Tag: Fairy Tales

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Fairy Tales

Villains through Different Lenses: An Exploration of Female Antagonists in Literature and Theater

By June Lee

Female villains have always been an exciting subject in literature and general theater. The female antagonists’ character development and manipulation strategies, ranging from evil stepmothers in fairy tales to femme fatales in Shakespearean plays, have continued to draw attention throughout the centuries. However, much depends on what is shown through different types of media. This paper examines the effect of media on the interpretation of “Hansel and Gretel” and “Macbeth.” Both stories involve close adversaries who manipulate one another. Nonetheless, they differ in their communication medium – written literature or live stage performance. This analysis will clarify how women are depicted as villains depending on the medium used. It will also contribute to understanding whether there are any specific relations between narratology, gender, and its role within interpretative practice concerning literature and drama.

The antagonist of the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel,” is an old, wicked witch who deceives and manipulates the children in order to devour them. This story mainly revolves around the ordeal experienced by these young ones. From this device, the readers are mainly meant to identify with the kids and see nothing in the witch but pure evil. In line with this description by the Brothers Grimm, “Just then the door opened, and a very old woman walking on crutches came out” (Brothers 56). Her unnatural appearance is described initially through this image of an older adult who is physically disabled and later enhanced by her tricks and malicious plans. From the story’s detail, one can see how the narrative’s perspective determines what is considered evil. We see her feeding, locking up, and attempting to cook Hansel, whilst overworking little Gretel—all from their point of view, increasing the terror and demonstrating her wickedness (Brothers 63-75). Such kind characters who pretend to offer help but harm you are familiar in fairy tales because they teach children a moral lesson about strangers.

On the contrary, Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is a much more complicated and exciting evil character. This character is considered “witchlike” similarly in the children’s story of Hansel and Gretel. However, this woman cannot be compared with a simple witch because aside from being just wicked, she also has to deal with her deep innermost thoughts: the thought about what she wants and what follows after it. Right away, it becomes clear that she plans something – “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/ What thou art promised’ (Shakespeare 1. 5). Her manipulation of Macbeth is neither passive nor innocent but very active, well-planned, and leading to his downfall. 

Throughout Shakespeare’s narrative, Lady Macbeth becomes less malicious as she begins to go mad from grief over her many sins. The complexity portrayed here typifies Shakespeare’s morally convoluted world, an environment in which villains are not simply wicked but motivated by pride, ambition, and terror inherent in every person. There are two tales that both have female oppositions who use manipulation to achieve their goals. However, the character of Lady Macbeth is depicted in a complex manner, considering the effects of her drive and manipulation while an outright evil witch is portrayed “Hansel and Gretel.”

The particular form of media employed directly affects how readers or viewers portray and perceive these characters. For instance, within the written story of “Hansel and Gretel,” readers see things only from one side, forming an image of the witch without being offered reasons for or understanding her behavior. On the other hand, the theatrical account of Macbeth reveals a different side to events through navigating the speaking and acting characters of Lady Macbeth and others, with some complexity portraying motivation that leads to the gradual downfall on her part. Comparing these textual portrayals of female villains reveals that the nature of the work—conventional literature compared to stage production—has dramatically impacted how we interpret their persona and lies, insulting simpler interpretations in the former case.

Scholars have examined how female criminals are depicted in literature, especially regarding how and reinforces reading against such backdrops. In her thesis on witches in Literature, Haesler observes that witches are usually described as “simple evil old women” in written texts (Haesler 29). The conventional picture derived from this is inherently limited since it follows some guidelines of the patriarchy, but not all of them, for it does not delve into the characters’ thoughts and motivations.This point by Haesler is evident in the witch’s character in “Hansel and Gretel.” It was noted before that she appears like your typical bad guy who is very controlling and manipulates others while always showing her true colors and evil plans for them both. Unlike Lady Macbeth, this portrayal results primarily from a single viewpoint the text adopts within a conventional fairytale framework.

Theater provides an avenue through which one can know the complexity of a character since, in drama, sometimes a variety of different things are done or said by various people (McCall 187). A good case study for this is the character of Lady Macbeth. McCall’s paper analyzes the reasons behind this statement. By analyzing other witches first before comparing them to Lady Macbeth, one can conclude that her evil nature encompasses many factors, such as relentless determination towards her goals, which causes so much harm or even death, always feeling troubled deep down inside because she cannot control everything like she used to, and finally, tragedy occurs.

However, even though she is evil, some scholars view Lady Macbeth’s character is that of a strong feminist. The character is an evil woman full of ambition and intelligence, contradicting the conventional gender theories about Macbeth or the stereotype of women only utilizing sex appeal to achieve their goals. From these scholarly opinions on other female villains, we can see how stories have been influenced by what we see or read about women and their mischief in media forms.

The witch is portrayed as entirely wicked in “Hansel and Gretel” because of the simple narrative point of view adopted in most children’s literature and societal norms; however, this could not work with theatre script, which took another approach into considering several issues concerning motivation and conflicts within Lady Macbeth. It illustrates that different forms of media can significantly shape how people perceive and analyze female villains’ nature, whether they are considered evil characters or pitied for the tragic fate they bring upon themselves. Thus, analyzing the primary written materials alongside some additional guidelines reveals one crucial fact – women evildoers cannot be similarly seen in all classical books or plays due to formatting in literature.

Apart from analyzing written materials closely and integrating other authors’ opinions, examining visual media may also show the impact of such media on the interpretation of female villains in “Hansel and Gretel” and “Macbeth” primary texts. 

Diverse portrayals become apparent when analyzing different pictures portraying the evil female characters in these stories. For example, in most illustrated versions of “Hansel and Gretel,” the witch appears as a repulsive old woman with highly emphasized ugly characteristics that create terror and disgust and emphasize her as an utterly lousy character. These images reinforce how the text presents the identity of the witch, like every other, who is feared because of her difference – seen mainly through the innocent eyes of some children. For instance, an animated version would show the witch “as a scary old hag, with her nose covered in warts and heinous look on her face” (Brothers Grimm, Animated Film). This standard portrayal strengthens the idea that witches are pure forms of evil that lack any positive attributes.

However, the way Lady Macbeth appears in different theatre performances tells a different story altogether because it is not easy to determine the character of Lady Macbeth due to the immoral nature found in most of Shakespeare’s work. Liverpool Everyman Playhouse’s production portrays her as an intelligent temptress, showing hints of royalty behind an attire that spells sophistication. This portrayal is inconsistent with other productions, where Lady Macbeth comes off as callous and insensitive. The costume, lighting, and setting details bring out another aspect of change in character whereby she changes from being just ambitious like any other woman into someone now haunted by guilt and going insane with madness. For example, when she manipulates Macbeth in one of the scenes, her courage and ambition are brought up through intense soliloquy while highlighting the emotional chores she engages in herself. Stage-wise, it portrays how cunning she can be (Digital Theatre+, “Macbeth,” Act 1, Scene 7).

In addition, the physicality depicted when Lady Macbeth is in action brings out interesting details on her state of mind and motivation that otherwise would have given a straightforward picture. For example, in one production, there were long pauses, grimaces, and trembling fits, in this case rightly taken to imply that she is mad with guilt and has come to pieces (Digital Theatre+, “Macbeth”, Act 5, Scene 1).

Visual media dramatically influences people’s views and opinions about evil women characters from books or plays. It depends on what kind of media was taken – did they prefer stills from a comic book about “Hansel Gretel,” or maybe they used special effects during their work on “Macbeth” which could not convey everything by words alone but provided additional information for better understanding of the role? All these differences depend on specific properties inherent to the mediums through which female villains are represented and determine complex audience reactions ranging from fear/hatred towards the witch character in “Hansel and Gretel” to admiration/pity for Lady Macbeth herself. 

In conclusion, the portrayal of evil women in drama and fiction depends much upon what kind of media is used. This essay has investigated how different factors such as narrative mode, stagecraft, and iconography affect our understanding when comparing two classic texts – “Hansel and Gretel” and “Macbeth”. It follows that written literature most times uses a very plain linear female villain character. Stage performances on the other hand can avail to the development of complex female villains. Additionally, this is enhanced by visual media that reveal more about these characters’ nature through numerous symbolic representations. These results are important for understanding the ways through which media constructs gender and morality in literature and art. In conclusion, one must take into account the communication channel employed in a given story so as to understand and judge correctly the role and character of female villains therein depicted.

Works Cited

Brothers Grimm. Hansel and Gretel. BompaCrazy. Com, 1975.

Brewer, David. “Macbeth.” Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse Theatres, Everyman&Playhouse, 11 June 2011, www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/macbeth-2011. 

Digital Theatre+. “Macbeth.” Act 1, Scene 7, Act 5, Scene 1. Digital Theatre+, 2018. https://education.digitaltheatreplus.com/he-explore-digital-theatre/shakespeare-early-modern

Haesler, Jóna Kristín Óttarsdóttir. Witches in Literature. The changes of the witch figure throughout history. Diss. 2021.

McCall, Jessica. Monsters and Villains of Movies and Literature. ABC-CLIO, 2019.

Merino Calle, Beatriz. “Disney Witches and Feminism.” The Disney Middle Ages: A Fairytale and Fantasy Past. Ed. Tison Pugh. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020. 11-23.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth: A Tragedy. Mathews and Leigh, 1807.

Categories
Fairy Tales

The Symbiotic Relationship of Art and Fairy Tales

By Luke Ridder

Fairytales are known to be universal. Their appeal extends beyond age or nationality and the tales themselves reflect emotions, dilemmas, and characters that anybody can relate to. The same is often said for art, the universal language. Therefore, it is no wonder that art and fairy tales have become so inseparably intertwined. A union of two ubiquitous forms of human expression, creating one beloved experience. In other words, a symbiotic relationship in which each partner elevates and benefits the other. In order to demonstrate this relationship, we will explore the transformative effects of illustration, highlight art and artists that have benefited from fairy tale inspiration, and detail how fairy tales transformed the animation industry.

The oldest and most common fusion of art and fairy tales is found in illustrated stories. A staple of nearly every childhood and for good reason, as the benefits of illustrations and fairy tales themselves in developing literacy, creativity, and emotional expression among children are widely documented. As said by Einstein, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales”.Words on a page to a child do not have sound or meaning, it is only through memorizing the definition given by another where they can extract anything from them. This can be an arduous process for everyone involved, and it requires the child to draw knowledge from an outside source. However, illustrations are able to expedite this process dramatically, for while the letters of the word “ice cream” mean nothing to a child they will undoubtedly recognize a drawing of a bowl of ice cream. Allowing a child to draw on their own knowledge in this way will significantly strengthen and expedite their literary abilities. As is described in the article How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children’s story recall, “Exposure to information both verbally and pictorially may result in the construction of memory representations in both modalities that then provide redundant retrieval routes” (Greenhoot et al.) This benefit applies especially to fairy tales, as their fanciful topics may initially leave a child lost. An illustrated tale however will not only aid their understanding of major plot points, characters and setting, but greatly increase their retention and enjoyment of the tale itself. Having the visual aspect to the tale stimulates the mind further, making the experience more engaging for a younger audience. This will ultimately foster a greater love for reading as well as an active imagination. An important factor in a child’s development that often gets overlooked is imagination. A child’s imagination is not merely their source of entertainment, it is often their reality and method of reacting to and experiencing the world around them. This is visible especially in kindergartners and preschoolers as their most common form of social interaction involves role-play or pretending. This is suggested in a Journal titled Emotions in Imaginative situations where it states, “Vygotsky (1925/1971) discussed emotion and imagination not as two separate processes but, on the contrary, as the same process” (Fleer et al.) If a child’s ability to express themselves is closely linked to their imagination, one must supply ample stimulants to strengthen that ability. The mind is often called a muscle, and like any other muscle it must be trained in order to keep it strong and healthy. With the emotional appeal of fairy tales and the inspirational powers of illustration, these illustrated stories serve as a perfect exercise for children to develop their emotional literacy in order to maintain healthy relationships in the future.

With the influence illustrated fairy tales have had on countless young minds, it is no wonder that so many artists eventually draw inspiration from these beloved tales. There are so many works of art that greatly benefit from their fairytale roots, however two in particular stand out. Over the Garden Wall, a short animated series created by Patrick McHale, and The Witcher, specifically the video game adaptations based on a series of novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. Over the Garden Wall features two brothers who are seemingly lost in the woods, trying to find their way home. The series originally aired throughout October up to Halloween, and for good reason because it is chock full of spooks and scares. In this lies both the show’s genius and its relation to fairy tales because, considering it is technically a kids show, it pulls no punches with its dark themes and violent insinuations. Examples of this are Adelade the witch who attempts to transform the brothers into her slaves by stuffing their heads with wool or The Beast, a very clear anthropomorphization of death, who feeds on despair of those lost in his woods. While one might think this would deter younger audiences, it is in fact quite the opposite. As has been proven by the Grimm’s fairy tales, children love scary stories. Children often connect with the vulnerability of the protagonists of these tales and are able to experience the harrowing encounters vicariously through the characters. Kids are attracted to this experience as it is a way for them to process fear in a safe setting. It is also this attraction which allowed the show to exist in the first place. Because while the show is quite dark for younger audiences, the precedent set by scary fairy tales and how successful they are with children allowed the show to push through the sterilization of Cartoon Network.

The Witcher series on the other hand is set in a fantasy world, one which is immensely inspired by fairy tales. The story follows Geralt, a monster hunter for hire who travels from place to place trying to earn a living. The monsters and creatures of this world mainly come from folklore and legend, like the Striga, a creature directly i​​nspired by a Roman Zmorski fairytale in which a cannibalistic, monstrous prince is born of an incestuous union between two siblings. The author even creates his own renditions of popular tales such as Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. These versions are more gritty and offer more mature and realistic morals and interactions. This realism is only amplified by the video game adaptation of the story, as the interactive elements allow the audience to be one step closer to experiencing the world’s first hand. Immersion is something that is often strived  for in fairytales, visible through the non specific characters and settings that allow readers to place themselves in the shoes of the characters. Video Games are the logical next step, you are in direct control of the adventure.

Over The Garden Wall and The Witcher both utilize animation for storytelling, an artform whose success can be directly traced to fairytales. Specifically, Disney’s first full length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which revolutionized the animation industry. The choice to depict a fairytale was effective for numerous reasons, the first and most important was the previously discussed universality of the tale. Especially during the thirties, every generation was familiar and fond of fairy tales. This made the film appeal to an audience of all ages. For children it would be a more engaging version of the tale they loved, for adults they could be transported back to their childhood years if even for a moment. This began the family movie tradition that is the backbone of animated films to this day. Prior to Snow White, Disney was producing mainly slap-stick style shorts geared towards a younger audience. While these shorts were impressive in regards to the animation, it was not enough to engage a large audience. They lacked the drama and serious tones that Snow White brought to the table. In a recounting of Snow White’s Hollywood premiere, provided by the article Wow, We’ve Got Something Here, the effect of such a tone shift becomes  evident:

As the film deepened to darker tones–the Queen transforming into a hag–the atmosphere changed, as though individual audience members were wired together, experiencing the film through a series of shared emotions (Pierce).

Giving the film a serious tone was key to engaging the audience. It created a story with stakes in which the audience could root for the characters. The emotional moments with Snow White were particularly moving thanks to the expressiveness the animation captured. Regular films at the time would have to be carried by the realism of their actors, animation however requires no such realism. The separation from reality ironically allows the audience to be fully absorbed in the moment as they are not thinking about the nuances of the performance. While the film benefited greatly from it’s serious tones, it is also important to mention how its light hearted nature also added to the film’s success. At the time of its release, the country was in the midst of the Great Depression. With the spirits of the masses at an all time low, the whimsical and comedic moments offered by Snow White were the perfect medicine. It not only served as a distraction from the harsh realities  families face, but the fairy tale promise of a happily ever after inspired hope. Something desperately needed by many at the time. All in all,  Disney undoubtedly revolutionized the animation industry with the success of its film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. A success that was gained with the aid of the universality, drama, and hope provided by the fairy tale source.

Works Cited

Fleer, Marilyn, and Marie Hammer. “Emotions in Imaginative Situations: The Valued Place of Fairytales for Supporting Emotion Regulation.” Mind, Culture and Activity, vol. 20, no. 3, 2013, pp. 240–59, https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2013.781652.

Greenhoot AF, Beyer AM, Curtis J. More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children’s story recall. Front Psychol. 2014 Jul 22; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106274/

Pierce, Todd James. “Wow, We’ve Got Something Here: Ward Kimball and the Making of ‘Snow White.’” New England Review (1990), vol. 37, no. 1, 2016, pp. 123–36, https://doi.org/10.1353/ner.2016.0022.

Categories
Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales’ Psychological Effects on Readers

Grob, Virginie. Aurora, Belle, and SnowWhite. 2011, Deviant Art.

By: Katelin Dunagan

Fairy tales are so popular because of their similar themes, tropes, and character types. Readers feel comforted knowing who the real heroes and villains are, unlike in the real world. They root for princes to save their passive, delicate maidens and despise evil queens for being wicked. However, these classic fairy tale archetypes can affect more than just a person’s grasp of a story being told. Fairy tales have distinct psychological effects on those who read them; they affect people’s personalities and interactions with others, expectations and expressions of behavior, and even views on social status and class.

Fairy tales affect readers through each story’s characters. These characters maintain roles that are easy to understand. Each character serves a specific purpose to either aid or obstruct the heroine in the story. Russian fairy tale expert, Vladimir Propp, classifies these character types as dramatis personae. The dramatis personae types include the following: a villain, donor or provider, helper, princess (sought-after person), and her father, dispatcher, hero, and false hero. Using the Grimm’s “Cinderella” to demonstrate this model, characters can be organized into their dramatis personae with the main villain being the stepmother, the princess being Cinderella, the donor or provider being Cinderella’s father, the helpers being the birds, the hero being the prince, the dispatcher being the king’s announcement, and the false heroes being the stepsisters (Tatar 160-166). Essentially, every fairy tale contains character types that fit into the dramatis personae framework, and “Cinderella” is just one example of this.

Cinderella. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske, RKO Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, 1950.

Propp’s dramatis personae structure is also a just singular representation of the many classifications of fairy tale characters into types. Based upon these different structures of classification, psychologists have been interested in the connections between character roles and human behavior. Psychologist Carl Jung contributed to these ideas, “proposing that it was primarily unconscious fantasies and symbols that steered human actions,” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1522). Inspired by Jung’s archetypal views, Paul and Andreas Moxnes created a study that examined the connection between fairy tale roles and group work. 

Their study involved developing fourteen roles representing, “14 fairy tale characters” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1526). These roles are based upon seven archetypal roles, with a good and bad version of each role. The good and bad versions or “deep roles” are “a subset of seven instinctual archetypal roles split into antithetical components portrayed as four primary family roles plus three supplementary roles, each split into a good and bad part” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1525). For example, under the archetypal role of “Mother,” they created the deep roles of “Queen” and “Witch” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1525). The “Queen” corresponds to the good part of “Mother” and contrasts perfectly with the bad part, the “Witch.” 

Moxnes, Paul & Moxnes, Andreas. “Are We Sucked into Fairy Tale Roles? Role Archetypes in   Imagination and Organization.”Organization Studies, vol. 37, num. 10, 2016, pp. 1519-153.

After developing the fourteen roles, Moxnes & Moxnes had each participant assign everyone in their group to one of the roles. They determined how similar each person’s assignments were to the rest of the group. They found that their “quantitative observations strongly suggest that group members attribute fairy tale roles to fellow group members in a non-random fashion far more often than would be expected by chance alone” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1535). The study surpassed the threshold of chance and found that many participants identified a group member as the same character type chosen by other members of their group. While this is not confirmation that every person in a group identifies others as fairy tale characters, it supports the idea that people are affected by fairy tale character types, even if it is on a subconscious level.

This is important information for those involved in fields where teamwork is key. Character types can parallel stereotypes that brand people as one thing or idea. It can be difficult to share or contribute high-quality work if someone is branded as the “Witch” on their team. That person becomes controlled through “projective identification” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1534). This is a psychological concept where the stereotyped person, “becomes a character in the group that is created by the group and controlled by the group” (Moxnes & Moxnes 1534). They can subconsciously mirror the behaviors that their peers project onto them and act as the group sees them. Understanding how fairy tale roles impact a group can help keep harmful stereotypes from causing negative consequences such as projective identification. 

It has been determined that there is support for fairy tale characters influencing people’s views of one another but how does this apply to people’s views of themselves? For young women specifically, fairy tales often set unrealistic expectations of purity and selflessness. In both “Cinderella” and “Snow White,” the heroine, “endures her plight virtuously, seemingly without hostility or even complaint. Her salvation and happiness rest on winning the love of a prince, who has the power to rescue her” (Bassen 238). This communicates the idea that women shouldn’t have autonomy or express their negative emotions towards others. 

This is problematic for young women facing coming-of-age conflicts comparable to those portrayed in these tales. These stories perpetuate unhealthy standards of emotional expression for a group that already, “consciously or unconsciously equate asserting themselves with being selfish and unlikeable” (Bassen 248). Women shouldn’t be afraid to be advocates for themselves or to strive for success. Unfortunately, this issue stems from conflict in relationships between mothers and daughters as well as patriarchal influences. Bassen describes this saying, “Unconsciously, many women believe that the only way they can retain their mother’s approval and love is to remain dependent, a carbon copy or a narcissistic extension who denies any wish to separate, compete, or surpass” (249). In essence, to keep their mother’s approval, daughters believe they must not be more successful, desirable, or free-thinking. 

Through recognition of the mother-daughter opposition, one can prevent harmful habits from seeping into other relationships as well. An imbalanced mother-daughter relationship can affect that daughter’s eventual interaction with a partner. Bassen notices this behavior in some of her psychological patients as they became afraid of their partner’s anger, stemming from their relationship with their mother (249). Fairy tale readers must understand that “Snow White” and “Cinderella” handle coming-of-age and mother-daughter conflict poorly. They dismiss natural emotional responses to situations and reinforce outdated concepts of how women should behave. However, they do demonstrate that mother-daughter conflict has occurred for centuries and that it is an issue most women will face at some point in their lives. With the appropriate lens, one that highlights the shortcomings of these tales, there is a lot to be gained from reading these stories. As long as one is not negatively influenced in their perception of themselves.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Directed by David Hand, Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, William Cottrell, and Ben Sharpsteen, RKO Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, 1937.

The last way fairy tales psychologically influence readers is through ideologies and social structures. In “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, there are very distinct social classes present that play a major part in the tale’s wish fulfillment. Beauty’s family, “are an upwardly mobile merchant family,” that has fallen upon hard times and is forced to farm and lower their status (Rucki & Ortiz 43). Eventually, Beauty meets the Beast, and throughout the story, they form a partnership that leads to marriage. Notice, that Beauty’s family do not start as peasants or farmers originally, which makes Beauty’s eventual rise in class more acceptable. She was once close to the class she would rise into, so it is more acceptable for her to marry into nobility with the Beast. 

Beaumont is using his 18th century, aristocratic perspective, to structure his tale according to the class system he wants to uphold. He does this by incentivizing the virtues he deems appropriate. For example, Beauty, when compared to her sisters, is, “…neither prideful nor social. She is kind, loyal, self-sacrificing…” (Rucki & Ortiz 42). She contains the virtues Beaumont believes women of status should have and therefore she is rewarded with a rise in nobility. He is influencing his readers to accept and understand this structure as the social rule. 

Beauty and the Beast. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 1991.

This tale is a very effective piece of persuasive propaganda because it will be read by the exact demographic Beaumont intends to reach. The upper aristocratic women he believes should embody more virtuous, selfless behaviors. It can also be dangerous; it is an example of conditioning readers to do as the author wishes. They may not realize this is what is occurring because it is in the form of a fairy tale. This kind of conditioning influences readers and familiarizes them with a “correct” social structure, in this example, it is the structure Beaumont supports. 

It is evident that fairy tales have profound psychological effects on readers. Through their archetypal characters, fairy tales shape perceptions of self and others and reinforce outdated behavioral expectations. They influence readers concepts of social structure by leveraging happiness and wish fulfillment. Only through critical examination of these tales, can valuable insights be pulled from the stories without negative consequences. While fairy tales continue to enchant and captivate audiences, it is essential to approach them with a discerning eye, mindful of their ability to shape beliefs and attitudes in both subtle and significant ways.

Works Cited

Bassen, Cecile R. “Happily Ever After: Depictions of Coming of Age in Fairy Tales.” Psychoanalysis and Women Series, edited by Tognoli Pasquali, Laura & Thomson-Salo, Frances, Karnac Books, 2014, pp. 237-254.

Beauty and the Beast. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 1991.

Cinderella. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske, RKO Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, 1950.

Grob, Virginie. Aurora, Belle, and SnowWhite. 2011, Deviant Art.

Moxnes, Paul & Moxnes, Andreas. “Are We Sucked into Fairy Tale Roles? Role Archetypes in   Imagination and Organization.”Organization Studies, vol. 37, num. 10, 2016, pp. 1519-153.

Rucki, Shelia M. & Ortiz, Lisa. “Hegemonic Systems and the Politics of Happiness: The Fairy Tale as Ideology.” Perspectives on Happiness: Concepts, Conditions, and Consequences, vol. 121, 2019, pp. 1570-7113. 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Directed by David Hand, Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, William Cottrell, and Ben Sharpsteen, RKO Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, 1937.

Tartar, Maria. The Classic Fairy Tales (Second Edition) (Norton Critical Editions). W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Categories
Fairy Tales

“Why do Black Disney Characters Always Turn into Animals?”: A Media Analysis of The Princess and the Frog: Prisons With and Without Walls.

By: Taha Douhaj

Rows of people talking and whispering amongst themselves, all one step closer, and one shilling poorer. They whisper and discuss in eager excitement about who or what they are about to see. It’s 1810 and in London, the Piccadilly circus is exhibiting what they call on pamphlets as the “Hottentot Venus.” A group of kids and adults alike squeeze and fight their way through a huddle of incoherent whispers. Rumors spread that if you spend one more shilling you can poke the exhibition. The lights start to dim and the curtain begins to flap signaling the unveiling of what the circus calls “The missing link between man and beast” (Imma 137).

Sarah Baartman was a Khoisan woman taken from her home in the cape of South Africa to become a circus animal due to having steatopygia, which caused a build-up of fat in her buttocks. Sarah would get on stage, and be put in a cage by an actor acting as her “trainer.” This trainer would then tell her to sit and stand as he did to the other circus animals (Gordon-Chipembere 10). This correlation of hypersexuality and beastification towards black men and women was sparked by Bartman and countless other exploited black bodies. This vaudevillian way of thinking is reflective of a racist synchronicity between animals and Africans, an idea that still persists in our modern-day society. Forever immortalized in the pages of stories and strips of celluloid in films, “the missing link between man of beast” occurs in subliminal means. Instead of paying a shilling to watch or poke Sarah Baartmann, we now pay $10.00 a month, and that’s if you want ads.

There was something peculiar that struck me about Baartman shows, in every ad Baartman shows were indiscriminate of age and welcomed children (Kelsey-Sugg 1). It was as if this hyper-sexuality and animal-fication of black bodies were something that must be embedded in minds of all ages, young or old. A social dogma is then created in which a correlation between  black body and beast was seen as obstinate and true. Today not only is this hypersexualization and animalification seen in adult mediums, akin to porn or adult-themed films or texts; it is as well subtly ingrained in children’s fairy tales and Disney movies. This essay will uncover and delve into a phenomenon, in Disney Pixar animated fairy tale films, that have their black characters transform into animals for a majority of their screen time. Even with intentions of right full representations and a black crew and cast this phenomenon still exists in movies like The Princess and the Frog and new releases like Soul. In relation to the movie The Princess and the Frog anthropomorphic representation is used with racist iconography and caricatures that are explained by antiquated racist beliefs and origins that have still persisted in our modern-day media, but now occur through subliminal means. Therefore, if a light is shined on this unconscious phenomenon and its malicious origins, there can be a hopeful chain reaction from awareness to action. 

Origins 

“Some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla” (Darwin 236). In Charles Darwin’s 1871 book The Descent of Man Darwin’s theory claims Africans and aboriginal Australians are more closely related to apes than the Caucasians of the European continent. Darwin’s ideas and theories permeate through classrooms and lecture halls across the globe. The glorification of Darwin’s works signifies a universality of his ideas that is not only applicable to the world of academia, but as well as the cultural economy of a society, however as a society, no matter Darwin’s positive and progressive ways of thought, one must not ignore the perversions of ancient thought. In the world of academia African bodies have been related to animals as evidence of racist ideologies equating black bodies to being either subhuman or, as Darwin describes, “savages..with hideously perforated lips, nostrils, or ears, and distorted heads” (495). When multiple respected scholars and scientists use the idea of the Animification of black men and women in scientific journals, these correlations then seep into our entertainment and cultural spheres of influence.

Circuses and plays of the past would use black inferiority as a plot device and or as evidence. Sarah Baartman, as aforementioned, was a byproduct of scientific studies and experiments using the African continent as one big experiment to test the ideas of Black civilization and inferior to the civilizations of the West. When Baartman died in the house of S. Reaux, her animal trainer used in shows, the first on the scene to carry her exhausted 26-year-old body was first “a team of zoologists, anatomists, and naturalists”(Chipembere 10). European construction of African and Animal continued for years seeping into art and literature, “Europeans were seen to be in the most superior position and Africans in close developmental proximity to animals” (Imma 138). Art later embraced pervasive stereotypes of African Americans such as the Mammy, Uncle Tom, Black Buck/Brute, etc. To describe black men and women as either lazy, violent, and above all Animalistic. These stereotypes were formed, and some were even inspired by “discoveries” and exploitation of Sarah Baartman and others.  

“How Sleeps the Beast” Tracy 1954

  “The Black Buck” in the film “The Birth of a Nation” 1915

In films and racist cartoons and novels, black men and women are represented to have beast-like and animalistic tendencies. Like the “buck,” as represented in the film “The Birth of a Nation”, the buck is a symbol of the racist correlation between animals and Africans that was prevalent in American cinema (Bogle 37). One company that was a part of a cinematic boom in the early 20th century was Disney. Although Disney fairy tale films depict worlds of talking animals, these animals are still not separate from, “Darwinian concepts of “survival of the fittest,” in which only the fiercest animals survive” (Condis, 2015). However, a trend in old and new Disney movies is a piece of imagery that is symbolic “Disney films depict Black characters as having a deeper connection to the beast within them, thereby perpetuating racism” (Dundes and Streiff  2016). Every piece of art is filtered and processed through a primary perspective or gaze. Disney’s lessons on dominant presuppositions are reflections of Western society and ideals. By utilizing fairy tales as the base of their films a reflection of a company that embodies family and wholesome values. It is these inherent biases from outside society and dominating presence in cultural spheres that make Disney films not only influential but dangerous.

Disney’s representation of black characters through the years is seen as problematic and reflective of a past dominant Gaze of a racist zeitgeist. In old Disney films like Dumbo (1941) a group of animated crows are used to help Dumbo learn how to fly. These characters are dressed in stereotypical African American garb and speak in African-American Vernacular English (AAEVE), being portrayed as a group of caricatured black men. The leader of these black crows is named “Jim Crow.” This history of obviously racist characters was met with criticism in later years. In response to racial criticism Disney started to develop a film with the goal to have a female black lead (Enoch 6). However, racial stereotypes still persist and an anthropomorphic transformation that changes a black character for more than half their run time occurs in the film. Disney moved from obvious racist characters and moved to subtly depict them. 

The Princess and the Frog 

Although Disney tried to make The Princess and the Frog to dismantle previous notions of a racist past, this mission is absolved when the film is viewed through a critical eye. Tiana and other black characters are presented as animals. Not as beautiful swans (The Swan Princess 1994) but as swamp-dwelling creatures like frogs, crocodiles, and horse flies lathered in mucus. Louis, the crocodile, recalls a memory in which he tries to join a band and is met with utter disgust and fear, there is an inherent disgust interpreted with these creatures.

When Tiana first discovers the prince as a frog she instinctively beats the frog with a book in utter revulsion. These animals are not met with love, like Snow White and other woodland creatures, but black characters–as these creatures–are treated as subhuman and must be either exterminated or met with fear. Tiffany Tyantan Enoch, a media scholar at the University of South Carolina notes that “Tiana spends more time as a frog throughout the course of the movie (57 minutes of the film’s 97-minute running time) than she does as a human being—let alone as a princess” (Enoch 10). Disney’s first black Princess is an animal for more than half of her run time. This assumption of black people and animals are a reflection of broader historical and cultural contexts. This subhuman representation of black men and women compared to white elites is a motif that reinforces ideas of black inferiority in the eyes of a white-dominant gaze that elicits control and power. Her runtime makes her Disney’s first animal princess and this fear of putting a black woman on screen is scary to the company, by putting a “stand in” for her there is an attempt to save face. It’s important to note that Tiana is molded to be the amalgamation of two black Jim Crow media stereotypes: The Jezebel and The Mammy.Although Disney tried to make The Princess and the Frog to dismantle previous notions of a racist past, this mission is absolved when the film is viewed through a critical eye. Tiana and other black characters are presented as animals. Not as beautiful swans (The Swan Princess 1994) but as swamp-dwelling creatures like frogs, crocodiles, and horse flies lathered in mucus. Louis, the crocodile, recalls a memory in which he tries to join a band and is met with utter disgust and fear, there is an inherent disgust interpreted with these creatures. When Tiana first discovers the prince as a frog she instinctively beats the frog with a book in utter disgust. These animals are not met with love, like Snow White and other woodland creatures, but black characters–as these creatures–are treated as subhuman and must be either exterminated or met with fear. Tiffany Tyantan Enoch, a media scholar at the University of South Carolina notes that “Tiana spends more time as a frog throughout the course of the movie (57 minutes of the film’s 97-minute running time) than she does as a human being—let alone as a princess” (Enoch 10). Disney’s first black Princess is an animal for more than half of her run time. This assumption of black people and animals are a reflection of broader historical and cultural contexts. This subhuman representation of black men and women compared to white elites is a motif that reinforces ideas of black inferiority in the eyes of a white-dominant gaze that elicits control and power. Her runtime makes her Disney’s first animal princess and this fear of putting a black woman on screen is scary to the company, by putting a “stand in” for her there is an attempt to save face. It’s important to note that Tiana is molded to be the amalgamation of two black Jim Crow media stereotypes: The Jezebel and The Mammy.

The Jezebel stereotype is a Jim Crow-era stereotype that portrays the victim in the otherness faced by black Americans. Sarah Baartman was the original Jezebel, a victim of adverse sexualization and animalization, “the Jezebel is representing wild animals by using Black characters—particularly, Black women—creates an “otherness” that divides them from civilized society and is represented by the “Jezebel” archetype” (Enoch 14). Promiscuous and lacking self-control of one’s sexual proclivity and others is the Jezebel. As if he is programmed by a gaze of sexuality, Prince Naveen responds to Tiana as if she were a “Jezebel.” After fleeing from a group of alligators, Prince Naveen and Tiana are stuck in a hollow tree and forced to interact. This confined space has Naveen tell Tiana, “Well, waitress, looks like we will be here for a while. So, we might as well get comfortable” (The Princess and the Frog, 35:35-35:45). Tiana constantly refuses Naveen’s sexual advances and is played off as a joke throughout the film as if her “No’s” would transform into “Yes’s” in the blink of an eye. 

Blood sweat and tears are what make up the Mammy stereotype. A pre-Civil War/slavery stereotype of the Black maid or help, that finds solace in aiding whites then her own liberation. From Vaudeville stages to being the first film shown in the White House: The Birth of Nation. The hardworking servant of a white family is a trope still seen today. Tiana is one of the only princesses whose hard work and labor are done through voluntary servitude and ambition. One scene that strikes this trope to its core, is in the first act of the film in which Tiana prepares for her work and waits tables at dinner, this dinner rush means that Tiana must take the load of three waitresses. In true Mammy fashion, although sleep-deprived and angry, Tiana saves face and hides her true feelings and pretends to be happy, “Tiana’s multiple jobs are not presented as a consequence of oppression and racial disparity, but rather as a sign of character development and a way to achieve the American dream” (Gregory, S.M., 2010). These stereotypes and lack of physical/virtual representation of a black face to the face of a green frog are detrimental. When little girls watch a film and eagerly look for a movie that is representative of them, a problem arises when an animal then acts as a substitute for that representation. 

Disney’s dominant and powerful gaze has the ability to portray a beauty standard reflective of a zeitgeist and for a black woman to be that princess and figurehead for said beauty standard is just rectifying a past wrong. There is a subconscious association between black characters and animals, seen in films like Soul 2020, Brother Bear 2003, and Emperors New Groove 2000 have black or minority characters turned into animals. “The continued depiction of Black characters as animals (e.g., frogs) … reinforces harmful stereotypes and prejudices, thereby promoting the idea that Black people are subhuman and undeserving of the same rights and dignity as white people” (Enoch 8). If these racist correlations between African and Animal exist even now but occur through subtle and subliminal means; the problem is not gone but now is hidden. 

The Gaze

Is this bestialization of carnal representation of black bodies a voluntary practice or is it a mere remnant of a racist past? Now this animalistic representation is a tenant of something more symbolic, something more appalling. When creators like Oprah Winfrey act as, not only voice actors but consultants of the The Princess and the Frog and these correlations still exist then what can be the solution? Again when black writers and producers exist in movies like Soul and this correlation still persists there is a problem that is being understated.

Drawing on Micheal Foucault’s Panopticon analogy, an examination of how external and internal forces contribute to the oppression of the black minority. Micheal Foucault, a 20th- century French philosopher, examines the “gaze” of society and how surveillance and observation function as mechanisms of power within disciplinary institutions. Foucault elucidates this power in his analogy of prisons. Describing a design of a prison called the panopticon. Foucault elucidates how the panopticon’s design, featuring a central watchtower enabling continuous monitoring of inmates, embodies a power mechanism reliant on perpetual surveillance. This surveillance instills a sense of visibility and control, prompting inmates to internalize the sensation of being observed and adjust their conduct to align with expected standards. Foucault contends that the panoptic structure, characterized by the omnipresent gaze of the observer, extends beyond the physical confines of the prison to infiltrate various societal domains. He further suggests that even if the watchtower were to become tinted and inside is no observer, the power of the gaze still persists and permeates every cell block. This internalized power shapes individuals’ behavior, disciplining them to adhere to societal norms even without direct oversight. Even when no one is in the tower, inmates still feel the power of the gaze and structure their lives around the gaze of someone not even there.

To utilize this idea within media literacy black oppressive stereotypes and anamorphic representation exist within the black creators, because of an innate/inmate programming. This internalization of the dominant gaze can lead to self-objectification and internalized oppression, wherein individuals come to see themselves through the lens of the dominant culture and internalize negative stereotypes about their own identities. This animal-fication of black characters is a byproduct of generations of programming from a dominant disciplinary gaze, and creators still act within the realms of this gaze. When no one is watching these creators act within the confines of the gaze shackled to a domination that lies dormant beneath the pages of frames of a piece of art. The impact of the dominant gaze extends far beyond explicit acts of censorship or control, infiltrating the very essence of artistic expression and perpetuating cycles of oppression. It underscores the need for critical engagement with the power dynamics inherent in storytelling and the importance of dismantling oppressive structures to foster authentic and empowering narratives. By acknowledging the pervasive influence of the dominant gaze and working to dismantle its hold, we can strive towards more inclusive and equitable representations in media.

Conclusion

When starting this analysis there was a meager amount of information on the topic. If a light can be shown on this phenomenon and a spotlight on a racist past one can expand their lens of media literacy and view art through another more critical lens. Because of the lack of information on the phenomena, there exists a problem of unawareness that can drive this problem forward and this subconscious correlation between a minority and animals will linger in cultural spheres. If these antiquated disciplinary gazes continue to define us, we will not be free but will continue to be prisoners disciplined by an invisible eye. By first being aware of the origin and history of malicious black representation, and understanding a phenomenon that is a remnant of said history, one can be informed. If enough regular viewers can be aware of these racist souvenirs of the past a critical eye can be formed that can be used for all media; nevertheless, awareness does not stop at the viewer, but to future artists who can be aware of the very gaze they work under. A chain starting from awareness to action can be directed. Let the sins of the past die and let us be aware and truly evolve into a society no longer shackled by the ghosts of the past, but guided by new beacons and horizons. No longer guided by spotlights from watchtowers but now by the lights of our own flashlights. If society cares to move forward, a reflection from the past is necessary: Baartman’s people, the Khosian say “When the moon dies every month, let the sin in me die with it. When the moon is reborn each month, let the good in me be reborn with it.” 

Works Cited:

Bogle, Donald. “Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks: An interpretive history of 

Blacks in American films.” Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001.

Condis, Megan. (2015). “She Was a Beautiful Girl, and All of the Animals Loved Her: Race, the

 Disney Princesses, and their Animal Friends.” Gender Forum, No. 55, pp. 1-12.

Darwin, Charles. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. Vol. 2. D. Appleton, 1872.

Dundes, L., and Streiff, M. (2016). “Reel Royal Diversity? The Glass Ceiling in Disney’s Mulan

and [The] Princess and the Frog.” Societies, vol. 6, no. 4, p. 35. Retrieved from: doaj.org/article/cbcbd23633b442c3bf32f5fca278ba07

Enoch, Tiffany Tyantyan. Animal Representation of Race in The Princess and the Frog. 

Diss. University of South Carolina, 2023.

Foucault, Michel. “Panopticism.” The Information Society Reader. Routledge, 2020. 302-312.

Gordon-Chipembere, Natasha, ed. Representation and black womanhood: the legacy of Sarah    

Baartman. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Gregory, Sarita McCoy. (2010). “Disney’s Second Line: New Orleans, Racial Masquerade, 

and the Reproduction of Whiteness in The Princess and the Frog.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 432-449. 

Imma, Z. (2011). “Just Ask the Scientists”: Troubling the “Hottentot” and Scientific Racism 

in Bessie Head’s Maru and Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy. In: Gordon-Chipembere, N. (eds) Representation and Black Womanhood. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. 

Kelsey-Sugg, Anna, and Marc Fennell. “Sarah Baartman Was Taken from Her Home in South      

Africa and Sold as a ‘Freak Show’. This Is How She Returned.” ABC News, ABC News, 17 Nov. 2021, www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/stuff-the-british-stole-sarah-baartman-south-africa-london/100568276.

Musker, John, and Ron Clements. The Princess and the Frog. Walt Disney Studios Motion  Pictures, 2009.

Categories
Fairy Tales

Prime Changes What Now? A Critical Analysis of The Relationship Between Fairy Tales & Advertising

by Jimmy Warshawsky

Fairy tales show up everywhere in our lives. From the time we are read them as small children, to movie adaptations left and right, and almost every ride at Disneyland. Who knows, one day you might even find yourself taking a literature class that focuses solely on fairy tales. One medium that these tales have found an interesting home from their very conception is advertising. Modern advertisers have been using fairy tale characters and motifs in their work for ages. In this project, I’ll essentially be examining the relationship between fairy tales and advertising, their similarities and differences, how one genre has used, or possibly abused, the other, how they have impacted the world around them and, vice versa, how they have been impacted by the world. We’ll go through a brief history of the fairy tale and its depiction in previous ads, and view the scenario from a marxist perspective centered on class and wealth inequality. The primary text that I will be analyzing is from a recent commercial for Amazon Prime, which I will break down, continuing from my prior lens, and discuss the possible positive and negative impacts of this specific advertisement and how it fits into today’s world at large. As a marketing student and someone who plans to spend a good deal of their life working in a corporate office developing advertisements, but also as someone who cares deeply about the structural and systemic inequalities that exist in the world often fueled by wealth and capitalism, I hope to use this paper to dive deep into the relationship between fairy tales and advertising and discover truths about it that could possibly shed light on some important topics and help make the industry and people’s lives better. 

The fairy tale genre comes from a long tradition of oral storytelling that was passed down for many generations. The fact that they were completely spoken by people and listened to by people was essential to their creation and their preservation. Folklore scholar Jack Zipes writes that the first fairy tales “were told by gifted [story]tellers and were based on rituals intended to endow with meaning the daily lives of members of a tribe” (415). No matter what the tales were about back then, it was certain the voice of the narrator was present and known, and they were told directly and in person. This meant that every time they were repeated, they were altered to match the changes of the group they were told in. Historian Marina Warner, who often focuses her work on feminism and myths and fairy tales, gives us further insight into the early fairy tales. She writes that they always include that circle of active listeners, who are invited to engage with the tales and identify with their characters, and that “Schematic characterization leaves a gap into which the listener may step. Who has not tried on the glass slipper? Or offered it for trying?” (Warner 412-413). It is important to understand that the original fairy tales were not written down, which meant that they were very fluid and constantly changing. Anyone who heard them then had the power to take control of the story and make it their own, for themselves or whoever they would retell it to. One could write, or rather think or speak, themselves into a story and become the hero. Also, fairy tales were for everyone; as long as one understood spoken language, they could engage. Marshall McLuhan, a communications scholar who I have studied extensively in my media studies courses, famously asserted that “the medium is the message.” This is an idea that stems from technological determinism, which is the idea that technology shapes not only the way that humans communicate but also a society’s cultural values and social structure. The way that the content is communicated can often tell us and predict more about the world than the content itself. When fairy tales were only communicated by speech and voice, passed down from person to person and told in face-to-face settings, it allowed for the listener to have a certain agency in relation to the stories that wouldn’t be possible in a more rigid medium.

Such violation of oral storytelling was crucial and necessary for the establishment of the bourgeoisie because it concerned the control of desire and imagination within the symbolic order of western culture.

Jack Zipes

Eventually, oral storytelling became much less popular, as it was overtaken by the written word. With the invention of the printing press, stories could be copied word for word and distributed in a way unlike anything that had come before. This new technology shaped the fairy tale, its essence, and who it was for. Soon, the oral traditions of the past were dominated “by a different social class, and the form, themes, production, and reception of the tales were transformed” (Zipes 415). The genre that we now think of as fairy tales was crafted from a wide range of folk tales that had been passed into this new wave of communication. It was transformed into “a literary tale that addressed the concerns, tastes, and functions of court society” (Zipes 416). Now that fairy tales were printed texts, they weren’t so easily changeable or relatable, and they were only accessible by the highest classes of society. Some oral traditions persevered and eventually, those were all written down too by authors such as the Brothers Grimm in the nineteenth century. Zipes posits, “such violation of oral storytelling was crucial and necessary for the establishment of the bourgeoisie because it concerned the control of desire and imagination within the symbolic order of western culture” (417).

It is my assertion that this is where fairy tales’ relationship with advertising begins, in the thought that these new forms of literary tales acted as ads themselves. The way that we often think about ads today may be in the forms of commercials we see on television, billboards on the side of the road, or sponsored posts on social media, but the definition of an ad can be taken further. They are a form of media that is meant to persuade its audience and affect their behaviors. They might be persuading you to buy the newest Samsung Galaxy phone, or maybe they are changing your attitude about who drives a Lexus, or wears Gucci perfume. Behavioral influence is what the literary fairy tales of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were all about. Take, for example, the morals of Charles Perrault, who explicitly wrote out the underlying message of his tales as each concluded. After “Bluebeard,” he writes “Curiosity, in spite of its many charms, / Can bring with it serious regrets…” (192). Perrault isn’t selling a product, but he is selling a way of acting and behaving. All of a sudden, fairy tales were no longer fluid, and their readers, just like the characters in the tales, were stripped of any agency that they might have previously had to write their own stories. 

Pretty much as soon as television advertisements existed, they started relying on fairy tale motifs and never stopped. The first fairy tale television commercial crossovers featured classic figures like Cinderella and Goldilocks inserted sloppily in cartoons to explain products and why the public needed them (Wittwer). They were familiar names that audiences knew well and they added a sense of ethos and feel-good cuteness to the ads. Every decade saw fairy tale figures and motifs thrown into advertisements in an attempt to sell more products. Some continued to be sloppy, and some got clever. In many ways, the evolution of fairy tales in advertising mirrored the evolution of the literary fairy tale. They began as very straightforward, exactly what you would expect, but eventually, new authors and creatives began to take control of the tales and write their own versions. James Thurber wrote a “Little Red Riding Hood” story that ends with the young heroine shooting the wolf dead with an automatic rifle. How’s that for agency? In a Dr. Pepper commercial from the ’80s, little red also defeats the big bad wolf herself, but this time instead of using a gun, she gives him, you guessed it, a bottle of Dr. Pepper. Just last year, Amazon released a new series of commercials that rewrite old tales, giving the characters a newfound sense of agency, power, and individuality to reflect the modern world, all with the help of Amazon Prime.

The campaign was titled “Prime Changes Everything,” and imagines the story of Rapunzel if she had access to Prime. The commercial opens on Rapunzel sitting in the window of her iconic tower, as the narrator speaks aloud, “Once upon a time there lived a princess with really long hair who was waiting for a prince to come save her” (Amazon). It’s a classic set-up to the story we all know, but it quickly diverges from the original when she continues, “But really, who has time for that?” (Amazon). Then comes the product placement, as we see Rapunzel grab her cell phone, which juxtaposes the medieval-like castle, and open up the Amazon app. Hip-hop music begins to play in the background, further removing the audience from the original fairy tale landscape that the ad started in. The narrator commentates, “She ordered herself a ladder with Prime one-day delivery and she was out of there,” as she does just that and a ladder appears at her window in that instant (Amazon). Rapunzel rides away through the forest and we see, assumedly a significant amount of time later, her running what looks like a modern-day hair salon in an old-timey village. The voice-over finishes, “Now, her hairdressing empire is killing it. And the prince, well who cares? Prime changes everything.” with the last line and Prime logo appearing on the screen (Amazon). The ad received outstanding feedback from the press and marketing communities, with Forbes calling it, “exactly the fairy tale that every girl needs,” and Clio, a company that runs one of the most recognizable and prestigious advertising awards ceremonies, writing, “Reappraising myths and tales of yore, with postmodern panache or through a progressive lens, feels right for our wearying times,” (Davis; Gianatasio). 

The way young girls view the roles of a woman in society are greatly influenced by the archetypes found in fairytales.

RaVal Davis

This advertisement from Amazon does deserve some amount of praise. It’s, for one, incredibly well-produced and it utilizes fairy tales in a clever, non-sloppy way. It’s also very persuasive and shines a good light on Prime and all of its benefits. There’s no denying that Prime delivery has made almost everyone’s lives easier or simpler or better in at least one way, and this commercial puts that at the forefront. Above the overall effectiveness of the ad, it also seems to do some good at social justice and feminist levels. Amazon successfully rewrites a story that traditionally sees the heroine locked away, with no sense of agency, at the mercy of a prince to come and save her. The Prime Rapunzel doesn’t need a man to escape and does so (almost) all on her own, and even goes above and beyond to become a businesswoman and hairdressing tycoon. That’s something that one would never find in your traditional literary fairy tale, but a message that is undoubtedly good for society. Little girls should know that they don’t need a man to succeed in life and they can overcome adversity on their own. Davis writes “The way young girls view the roles of a woman in society are greatly influenced by the archetypes found in fairytales” and “studies also show that children start to develop gender stereotyping between the ages of three and six—ages when they are most likely to encounter fairytales [sic].” Because we live in a world where children are being exposed to media and television, including ads, at increasingly young ages, it does seem important that prominent media that showcase fairy tales feature female characters that have agency, unlike many of the traditional princesses found in pop culture.

In addition to all of this, Amazon’s choice to cast a Black actress as Rapunzel is great for representation of minorities in roles that have almost always been played by White people. It was a bold choice from the internet shopping giant, especially when one considers how much controversy has erupted over Black actors and actresses being cast in roles usually played by White actors and actresses, but a very socially forward choice worthy of commendation. In some ways, this commercial brings fairy tales back to their original form. The ad is a demonstration of how stories can be rewritten, and anyone, including minorities and people of lower class, can step into them, and imagine themselves as heroes. The commercial is even narrated, rather than written, which is a nice touch for old times’ sake. 

The commodification of Western culture creates a magic spell over society…

Jack Zipes

That being said, though, there are negative aspects of the advertisement as well. While this commercial does some good for marginalized communities, it still exists in a capitalist, free market, neoliberal economy which pushes people down, especially minorities, more than it lifts anyone up. We can talk all we want about how progressive the advertisement is, but at the end of the day, that’s still exactly what it is: an advertisement. The commercial is not designed to get you to think differently about Rapunzel and the agency of fairy tale characters, it’s designed to get you to use Amazon Prime and buy Amazon products. It’s also difficult to fathom how something Amazon does could be good for the community when they are one of the largest companies in the world owned by one of the richest people in the world. We have previously discussed that using fairy tales in ads gives the brand emotional, trusted, and feel-good characteristics. Amazon is using this strategy to lull consumers into their trap. The main theme of the commercial is that “Prime changes everything,” but it really doesn’t. What Prime and this commercial actually do is perpetuate the systemically oppressive capitalist system that we exist in now. In discussing the harmful aspects of capitalism, industry, and commodification, Zipes writes, “the socioeconomic forces, particularly in the advanced industrialized societies of the West, split the individual, lame and pervert human potential so that the result is alienation, deprivation, violence, exploitation, and destruction. To a certain extent, the commodification of Western culture creates a magic spell over society, what Bloch and other Marxists would call false consciousness, so that, enchanted and blinded by commodity fetishism, we act against our own humane interests” (331). The commercial also overwhelmingly downplays the large and pressing issues of wealth, gender, and racial inequality, suggesting that all people need to make it in life is Amazon Prime. If that’s how it worked, then that would be great, but unfortunately, there are greater systems at play operating to keep some people from advancing in life and Prime cannot, and would not, stop them. 

Overall, the advertising world has been relying on fairy tales for as long as modern ads have existed, and they will undoubtedly keep featuring motifs and characters in them for a long time to come, generally to the benefit of the companies they are trying to promote. Their effectiveness in selling products is often high, which makes sense considering that fairy tales have been acting as advertisements in some ways for a very long time. The fact is, however, that advertisers have co-opted fairy tales to put a bit of a spell on consumers, leading them to believe that they lead these great lives that are full of agency and can do whatever they want. In reality, in the world we live in, consumers can’t do whatever they want. The free market is not free for the masses, and the lower and middle classes live trapped by the economy. No matter how many times Amazon or the next company rewrites Rapunzel, a ladder will never just appear. It’s not that simple.

But hey, next time you find yourself locked away in a tower, give it a try.

I just hope you have cell service. 

Works Cited

Amazon. “Prime Changes Everything.” Youtube, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raaYkGHY0kY. 

Davis, RaVal. “Amazon Prime’s Rapunzel Commercial Is Exactly the Fairy Tale Every Girl Needs.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 Oct. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ravaldavis/2021/10/27/amazon-primes-rapunzel-commercial-is-exactly-the-fairytale-every-girl-needs/?sh=4511ff5858da.

Gianatasio, David. “Why Rapunzel and Cleopatra Really Could Have Used Amazon Prime.” Muse by Clio, The Clio Network, 3 Aug. 2021, https://musebycl.io/advertising/why-rapunzel-and-cleopatra-really-could-have-used-amazon-prime. 

Perrault, Charles. “Bluebeard” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, New York, NY, 2017, pp. 188–193. 

Warner, Marina. “The Old Wives’ Tale.” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, New York, NY, 2017, pp. 405–414. 

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