How Disney's Fairy Tales Distort Love and Relationships

Most people grow up reading fairy tales and accustoming how such stories end - with the marriage of the beautiful princess and charming prince and the words "and they lived happily ever after." The perception of relationships among lovers, family members, and ordinary people in fairy tales is highly misinterpreted. These ideas are responsible for creating an idealistic view of marriage and relationships. Disney contributes to the failure of many life aspects. Perfectionism and idealism are the enemies of reality's nature.

Magnifying and glamorizing fairy tales are Disney Walt's tactics that imposed on people artificial expectations about how successful marriages are sustained. The text, "How Walt Disney Ruined Our Love Lives" by Robert Epstein (2016), articulates the drawbacks of Disney movies and tales. Robert Epstein (2016) tackles the discrepancy between Disney and society.

The repetitive portrayal of certain characters in fairy tales maintains deceptive images of them in reality. For instance, Cinderella and Snow-white being tortured by their wicked stepmothers create a fallacy; due to the stigma embracing the "evil stepmother", some stepmothers confront environmental and social challenges.

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"He simply played an important part in a larger cultural shift." (p.155), Robert Epstein claims (2016). Walt Disney inserts in the minds of children the idea of a miserable life with stepmothers, and he nails it. Discussing the idea of stepmothers frightens some societies; their first assumptions aim toward wickedness and evilness. The truth isn't accurate as Disney portrays it. Not all stepchildren are treated with harassment, but instead with love and passion. Out there, there are decent stepmothers.

Fairy tales permit fallacies and judgments in society.

Robert Epstein (2016) says, "real relationships don't involve knights in shining armor, soul mates, gleaming carriages, castles or, above all, living happily ever after." (p.155) He makes an affirmative point. Healthy relationships are built upon love, respect, and love. Yet, fairytales are based on toxic factors and typically unrealistic. Some Disney movies highlight toxic factors and abusive abstracts of romantic relationships. Being intimate with someone without consent isn't romantic, which can be considered sexual assault. In Sleeping Beauty, the prince isn't given the consent to kiss the beauty while she's asleep. Another example of an unrealistic event is Cinderella's relationship with the prince. She meets the prince once, dances with him, and then decides to get married to him at the end of the movie. It might be impossible to know whether someone will be a trustworthy and healthy spouse. There's the "saving" theme that most Disney movies revolve around, where princes save the princesses from abusive household. Abusers might promise to bless a partner from a melancholic home, only to then inflict sexual harassment upon their partners.

In conclusion, Robert Epstein (2016) highlights the superstition of Disney fairytales. Through the social stigmas. Robert explains how Walt Disney ruined love lives. Movies are entertainments for a limited time and ways to escape reality. Awareness is a must among all people. "Expectation is the root of all heartache.", as said by William Shakespeare

References

• Epstein, N. (2016). How Walt Disney ruined our love lives.
• In A. Ward, H. Hodeib, K. Lincoln, E. Moghabghab, R. Rantisi & Z. S. Sinno (Eds.)
• Pages Apart: A Reader for Academic Writing (pp. 154-157) Beirut:Educart