Brothers Grimm vs Disney Princesses-Khadeejah
The Disney Princess movies were a big part of my childhood. I loved watching all the princesses get their happily ever afters. I always watched and rewatched those fairy tale movies, and I had each detail of each story memorized. That is why I was so surprised when I read the original Brothers Grimm stories. It was so interesting to me that those happy stories that I grew up on had a lot more death and gore than I had originally thought. I wondered what it would have been like if I had read the Brothers Grimm tales before watching the Disney movies, and how different it would have been had I grown up around the stories filled with death and gore.
One of my favorite Disney Princess movies was Tangled. I watched that movie so often when I was younger that I made my sisters hate it. In the movie, Rapunzel, who has magical, and very long hair, falls in love with Flynn Rider, a thief. Rapunzel was kidnapped as a child, and raised in a tower that she was never allowed to leave. Obviously the story ended happily, and Rapunzel and Flynn live happily ever after. Because I had watched this movie so many times I was very familiar with the plot. I was surprised to find out what the original fairy tale was. In the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, a couple steals from an old enchantress. She then demands that they give her their first-born child as payment. Once the child is twelve years old she locks her up in a tower with no stairs or doors. The child, Rapunzel, has long hair, so the enchantress uses her hair to climb in and out of the tower. One day a prince hears Rapunzel singing and climbs up her hair into the tower. They fall in love and she becomes pregnant. The enchantress finds out, cuts Rapunzel’s hair, and casts her out. She then tricks the prince into the tower, and he jumps out into a thorn bush after seeing her. He is blinded, and wanders aimlessly until he hears Rapunzel singing after she has given birth to twins. Her tears heal him, and they live happily ever after. Although this story ended happily, it had some aspects to it that probably would have been less suitable for children than the Disney movie.
I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with both the original and Disney princess fairy tales. In Cinderella the story ends with pigeons pecking out the eyes of the stepsisters. The stepsisters also cut off parts of their feet in an attempt to fit the glass slipper. In Little Snow White, at Snow White and the Prince’s wedding, the stepmother was made to dance with hot iron shoes until she dropped dead. I think that it is better that the Disney movies were made because it gives something that children can enjoy. As they grow up, they can also have the choice to read the Brothers Grimm stories if they want to. I think it is nice to have both the Disney movies and the Brothers Grimm stories. That way, children can enjoy the movies and the characters can become big parts of their childhoods. When they are older they can read the original tales and get another view and plot of their already loved fairy tales.
This is a really interesting comparison--although I'd heard the alternate version of Cinderella, I hadn't read anything else. Although the general premise of the stories are the same, you're right in that some material is really not suitable for children, and it's nice that there are these two sides of the coin so that as people grow older, they can view these stories through a different lens.
ReplyDeleteI had not knew the alternative versions of the stories, which made your post very interesting to me. I knew, however, that the Disney movies changed the stories to make it more suitable for children, but didn't expect them to be this bad. I also agree with you that it's nice to read the Brothers Grimm version to give the reader a different perspective. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteThis is a super interesting post, good job! I am also more familiar with the glossed-over Disney versions of fairy tales, and it's always interesting to read the original versions of an iconic storyline that has been retold in so many different ways. I think the Brothers Grimm versions of the story tend to be more dramatic and harsh, which could be refreshing as a style, by offering a sense of realism and less perfect "happily ever after." Still, I agree that younger kids enjoy the trendier Disney adaptations, and so both versions of the stories have a place.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like your conclusion, and I agree that having both the Disney version and the Brothers Grimm version is valuable. While reading your post, I realized that I only knew bits and pieces of the original stories, so I'll have to read those soon. I've also heard that in The Little Mermaid's original story, Ursula turns Ariel into bubbles instead of Ariel and Eric living happily ever after. Overall, your post was really fun to read. :)
ReplyDeleteThis post really made me remember how surprised I was when I first read the original Grimm fairy tails years ago. It's interesting to see in what ways the Disney stories nodded to the originals while still making them palatable for a younger audience, like with the birds in Cinderella and an important plant in Tangled (even though it was a flower instead of a vegetable). This was an interesting and enjoyable concept for a blog post overall!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy other people have realized this as well. Personally, I grew up with more of the original Grimm tales in Germany. Going to America and hearing how they changed for children here was always funny. It's like a first hand view of the different cultures and how these well known tales change for different norms. I can totally see how in America the more gruesome parts of the stories aren't as well fit to their views of teaching children and what is ok to for them to hear or see.
ReplyDeleteI always had known that the Disney movies were adaptations of the Grimm fairy tales, but I definitely did not know how scary they were. I think I would be so scared if I watched/read those fairy tales as a child and they would not have brought the same joy and love that I had for Disney back then. I think that it is honestly pretty smart that Disney made new and adapted versions because their movies would be open to a wider audience. The Disney movies probably wouldn't have had as much impact or popularity if they were more similar to the Grimm fairy tales.
ReplyDeleteI heard Disney based their princess stories on the Brothers Grimm, but I was surprised that they did not have to adapt the happily ever afters. A previous comment said the Grimm version of Ariel ends with her death, which is what I was expecting for all of them. I think the endings of Rapunzel and Cinderella in the Grimm versions, while gruesome, are undeniably still happy endings. Especially since there are very clear antagonists who seem to get the endings they deserved, there's very little moral dilemma despite all the death and torture.
ReplyDelete