Zipes article

Jack Zipes, in his article "Breaking the Disney Spell", discusses the impact that Walt Disney has had on the fairy tale after the release of his 1937 animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He discusses how fairy tales were first understood and passed on, but his main goal is to talk about how and why those of us today mostly know the versions of these fairy tales that Disney released. He claims that these films so thoroughly replaced the original tales because of several things. The reasons that he stresses that I would like to focus on are: 1. The technical advances that he used to portray the story 2. the simplification of the meanings behind the story and the fact that he geared it toward "non-reflective viewing" (Tartar, 352), and 3. The visualization of a Utopian far away land that Disney created in this and his following animated fairy tales.

I definitely have to agree with Zipes in his reasonings for the complete domination in American society of Disney's versions of the fairy tales. I distinctly remember growing up watching these movies (not so much Snow White, but many of the other Disney animated films) with a sense of wonderment and awe. Animation allows for infite possibilities in creativity, and Disney took advantage of that in his versions. While the Grimms' stories are incredibly short and give very little imagery and descriptions, Disney's versions allow us to revel in the world he has created where animals display human emotions, there are evil witches, and magic is not something out of the ordinary. Spending some time in this Utopian world with the beautiful animation and many pleasurable things to watch is much preffered than reading a Grimm version of the story. The fact that Disney made the themes of these stories much less "in your face", and made them more about love, peace, and justice (all timeless, universal themes), makes them all the easier to take in and enjoy. I was surprised how well the Disney version held up for me, as the last time I had seen it I was probably seven, and this further proved to me that while the Grimms versions are still potent and important for literary traditions, compared to the grandeur and excitement of the Disney versions, they come off a bit stale.