The Influence of Disney Fairytales

Disney is a cornerstone of the American childhood. Even for someone like myself who was raised in an environment where most Disney movies were banned because of the witchcraft, sorcery, or overt references to Satan (The cat in Cinderella is named Lucifer, for example), I was still influenced via friends or the occasional contraband storybook found in a dentist’s or doctor’s waiting room that I would sneak into a corner or playhouse and read. I didn’t see most Disney movies until I was a babysitting teenager. To this day I have never seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or 101 Dalmatians, yet I could tell you the stories and even sing nearly all the songs. With such a pervasive influence, it was impossible to escape the clutch of Disney.