...In her article What's Wrong With Cinderella, Peggy Orenstein discusses the recent "princess" craze that has spread amongst young girls, and how this trend could affect their personality later on. Orenstein states that there has been an enormous spike in the commercialization of princesses by Disney and other companies, which has led to most toys that are sold to girls being princess themed. The issue with this is that the idea of being a princess causes girls to try and be "perfect" when they grow up, and Orenstein says that many girls feel immense pressure to succeed in everything they do as well as be beautiful like the princesses they grew up with. However, Orenstein is overreacting by trying to prevent her daughter from purchasing princess merchandise, because in doing so, she is also trying to confine her daughter to a certain role. Instead of doing this, Orenstein should just try to introduce her daughter to other toys, like toys for boys, because that way it is giving her daughter the freedom to choose what she wants to play with. I understand Orenstein's point about the negative influence that princesses have on young girls, but I feel like the more pressing matter is that recently children have been confined to these gender roles from an early age. In most toy stores, there are split sections between toys for girls and toys for boys, and in her article Orenstein states that the difference between the toys in these sections is incredibly visible. I agree with...
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...fail to realize is they are teaching their children many of the the same things they are protesting using fairy tales. Nobody ever stops to think about the true meaning behind fairy tales, after all what harm can come from reading a bed time story, but the truth is that many of these stories have subliminal messages. Cinderella, for example, seems like it's just about a hard working girl who perseveres, though suffering, is payed off by her living happily ever after with a prince, right? One could not be more wrong, Cinderella contains messages which teach kids a sense of entitlement, vanity, and to not stand up for ones self. Children are constantly asking their parents for toys, junk food, and money. Parents should just be able tell their children yes or no when they make such requests, but sadly thats not the case. When a parent tells their kid no quite often that kid responds with yelling, screaming, crying, and slamming doors. Kids refuse to take no for an answer because they have learned form stories such as Cinderella that all they should have to do is ask for something, and it will be immediately given to them. Regardless of which version of Cinderella one reads, in every story she asks a magical entity for the clothing and...
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...was kind and sweet with a gentle nature. But her two stepsisters had their mother’s (wicked stepmother) mannerisms and bad temper. In-turn, the kind young woman (Cinderella) got her kind and gentle nature from her mother, the first wife of the worthy man. The second wife showed her true colors shortly after getting married to the worthy man. The stepmother’s bad temper and wicked ways came out into the open. Cinderella was given very hard tasks around the house to do. After the chores, Cinderella was to sit among the cinders around by the fireplace chimney, from this she was to be known as Cinder-clod. Cinderella also had to sleep on a wretched mattress in a garret on the top of the house. Even though Cinderella was a pretty girl, her wretched clothes still did not prevented her from being hundreds of times more beautiful than her stepsisters. Plus her stepsisters had resplendent garments. In this classic story, I had originally forgotten it to the point that all I reread in the packet was mostly new to me. But after being familiarized with it, this wonderful story stored in memory came back in full force. When the king’s son (the prince) gave a ball, he invited all the higher up people. The two mean stepsisters of Cinderella were invited, but not her. What I found mean and reprehensible was the fact that Cinderella had went over the two meanies linen and ironed out their ruffles so they could talk of nothing else but their glorious fashion and clothes. I dislike reading about...
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...Good Triumphs Evil: Cinderella Cinderella, as told by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in Household Tales, is a tale most of us are familiar with. Most know the version of the tale as told in the Disney classic animated film. However, when told by the Grimm brothers it is a bit more elaborate and quite unlike the Disney version. Yet it is a tale I can relate to, as I’m sure many others can as well. I find the moral of the story the authors were trying to get across is that good will triumph evil, even in what seems to be the most impossible of situations. It all began with Cinderella suffering the death of her mother, who was quickly replace by an evil stepmother and her two daughters. They tell her cruel things and force her to do the household cleaning as “He who wants to eat bread must earn it; out with the kitchen-wench.” With that one sentence they have explicitly made it clear they feel she is beneath them and if she wants to eat she will earn her keep and meals. They take all of her possessions and give her, mock her, and even taunt her. She is forced to work in kitchen from the morning to nighttime, force her to sleep in the ashes by the fireplace. She has been reduced to nothing. She has nothing and is made to feel as though she is nothing, even to her father. The ways I can relate to her aren’t the exact same circumstances, but similar nonetheless. At one point I was in a relationship that was very abusive. I was to do all the cooking, all the cleaning, and under no circumstance...
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...For centuries, the fairy tale Cinderella, that everyone has come to know and love has been told in many different countries and in a variety of ways. Although each story is different, they all have similar meaning and each one "demonstrates how universal the Cinderella story is, as well as how unique each version is to the particular culture out which it grew" (Tam and Cam, 2012 Pg 194). Little girls all over the world are told some type of Cinderella story and they grow up dreaming that one day they'll be a princess just like the characters in the stories. They will find their prince charming to sweep them off their feet. However, these manipulative stories tend to teach girls that they do not need to be dependent on a man to take care of them. Girls should not grow up with that idea in their head, they should be told from the beginning that through patience and determination anything they set their mind to can happen without the reliance of anyone but themselves. The Cinderella characters are presented as civil and obedient young women. In "The Twelve Months", Marouckla, who was the "Cinderella like character" lost her father and was stuck living with her stepmother and step sister. She had to do all of the chores and wait on them hand and foot. They both treated Marouckla as a nuisance and whatever her stepmother asked, she did. "The stepmother also added her threats to those of Helen, and with vigorous blows they pushed Marouckla outside and shut the door upon her. The...
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...Once Upon a TIme there lived a family of three a mother father and their beautiful daughter Cinderella they were a very happy family. One day after Cinderella was put to bed her mother passed out. The next day a doctor came out to see if she was sick when he came out of her room he looked down and shook his head. Cinderella’s father knew what that look meant so he walked the doctor out and talked to him as he came back in his wife had called him into the room. Then Cinderella’s mother asked her to come into the room she took her by the hand and told her that she had a secret that would lead her through all of the trials life has to offer. She told her “To have courage and be kind.” Then they had one last family hug before Cinderella’s mother passed away. Cinderella and her father had many wonderful years together. One day...
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...James J. Braddock got the name of Cinderella Man. He was a strong, powerful man. Some people can call him a role model for a lot of reasons. He can be a role model because he can help many people, and overcome many hard obstacles. One reason Jim could have gotten the name Cinderella Man is because he was a very poor person, and many years later, he became a hero. He ended up being a bum to a champion. He showed people wrong, and that he could succeed. He achieved many goals he tried to accomplish. Thus, showing how he became from a very poor person to a very popular person can be one way he got the nickname Cinderella Man. Another way he can be called Cinderella Man is by showing all the hard obstacles he had to accomplish. One obstacle...
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...Encouraging children to believe in a fantasy that is unobtainable is what Disney has successfully done with the help of their fairytale movies. Altering the gruesomeness of blood soaked feet and empty eye sockets of Grimm, into a lighter hearted humorous version of Cinderella has changed the moral and what we are trying to teach our children. If Disney’s movies were made identical to Grimm’s versions would they still be as magical, would the movies still be geared for a younger audience? Has Disney taken away the true hardships and meaning of the classic fairytale by censoring the stories to fit their ideal mold? Children who have grown up with Disney have been given entertainment first and to believe in a fantasy world and where morals are no longer the focus. Children want to believe in characters and certain setting and events that occur and Tolkien makes a good claim at that by saying, “children are capable, of course, of literary belief, when the story-maker's art is good enough to produce it.” The story of Cinderella is a tale of a girl that goes through abuse and is made to be a servant in her own home and given a new name in mockery of her suffering. Grimm made Cinderella’s mother present and an important factor in her personality by saying "Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect thee, and I will look down on thee from heaven and be near thee." That line in itself shows the way society thought at that time and the type of message...
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...brave and stoic. The perfect ending is associated with the prince and princess getting married and living Happily Ever After. These tales teach kids the behaviors expected from them and expose them to an ideal life, in other words, a gender-conforming heteronormative world. A feminist appropriation of folklore would add a much-needed twist to the stereotypical narratives, creating an alternative route, one which subverts gender stereotypes. Exposing children to tales with diverse characters and varying storylines would allow them to live their best life. Kids can be introduced to LGBTQ+ characters during childhood and escape the tumultuous process of piecing together their identity, while simultaneously knowing there is absolutely nothing wrong with who they are. Moreover, the alternative endings would allow kids to find a life which would best suit them, rather than conforming to a set standard. Transforming already well-known tales further...
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...Although today's society body shames females and males for being overweight, a lot of people, including many parents think that it is unnecessary and wrong for Cinderella to have an insanely thin waist. Sure, getting picked on for being ''too thick'' or ''overweight'' is extremely hurtful and wrong, but being picked on for being too thin is just as hurtful. Women are victimized for their bodies on a daily basis. Princess Jasmine: Just like any other Disney princess, Princess Jasmine also has non-realistic body proportions. She has big breats, large eyes, a beautiful smile, unrealistic long eyelashes, and of course, almost a non-existent waistline. Not to mention, it's not humanly possible to have hair and facial features like hers. But in this cartoon movie, there's a hidden message for males. This movie tells males that they need to pretend to be someone they are not, in order to get the girl you want. Not to mention, you need to be...
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...“As a child, I always knew that I wanted to be a princess. I wanted to travel to a different world, have a beautiful dress for every day of the week, and most of all, I wanted to meet my Prince Charming. I loved fairy tales, and Cinderella was my favorite story and my favorite character of them all because she was so beautiful and elegant. For Halloween one year I begged and pleaded with my mother to get me the Cinderella costume worn by the princess in the movie Cinderella (1950) that all the girls in my class would have, because just like them, I wanted to feel like a princess for the night. I had butterflies in my stomach that entire day anticipating that evening when I could finally be the princess I had seen on the movie. After getting...
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...Spooky Story Netanya Onyilo 2nd "Three yards away from the mailbox, one yard away, here I am!" I said. I've been waiting for three weeks to know if I got a part in the play, Cinderella . While my heart palpitates crazily, I anxiously tear the flap of the envelope. Brielle Campbell, congratulations! You have received the role of Cinderella, and we look forward to seeing you at the Alliance Theater... "WHOOOOOOOOO," I screamed, "this can't be happening, a black Cinderella?! Nice!" Then, I realize, I am screaming in the middle of the street in my humongous neighborhood in the centermost part of New York City. "I definitely hope my neighbors didn't hear that before they think I'm a petrifying psychopath like Chuckie."...
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...An Analysis of Gender Roles in Disney Princess Films Jasmit Singh 213749361 Traditional and Popular Culture – 1900 9.0 Susan Niazi – Tutorial 6 Whether it’s the colours they wear, the activities they engage in or how they behave, men and women are known to play different roles in society. These established gender roles “are not innate or natural but a product of society”. Children, adolescents and adults all learn gender roles through the environment they’re surrendered by. One of the many huge influencers that help shape gender roles is media. Although “there has been a lot of change over the years in terms of what is considered appropriate societal roles for men and women, this change is not reflected in contemporary film”. The ideology of mainstream media continues to focus on the males being the heads of society, which in result, shows an unequal representation of the females. From an early age, media puts an image into young minds, informing them how males and females should think, act, behave and appear. In many television shows and films, one can easily see the distinct difference between the role of a male and a female. Often films are enforcing stereotypical gender roles where the male is seen to holds more importance in society than the female. Amongst many film producing companies, Walt Disney Pictures for decades have been enforcing stereotypical gender roles in their princess films. Though it may not be outright obvious, Disney productions play a huge role...
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...thinking about the research topic, the one thing pulled my attention was why there are villains in almost all fairy tales. It is very interesting to think that all fairy tales have villains. In this paper I am going to talk about who the villains in the story are, why authors talk about villains in their stories and what readers learn from them. I will use mostly about fairy tale villains such as my favorite fairy tale’s villain, Cinderella’s stepmother. When we read the stories, we can tell who the villain in the story is. They are usually described as stepmothers, witches, monsters, sneak, thief, robber and traits. For example, in the Cinderella story, Lady Tremaine is a villain. In the article “Top 10 Most Evil Disney villains”(Antonia) the author described the Lady Tremaine as self centered and wicked person. She physiologically abuses Cinderella. When I see the characters I listed above, they all are wicked. It is easy to see that some stepmother usually abuses their children. A student wrote on her term paper about step mother as “Sadly, the term stepmother is almost unheard of unless the word "wicked" is attached to the front of it. To become a stepmother one must first...
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...are not the role models that young girls should be looking up to. Disney princesses are always the ones taking care of the housework and caring for others, which is stereotyping what young girls believe they should be doing when they grow up. Disney princesses display their greatest asset as their beauty and it is not what is on the inside but what is on the outside that matters. This impacts young girls self-esteem because they will thrive to look exactly like a Disney princess, however unlikely, due to the fact that they are characters in a movie and not real. Young girls should never believe that their beauty is the top priority in their life and one only lives happily ever after if they are beautiful. Walt Disney's movies Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty emphasize the negative impact the Disney princesses have on the minds of young girls and reinforce society's message to little girls that the world is black and white. The lack of accuracy in the physical appearance of the Disney princesses is one of the very reasons why little girls thrive for perfection in their body. Snow White for example has a tall, slender figure and has the cleanest complexion anyone could ever wish for at her age. The evil queen's magic mirror describes her with "hair as black as ebony, lips as red as roses, skin as white as snow"(Disney, Snow White) and these are the attributes of the fairest in the land. With being the very first Disney princess, one would think that Walt Disney would produce...
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