Fairy tales are magical. They provide a window to another world, a chance to look beyond the mundane. Fairies, goblins, elves, beautiful princesses and dashing princes are fairy tales just full of fluff and melodrama. Fairy tales are synonymous with children. Fairy tales have been an important part of cultures all over the world.
They have been passed down through generations and read and reread to countless children. We tell children stories of fairy tales when they go to sleep and they watch Disney re-enactments and shows that reinforce them further.Fairy tales are read at schools and everywhere we grew up and where our children are growing up. But what are the impacts of these stories? We so happily expose our children to these stories, but in some cases they can be scary and carry obscure and unusual messages. Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Snow White are a few examples of fairy tales which give bad influences towards children.
Firstly, the character rumpelstiltskin is an antagonist from a fairy tale.Rumpelstiltskin is full of lies. (S. D1) His character teaches children to lie amongst themselves and their families, and also gives a bad influence to the children with the story of him telling all kinds of lies. (E1&2SD1) Recently, rumpelstiltskin appeared in the movie Shrek, where some kids could only see bad things out of the movie, thus they tend to follow what rumpelstiltskin did to Shrek and his friends. (E3SD2) Rumpelstiltskin's character also teaches the society to be insincere.
People want their children to be honest, but if the children watch the tale with rumpelstiltskin, they will notice the negative parts and tend to follow the negative effects. (E1SD2) Young people get easily influenced by these fairy tales because their parents would usually tell them a fantasy and scare them. (E2;3SD2) Rumpelstiltskin would only be very helpful if he were to gain something in return, therefore this is very negative for the children as they might have thoughts of helping people only if they were to gain something in return. SD3) For example, the children would only help their mothers only if they were to received something they've always wanted. (SD3)Rumpelstiltskin is also full of rages.
(E1SD3) This is the most bad influence that Rumpelstiltskin's character gives to the society because he tends to rage if he does not get what he wants. (E2SD3)Children, especially, tend to be full of rages at times where they do not get what they want. (E3SD3)At the end of the fairy tale, rumpelstiltskin had killed imself through such a cruel way. He gives children such bad examples as the children will tend to have thoughts that it might be okay for them to get high-tempered whenever they do not get what they want and this teaches the young people of such inappropriate things to do if they don't get something in return after what they have done. Besides that, another classic example of how fairy tales negatively affect children can be shown through the famous animated film Cinderella.Recently a big issue in today’s society is oppression amongst women and fighting for women’s rights; one of the main themes in this film is the oppression that Cinderella receives from her wicked stepmother.
As an example, when Cinderella submits to her stepmother dictating her life it sends the wrong message to children because it teaches them not to fight for their own rights. Cinderella’s step sisters like to bully her as well and always get away with it, this sends a negative message towards young children making them think that it is okay to make others feel bad about themselves.In the movie Cinderella’s wish to attend the grand ball and desire to fit in with the elites of society gives child viewers the wrong idea on accepting who we are. For example, when a young girl has just watched Cinderella she immediately thinks that a fancy ball gown is what makes you beautiful and fails to realize that inner beauty is worth even more. Another example would be, Cinderella stood out in a crowd because of her physical appearance but this film fails to project that, though physical appearances may attract people at first but knowledge is our best weapon.And also, Cinderella was given a luxurious carriage to send her to the ball with; from one angle this tells viewers that material things matter very much when trying to impress others.
In this film Cinderella is rescued by a prince and lives happily ever after in faraway castle, this sends the wrong message in more ways than one. One of the reasons why is because it tells young girls that you need a man to make you happy and whisk you off your feet into complete bliss, giving them a falls perception on life.Also, it is unreal to corrupt the minds of the future generation by instilling into their minds that a handsome prince will go through the trouble of looking for his true love and offering her his wealth with it; success comes from hard work and not by simply whisking a man off his feet in one night. This film also gives out false hope to viewers telling them that you will find your happily ever after once you have gotten married; a common ‘ending’ to ll fairy tales, this is wrong because marriage is the beginning to a new life and more responsibilities that requires trust and commitment.
So it is clear that the magical animated film Cinderella does have many negative effects on all children who view it. Little Mermaid, a story by Hans Christian Andersen, published on 7th April 1837 is one of the most famous fairy tales. This story is basically about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.This story however, displayed few negative messages to the viewers. First, the inappropriate clothing’s. Indeed, it is illogical to see people wearing shirts under the sea, but it is more appropriate to cover more than Alice, the main character does.
She also exposed viewers to disobey their parents. Alice has a very loving and caring father, which she should be grateful of. Instead, she ran out of her father, creating problems and make everyone worried about her.Next, illogical things and creatures being used for daily routine. She talks with crabs and shells.
It is okay to be environmental friendly. But having a little chats with shells or crabs? That is scary. Alice combed her hair with a fork. Of course, you would say 'it is just a cartoon, anything can happen', but think about the children.
There was this one case where a loving mother posted on her blog a picture of her daughter got her hair stuck in between a fork, 'inspired' much by this movie.Alice is also being grateful when she is willing to change her beautiful physical appearance just to meet a prince. As we have already known, she has a perfect colored fin which she switch it with human legs. That time, she is not lost her real physical but also her identity.
Why change do you need into someone you are not just to impress a person we love? This shows how imperfections are really just some messes and should be changed, ignoring the fact that we should have appreciate what we have.
