Breaking the Disney Spell - 2039 Words

Jack Zipes, in his essay Breaking the Disney Spell, directly addresses the issue of what happens when a story is taken from its original oral form and written down. Zipes discusses in depth what Walt Disney has done to fairy tales and the consequences of Disneys actions. Zipes addresses many issues, including those of context, society, and alteration of plot. He accuses Walt Disney of attacking the literary tradition of the fairy tale (344). While many scholars disagree with Zipes accusations, his essay makes very solid and well-presented points that he promptly backs with fact. Regardless of what the scholars say, Zipes was right: Oral tradition is important, and Disneys representations of historical folktales damaged fairy tales†¦show more content†¦Zipes argues that Disney changes the protagonist of the story from Puss to the young king. In the original version of the tale, the cat was the hero and the young boy he was friends with played a minor role in the tale. The boy in the original tale was not royalty at all: he was a commoner. Disney changed both the importance of the boys role in the story, as well as his social status. By adjusting the story, Zipes declares that Disney projected his own self into the story and presented it in a sort of auto-biographical fashion. Disney saw himself as the young king and projected that into the story. Disney did not see himself as simply an ordinary commoner: he was far above the peasant class, at least in his own mind. While many of Disneys fans and viewers may argue that his recreation of fairy tales made little to no impact on the original meaning, Zipes believes otherwise. Disneys film is also an attack on the literary tradition of the fairy tale. He robs the literary tale of its voice and changes its form and meaning (344). Disney not only adjusts the main elements of a story, but he also alters the point of view and the narrator, as we see in Puss in Boots. Instead of the story being told from Puss point of view, the hero of the story is the young boy. In Disneys other fairy tale recreations, he often adds characters and makes them the hero or savior of the story. Often, instead of being told by a female point of viewShow MoreRelatedBreaking The Disney Spell By Jack Zipes1888 Words   |  8 PagesNathalie Lopez English 430 - TR 11:40-1:20 March 10, 2016 Breaking the Disney Spell â€Å"Breaking the Disney Spell† by Jack Zipes talks about Walt Disney’s early adaptations of folk and fairy tales. Zipes talks about even after Disney’s death â€Å"the man’s spell over the fairy tale seems to live† (333). This to me has a double meaning which is, that Disney is so know that he literally has a spell on people or how even though the the man figure in the fairy tales never do much they are still very importantRead MoreThe Little Mermaid: Disneyfication1238 Words   |  5 Pagesmovies comes up is the studio’s popular princesses. 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