Are Disney's Fairytales Girly?

Disney has a new animated movie set to come out later this year that is based on the story of Rapunzel, and this was its original title (which is a very common trend in Disney movies), but it has since been changed to Tangled. From what I was able to find, this change was solely a marketing move made in order to give the movie a broader appeal. More specifically, they changed the name because what boy would want to go and see a movie which was named after a girl, who would obviously be the main character? I was also able to gather that Disney was trying to make it apparent that the male character has a very central role in the story.

I have never considered fairytales to be “girly” and even though there are stories where female characters are featured prominently, there are also stories focused on male characters (Pinocchio, Aladdin, The Lion King, Emperor’s New Groove, etc.). When I was little I saw all the Disney movies regardless of who the main character was, and I think that most of my male classmates did as well. I think that it may be the recent focus, and obsession, with Disney Princesses that has given Disney’s animated movies the stigma of being “girly” which they now must strive to get away from.

In class we have spent time talking about the audience that the authors intended for their fairytales, but only in regards to whether the target audience was adults or children. Now media has changed, and fairytales are often forced to pick a more specific target audience or find a way to broaden their appeal. Fairytales depicted in Disney movies are especially concerned with target audiences and use marketing to broaden the potential audience. It seems like this focus on target audiences and marketing is just another change that results from a story moving from one media (print) to another (video).