'Instead of using technology to enhance the communal aspects of narrative and bring about major changes in viewing stories to stir and animate viewers, he employed animators and technology to stop thinking about change, and to long nostalgically for neatly ordered patriarchal realms' (Zipes, 1995, pp. 40)Zipes, in his article on the historical institutionalization of folk tales/ fairy tales, is scathingly critical of Walt Disney and the commandeering of the genre by his animation studio. Zipes gives a brief summation of the evolution of the fairy tale from its oral origins up until the (relatively) present day where Disney had become the definitive marker for animated films of the fairy tale genre. In reading this chapter, I educated myself about the politics and cultural implications of adapting fairy tales using different mediums, with historical examples to draw these from.
Fairy tales originally were spoken word, told by story tellers within a community. They were 'based on rituals' localized to the community to which they belonged and were told with the intention of 'endow[ing] with meaning the lives of the members of a tribe' (22). These tales could be traced relatively easily to their origin points.The teller would imprint their own personal world view, which with representative of their community, into these tales. 'The voice of the narrator was known. the tales came directly from common experiences or beliefs. They were altered as beliefs and behaviors of the members of a particular group changed' (22). This shows that fairy tales and folk stories would vary widely between social groups, in form and contents, depending on their situation and common objectives. 'Oral tales had themes and characters that were readily recognizable and reflected common wish-fulfillment' (24). because they were usually based on poorer people and classes, it is understandable that they would idealize wish fulfillment to raise them in status, wealth or situation.
With the invention of printing and the widespread rise in European literacy in the fifteenth century, fairy tales began to be transcribed and distributed through print. This was the first step in the institutionalization of the fairy tale. France seemed to be the centre of this evolution, and by 'the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century' (23) the fairy tale was institutionalized as a literary genre. 'In the case of folk tales, they were gradually categorized as legends, myths, fables, comical anecdotes, and, of course, fairy tales (zaubermarchen) (22). A reason why there was such a boom in the production of fairy tale literature was because of the desire to preserve and instill a sense of national heritage in the population, as Zipes says that 'nation-states were cultivating particular types of literature as commensurate expressions of national cultures' (23). For example, 'The Brothers Grimm set about to celebrate German culture through their country's folk tales' (23)
While before fairy tales had been part of the broader folk genre of marchen, now they were being appropriated by the upper classes. 'Extremely few people could read, and the fairy tale in form and content furthered notions of elitism and separation,' because 'printing of a fairy tale was based on separation of social classes' (24). The target audience changed from small folk communities and common people to the educated bourgeoisie. Unfortunately, while the fairy tales grew in popularity, they were violated. 'The literary tales tended to exclude the majority of people who could not read, while the folk tales were open to everyone' (24). The people who originally created and retold the stories were now being excluded from the re-tellings, and the genre had been hijacked. These new tales 'featured narrative voice of the educated author and publisher over communal voices and set new guidelines for freedom of speech and expression' (30).
'Unlike the oral tradition, the literary tale was written down to be read in private.' No longer would the tales be a public performance, for collective consumption. The element of group participation was taken out of the dissemination of fairy tales. 'This privatization violated the communal aspect of the folk tale' (24).
However, thankfully, 'the oral tradition did not disappear, nor was it subsumed by the new literary genre' (23). The oral tales fed writers with material, while also the story tellers and folk communities fed off literature: 'in some cases the literary tales presented new material that was transformed through oral tradition and returned later to literature by a writer who remembered hearing a particular story' (23). The tales throughout the years have been re-mediated in cyclical motions.
In fairy tales there were 'subversive features in language and theme. This one one of the reasons that fairy tales were not particularly approved for children. in most European countries. It was not until the end of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth century that fairy tales were published for children' (25). This surprised me greatly to learn, because the impression that is mainly given in modern times is that fairy tales are infantile: created to entertain children and impress upon them moral lessons and ideals. I did not know that originally the literary tales, which have transformed into the best known fairy tales of modern day, were specifically not for children. However, 'the fairy tales for children were sanitized and expurgated versions of the fairy tales for adults, or they were new moralistic tales that were aimed at the domestication of the imagination' 'improper thoughts and ideas would not be stimulated' (25) and only developed after the adult versions, without such moral grounding, had gained popularity. The children's fairy tales which were created/adapted were supposed to soothe them, ass seen by their constant construction 'with the closure of the happy end' (26). 'Although the plots varied and the themes and characters were altered, the classical fairy tale for children and adults reinforced the patriarchal symbolic order based on rigid notions of sexuality and gender.' Because it comes from a patriarchal society, this was an important point to reinforce, especially in just-maturing children. The fairy tales, like the previously told oral tales, 'also served to encourage notions of rags to riches, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, dreaming, miracles etc' (26).
After moving to the medium of print, 'the next great revolution in the institutionalization of the genre was the film, for the images now imposed themselves on the text and formed their own text' (27). This is where Zipes starts to discuss the influence of Walt Disney on the genre. He was one of the first animators to take the fairy tale and re-imagine it in animated form. This way he could take already written, royalty free stories and use them to show off his animation technologies and prowess. Disney is part of a trend in early animation, as we can see that 'almost all early animators were men, and their pens and camera work assume a distinctive phallic function in early animation'(29). This again reinforces the patriarchal viewpoint or ideals portrayed in the telling of fairy tales. Considering this, one could argue that perhaps just the act of a woman animating a fairy tale story could be subversive in itself?
Transformation of fairy tales from an oral to a written form had many implications for their readings, and similarly 'the revolutionary technological nature of film could bring a politicization of aesthetics' (30) because for the first time the audience was given the images directly of the characters and locations, chosen careful and edited by the animator. In this case, rather than the narrative being controlled by the author or publisher, now the 'narrative voice [could] only speak through the designs of the animator.' Zipes states that 'Disney wants the world cleaned up, and the pastel colours with their sharply drawn ink lines create images of cleanliness' (38), which adheres to the view that Disney remained within the confine of status quo and produced problematic (at least at the time) texts, both visually and structurally. While the literary fairy tale brought consumption of tales into the private sphere, 'Disney actually returns the fairy tale to the majority of people (since the cinematic medium is a popular form of expression and accessible to the public at large)' (32). It does not have the same class divide in availability. Not just in terms of class, but the cinema also broke down other barriers and societal divides which separated consumption: with animated films being 'readily comprehensible by young and old alike from different social classes' (32).
Disney's 'Snow White became the first definitive animated fairy-tale film - definitive in the sense that it was to define the way other animated films in the genre of the fairy tale were to be made' (34). This is where Zipes' criticism of Disney and his homogenized production methods and aesthetic starts to emerge. He criticizes Disney's reluctance to use the modern technologies available to him as a means to investigate the power structures and problematic themes at play within the fairy tales, especially in Disney's continued use of tired female tropes and idealizing of a patriarchal community. 'Disney retained key ideological features of the Grimm's fairy tale that reinforce nineteenth-century patriarchal notions' (37). For Disney, the Grimms' tales are not 'a vehicle to explore the deeper implications of the narrative and its history' (38). Of snow white, he says that 'the film follows the classic "sexist" narrative about the framing of women's lives through a male discourse. such framing drives women to frustration and some women to the point of madness.' 'No matter what they may do, women cannot chart their own lives without male manipulation and intervention' (36). Also, 'one shared aspect of the fairy tale and the film is about the domestication of women' (37), which speaks volumes about Disney's intentions when he chose to leave so many other elements of the original out of the updated version.
While establishing his animation empire and using classic folk tales as a means to capitalize on his market, 'Disney employed the most up-to-date technological means' of production, using the stories merely as a springboard to showcase himself, creating a draw to his films (21). He remediated old stories using contemporary methods, which proved to be wildly successful. As an American artist, he 'appropriate[d] European fairy tales' (21); in fact the Disney company only really branched out into feature films based on non-European tales with Aladdin in 1992, decades later. All narrators leave a significant imprint of their own culture on the tales they tell, and Disney imprinted 'a particular American vision of the fairy tale through his animated films that dominates our perspective today' (21). This shows the power of authorship and narrative influence overt the coding within media. Disney specifically in his 20th century American features set about to 'reinforce the social and political status quo' (22). By creating films without subversion of the original tales message and without causing problems or disruption for the patriarchal system in place, it was seen as acceptable to the majority of the community; thereby drawing in the biggest potential audience.
'The evolution of the fairy tale as a literary genre is marked by dialectical appropriation that set the cultural conditions for its institutionalization and its expansion as a mass-mediated form through radio, film, and television' (22).Disney's adaptation of the fairy tale for the screen led to the following changes in the institution of the genre:
- 'technique takes precedence over the story' (39)
- 'characters are one-dimensional and are to serve functions in the film'
- 'the "American" fairy tale colonizes other national audiences' 'private reading pleasure is replaced by pleasurable viewing in an impersonal cinema'
- 'the diversion of the Disney fairy tale is geared toward nonreflective viewing' (40)
Reference: Zipes, J. (1995). Breaking the Disney Spell. In: E. Bell, L. Haas and L. Sells, ed., From Mouse To Mermiaid, 1st ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp.21-42.
