Sleeping Beauty.

I have to say that I think the Disneyfication of traditional tales and well loved stories is dreadful! I know they are popular but generally thay are dreadful!

I used to work in a secondary school and I was so sad to discover a display in the English department that said Disney films were sexist, racist and out of touch with modern thought (with detailed illustrations of why this was so). This display was a totally distruction of the innocence of childhood in my opinion. I have never been able to look at the lovely, magical Disney films in the same way since

I wonder if miss KK would change her mind if she was asked to star in a Disney fairy tale. I bet she'd find a way to overcome her concerns.

I don't think many here want their DGCs to be kissed/ touched etc without explicitly agreeing to it. That is not politically correct..that is respect for individuals
Reading Trad Tales which promote gender stereotypes need to be both enjoyed and discussed. Just banning them is extremely silly and in itself will not necessarily prevent children growing up to be submissive / passive/ agressive etc. It takes more than a couple of stories to make a child develop stereotypical behaviour!

I have always been an avid reader from being a young child and enjoyed all sorts of books, mainly probably the ‘fairy’ stories. I cannot think of a time I ever believed for instance, if I pricked my finger on a needle that I would fall asleep until a handsome prince came along and kissed me. Each story was read and taken for what it was, make believe. Yes, I dreamt of being a princess, yes I dreamt of finding that magical magic tree with the door you could go into, to a wonderful world, but did I really believe it all? NO, NO, NO. The same as I did not believe there was a scary cat called Tom and a teensy weensy mouse called Jerry. It was all imagination. What is wrong with folk today that everything has to be so black and white and so politically correct. Arghhhhh, it drives me mad!!

I can’t believe Kk or anyone else is complaining about Fairy Tales. My DG is 14 and EVERYTHING she does in her GCSE English and Drama courses is dark, miserable and depressing. Romeo and Juliet about death and suicide of young lovers: Lord of the Flies about bullying and murder amongst schoolboys: Abigail’s Party about death from heart attack: Jekyl and Hyde about schizophrenia and murder of young prostitutes! Need I go on? No wonder many of today’s teenagers are depressed and suicidal when they are being force fed such a series of depressing works in the name of Education. I would much rather be kissed by a passing prince than murdered by a raging schizophrenic etc. Food for thought indeed!

As a child I read anything and everything from fairy tales, children's and adult versions, Enid Blyton, and Victorian novels where boys are best and women are second to men and absolutely none of it rubbed off on me. I was very much a tom boy who went off to university to study a predominantly male subject and then held her own in a predominantly male world in industry.

I didn't need to be told I lived in a different world with none of the restrictions of a previous time and marriage did not need to be the be-all and end-all of my life. I knew it. Most of my friends were the same.

However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all these books and still enjoy reading Anthony Trollope, Jane Austen,(not Victorian, but 19th century) and all the rest.

Disney films are not our cultural heritage!

As a child I read wherever I went. Visiting a distant elderly relative I was thrilled to find a two volume set of Grimm's fairytales in her bookcase. Grim indeed!
I was glad to get back to my own book of Hans Andersen even though his stories are far more sad than Disney would have us believe.
Like a previous poster I was very scared by the witch in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I wondered why I'd been brought to see something so horrible.

Tillybelle you have a wicked mind!

felice Sorry!

Tilly I will never look at a box of those the same way again, sock time as the Americans say, yuck.

Yellowmellow I am so happy because you wrote:

"The middle granddaughter who is 5 got the weekly award last week for being kind, thoughtful and considering others. This is what its about."

That is wonderful! Congratulations! Thank you for posting that!

JackyB It's not man-sized snot that the tissues have to be bigger and stronger for. It's for their pass-time.

Keira Knightly's wrong! Say I arrogantly! She is forbidding her daughter from access to a cultural heritage and the opportunity to open up discussion. I think it's just stupidity!

I remember thinking, why did Snow White do all the house-work? On the other hand, the Seven Dwarves had to go out to work and worked quite hard it seemed. The kiss part was forecast by the story and as a child I didn't think of it as abuse but just the fulfilment of the spell. It was obviously the future husband of the fairy Princess who was claiming her and breaking the bad spell, I did not for once associate it with the evil big brother of a friend who made me sit on his lap (I was about 5) and tried to touch my bottom. As a child we know the difference between a good and bad person. It's no good saying if I hadn't read any fairy stories I wouldn't have sat on his lap because that wouldn't apply, he was my friend's big brother, I thought he was ok.

I once played the bad fairy in Sleeping Beauty in a local Pantomime, I was told of for being too scary. 1980.

Sorry I posted twice can GNHQ perhaps combine the two posts please.

I did not know about the Kleenex thing, strange.
KK is advertising a new movie, I wonder if it is not too good so she needs the extra publicity.

I think if children are harmed by fairy tales, it is perhaps because they read them for themselves at too young an age.
I remember my mother reading me fairy tales long before I could read and explaining things that scared me, and telling me that some things that took place in fairy tales didn't happen like that in real life.

An example was the ending of Sleeping Beauty "They all lived happily ever after" my mother pointed out that in real life no-one is happy for ever, there are good, better and bad days in life.

About the kissing - when I was seventeen I went out with a boy who was so old-fashioned then (1969) that he asked, "May I kiss you?" before doing so.

Many little girls love stories of princesses, love dressing up like princesses. It's all about role models, and getting a good mix. All 3 of my granddaughters read fairy stories, but also read 'Bedtime Stories for Rebel Girls', and are taught in school rights and values along with having mummies and aunties who are great role models (one of my daughter-in-laws is a plumber) There nannie (et moi) works in a field where women's rights is a big part of the work The middle granddaughter who is 5 got the weekly award last week for being kind, thoughtful and considering others. This is what its about. Not just for girls but boys too. Lets not spoil childhood

I used to be so scared of the witch in Sleeping Beauty. Perhaps she was a bit too close to home.

It seems to me that the minority of people are always pandered to. I couldn’t care less if mansize tissues are called mansize. It just says to me that they are bigger. How can a tissue be sexist? As for KK, she is just someone with too much time on her hands, if she were busy, she would not have time to be looking for things to have a go at. I really despair, I think the world is going mad.

Has KK got a film coming out? Is this not just publicity seeking?

My C and GC, read Grimms Fairy Tales ( I read to them when they were young)' CS Lewis Narnia books, The Goosebumps series as well as watching Disney Videos and many other films. They are just films, why does everything have to be politically correct in its message nowadays.

Oh yes I loved Heidi & Black Beauty as well missdeke but I also enjoyed Jennings & Biggles. My love of reading was sparked by Enid Blyton although she is very out of favour nowadays.

Makes me want to SCREAM

Disney? I never watched Dumbo or Bambi with my kids. Both were addicted to Mary Poppins.
21st century - am currently watching the wonderful Moana with DGD.

It's all getting a bit daft isn't it? Everything has to be so PC these days. When I was a kid all stories did not have to be contemporary, I loved Heidi, Black Beauty and the like, all set in a different time with different standards and morals to my life, but all these PC champions seem to forget that they are stories and it's really not damaging to kids to read fantasy and fairy stories to kids. Getting a bit fed up with it to be honest.