing them at a young age. They do not grow too old or become too sophisticated for fairy tales, they simply become able to have more sophisticated and complex interpretations of them. If people thought themselves to be too sophisticated for fairy tales it would follow that fairy tales would be abandoned for children altogether. Instead, fairy tales and folklore are still studied as pieces of literature and continuously adapted to fit the current times. Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle shows the importance of fairy tales today by weaving together old familiar stories and modern ideals into a single tapestry.