Materialism vs. True Love

The Frog King or Heinrich revolves around the aspects of appearances and materialism. In this tale the king has daughters, but the one that stuck out the most was the youngest. She is the most beautiful daughter that the king has. The princess is a very entitled person, she believes that because she is beautiful and that of royalty she is entitled to anything that she desires. Due to this fact she makes a promise with a frog to retrieve her golden ball that has fallen into a well. She promised the frog anything that he wanted as long as he was to bring her back her golden ball. The frog made her promise to love him, be her playmate and companion, sit beside her at the table, eat from her little golden plate, drink out of her little cup, and to sleep in her little bed. After she received the golden ball she ran off leaving the frog inside the well. The frog came to the castle the next day to receive his compensation for retrieving the ball. She tried to weasel her way out of keeping her promise with the frog, but her father made her accept her responsibility for making the promise with the frog. The princess never wanted to accept the frog as a companion, because the frog wasn't handsome or doused in jewels. The princess also had the problem of crying when things didn't go her way; the first time being when she dropped her golden ball in the well and the second time being when she had to allow him to sleep in what she described as her "beautiful and clean" bed. It was only when the frog turned into a handsome prince that she accepted him and the responsibility of making him her companion, the attraction within the story is what drives the message and story along.

Whereas, in Cupid and Psyche, the story revolves around the aspects of envy, jealousy, and curiosity. In this story, the king has three daughters, unlike The Frog King where the amount of daughters that the king has isn't specified. The only thing that is similar in this aspect is that the youngest daughter is the most beautiful out of all her siblings. Another difference is that the youngest daughter's beauty in this tale is very offensive to the goddess Venus, which brings about feelings of envy and jealousy. Venus sent out her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with someone who was described as, "low, mean, and an unworthy being", Cupid was very happy to fulfill this task for his mother. Psyche's beauty was almost enough for Cupid to take pity on her. When Cupid touched her-- she awakened; which startled Cupid and made him wound himself with his own arrow. Cupid ended up making Psyche his bride. She lived in a place of gold and beauty, unlike the princess in The Frog King, Psyche wasn't materialistic. Another difference would be that Psyche fell in love with Cupid as a whole before she saw who he was. Envy and jealousy was also present in the sister's once they saw the lifestyle that she was living and tried to sabotage her for their own greed. 

Grimm vs. Disney in the tales of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Movies are outlets for creativity and are often used to paint a pretty picture, tell a story, and/or lift peoples spirits. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", is a perfect example of Walt Disney and his team creating a pretty picture for their audience to lift their spirits during the Great Depression, one look at the film it's easy to tell that everything within the film is fictional. For instance, it is impossible for one to die of eating a poisonous apple, then to be awakened magically by the act of true loves kiss. Watching fairy-tales as a child you can't help but want your life to be similar to that of any fairy-tale because you knew at the end you'd always have a happy ending. Within the novel about the translated stories by the Grimm brothers titled, "The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm", we are first introduced to Snow White and then again later on as a more child-friendly story brought to us by Walt Disney. 

There are a lot of similarities and differences between the two stories. In Walt Disney's version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White is treated as a young maid and meets the prince in the very beginning of the movie rather than at the end like the Grimm brothers' version. Walt Disney may have changed a lot of the key dynamics of the original version but he kept some key aspects such as the use of the apple, the envy, and jealousy of the queen, as well as the dwarves using all their gold and gems to create a beautiful coffin for Snow White. 

The Realistic Reality of Love & Marriage

Love & Marriage. Love being the keyword out of the two, many people assume that you'll only marry once you've met someone that you truly care for and love. But, the reality of the situation is many people marry without even knowing or loving someone.

Marriage. A bond consummated between two individuals and is often viewed as a business deal in most countries. Marriage is something people use as a forum of gaining respect, money, and power.

Weddings. A time of laughter, love, a sense of magic around everything that happens during that time. Weddings are supposed to be magical and in many movies and stories, they are portrayed as the most magical time of the protagonists' life.

What movies and books forget to tell their audiences is how hard it is to plan a wedding and how much blood, sweat, and tears that go into creating the perfect wedding.

Women turn in to complete "Bridezilla's", recking havoc over any and everything involving their wedding.

Realistically marriage isn't everything that movies and books have made it put to be over the years. One can gain success and riches from a marriage depending on who it is. Magic isn't something that exists realistically, so people use marriage as a form of getting all these aspects.

Fairy Tale the True Meaning

Fairy Tale. A term used to describe a short story of events in a fictional characters' life that would be described as unhappy, dark, and saddening. Which later on in the story transitions to happy, joyful, and magical. 

Magical being the keyword and element of any fairy tale. This element is the one thing that drags the story along. Any fairy-tale that I've had the privilege of reading or seeing, magic contributed to the happy ending of the protagonist and the downfall of the antagonist. 

Everything within our lives revolves around the elements of the fairy tales that we grew up watching and reading. Many marketing companies use the elements of fairy tales to advertise to the public.

https://youtu.be/3fMoGEz3nBw

No matter how old we get we will always compare anything within our lives to something of a fairy tale or magical moments. When a woman gets married she can’t help but want her wedding to be something out of a Disney movie.

Within our society weddings are supposed to be the most magical moment of one's life and we try as hard as we can to create something out of a fairy tale.

As children watching fairy tales one can’t help but hope one day our “Prince Charming” will appear from thin air and save us from any hardships that we are facing. But, as we get older we start to get more realistic hopes and dreams. We don’t forget the aspects that we wish for though, subconsciously anything we get or do within our lives is compared to that of a fairy tale. 

The Reality of The Brothers Grimm

 Movies are an outlet for creation, often used to create a pretty picture. "The Brothers Grimm", is a perfect example of directors creating a pretty picture for their audience when one looks at the film it's easy to tell that everything within the film is fictional. Including the background, tales told about the brothers as well as their fairy-tales. Watching fairy-tales as a child you can't help but want your life to be similar to any fairy-tale because you knew at the end you'd always have a happy ending. Within the novel about the Grimm brothers titled, "The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests To The Modern World", we learn a lot about the brothers revolving around their background and lives.

In the film, we get a basic understanding that the brothers were extremely poor and they grew up in poverty and throughout their experiences in poverty they learned how to scam and scheme others out of their money. We also learn that they travel from town to town collecting tales and "fighting off the supernatural". The things that I've listed above would all be considered fiction seeing as the supernatural doesn't exist as well as the fact that within the novel the brothers were poor but they weren't extremely poor to the point that they sold cattle to scourge up enough money to take care of their ill sister. They were actually very wealthy seeing as their father was a well-respected lawyer and their mother was the daughter of a city councilman.

Fact. The definition of this word would be something that is known and can be proven to be true, whereas fiction is something that can not be proven and it is seen as more of a fantasy or theory than anything. There are many fictional statements and theories within the movie nut there are a few they can be accounted for as true. The fact that the Frech occupied Germany, as well as the fact that they recorded any tale they came across all, would be considered a fact. The fictional points within the film would be the fact that Angelica wasn't apart of either of their lives and her step-father didn't manipulate or control any aspects of their lives. 

My Hopes and Aspirations for

Choosing From Grimm to Disney as my First-Year Seminar was something that I did purely out of curiosity. The name of the course piqued my interest immensely, I always had a fondness for Disney tales and I often looked up the true meaning behind many of my favorite fairy-tales on YouTube. I also held a great curiosity for the Grimm brothers seeing as I've heard of them and their reputation for story-telling. Finding out that there was a course revolving around the fairy-tales and stories that the Grimm brothers told which was later on transformed into a more child-friendly fairytale through Disney I knew I had to take this course.

In this seminar, I am hoping to accomplish and better understand how the concepts of the Grimm brothers way of fairy-tale telling ended up as more child-friendly through the eyes of Disney. I would also like to accomplish the goal of knowing why Walt Disney choose to use the Grimm brothers narratives of folklore fairy-tales, myths, and legends as a template to create their own more child-friendly fairy-tales rather than any other authors'.

A fairy-tale that I would consider being my favorite would be  "The Princess and the Frog" which was originally titled "The Frog Prince." The reason why this is my favorite fairy-tale because of the true meaning behind the tale. It teaches you that beauty is within and to not be so materialistic. For example, the princess was willing to kiss a frog without even knowing that he was once a handsome prince.