The thesis of the Zipes article about "Breaking the Disney Spell" is to state that Disney more or less took classic fairytales, Americanized them, and therefore, ruined them in the process. All Disney wanted to do was sell these stories to a broader audience, and thus, took out the original meaning of these stories. I mean, he has a point - Disney did rearrange these stories, give them all happy endings, remove much of the horror from them, etc. But nevertheless, a fairytale always has more than one version and is always transitioning to fit the ideas of the time (ie. when they began to be written down, they were changed to please the upper classes, etc...) Therefore, Disney did not ruin these fairytales, he simply updated them for film to appeal to cartoons greatest audience - children.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Jack Zipes identifies Disney as usurper of the fairy tale for his own mean after identifying a long list of others. The problem with Zipes' essay is that he builds a vilified Disney from a few facts, but mostly from his own imagination. Zipes throws around psychological terms haphazardly, seeming more interested in twisting details to support his own preconceived notion of the fairy tale. He describes the oral tradition of the fairy tale as one that is classless and free to everyone, calling the revisions into text and film and more elitist and manipulative. What he fails to note is that the revisions reached a much larger audience than the original obscure tales. Also, Zipes' view of the reinvention of the fairy tales as a sort of hijacking flies in the face of a large part of artistic expression of using a tried structure to express new things.
Primary Sources
I believe Jack Zipes' main argument was that Disney used the medium of animation to convey his own personal personal ambitions, and because Disney was meticulous in making sure that his productions did not have any other competitors, the American culture (and other Americanized cultures) accepted the elements of his fairy tales as being the primary source for fairy tales.
Zipes used two lines of supporting arguments that buttressed his claims well. First, his discussion of fairy tales evolving as concrete literary structures from the free-form story-telling strengthened his view that animated movies restricted the meaning of the fairy tale further than just written tales. Like Zipes says, the development of the literary fairy tale in the seventeenth century was aimed at the social elite that could afford books. The plot and symbols of the fairy tale were refined in such a manner that was appropriate for parlors of the court and the growing bourgeois class (in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.) In particular with the Grimms brothers, their attempts to clean up some of the fairy tales' illogical and/or inappropriate plots stripped the fairy tale of some of its fantastic elements. Just so, Disney's attempts to portray the fairy tales in animation demanded that he take even more of the fantastical elements out of the fairy tale. His artistic vision of the fantasy world became the audience's view: where once the power of the imagination had to draw the pictures of the obsurd, the artist's pen replaced the imagination. And because Disney was very good at making sure that he had no competitors, his artistic view dominated what audiences saw and captured their imaginations.
As Disney held his audience captive, Zipes argued that Disney was able to twist the plot of the fairy tale to show what he believed was a good story. The element of Disney's stories that I do not particularly care for, and that Zipes calls out, is that Disney believes that women should be domestic and that they should wait to be rescued by their prince on a white horse. Disney perpetuates the patriarchal stereotypes that many of the literary fairy tales' authors use, and it seems silly when the social norms of gender relations were changing dramatically during Disney's lifetime. He uses the patriarchal stereotypes to strengthen his ideal of the entrepreneurial young man (the prince) that can save the day as long as the princess sticks to the patriarchal plan.
I think Zipes thesis works well, but for a reason that he did not explicitly state. The art of animation was coming into full swing as Disney started his career in the field, and because of his predatory business skills, he was successfully able to dominate the animation business. This was important as American audiences started to fully embrace the technology of full length movies and the advent of technicolor television. Audiences accepted all of Disney's interpretations of the fairy tale as they were finally able to afford to watch the features at a movie theater (and because he was the main one producing the fairy tale features, Disney's movies were the ones audiences saw.) When the Grimms Brothers published their books, middle class people were finally able to afford the Kinder- und Hausmarchen that was (unintentionally) written for children. And because of their publishing success with the new technology of mass printing, the Grimms Brother's versions of the fairy tales became standard among many households. Disney's success happened for about the same reason: the rise (but not the beginning) of a new technology made that artform accessible to the masses for the first time, and because of its novelty, the popular culture quickly took that version to be the primary source of the fairy tale.
Zipes used two lines of supporting arguments that buttressed his claims well. First, his discussion of fairy tales evolving as concrete literary structures from the free-form story-telling strengthened his view that animated movies restricted the meaning of the fairy tale further than just written tales. Like Zipes says, the development of the literary fairy tale in the seventeenth century was aimed at the social elite that could afford books. The plot and symbols of the fairy tale were refined in such a manner that was appropriate for parlors of the court and the growing bourgeois class (in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.) In particular with the Grimms brothers, their attempts to clean up some of the fairy tales' illogical and/or inappropriate plots stripped the fairy tale of some of its fantastic elements. Just so, Disney's attempts to portray the fairy tales in animation demanded that he take even more of the fantastical elements out of the fairy tale. His artistic vision of the fantasy world became the audience's view: where once the power of the imagination had to draw the pictures of the obsurd, the artist's pen replaced the imagination. And because Disney was very good at making sure that he had no competitors, his artistic view dominated what audiences saw and captured their imaginations.
As Disney held his audience captive, Zipes argued that Disney was able to twist the plot of the fairy tale to show what he believed was a good story. The element of Disney's stories that I do not particularly care for, and that Zipes calls out, is that Disney believes that women should be domestic and that they should wait to be rescued by their prince on a white horse. Disney perpetuates the patriarchal stereotypes that many of the literary fairy tales' authors use, and it seems silly when the social norms of gender relations were changing dramatically during Disney's lifetime. He uses the patriarchal stereotypes to strengthen his ideal of the entrepreneurial young man (the prince) that can save the day as long as the princess sticks to the patriarchal plan.
I think Zipes thesis works well, but for a reason that he did not explicitly state. The art of animation was coming into full swing as Disney started his career in the field, and because of his predatory business skills, he was successfully able to dominate the animation business. This was important as American audiences started to fully embrace the technology of full length movies and the advent of technicolor television. Audiences accepted all of Disney's interpretations of the fairy tale as they were finally able to afford to watch the features at a movie theater (and because he was the main one producing the fairy tale features, Disney's movies were the ones audiences saw.) When the Grimms Brothers published their books, middle class people were finally able to afford the Kinder- und Hausmarchen that was (unintentionally) written for children. And because of their publishing success with the new technology of mass printing, the Grimms Brother's versions of the fairy tales became standard among many households. Disney's success happened for about the same reason: the rise (but not the beginning) of a new technology made that artform accessible to the masses for the first time, and because of its novelty, the popular culture quickly took that version to be the primary source of the fairy tale.
I took Jack Zipes thesis to be: The great "magic" of the Disney spell is that he animated the fairy tale only to transfix audiences and divert their potential Utopian dreams and hopes through false promises of the images he cast upon the screen.
Given the thesis above I am inclined to disagree with his statement. His thinking that Disney stripped the fairy tales of their values as they altered them is missing a few important things to consider. First, fairy tales, as they have been from the beginning, have been used as a tool to reflect the culture. Disney took the tales and did just that. Many other countries had done the same before, but only now, because it was portrayed on the screen, does he think to condemn Disney's attempt at making various fairy tales reflect the culture. Second, many of these fairy tales would never have been exposed if it weren't for the Disney versions. To this avail, I find it hard to see how Zipes completely overlooks the fact that Disney promoted awareness through making these fairy tales. Zipes should see that Disney took these fairy tales to reflect their culture and, while innately promoting awareness through the release of the movies, they on the simplest level were saying that there was a story to tell, that 'story' being the differnt versions prior to the release of the movie.
Disney was telling the fairy tale that Americans needed. It reflected American dreams, American values. Zipes focues on the fact that these dreams and values were different from the ones like in the Grimms version, but he never fully acknowledges that they were from a different culture. Thus, Disney is not altering these stories for their own self-interest, but rather, they are telling these wonderful fairy tales to the American people, for American people. Fairy tales that most likely would never see their way out of the attic otherwise.
Given the thesis above I am inclined to disagree with his statement. His thinking that Disney stripped the fairy tales of their values as they altered them is missing a few important things to consider. First, fairy tales, as they have been from the beginning, have been used as a tool to reflect the culture. Disney took the tales and did just that. Many other countries had done the same before, but only now, because it was portrayed on the screen, does he think to condemn Disney's attempt at making various fairy tales reflect the culture. Second, many of these fairy tales would never have been exposed if it weren't for the Disney versions. To this avail, I find it hard to see how Zipes completely overlooks the fact that Disney promoted awareness through making these fairy tales. Zipes should see that Disney took these fairy tales to reflect their culture and, while innately promoting awareness through the release of the movies, they on the simplest level were saying that there was a story to tell, that 'story' being the differnt versions prior to the release of the movie.
Disney was telling the fairy tale that Americans needed. It reflected American dreams, American values. Zipes focues on the fact that these dreams and values were different from the ones like in the Grimms version, but he never fully acknowledges that they were from a different culture. Thus, Disney is not altering these stories for their own self-interest, but rather, they are telling these wonderful fairy tales to the American people, for American people. Fairy tales that most likely would never see their way out of the attic otherwise.
Assignment: 3 February 2009
First, please identify the thesis of the Zipes article from this week’s reading. Then, respond to his thesis: do you agree or disagree, and why?
Don’t forget to post two comments by Wednesday at midnight.
Don’t forget to post two comments by Wednesday at midnight.
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