Disney & The Perversion of The Fairytale: A Cultural Analysis Through Rapunzel of Folklore and Fairy Tales

In this project, I will study how the Disney corporation altered the story Rapunzel and how those changes interact and are influenced by culture and time. The story is indicative of the time and culture that produced it, but it has been reproduced many times and in many cultures. I will compare the original Grimm Brothers' Rapunzel (1812) and the popular Disney film Tangled (2010). This project will be divided into two main parts to address these two distinct iterations of the story. In the first section, I will focus on this form of media's background information and relevance. In the second part, I will address the specific differences between the versions and their relevance. I will discuss the restraints and limitations of my research as well as possible future related research. I will establish the importance and value of fairy and folk tales as well as their widespread reciprocal impact. I will compare the effects of media in general on a population with a hypothesized impact of fairy and folktales. Furthermore, through all of this, I will critique the changes made by Disney.