Monday, November 10, 2008

Boy!!! Did Disney do a number on me

I have never considered myself to be naive or even remotely submerged in the mere fantasies of a perfect or semi-perfect existence, however I feel the need to voice my frustration with Walt Disney and the "fairy"tales they have created. Before being given this assignment I was delightfully enchanted with the way Team Disney spun such glorious tales and managed to segway into them such sweet happy endings, but now I feel cheated. These stories that I have been fawning over all my life; that I have collected on dvd, vhs, and I dare date myself by mentioning the infamous beta are all fallacies. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and (cover the kids ears) even that damn Aeriel are all knock-offs. These characters weren't toiled over or created in the traditional think tank manor. They were boosted like some expensive car on the streets; given a new paint job; and sold to an unsuspecting public. I may need therapy to get over this one. I feel my whole childhood was a lie. I am throwing away my Bambi lunch box. I will no longer support this menace of butchering literature and selling whimsical dreams to kids to fulfill some CEO's retirement package.

4 comments:

Krista Hogne said...

I'm with you all the way when it comes to Walt Disney -- and Bambi, when I was younger, I thought was pretty horrible. Not even CLOSE to the original tales though. A couple of semesters ago, I had taken a Children's Literature class and we read the original Cinderella and Snow White stories. The creme de la creme though has to be Hans Christian Anderson's stories ("The Little Mermaid" was one of his) -- in his stories, it was the children that suffered. I was like, "Holy cow! People used to read these to their kids!?!" I have a four-year-old and there is no way I would be putting up with the nightmares that would surely follow reading one of the original, non-Disney stories.

A Quinlan said...

Great post. By all means, don't read the originals to your little angel!

Krista Hogne said...

Hey there! Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Anyway, just to let you know, I will be bringing my 4-yr. old to class on Thursday night in case you wanted to bring yours, too.
See you Thursday.
- Krista

A Quinlan said...

waker! waker! where are you!

no class next week. just send in your work.

and post a little bit, too!