De-Disneyfying the Fairy-Tale Film

From Author aims to ‘de-Disneyfy’ fairytales by Aaron Cordova:

After briefly explaining the evolution of fairytales from thousands of years ago to today, Zipes showed the first video of the evening, which was an early film version of "Little Red Riding Hood." The black and white cartoon characters were line drawings, using no shading techniques. The characters did not speak as a constant upbeat tune played in the background, accompanied by whimsical sound effects that are common to all classic cartoons.

In the film, an abstract "Red Riding Hood" character was pursued by a shifty-eyed man donning a bowler hat and driving a convertible that tip-toed behind her. He eventually trapped her in her grandma's vacant house and presumably violated her, making the house jump, shake and expand as the girl screamed inside.

Zipes explained it was a symbolic wolf-pursuit, and said "Little Red Riding Hood" was "all about rape."

Following the film, Zipes showed several Disney adaptations of the fairytale. In contrast, Disney focused on sporadic outbreaks of song and infantile girls who became increasingly dumb and vulnerable.

Explaining that Disney's versions of the fairytale upset fellow Hollywood animators, Zipes showed several more versions from other creators, some of which mocked Disney's versions. One film, made with stop-motion claymation, focused on Russia in 1989 with the theme of international relations.

Of course, you can read the entire article by following the link.

Also, Zipes' The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films is due to be released on December 15th of this year.

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