Childhood Ruined

Brianna Myers for Race, Gender and the Media

The title of this blog is actually not that accurate. I have realized that although I was a huge fan of Disney Channel series and the DCOM specials (if you don't know the meaning of that acronym, you're too young to be reading my blog), I wasn't exactly a huge fan of the stereotypical fairy tale princess movies when I was younger. The only movie I can think of that I watched repeatedly was The Little Mermaid. Bare with me while I cry an ocean while I rip apart my childhood.

The Little Mermaid, the beautiful love story of a young mermaid who finds eternal love by defying her father. In this process, she gives up her fin (the thing that makes her who she is) for legs (to be an ordinary human) and her voice. She then must rely on just her looks and luscious locks to bag a royal husband in a world she's not very familiar with, hence using a fork as a brush. But then this article talks about the other perspective. In comparison the the other princesses before her time, Ariel took the initiative to get the thing that she wanted, although it was stupid and she still relied on her toned beach bod to get her man.

These films that were made in the past are always going to be around. Unless parents control every aspect of their child's life, they're going to be exposed at some point. It all boils down to parents teaching their kids and explaining that this is a very fictional character and achieving marriage is not the only goal in life (although it might provide some nice financial stability in the world of Disney). It's baffling how many adults will not take the time to sit with their kids and have conversations about what is going on in the movie and relating it to the world around them. There is a certain amount of innocence a child should be allowed to have but at some point, we have to address it because it's only going to harm them in the future. Their childhood and innocence and purity will not be ruined, in fact, this is a way of protecting it.