Things Walt Disney Never Told Us

Kay Stone
The Journal of American Folklore

Vol. 88, No. 347, Women and Folklore (Jan. - Mar., 1975), pp. 42-50

p.44
Disney produced three films based on Märchen ("Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White" from the Grimms and "Cinderella" from Perrault). All three had passive, pretty heroines, and all three had female villains, thus strongly reinforcing the already popular stereotype of the innocent beauty victimized by the wicked villainess.

But Walt Disney is responsible not only for amplifying the stereotype of good versus bad women suggested by the children's books based on the Grimms, he must also be criticized for his portrayal of a cloying fantasy world filled with cute beings existing among pretty flowers and singing animals. Though a recent magazine article calls him a "Master of Fantasy," in fact Disney has removed most of the powerful fantasy of the Märchen and replaced it with false magic.

In brief, the popularized heroines of the Grimms and Disney are not only passive and pretty, but also unusually patient, obedient, industrious, and quiet. A woman who failed to be any of these could not become a heroine. Even Cinderella has to do more than put on dirty rags to conceal herself completely. She is a heroine only when properly cleaned and dressed.

p.45
The only tests of most heroines require nothing beyond what they are born with: a beautiful face, tiny feet, or a pleasing temperament. At least that is what we learn from the translations of the Grimm tales, and especially from Walt Disney.

p.45-46
We must look closely to discover that it is at puberty that Rapunzel is locked in a tower, Snow White is sent out to be murdered, and Sleeping Beauty put to sleep. Such heroines have their freedom severely restricted at a time in life when heroes are discovering full independence and increased power. Restrictions on girls at puberty, in contrast to the increased freedom their brothers enjoy, possibly explain the intensely sympathetic reaction many women have to such passive heroines in fairy tales.

p.48
A popular psychiatrist, the late Eric Berne, felt that fairy tales offer not only dreams and hopes but actual programs of behaviour. Your favourite fairy tale may parallel and inform your attitudes and acts.

I interviewed forty women of varying ages and background. All had read fairy tales, almost all could name several favourite heroines but rarely any heroes, and most of these tales were from Disney of the Grimms. Many admitted that they ere certainly influenced by their reading of fairy tales. Some had openly admired the lovely princesses and hoped to imitate them - especially their ability to obtain a man and a suburban castle without much effort.

p.49
Among the informants, whether they admired Cinderella or found her boring, whether they felt heroines like Gretel were active or not, there was a general agreement that considerably more diversity would have been welcome.