I never realized the Grimm brothers themselves “softened” lots of their own stories! I thought it was Disney taking directly from original Grimm stories and not Disney taking from revised stories, either revised by Grimm brothers or others
the funny thing is that it seems like every tale for children today is a dark concept that was toned down enough to be considered child friendly. even Disney movies today are going through that process in the development
The Brothers Grimm sought out these grim, cruel folklore traditions because they spoke to the collective trauma and pain of a generation. It’s so true—sometimes exploring the frightening and creepy is exactly what cures and processes our deepest painful thoughts.
It's easy to forget that in premodern times story telling was the simplest method of group entertainment. You spend an evening at the tavern drinking, singing songs, and telling stories. The funny thing is, it's the (relatively) tame and edited published fairy tales that get remembered as bedtime stories.
The scene from Into the Woods where the stepsisters cut their toes to fit in Cinderella’s shoe is closer to Grimm accurate, but I gotta say, it’s AGONY.
It's important to remember that these stories started out as oral tales, told around fires the same way a spooky ghost story might be. The darkness in the first editions were very much on purpose. They were meant to entertain and scare people as opposed to offering moral lessons.
I often think about how Japanese folklore seems dark by Western standards, but I feel like that is largely because European folklore has been softened over the years.
A typical German fairytale. 'And then everyone died. The End. Now go to sleep."
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