Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there lived a princess who had an evil step mother and a doting father. The step mother tries to harm her but the princess somehow escapes, usually with the help of a dashing prince. They fall in love and get married, but not before the step mother tries to sabotage the union one last time. However, she is not victorious, all thanks to the princess’ non-human friends. In the end, instead of being punished, she is graciously forgiven by the princess and they all live happily ever after.
Sounds familiar? Of course it does! It is the premise of every Disney movie ever made! But, let’s think for a second? What effect does this damsel-in-distress saved by a knight-in-shining-armor have on the way we live our life? Do we wait for our fairy godmother to appear and grant us our wishes? Do we wish for the teapot and teacups to start talking to us? Do we jump in joy when we see a frog because we expect it to change into a handsome prince, upon true love’s first kiss?
Happy endings are over-rated in most cases, and in the cases that it’s not, the path leading to the ending is a rough passage full of thorns. Then why do we still endorse these views, albeit subconsciously? If you ask me, it’s because people want to cling on to hope. They want to believe that everything is going to be alright. How else did clichés like ‘if it’s not okay, it’s not the end’ come into existence?
Ultimately, what these Disney movies are trying to tell us is that when all else fails, we still have delusion.
To read a slightly different version of this same article, click here.
To read a slightly different version of this same article, click here.
Haha, that awkward moment when we " jump in joy when we see a frog because we expect it to change into a handsome prince, upon true love’s first kiss?" :P
ReplyDeleteLove this post!