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147 Comments
- gbarberi, on 12/17/2007, -1/+175Fairy tales originally were meant to entertain adults as well as children. Adults would also use them to scare children into behaving.
This was before Disney got a hold of them. - icianom, on 12/17/2007, -1/+98I always thought Cinderella's 'glass slipper' was a metaphor for her virginity. She lost in on a flight of stairs, real classy.
- DanteDefiance, on 12/17/2007, -0/+94"The Lost Children:
What It’s Like: Hansel & Gretel meets Saw 2"
.....we need this. - inactive, on 12/17/2007, -2/+81If Im not mistaken, disney bastardized the Hunchback of Notre Dame too. Not just the addition of silly characters, but the primary story itself. Ah well, they have to make cartoons "kid friendly". Sad thing tho, is that many kids think that these films ARE the actual stories.
- Androfire, on 12/17/2007, -5/+58These stories were altered to suit the audience? Call Robert Langdon!
- Vic333, on 12/17/2007, -1/+51Disney could spin a happy story out of Nazi Germany.
- peterinjapan, on 12/17/2007, -1/+48Speaking of Lost Children, Peter Pan is a great read. Peter as to keep going to London to get more Lost Boys because the old ones keep being killed by pirates. Hilarious.
- MillionsLivio, on 12/17/2007, -2/+48Alice in Wonderland was also changed by Disney. The original creator was a bit odd to say the least, Marilyn Manson is actually making a movie based off of him.
- davidrools, on 12/17/2007, -0/+45I took a children's literature class back in college (good place to meet ladies, btw) and we talked about a lot of these. The true origins of these stories were all in oral traditions, and there were often several "original" written versions based on different adaptations of the oral tradition. So as much as I'm not a fan of the disney empire, they really just continued the tradition of modifying stories to suit their audiences.
- christophelyon, on 12/17/2007, -0/+43That's true... In the original story by Victor Hugo, Esmeralda is sentenced to death and hung. Then, Quasimodo takes her body to an underbasement and stays there with her until he dies. Their remains are found years later, so entangled that they fell in dust when people try to separate the two skeletons.
- davidrools, on 12/17/2007, -0/+41Interesting. In another "original" version, the stepsisters chop off some of their toes in order to fit into the glass slipper. Then the prince takes the first sister but the birds tell him to look at the blood oozing out of the slipper. Second stepsister does the same thing. Both of them get their eyes pecked out by the birds, then Cinderella gets the happy ending.
- Albionshores, on 12/17/2007, -0/+32Traditionally Pinocchio was a little horror shop on the face of it. The original story was only the first half of the story as it is today. Pinocchio is grabbed by bandits, lynched from a tree and left to die. He can't die and so is left hanging where he is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio#Original_st ... - Tippis, on 12/17/2007, -1/+32They suited the audience (kids) in the original version --- the new versions were altered to suit moral-panicked *parents*...
- Heracles, on 12/17/2007, -0/+29Or what about Little Red Riding Hood? The wolf convinces her to eat some flesh and blood of the grandmother, then has her taking of her clothes and getting in bed with him (Charles Perrault, 1697).
- thugok, on 12/17/2007, -1/+27Please don't breed.
- mushoo, on 12/17/2007, -3/+27Which one?
What translation?
What version?
The omitted books as well?
The reader to go along with it?
If so, which denomination's?
Not that it would matter, the thing is supposed to be perfect since it's the word of an infallibly omniscient omnipotent being, thus any fault or error we may find on it believers will simply dismiss as an error on us stupid readers. - Anub1s, on 12/17/2007, -0/+22Dead.
- badassninja, on 12/17/2007, -8/+28I have always HATED the little mermaid.
So hearing the real story made me jump up and down like I was going ape *****. - LordVance, on 12/17/2007, -0/+17I think the heated iron shoes have more to do with the torture side, and the dancing for days with no food or water has more to do with the death side.
- dippindots, on 12/17/2007, -0/+17I wished the author would cite her sources.
- Superflks, on 12/17/2007, -2/+19Bedknobs and Broomsticks was Nazi occupied England. Not too far off!
- Emuu911, on 12/17/2007, -0/+16Back then people really didn't consider children the way we do today. Most females were considered grown and "marriageable" by the age of 13, and most men were grown by the age of 16. They grew up a lot faster because of the precariousness of their time (plagues, war, general shortness of life spans). So these fairy tales were a lot harsher in order to get the point across about behavior in the short time they were "children". Also a lot of the parents would not have seen the 'benefit' in shielding their children from reality. A child shielded was a child that might not grow up at all.
- simonpainter, on 12/17/2007, -2/+18"kid friendly" or "merchandising friendly"? The more cutsie and trademarkable characters you add in the more plush toys you can sell.
- Albionshores, on 12/17/2007, -1/+15Lewis Carroll was a genius though.
- offspring06, on 12/17/2007, -0/+13Now someone isn't even considered grown up at the age of 18.
- weeeezzll, on 12/17/2007, -2/+14I don't think that that applies to the large majority of the people on earth who WON'T be going to heaven. They will in fact, be getting the exact opposite which is eternal "weeping and gnashing of teeth." and “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” and “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”.
We're gonna party like its fo-our ninty-nine!!!! - weeeezzll, on 12/17/2007, -2/+14If you think that the apocalypse is a happy ending then perhaps YOU should read the Bible. Even for "good" Christians who are taken up to heaven to be with God, they will be leaving behind hundreds of friends and family. Good times!
- DharmaTurtle, on 12/17/2007, -2/+14Not sure if I follow your metaphor. She lost her virginity on some stairs sure.
But she lost her virginity while running away from a prince? Before midnight? In the middle of a royal ball? Only to have virginity restored to her about a week later? In front of her stepmother and two stepsisters? WTF???
Methinks you just like thinking about sex. - Anub1s, on 12/17/2007, -1/+12Personally I can't wait for the rendition of American McGee's Alice to be made. Supposed to have Sarah Michelle Gellar in it. Might suck, but still... Slated for next year baby!
- serenityex, on 12/17/2007, -1/+12Actually... that's not how The Little Mermaid ends. I noticed too how the site doesn't provide any citations, and the author's flippant, "oh yeah, she turns into sea foam" is proof that this was probably written only as an exercise in smart-assery. I can't vouch for the other endings, but if I can spot one flagrant mistake, then the site is bull for all I care. (Real ending of Mermaid: Yes, she jumps off the boat, but before she can turn into foam, she transforms into an angel and is given the chance to achieve immortality, which is what she wanted all along, not the prince. My citation? I own the book of Hans Christian Anderson's works.)
- MagicToenail, on 12/17/2007, -0/+11"No, Jenny, Sleeping Beauty was actually raped in her sleep and then she and her kids were murdered."
No ***** they change them - gnick, on 12/17/2007, -7/+17IIRC, Esmeralda was hanged. If she was hung, that's a very different twist that Disney omitted.
- MikeOSX, on 12/17/2007, -1/+11In the French version of the Cinderella story, it is a fur slipper that was left behind. This element was often found to be a sexual innuendo. Only Cinderella's "fur slipper" fit right.
- bemenaker, on 12/17/2007, -0/+9Disney screwed up all the fairy tales. They were dark and sinister for a reason. I grew up on Grimm's, and I knew that they weren't even the originals. Well, most of them. Used to drive my mom crazy, dad reading my sister and I Grimm's after dinner.
- astrotrain, on 12/17/2007, -0/+9Already did.... "Education for Death" (1943)... follows the life of a boy from birth to his death in the Nazi army....
"Nazi's....I hate these guys!"
-Indy - edwartica, on 12/17/2007, -1/+10And of course, the seven dwarves are not so kind to Snow White either. She gets her revenge though - basically slaughters the whole lot of them.
- souljaboytellem, on 12/17/2007, -1/+10The best one is where SLeeping Beauty was raped during sleep, lol @ Disney
- WhiskeyLemur, on 06/30/2009, -1/+10As far as I know, the Grimm fairy tales are actually sanitized adaptations of earlier folklore - they collected stories from peasants, not always first-hand, and then published them in a prettier form.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm - theodenking, on 12/17/2007, -0/+9Yeah, I had a book full of the Grimm brothers' originals when I was a kid. Much better than the Disney versions. Although they didn't have snappy music.
- charlietuna, on 12/17/2007, -0/+9Don't forget that back in the "good old days" public execution was a spectator sport.
- souljaboytellem, on 12/17/2007, -0/+9So no other "Bible" besides yours eh, guess the jews and muslims will be pissed
- ispellkonfusion, on 12/17/2007, -0/+8I always found it interesting that Ariel had to lose her voice and spread her legs in order to catch her dream man.
- gnick, on 12/17/2007, -0/+8As far as I'm concerned, just communicating successfully is all that matters - Which you did well. I just wanted to make a joke.
- epistemological, on 12/17/2007, -0/+8As a child Baba Yaga scared the crap out of me.
- teaBagger, on 12/17/2007, -2/+10Last I heard - Cinderella, Snow White, and the Little Mermaid were working for "The Lady in Red" escort agency.
Cindy in Bondage, Snow White as a Double Act, and the Little Mermaid as Fetish... - benroy, on 12/17/2007, -2/+9So I guess the "Pied Piper of Hamelin" was about Whores, Fleeing Criminals and Sex Offenders seeking a better life in the new world.
If so..they made it...here. - AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -5/+12The Grimm Brothers wrote the originals, which were the ones mentioned in this article. Disney's the ones who edited them.
- richpav, on 12/17/2007, -0/+6Here's some trivia for you. Originally Cinderella wore squirrel fur slippers. Somewhere there was a mistake in translation and they've been made of glass ever since.
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/cinderella-did-not ... - edwartica, on 12/17/2007, -2/+8Sarah Michelle Gellar and suck in the same comment.
'Scuse me, I gotta go find somewhere private. FAST! - mbthompson, on 12/17/2007, -0/+6I'm surprised they didn't reference Pinocchio. He squashes Jimminy Crickett under foot!
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