On a recent flight I watched (but did not listen to) the live action version of Cinderella. Historians tell us that princes and kings back in the old days were not typically set far apart from ordinary nobility and they tended to affect a “first among equals” manner even when they were. In the movie, however, when the prince and Cinderalla dance everyone else at the ball (presumably all noble) stands in a circle to watch. Children learn from watching this that some people are vastly more important than others, the exact opposite of what their K-12 teachers are supposedly telling them.
So here’s a question for readers: Why is this message popular with children? We know why the chain of being was popular with rulers, but I don’t think anyone is explicitly telling those who make children’s movies to emphasize this concept.
Somewhat related are experiences documented by Vivian Paley. If I recall correctly, she attempted to enforce some form of equality among elementary school pupils. Eventually, the natural order prevailed, some students excluding others from play activities. Hierarchy seems to be a trait among primates and perhaps there is a kind of social logic that many are wired to enjoy.
Keyserling, whose work was later embraced by the Nazis, believe that there existed what he called the “Führerprinzip” – that certain “gifted individuals” were “born to rule” on the basis of Social Darwinism. Human societies from ancient times until the present day have embraced absolute rulers. Even in American society, if you have ever been in contact with the volunteers (not the cynical paid professionals) inside an American Presidential campaign, the supporters tend to speak of their candidate in Messianic terms – this was especially true of Obama, who was supposed to be the great Racial Healer who would finally expiate America’s Original Sin. BTW, I haven’t been following the news closely – how is that working out?
Humans are hierarchical apes. That is the short explanation, we are naturally drawn to consider some people “more deserving” than others. Now, the question is what factors determine how we select those “better” individuals. Royalty was bad enough, now we have the Kardashians.
Cinderella is a beautiful story that teaches girls the importance of marrying rich husbands.
The movie seems to be set in the 18th century, a time when the ideal of absolute monarchy was still popular in Europe–not in the middle ages when kings and barons were on a more equal footing. So the depiction of social hierarchy seems historically defensible.
I suppose that this is feeding narcissism, which is now pervasive in the society.
We are intensely narcisstic beings, so I suppose that every little girl who hears the story imagines herself as Cinderella and imagines everyone else she knows as part of that circle that forms around her whose purpose is to bear witness to her glory. For $50K (or much more in your neck of the woods), the wedding industry will actually make this particular fantasy come true for a day. Boys are basically the same, but instead of balls and gowns and horses, the stories are more likely to involve sports or combat or superheroes.
Two things. First, some people are uncomfortable unless they lead, and others are just fine with following. I think that’s just the various Myers-Briggs personalities in action and relationship, not some deep, dark mystery requiring Ph.D.-level evolutionary biology. Second, most of us are born to terribly ordinary circumstances. Most of these Disney-fied fables are about how the main character(s) escape their average life to one that’s extraordinary.
We all long to be given a lottery ticket, as a joke, which turns out to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. (Well, at least, *I* do.) I think it’s the same thing. Perhaps that’s also why Americans so closely follow celebrity media and sports figures. Their stories are often modern-day fairy tales, made all the more interesting by the train wrecks that ensue from breaking through to the other side of the divide.
I think the reason for what you observe is so simple that everyone is missing it; the characters in Disney movies reflect the sensibilities of the Disney executives who produce them. And they clearly think that they are the most important people there are, just as the Disney villains are all megalomaniacs, which is also a reflection of how the Disney executives regard their other competitors in the executive suite, I believe.