One thing that Grimm’s and Disney definitely have in common is sexism. Disney’s acts of sexism are definitely not as violent as Grimm’s, but Disney’s sexism is prevalent throughout all of their movies. Most of the female leading characters are supposed to be in their mid to late teens. However, they are dressed very racy. The sexism in Grimm’s is much more violent – and I have to say that reading the Grimm’s version and doing research into the origins have kind of ruined fairy tales for me. Then again, it doesn’t seem like they were really meant for children in the first place.
The violent tendencies in Grimm’s are completely unnecessary to the stories. The story of Sleeping Beauty involves the King (her father) raping her while she’s asleep. She awakes when one of the children that she has had while asleep sucks the piece of flax out of her finger that was keeping her asleep. In The Frog Prince, there is an extreme amount of sexism displayed towards the Kings daughter. For example, anytime the princess wants to tell the frog prince no, he threatens to tell her father because the King will make her do it. So the princess gives in to what the frog prince asks of her (even sleeping in her bed), and marries him even though she doesn’t want to. I can understand that Grimm’s has a lot of sexism in their stories because they’re so outdated, but I cannot fathom why the raping is included in that story. I wouldn’t expect such blatant sexism in Disney because some of the movies are more modern, but alas, there it is, right in your face!
Disney’s sexism involves dressing their young female characters in tight-fitting and small clothes. For example – Ariel in the Little Mermaid is only supposed to be sixteen years old. Yet she is wearing a sea shell bra thing that barley covers her breasts – and even produces cleavage! She even gets married at the end (a sixteen year old!) to a twenty something year old captain. Even if the characters seem to be covered more (i.e. Snow White), they still seem to draw some cleavage in there. The male characters in Disney's films are big, burly, scary men. There are countless times that Gaston corners Belle when trying to win her over. The men also seem to be shallow. Take Disney's The Emperor's New Groove - in the beginning, the emperor goes down a line of women and tells them each and everything that is wrong with them. It made me sick to my stomach to see.
Disney has an effect on little boys as well. This is a subject that I didn't even think of - I guess because I have little sisters, and mostly focus on what these movies are saying to them. Never once did I think about what Disney teaches little boys. It seems that Disney teaches little boys that women are objects of pleasure (you can use Gaston again here as an example). There is also a common theme of the main male character having to fight for their woman. This somehow makes them more of a man. Another thing that Disney seems to teach boys is that kindness doesn't win you anything. Almost always, the man that is the "hero" that rescues the "heroine" ends up physically fighting for the woman - and almost always the other person ends up dying. It seems so ridiculous.
The
sexism in both Disney and Grimm’s would make me steer clear of either version. There is way too much sexism in Grimm’s, but at the same time I wouldn’t want my child to think that it was okay for young women to dress in belly shirts and tight clothes. I also wouldn’t want my child thinking that marriage would produce a “happily-ever-after” type lifestyle. At this point I’m running out of good things to say about either version!
