by Michael Giday
Fairy tale portrayals of disabilities and deformities play a significant role in the representation of them in media. More specifically, on how said portrayals have shed a derogatory light on disabilities and deformities and provided audiences with inaccurate ideas, such as disabilities defining those that have them and making them less than human. These inaccurate ideas have been popularized through the introduction of them to young audiences in popular media such as massive corporations like Disney and are thought to be true due to a lack of personal experiences regarding disabilities for both audiences and the authors of said tales. It is important for people to gain personal experiences regarding disabilities and information from more credible places such as real people with disabilities rather than just accepting what has been popularized in order to prevent the formation of harmful stereotypes. Because disabilities are inaccurately portrayed as weaknesses, devices for cruelty, and villainization, I argue that the degrading aspect of misrepresentations of physical deformity in “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid”, the introduction of ableist ideologies to children, and the lack of first-hand experiences with disabilities, for both audiences and authors, perpetuate ableism in popular storytelling.
All cultures around the world have some form of social distinctions that separate the “acceptable” from the “unacceptable” as determined by their specific standards in health, beauty, etc. Another commonality in most societies is the existence of fairy tales in some form which are used to spread/reinforce a society’s respective standards. For example, in “Media has been Wrong about Disability and it May Cost 24 Mil People their Healthcare”, Barbarin, a disabled black woman, writes, “News media, especially unchecked puff pieces, would lead you to believe that the “only disability is a bad attitude.” This is an ableist lie of epic proportions: you can be successful with a disability. The reason this lie is so popular, though is because it quietly promotes a narrative of “personal work ethic”; that if you’re disabled and work, the world may forget what’s “wrong” with you and treat you like a human being, but if you “choose” not to work, you’re lazy and deserve the suffering that accompanies your diagnosis.” This clearly portrays modern America’s ignorance and lack of empathy regarding disability. Rather than adjust itself to better suit the needs of its less able members, society pushes them to fend for themselves and if they are unable to, looks down upon them. In addition to this, many people, specifically Americans, see those with diseases and disabilities as inferior due to their increased risk of dying as a result of COVID-19. They go as far as disregarding warnings that limit exposure because they don’t care about sickly/disabled people dying due to their perceived lack of societal worth (Barbarin, “I Was Unprepared for 2020”). “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid” are just two of the many popular tales that have plots that revolve around a protagonist’s disfigurement/disability.
It is common for those who are seen as “different” to be persecuted by others for things that are completely out of their control such as race, sexuality, and even having disabilities.
Modern examples that are very prevalent would be the BLM and LGBTQ+ movements.
Fairy tales portray disability in a way that makes those afflicted by them appear to be unwanted by society and degrades them to be seen as less than human. Fairy tales also create the damaging idea that disabilities are things that should be eradicated, as seen by the magical transformations that protagonists usually undergo at the end of them.
A common theme in fairy tales that is usually overlooked, is that a person’s status as a human is determined by how capable they are and their role in society. If one lacks in any of these qualities they are deemed undesirables and dehumanized. This idea directly relates to those with disabilities and deformities that are looked down upon for not being able to conform to society. This notion can be clearly seen in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” through the isolation that Beast has gone through due to his fear of rejection as a result of his transformation into a “Beast”. Despite having a rational mind, he is treated and talked about as nothing but a monster. The villagers go as far as to literally hunt him down like an animal, as if he was never a human at all. In Adrion Dula’s “B(e)Aring the Beast: Deformity, Animality, and the Ableist Gaze in French Literary Variants of ‘Beauty and the Beast’”, she argues that ableist ideology is heavily prevalent in multiple early modern stories such as “Beauty and the Beast” and Là où la mer commence. She goes on to explain how these ableist concepts have led to the dehumanization of characters and in turn real people with deformities/disabilities by making said characters become animalistic, unable to be active parts of society, and by making their illnesses be seen as something that needs to be eradicated.
That last point regarding illnesses not being a part of happy endings is something that can also be seen in Hans Christen Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid”. Despite having all the things a human has and being a princess, Ariel still obsesses over becoming human and considers herself as less than one just for lacking legs. Anderson also emphasizes this through a conversation between Ariel and her grandmother, ““We lack an immortal soul, and we shall never have another life…But human beings have a soul that lives on forever, even after their bodies have turned to dust. It rises up through the pure air until it reaches the shining stars…they rise up to beautiful, unknown regions that we shall never see.” “Why weren’t we given an immortal soul?” the little mermaid asked mournfully. “I would give all three hundred years of my life in return for becoming human for just one day and having a share in that heavenly world.”” Through this we can see a sense of what can only be considered arrogance the author has about being a human. This however begs the question, why does he depict only humans as having souls but not mermaids when their only difference is legs and tails? This shows how even the slightest of differences can change the way that one is perceived by others, to the point that not having legs is enough to no longer be considered human and soulless.
In “In fairy tales, disability is never part of the happy ending” by Louise Kinross. In this text, Louise Kinross, of the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, interviews Amanda Leduc, a disabled author who is well versed in disability studies, who argues that in fairy tales the disabled person is often seen as stained or marked by their disability and, the disability is removed by the end. To support this claim Leduc references popular villains such as Scar and Maleficent. She also provides examples of protagonists whose stories revolve around their deformities and undergo journeys that lead to their eventual removal.
It is also common to see authors of fairy tales utilize disabilities as a way of isolating characters and making them feel unloved by anyone. In “Reading Disability in Children’s Literature: Hans Christian Andersen’s Tales”, Vivian Yenika-Agbaw argues that popular fairy tale authors have been utilizing disabilities in their tales in order to make their characters outcasts and distanced from the rest of society. She goes on to explain why this is especially true for older stories that were made in the early nineteenth century when societal beliefs were heavily influenced by Christianity.
Fairy tales portray disability in a way that makes those afflicted by them appear to be unwanted by society. The dehumanizing aspect of disability portrayals in fairy tales such as Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” has real-life consequences by making those with disabilities feel and be perceived as less than human and outcasts. In addition to this, most fairy tales in which the protagonist is afflicted by some kind of deformity or disability, they must have their condition magically removed before going on to live happily ever after. This, in turn, creates false expectations in the minds of young children with disabilities and also makes them feel like they are not “normal”. It doesn’t help that authors and producers of media use deformities and disabilities to bolster their works which in turn creates inaccurate stigmas about them that hurt those with them. This all links back to the idea that the misrepresentation of disabilities in fairy tales has led to the degradation of those with real life conditions. Additionally, there is a significant lack of accurate portrayals of disabilities and deformities in children’s media which has led to the universal negativity that is associated with disabilities.
Children in Western societies have beauty and health standards shoved down their throats from the minute they are born in the form of media and teachings. In Hanna Sigurjónsdóttir’s “Cultural Representation of Disability in Children’s Literature” she argues that children base their reactions towards those with disabilities primarily upon what they have learned through popular culture rather than public policy and personal experiences. Children’s literature is a way in which these concepts are introduced to people starting from a young age and over time, poor representation of people with disabilities has led to modern stereotypes and misconceptions about them. Sigurjónsdóttir also explains that these misconceptions arise in Western societies due to its heavy emphasis on health, beauty, and fitness, and this emphasis is reflected in the material that we introduce children to. Specifically popular tales that have been turned into films such as Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” whose title alone creates several subconscious biases in the minds of children. In real life “Beast” could be someone with hypertrichosis which causes an excessive amount of hair to grow all over the body who now feels like less of a human due to something completely out of their control.
Lack of childhood exposure and teachings regarding disability have also forced children to base the little knowledge they have on it off of what they see in media such as films and fairy tales. Today, policies have been passed that previously did not exist. These policies allow for special education students to be placed in regular education classes. “Attitudes Toward and Images of Children with Special Needs,” by Hala Elhoweris provides several examples of these kinds of policies such as LRE, IEP, and IDEA. Elhoweris also analyzes 109 pieces of Arabic and English children’s literature and concludes that almost all of them portray disabilities in a negative way.
The emphasis Western societies place on beauty and health is a significant contributor to the lack of accurate portrayals of disabilities in media that is then consumed by children. These beauty standards create a social divide between those who fit into the “beautiful and acceptable” category and those who don’t. Also, the previous lack of policies that exist today which allow for the inclusion of those with disabilities in regular education classes plays a part in limiting students’ experiences and forces them to base most of their knowledge upon inaccurate and misleading portrayals found in new and old media. The lack of accurate portrayals of disabilities and deformities in media has led to the universal negativity that is associated with them and has ultimately created a lasting image in the minds of children.
Furthermore, there is a widespread lack of personal experiences, in both authors and audiences, with disabilities which has caused major misinformation and the development of stereotypes about them. This lack of exposure to disabilities can lead to misconceptions about them that can only be remedied through the accumulation of personal experience. In Ann Schmiesing’s Disability, Deformity, and Disease in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales she specifically discusses how the Grimm Brothers’ portrayals of disability and illness were based upon personal experiences which is why they made many edits to their stories in their updated editions as they gained more knowledge. Although at times unintentional, this form of misinformation can have a drastic effect on many people. The majority of society is unaware of the prevalence of stereotypes regarding disability in modern media. “The Disney-Fication of Disability: The Perpetuation of Hollywood Stereotypes of Disability in Disney’s Animated Films” by Stephanie Kirkpatrick claims that many people lack personal exposure to disability and the media has consistently presented the public with certain images that paint disability in a negative way and have been cemented into society’s beliefs and ideas. In order to prove this point, Kirkpatrick analyzes Disney animated films to identify and examine commonly used stereotypes in popular media such as deformities in “Dumbo” and “Finding Nemo”. Because of the positive emotions that are usually roused by the mentioning of Disney and how heavily integrated it is in our culture, it is common for people to overlook/refuse to believe that there could be damaging messages in its films and their origins.
In order to counteract the consequences of misinformation, people need to gain personal experience with disability and not just accept what they hear and see in the media which can be inaccurate and misleading. Disney has become America’s main storyteller for the majority of the twentieth century and an inseparable part of American popular culture and society. These strong ties between society and Disney have caused people to just accept Disney as “good” and in turn, accept their messages as well. This misinformation applies to those with disabilities as well, through the creation of false expectations in the minds of children with disabilities that one day their disability will one day be magically removed.
In conclusion, fairy tales do indeed hold a large influence over the minds of society and specifically how we perceive disabilities through their portrayals of them. This influence is notably harmful and has caused those with disabilities to be degraded through the portrayals of them as subhuman, outcasts, and beings only defined by their disabilities. It has also caused the spread of misinformation to children who have no prior knowledge to tell right from wrong, which in turn leads to the development of fear and discomfort around those with disabilities. In addition to this, the mass lack of exposure to disability has led to the misrepresentation of disabilities in fairy tales and misunderstandings of disabilities in the real world.
Fairy tales and popular media as a whole have caused the development of inaccurate and hurtful stereotypes towards disabled and disfigured people.
Works Cited
Schmiesing, Ann. Disability, Deformity, and Disease in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Wayne State University Press, 2014. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1052030&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Dula, Adrion. “B(e)Aring the Beast: Deformity, Animality, and the Ableist Gaze in French Literary Variants of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’” Marvels & Tales, vol. 34, no. 2, July 2020, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hft&AN=148623401&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Sigurjónsdóttir, Hanna. Cultural Representation of Disability in Children’s Literature. In: Traustadóttir R., Ytterhus B., Egilson S.T., Berg B. Childhood and Disability in the Nordic Countries. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi-org.electra.lmu.edu/10.1057/9781137032645_8
Elhoweris, Halah; Gharaibeh, Mahmoud F.; Abdulrahman, Olla; Al Ahbabi, Wasmeya; Alkaabi, Marwa; and Alshamsi, Maryam Saif (2017) “Attitudes Toward and Images of Children with Special Needs,” International Journal for Research in Education: Vol. 41 : Iss. 3 , Article 10. https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/ijre/vol41/iss3/10
Kinross, Louise. “In Fairy Tales, Disability Is Never Part of the Happy Ending.” Holland Bloorview, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, 8 May 2020, hollandbloorview.ca/stories-news-events/BLOOM-Blog/fairy-tales-disability-never-part-happy-ending.
Kirkpatrick, Stephanie. “The Disney-Fication of Disability: The Perpetuation of Hollywood Stereotypes of Disability in Disney’s Animated Films.” Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. University of Akron, 2009. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 23 Apr 2021.
Yenika-Agbaw, Vivian. “Reading Disability in Children’s Literature: Hans Christian Andersen’s Tales.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 5 no. 1, 2011, p. 91-107. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/418659.
Christian Andersen, Hans. “Beauty and the Beast.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Maria Tatar, 2017. 283-303
Trousdale, Gary and Kirk Wise, directors. Beauty and the Beast. Walt Disney, 1991.
Barbarin , Imani. “Media Has Been Wrong about Disability and It May Cost 24 Mil People Their Healthcare.” Crutches and Spice, 25 June 2017, crutchesandspice.com/2017/06/25/media-has-been-wrong-about-disability-and-it-may-cost-24-mil-people-their-healthcare/
Barbarin, Imani. “I Was Unprepared For 2020.” Crutches and Spice, 31 Dec. 2020, crutchesandspice.com/2020/12/31/i-was-unprepared-for-2020/
