Feeding Us Fairytales

In childhood, the majority of children are exposed to Disney channel, even children in the third world countries. Disney channel is almost every child’s favorite channel. In an article titled Top TV Channels for kids and teens, Disney Channel was voted as the number ONE Channel. Even for me,  as a child, Disney Channel was my favorite channel. After school, everyday I used to go home and watch Disney Channel and imagine about my future prince charming and how great he’d be, but not anymore. As I grew up, I noticed how the Disney corporation would manipulate children through Disney channel and Disney XD. Through these channels, the Disney corporation would instill their views of the world upon innocent children. In their movies, dramas, and cartoons, they would contort reality and make everything have an happy ending.These fairytales manipulate us into believing that there will always be a “ happy ever after” in the end.

One of their fairytale is Cinderella. Disney’s Cinderella is one of the most popular fairy tales worldwide. For the few of us who do not know about Cinderella, it is a story which was adapted from the Grimm brothers. In Disney’s version of Cinderella, Cinderella is a girl who lost her mother at a young age and was then forced to live with a stepmother and two stepsisters after her father remarried. As she grew up, her father died and she was left to live with her stepmother and stepsisters. They abused her and treated her as their slave instead of family. Then one day, they were invited to the Castle for a ball so that the prince could choose his queen. Although everyone was invited, the stepmother and stepsisters did not want Cinderella to attend the ball. Instead of being able to attend the ball, Cinderella was supposed to stay at home and do chores. However, Cinderella meets her fairy godmother, who helps her to attend the ball but with a catch; she must return home at 12am. The Fairy Godmother uses her magic and transforms some rats and pumpkins into a beautiful gown, a pair of glass slippers, and a carriage. Cinderella then attends the ball, and catches the prince’s eyes. They fall inlove with eachother while dancing, but the moment ends when the clock hits 12am. Cinderella leaves him along with her glass shoe and goes back to her normal life, but he couldn’t forget her and searches for her. He uses the glass shoe to find her. When he goes to her house, she is hidden by her stepmother and stepsisters. They try on the shoe first but it did not fit them. He then almost gives up, but then learns of Cinderella. She tries the shoe and it fits her. They then get married and live happily ever after. The end. Pretty cheesy right? Most of Disney’s fairytales are cheesy.

Shockingly, that wasn’t what really happened in the story. In the real Cinderella story by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Cinderella loses her real mother and grows up with her father and stepmother and two stepsisters.  They abuse her and use her. In the story, the authors state”  They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. "Just look at the proud princess! How decked out she is!" they shouted and laughed as they led her into the kitchen.There she had to do hard work from morning until evening, get up before daybreak, carry water, make the fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella”(Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm). Her life was pretty miserable. One day they get invited to the festival for the prince to chose his bride which lasts three days, but Cinderella is not allowed to go because she is dirty and would disgrace the family. Instead she has to do chores but her pigeon friends help her.They also help her to get a nice dress and shoe. On the first day at the festival, she is the most beautiful woman present and the prince falls for her. She leaves but meets him again on the second day, in which she wears an even more beautiful dress. Similar to the day before, she escapes. On  the third day, the prince sets a trap to catch her but it doesn’t work. Instead he gets her shoe of pure gold. He uses this shoe to find her. When he gets to her home, the stepmother makes her daughters try on the shoe but it didn’t fit. In the story, the authors state “ She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her.”( Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm). She made them cut their toes and heels to fit the shoe. However the prince noticed when the pigeons told him so he returned them home. He then meets Cinderella and the shoe fits her. They end up getting married and the stepsisters become blind after the pigeons peck their eyes out as punishment.

Although the two versions are similar, they are also very different. Disney’s version is very trimmed. They cut out many key parts. They took out the part when the step sisters became blind because it did not fit with the image they wanted. It was violent and ruined the “happy ever after” version so they eliminated it and fed people what they thought was good. Because of Disney channel, children do not learn about the harshness of life. Instead, they learn that life is easy and everyone is happy. Growing up with this mindset, many of these children suffer when they are no longer shielded. They end up having a difficult time accepting that the world is not a happy place and that you actually have to work to succeed in life.

Bhagwandin A
Word count: 1102 words