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Lately Disney seems to have changed the meaning of "true love" and the "true love kiss". For example in Frozen sisters' love broke the curse and in Maleficent the godmother's kiss broke Aurora's curse. Previously it was always the soul of a partner's kiss which used to break the curses and was considered as true love. Even in Once Upon a Time it's not always a lover's kiss which is considered a true love kiss, a family's kiss does count too.

Is this an actual trend or am I just making more out of a few isolated and unrelated examples? If yes, then what are the reasons and the background of this trend? Why is Disney changing the meaning of the true love kiss? Disney fairy-tales are considered to be made for teenage girls who do believe in price charming etc. Is it a way for Disney to give family values to kids? Or is it a way to focus on a more general audience than before?

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    Counting "Once upon a time" here is not fair, since that show challenges many things that we "know" from famous fairy tales. As for the rest, I guess it's modern times, when "finding a perfect boyfriend, later to become husband" is no longer considered little girls' (only) goal in life.
    – Vedran Šego
    Commented Nov 8, 2016 at 9:01
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    I'm 50/50 on whether or not this should be closed as being primarily opinion based. Are there any arguments for why this should be kept open?
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 23:30

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Disney takes traditional fairy tales, adapts to the modern audience, then releases them.

If you actually research into their original versions, they are extremely gruesome, easily M rated, and will NEVER be for teenagers.

This is simply Disney doing what it has always been doing; producing product suitable for the general audience.

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  • Good points, and this is even true outside of "fairy tales". Much medieval and ancient literature is like this - people of the past did not have "family values" programming as a major pop culture phenomenon any more than we have it today. Look at Arthurian lore - violence everywhere, decapitations, brains oozing out of cracked skulls, the Queen in bed with a knight, the King in bed with his own sister, murder, theft, fake silverware, etc.
    – Robert Columbia
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 2:57
  • How did fake silverware get on that list?
    – Nelson
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 3:01
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    It's a little humor to go with all the decapitations and adultery.
    – Robert Columbia
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 3:03
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    I completely disagree with your last sentence. Those original stories weren't just intended for teenagers, they were often read to children as well. Yes, with all the gore and incest and stuff intact. They aren't seen as appropriate for modern audiences, which just demonstrates how over-protective we've become.
    – Tim
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 0:39
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    They're intended for their children, not ours, because our children are apparently useless and cannot handle anything. They can't even go on a freaking slide without breaking their legs.<sarcasm> You're totally right. We're super over-protective and end up creating an environment that is not reality. The moment they hit reality, it body slams them and some of them go crazy.
    – Nelson
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 1:43

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