As Keira Knightley Slams Cartoon from 1950, Kristen Bell Says Snow White Isn't Appropriate for Kids
Kristen Bell said she's not 100 percent comfortable with the classic Disney princess tales and thinks Snow White tells kids the wrong message about strangers and consent. https://t.co/c2omUMiHOt
- USA TODAY (@USATODAY) October 17, 2018
- In case you missed the last post on ONTD, Keira Knightley said during an interview on Ellen in promoting her upcoming film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms she doesn't allow her three year old tiny toddler daughter to watch older Disney films like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. Keira is a vocal supporter of #MeToo and condemned the use of sexual assault of women as motivation for characters and backstory earlier this year.
- Knightley said she likes The Little Mermaid and thinks it has great songs, but she doesn't think it's a good message to send to young girls. “Do not give your voice up for a man!” Knightley said, which prompted dozens of the same comments saying Ariel wanted to a human first, while still ignoring that she does, in fact, give up her voice to be with a man she hardly knows. With Cinderella, Knightley said, “She waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don’t. Rescue yourself - obviously.” Knightley lets her daughter watch Disney films like Frozen and Moana.
- Since criticizing gender stereotypes in a Disney animated film written, animated, and produced by men is unthinkable, people flipped out about Knightley's comment, many on twitter and here calling her stupid, saying she wasn't properly parenting her child, and even accusing her of not caring about women, female characters and abuse survivors for critiquing Cinderella, which was based on a fictional not real story and fairy tale recorded by Italian writer Giambattista Basile in 1634, originally descending from the Egyptian story Rhodopis written down by greek geographer Strabo in 64 BC, about a blonde, fair-skinned young woman sold into slavery who loses her slippers to a flock of birds which then drop the slippers into the lap of an Egyptian King, so he declares a search for the woman whose feet fit the slippers and whoever she is will be his wife because it was a sign from the sun god Horus. Like Cinderella's evil step-sisters, as with many fairy tales, the only other women mentioned in the story (besides dead mothers and wicked older women and sometimes fairies) are jealous Egyptian girls who say she doesn't deserve it.
- Coincidentally, at the same time, Kristen Bell said in an interview with Parents magazine she loves reading stories to her kids and then discussing them - including the problems with old Disney animated films: "Every time we close Snow White I look at my girls and ask, 'Don't you think it's weird that Snow White didn't ask the old witch why she needed to eat the apple? Or where she got that apple?' I say, 'I would never take food from a stranger, would you?' And my kids are like, 'No!' And I'm like, 'Okay, I'm doing something right.'" Bell also says that she's asked her daughters, "Don't you think that it's weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you can not kiss someone if they're sleeping!"
- Bell is working on a children's book and says the process and reading stuff with her kids has helped her appreciate how far children's literature has come: "There's a book called Grumpy Monkey that we love that allows the monkey to be grumpy, even at the end. Other characters give him solutions but he decides he's still grumpy. I've had that feeling, and I want my girls to know that you're allowed to feel it. Figure out ways to pick yourself up when you are ready. I really like that message."
- A list of things that also happened in the year 1950 when Cinderella was released: The Korean war began when North Korea invaded South Korea, President Truman signed the Act of Guam which made the island territory a United States one, who also faced an assassination attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists, India ratified its new constitution, China tried to invade Tibet in the Battle of Chamdo, the Warsaw pact was formed in response to NATO, Senator McCarthy initiated the persecution of Communists in the United States, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, and Jay Leno were all born, Winston Churchill lost a UK election, and the first ever TV remote was sold to the public.
For most parents, Disney movies are the perfect films to watch with their children. But Keira Knightley isn't most parents. https://t.co/p7JonojY80
- E! News (@enews) October 16, 2018
Keira Knightley calls out films set in modern day over depiction of sexual assault: 'Female characters nearly always get raped' https://t.co/UX0YtGjieZ pic.twitter.com/f8suWiBIoJ
- HuffPost UK Entertainment (@HuffPostUKEnt) January 17, 2018
I love Disney movies, but this is so true. I one hundred percent back this point. https://t.co/29UX1cTo6K
- Rachel Aldinger (@RachelJoy96) October 17, 2018
I mean, she's right. Unfortunately, it's still mostly our daughters who get these conversations, not our sons as well. https://t.co/gqhBilRCal
- Lady Yoshi 🇺🇸❤️ (@HistoryDiva25) October 17, 2018
Disney tales were adapted from centuries old stories called fairy tales. These stories were often used to both prove a point and help discipline kids through scary stories.
- Kerry Malakosky (@Kerry1952) October 17, 2018
Snow White is about true love, marriage and happily ever after. Also it was bad to be vain like her step mother. Snow White was beautiful for her kind heart. Pick on another fairy tale.
- Debra Jean Kennedy (@debrabayken) October 17, 2018
Exactly! I also think that people focus too much on the princesses. I mean take Sleeping beauty for example. Prince Philip didn’t do a thing, the fairy godmothers did all the dirty work. (Saved him, enchanted his sword) Three strong capable women. Focus on them instead.
- Emma Maria 🌻🧜🏻♀️ (@EmmasGrotto) October 17, 2018
I agree! To me the better solution isn’t to shield your girls from movies because what is she going to do if ever at a sleepover and they pop in a movie? Instead how about explain to them the issues the movie has irl. 🤷🏻♀️ just my opinion
- Lucy (@diizzy_dreamerr) October 17, 2018
Keira Knightley says she is "not cool" with the themes in some Disney films . But the actress says Moana and Frozen send the right messages and are full of strong female characters.
Latest showbiz stories here: https://t.co/U9PKAV3bpC pic.twitter.com/5LRmyaVN5Q
- Sky News (@SkyNews) October 17, 2018
ONTD, what are some lessons you've had to unlearn from stuff you watched as a kid? And what are some stories you would show to your current/future/hypothetical children and why?
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