Introduction
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” – G.K Chesterton
The above quote is the epitome of the problem faced by the adaptation of fairy tales by the Disney corporation. Fairy tales were created with the intention of warning and preparing children for the problems that the world holds. Fairy tales were meant to be dark, they were meant to show the negatives in society even if they were metaphorical and show that they can be over come and lived through as opposed to what the Disney films portray which removes the darkness and the warning showing that nothing more than love and being good can over come the evils in the world allowing youth to be blindsided when they are in direct contact with the real world. Fairy tales no longer tell children that dragons can be killed but that they are not scary anymore.
Fairy tales and fantasy began as a marginalised and underestimated form of expression as much of popular culture appears to but has become an important field of research and the above quote is the epitome of its importance. Arguably fantasy is one of the most important genres for the building of coping mechanisms, although Irwin argues that the main factor of a fantasy novel should be its use of the unfamiliar as familiar and to obscure the familiar, it allows interaction with the darker elements of life.
Irwin argues that the primary aim of fantasy is to make the incomprehensible manageable, to give indirect experience to life, death, good and evil, allowing humanity to cope. Nietzsche affirms this quality in The Birth of Tragedy, when he argues the importance of Greek tragedy allowing the audience to experience tragedy without direct contact. Attebery suggests that fantasy embodies the philosophical, moral and painful experiences allowing the reader to react to these experiences and with new media the experience of fantasy only becomes more immersive with computer games. Bettelheim finds that fantasy, specifically fairy tales, reflects aspects of our inner world and has become a maturing aspect of contemporary life. This is important particularly now as the avenues of coming of age no longer reflect full experiences and children appear to be sheltered from negative aspects of life, removing the need for coping mechanisms until directly experiencing them.
Fairy tales vs Disney
Fairy tales, in contemporary society, have been given a happy ending, thanks specifically to Disney, but in their true form they were intended as warnings to children preparing them for the trials life may bring. Attebery argues that true fairy tales come from the unexpected dangers of the real world and in sanitised versions of these fairy tales society, in fact, is given the opposite. Disney versions of these fairy tales have all been given happy endings and have now been suggested to mis-manage representations of love and women. However, more importantly, these stories have removed the original purpose of a fairy tale.
Arguably the reason for the changes to fairy tales in the more contemporary society is that fairy tales historically have been used as entertainment for more than just children. Luthi suggests that the peasantry used to tell these stories to each other and though having an emphasis on the youth as warning there was no difference as there is now between adult and child. The stories in contemporary society are perceived as dark and not for childhood. Although despite having tough situations and usually disrupted lives or death these tales allowed the under-educated, whether that be children or adults, to experience situations which will arguably prepare them for life, helping them into a contemporary society which is not entirely positive.
Tolkien suggests that England despite the rich history had little folklore. He wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion to encourage and reflect English folklore. His stories reflected the fairy tale idea in that there is an ordinary hero and a quest, it also has the peril and danger that a Folklore hero needs to save the world but in an English countryside environment. Further to this, however, many of the fairy tales that Disney specifically have concentrated on are based in the Germanic tradition. With two exceptions, Robin Hood and The Sword in the Stone , these two stories although still surrounding the happy endings were very close to the stories. There are negative scenarios in these stories along with the magic and the wonder, unlike the Germanic fairy tales.
Malady of Snow White
The Germanic fairy tales, with emphasis on The Little Mermaid, were used by Disney to create a world of happy endings that these stories didn’t originally portray. Disney removed the fear and the realism, as it appears, to create one of its most marketable commodities, the Princesses. This all began with Snow white and the Seven Dwarves (1937), Snow White was the original Disney Princess, she was given a happy ending with her Prince Charming when he woke her from her death like sleep. Although the original is similar in story true loves kiss does not wake the princess, this is the beginning of love being the most important part of all their fairy stories. In fact, the original story was significantly more mundane than that, a servant dislodges a piece of poisoned apple from the throat of Snow white and they get married. The other omission from the story is one of revenge, the step mother is made to wear searing hot shoes and dance until death for the attempted murder of Snow White.
This change was the smallest made by Disney but began a long dynasty of “purified” fairy tales that changed fairy tales from moral tales to warn children, to happy endings to fool children. The original story of Snow White, as part of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Todorov argues was written to mirror a story within Germanic history of political corruption and the problems of vanity. Along with a similar tale which involved the Greek Gods, which also follows the malady of pride. That tale, Chione , included rape, torture and pride all of which were jealous punishments for her beauty, following Attebery’s suggestion that the fairy tale follows an almost biblical morality as each of the punished seem to have fell foul of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Lust, Pride and Envy. Further to this, there is no definitive origin to this tale the above are only two of many arguments but for the most part these stories are more violent and warn against vanity and envy. Whereas, Disney’s variation has no morality beyond the huntsman not killing Snow White, and although there is mention of envy and the Step-Mother dies she is not punished for her envy.
As the first of many fairy tales, from which Disney created its princesses, Snow White came at a time of international turmoil. There appears to be a trend in the Disney releases that the upbeat and positive stories come at times of societal issues, three came around the two world wars, Snow White , Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella . The Little Mermaid came in 1989 when recession was causing societal unrest particularly in Britain but internationally and the last two classics came in the 1990s with Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast both of which were wholesome stories of the other at a time when racial tensions were heightened by far-right politics. With these princesses Disney was maintaining a distraction technique as opposed to the marketing scheme that Disney has become. These fairy tales were cemented by the 1990s and the happy ending was expected for not only all Disney stories but for all fairy tales and children’s stories.
Prior to the Great War children and childhood was perceived very differently, in the late Victorian period things began to change but childhood as a concept did not drastically change until the appearance of “teenage” in the 1950s. This change and the evolution in society that put childhood and children into a safer place may also have affected the change in the fairy tale. As most of the Germanic tales were written at a time when there was little or no distinction between childhood and adulthood, when society changed children became more protected from the negative aspects of life and therefore children’s literature had to become more protective of childhood emotions. In doing this, Disney has removed the fairy tales’ ability to guide youth into society, rarely allowing children to experience indirect negative events and allowing them to build coping mechanisms.
However, some of the Disney stories, not based on the fairy tale idea, but still within the realms of fantasy cover negative scenarios. For example, Disney’s variation on Hamlet, The Lion King, which depicts the death of a parent along with Bambi covering similar events. These stories are done in anthropomorphised form to allow children more distance from the scenario and these heart-breaking Disney stories become less as society further protects children. The first one of these was Dumbo and seems to end with The Fox and the Hound and The Lion King . Many of these stories surround parental injustice and murder as with Dumbo and The Lion King, one of the most emotional being The Fox and the Hound in which friendships are tested, Todd the fox is “abandoned”, and heart-ache ensues. These stories are significantly closer to the original idea of fairy tale meanings that Attebery suggests and that is why they fade out of the popular viewing of the Disney corporation.
Since the year 2000 there have been three films that cover negative situations with each one still ending happily, Up , The Good Dinosaur and Brother Bear . Two of these stories are a return to anthropomorphised variant of negative events but Up although still animated shows a sad event in human form which is new for the Disney brand. Alternatively, this is just following the Disney thought that love, within a hetero-normative lifestyle, is the goal for human existence and that if you love people there will be no sacrifice. This is where many academics argue that Disney gives you a misrepresentation and a “Rose-tinted” view of the world. Along with the traditional gender roles, hetero-normative ideals, traditional values and above all a happy ending, no matter the tragedy in the story, even with some of the above representations, Disney ends with positive results.
Attebery proffers also that this trend may surround the Americanization of fantasy and fairy tales. He suggests that as the fairy tale crossed the ocean to a more puritanical environment the supernatural had to be removed or become comical. The only figures that stayed dark were the villans. Coffin, affirms this in his analysis of the move from British to American fairy tales he argues that fairy tales were no longer free to be dark. A rationalisation seems to have taken over the fairy story and the American variation came with happy endings; the Puritan influence seems to come from the need for the morally just defeating evil to leave the world a lighter place. This religious influence removes the realism from the fairy story and offers a hope which Nietzsche argues creates a less prepared general population. For example, in Randolph’s collection of American stories, the three wishes, in European variants the wishes chosen although ill-chosen each had a moral story whereas the American’s adapted this so that the characters with the wishes became comical characters inferring magic itself is at fault, instead of a moral warning.
Another Little Mermaid
The original Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Anderson in 1836, this was a time of drastic change in society, morality and religion were being questions and fading so moral tales were important and The Little Mermaid although generally tragic seemed to end more positively with the chance of moral salvation because the mermaid was selfless. This almost religious experience was removed from the Disney variation, the happy ending had to be unquestioned as opposed to further toil for freedom. The Little Mermaid Disney variation came out in 1989, society had been going through a shift to a more secular society and as Coffin suggests Fairy tales, particularly American ones, began following the changes in society. Disney was already sanitising the story to give it a happy ending with the removal of the true heart-break, but the removal of the religious experience may well have been to reflect a changing society.
The Little Mermaid story became iconic for Denmark along with a statue but the story since the appropriation by Disney has become the iconic vision. According to Mortensen, there are arguments that suggest the American Little Mermaid is different to the Danish one. The mermaid of Copenhagen has her own following and as she looks off longingly waiting for a true love that will never come the little mermaid of American culture has her happy ending. However, as Mortensen suggests the heart-ache and trials she must go through to learn her valuable lesson develops her personality and allows her to grow as a person. Once the prince marries someone else, she is given the option of going home to her family via killing the prince, but she sacrifices her happiness for his despite already selling half her own body and her voice. This sacrifice offers her salvation, and a path into heaven but she still must prove herself worthy with three hundred years of good deeds as reparation for the selfish desire for love, it seems.
P.L Travers, noted fantasist, also noted that the final message in Anderson’s Little Mermaid was more manipulative than many of the other famous fairy tales, it descends into a Victorian moral tale. This was an addition to the story as the very first telling of the Little Mermaid ending with her dissolving into the foam of the sea, the story ending with no hope for a happy ending. Anderson wrote himself that he revised this ending so that the mermaid had the chance for salvation.
“I won’t accept that sort of thing in this world. I have permitted my mermaid to follow a more natural, more divine path.”
Boggild and Heegaard made mention specifically the changes to the ending of this story came from an enhanced Victorian sentimentality and religious belief which the above quote seems to affirm. They also suggest that many re-tellings of this story have omitted the ending because it doesn’t fit in with the fairy tale aesthetic of tragedy.
They also suggest that the story itself is arguably religious in its intent throughout, they suggest that the aim of the Anderson story may not be one of love at all but one of gaining an immortal soul. All of which was omitted from the Disney variation. In this variation the morality of the tale is lost. The aim, as with most Disney variations, is the pursuit of love and a happy ending. This has allowed Disney to further use the story to create sequels and prequels allowing the argument that Disney allows the happy endings for capitalist gain in the future. The corporation has been known to use fairy tales to create a dynasty of capital of fairy tales of old, with the most prolific being Beauty and the Beast with eleven different titles. The Little Mermaid itself has ten different titles including two television series meaning title for title The Little Mermaid has many more small stories.
The extensions to these fairy tales have further twisted the visions that were originally created for them and allowed Disney, for all intents and purposes, to take the stories and in the minds of the populous they will always over-shadow the originals. The original purpose therefore has been lost and because of the changes to the sensibilities surrounding children and childhood the original stories would be difficult to reassert themselves in popular culture as children’s stories. There have been many attempts via film and television to tell the original story, usually without the religious ending, but within the eyes of popular culture the little mermaid will always be the happy ending that Disney have given society.
The Disney variation comes from a place of initial curiosity, the youngest child of the sea king goes to the surface against her fathers wishes. The meeting of the prince becomes more a Romeo and Juliet story that she hides from her father and Ursula, the sea witch, wants to have the soul of Ariel for her own nefarious ends. The increased evil surrounding the sea witch follows Coffins suggestion that the Americanisation of the fairy tales came with an inherent disapproval of anything magical. The image of Ursula can also be perceived as a reflection of political struggle, the sea witch wants to gain control of the princess to gain eventual control of the sea from her father. She becomes the villain as opposed to the original story where her part in the story is minimal only offering her the ability to meet her prince at a cost rather than orchestrating it for her own ends.
The happy ending comes when the prince not only falls in love with her but risks his life to save his mermaid but to save the sea and her father. This culminates in a scene where she watches from afar as the apparent love of her life recuperates whilst her father sees her pain and he uses his magic to return her humanity and the final scene is her saying goodbye to her family as she marries the prince and lives happily ever after. This ending is commercially pleasing but the story has no lessons learned, no moral standing, and no purpose but the pursuit of love. All of which undermine the original meaning of the story and add several more problematic scenarios as “morals” to the story. The Disney variation changes the aim of fairy tales to one of a female desire for love, and the idea that the goal is the traditional family values, not only that but the idea that going against one’s parents in the pursuit of love is fine and that a woman should sacrifice anything to get it, with few repercussions. Along with the distrust of the villain and the use of magic.
So, along with the fairy tales have been sanitised of their darkness, they have also lost the impact of the warnings they once gave to children and adults alike. The original story preached of being wary of giving your love to someone undeserving, that family will always be there to support you and that sacrificing everything for the pursuit of love is dangerous and usually fruitless, but above all that selflessness and good deeds and self-sacrifice are the goal for Anderson at least. But for those who omit the ending the story is a warning about giving your heart away too readily and being aware of those around you. The sea witch taught that if it seems too good to be true it probably is and the prince taught that just because you love someone and you think they love you doesn’t mean that circumstances will allow every dream to come true. All valuable lessons that a child should learn without having to experience them directly which Disney has robbed the child from having.
Conclusion
These additions mean that the original stories have been lost in translation, the original morals and warnings are no longer associated with these tales and the original purposes have been all but lost. On analysing the two depictions of the mermaid’s tale and the authors that commissioned each piece, the reasoning behind the changes to the stories seem to coincide with the drastic societal changes, as opposed to just a purely capitalist ideal and pandering to popular culture.
Disney’s sanitisation of the original fairy tales can be attributed solely to the idea that the stories have been made more commercially viable and therefore more profitable. The further use of the story for marketing can mirror this idea as since 1937 Disney has been building on merchandise and further adaptations of the stories that were once beloved fairy tales until they are almost unrecognisable to the original in fact they have become the new image. However, this leads to the argument that these changes to the stories were required to keep the ideas of the fairy tale characters alive. As the changes to childhood and behaviour evolved the stories had to evolve with them and although the balance tipped towards a different and rose-tinted view of the world many of the fairy tales have endured thanks to Disney’s appropriation of them.
However, in answer to the question posed, the Disney adaptations of the classic fairy tales may have assisted with the endurance of the characters and the fantasy environments the purpose of the fairy tales have been lost with the sanitisation of the stories you lose the warning elements and the reasoning behind the tales very existence is lost. The darkness of the original fairy story guided children into a world of realism and managed expectations for the future of life in civilisation. Whereas the Disney variations do the opposite of that, they hide the negative from children until they directly experience it. They give the audience a view of the world that does not help them into the modern world in fact gives them an expectation of a happy ending that may or may not happen.
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