Or something like that at least.
The first movie I ever saw in theaters was Beauty and the Beast. I was only two when it came out in theaters and walking out of that movie remains one of my earliest childhood memories. And I'm sure I'm not the only person who looks back on their childhood and remembers Disney being a part of their lives. As long as Disney animation exists, children will take away lessons from what they watch.
Disney frequently sets out to promote positive messages to children, but seems to undermine them by sending less positive messages at the same time. For example, most of the Princess stories promote some positive message about being true to yourself, however most of the girls come from broken families, most often lacking a mother. There are very few stories with happily married parents in them. Why would Disney choose to exclude a positive female role model to these girls? Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, and Pocahontas are all without mother figures in their lives, often having to support their fathers in their mother’s place. In the case of Snow White and Cinderella, their mothers are replaced with “Evil Stepmothers”. Even the men in these stories suffer from broken homes. Aladdin is abandoned by his father at a very young age and his mother dies quickly after the father’s departure. Once Aladdin and his self proclaimed “King of Thieves” father are reunited, (which doesn’t last long) his father confesses that his greed tore him away from the family. Even Hercules is stolen away from his parents and unable to return to Olympus. And if anyone is familiar with Greek mythology, the relationship between Hercules’s parents (Disney considers them to be Hera and Zeus) is constantly in turmoil because of his father’s infidelities.
The Lion King is a tragic story of murder, exile, uncertainty, and revenge that concludes with a typical Disney style happy ending. Aside from the happy ending, any of that sound familiar? A king is murdered by his brother and usurps the crown? Sounds like Hamlet to me. Disney makes Shakespeare’s Hamlet accessible to children, making it a part of popular culture, which has been a part of at least one generation of children. (I’m sure several people have lifted pets into the air to reproduce the iconic Simba lift from the movie.) And The Lion King is only one example; Disney frequently alters classic literary stories into stories for children.
Several of Disney’s movies are taken from classic literature. The Greek myth of Hercules twelve labors are represented in montage format within the movie. Very few Greek myths were pleasant stories. The Little Mermaid was a classic tale from Hans Christian Anderson about desiring a soul and a way into Heaven. Snow White is adapted from the Grimm fairy tales which were notorious for their ability to frighten children into obedience. Each of these comes from a piece of classic, dark literature adapted by Disney into something pleasant.
Disney seems to have layers of propaganda messages for children and I’m most excited to learn more about it. Just in a quick search on the internet, I was able to find a WWII propaganda cartoon featuring Donald Duck as a Nazi. Hope you enjoyed this cartoon as much as I did.
