When people look at princess culture and gender stereotypes, many immediately look to the Walt Disney Company for its less than stellar representations of both males and females. However, old Walt was far from the first person to present these tales. Many of them, especially the more well known of these stories, can be traced back long before Walt Disney began making films.
According to imdb.com, Walt Disney began work on Snow White, the first full-length animated film, in 1934. However, according to flavorwire.com, the original story of Snow White by the Grimm brothers appeared in 1812, a full eighty-nine years before Walt Disney was even born.
Later, also from imdb.com, Walt Disney fronted the production of Sleeping Beauty which was released into theaters in 1959. According to flavorwire.com, the original story of Sleeping Beauty, entitled Sun, Moon, and Talia, was published in 1634, a full two hundred and sixty-seven years before Walt was born and three hundred and twenty-five years before the release of the film.
Lastly, according to imdb.com, Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991, twenty-five years after Walt's death. According to suite101.com, the original story of the Beauty and the Beast can be traced back to the second century A.D. by author Apuleius. That would put Beauty and the Beast close to seventeen hundred years older than Walt Disney.
Seems silly to put so much blame on one man who wasn't even around for the creation of the stories he has allegedly used to brainwash children for years. Maybe, one should look both at the original stories and the Walt Disney Company rather than placing the blame all on the shoulders of Walt Disney himself.
Here's the thing, even though Disney adapted these films from previous material that pre date him and his company by MANY years the original stories themselves are so much different than the film adaptations. The Walt Disney company is kind notorious taking famous fairy tales and "Disneyfing" them. Some of these original stories are really grim, but to make these stories family friendly some content is cut out. For example, in the original story of the Little Meremaid at the end of the tale the little meremaid cannot bring herself to kill the prince and instead sacrifices her own life. Seems like the ending of the Disney version is a little different. While I agree that Disney is not the only one to blame for Princess Culture his company can not go without scrutiny.
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