I absolutely love fairy tales. Seriously, I'm not aware of anyone who's read more fairy tales than I have (I could throw around some story names that you haven't even heard of but it's probably pretentious enough that I'm making such a silly claim as it is).
That being said, I take issue with Disney. Now don't get me wrong, I love Disney movies. They're an essential part of childhood (and adulthood if you're me). My issues lie with the Disney Corporation.
I dislike the how they revamp their princesses every few years to be more modern. They were beautiful when they were created, can't you just leave them that way? I also get super upset when I see a greeting card designed for six year old girls with an array of princesses on it twirling around in golden dresses making shallow comments on looking pretty for the ball. What the hell Disney? When you made those princesses they had different personalities and things they cared about! It's not ok to just conglomerate them into one mass ego with seven different smiling faces.
Anyways....what super gets under my skin is the iron grip Disney keeps on all its films. Every ten years or so they re-release an old classic saying it's "better than ever" (because the original totally needed to be improved upon) and then charge $30 for it.
This brings me to my point. This month Disney has once again re-released their beautiful classic "Cinderella" (as a side note: if you want to read a really excellent rendition of this fairy tale go find a story called "Donkeyskin." It's marvelous.) Naturally, it's been remastered.
Here is the scene where Cinderella's fairy godmother sings a song and what not:
Now here's the trailer Disney put out to promote their re-release:
Am I the only one who's noticed that the voices have been changed??
WHAT THE HELL DISNEY?? You change her looks to keep her modern, you dumb her down to sell her to children, now you gotta change her voice? This is super annoying guys!
Now, I understand this is only a trailer and maybe the whole movie hasn't been changed but still. It's ridiculous.
I'm very disappointed with you Disney. Very disappointed.
Walt would be turning in his grave.
I agree with you 100% on all points made. I'm willing to bet the voice changes are only for promotion, but still, you make valid arguments.
ReplyDeleteAs I grew up and embraced my inner feminist I realized I probably shouldn't own any of the Disney princess movies besides Mulan and Brave. I haven't had the heart to throw my DVDs out though...
This is why I have to separate Disney the Corporation with the Disney that is welcome in my home (i.e. the movies). I don't think the movies are entirely anti-feminist, or at least intentionally so, they simply portray what a woman was at the time they were created. It's what they do with those poor women after the fact that drives me up the wall.
ReplyDeleteThis excludes Sleeping Beauty though. That girl's not even in her movie. Although the scenery is lovely to look at!
Also, Brave doesn't count as a Disney movie. It was made by Pixar.