Sta.sh
May 30, 2012 by $techgnoticA Thousand Years Tradition of Scaring Children at BedtimeContinues for Children of All Ages
News of the discovery of 500 “new” fairy tales collected over 150 years ago in Germany and locked away in a forgotten archive has me thinking about the enduring importance of these narrative treasures in the lives of human societies worldwide. My worry, have fairy tales been marginalized by modernism?
Do you remember being read fairy tales as a child? Or was your earliest immersion into children’s literature dominated by Dr. Seuss and The Magic Treehouse series? And how long was it before a Harry Potter novel or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other TV cartoon characters captured your imagination and supplanted parents as curators of storytelling time? Has something been lost in the shift away from the classic fairy tales toward a less “upsetting” childhood syllabus? Has a part of our identity been denied us, an important anchoring to our past generations and their most basic teachings been allowed to come undone and set us adrift?
Check out this chart I found from a few years ago
Top Bedtime Stories of 2008
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle (1969)
Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves (1971)
The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson (1999)
Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne (1926)
Aliens Love Underpants, Claire Freedman & Ben Cort (2007)
Thomas and Friends from The Railway Series, Rev.W.Awdry (1945)
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (1908)
What a Noisy Pinky Ponk!, Andrew Davenport (2008)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Robert Southey (1837)
Top 10 Fairy Tales We No Longer Read
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Hansel and Gretel
Cinderella
Little Red Riding Hood
The Gingerbread Man
Jack and the Beanstalk
Sleeping Beauty
Beauty and the Beast
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Emperor's New Clothes
From a poll of 3,000 British parents, by TheBabyWebsite.com
At some point along the way, parents were told that fairy tales are too violent for children’s bedtimes, a sure cause of fright and insomnia, a possible cause of more serious psychic trauma. Even when classic tales like “Peter Pan” are given a Walt Disney film treatment, all of the much darker parts of the story are “disappeared” to deliver a more harmless and more commercial product. (Tip to the wise reader: Be sure at some point in your adulthood to treat yourself to the more satisfying original sources of everything you’ve ever enjoyed as a movie or TV show; whether it’s “Peter Pan,” “Dracula,” or “James Bond,” you’ll be glad you did.)
Societies tend to censor in their pursuit of public tranquility, but it’s hard to keep a good story down (suppressed). Fairy tales keep reemerging at regular intervals in new, transformed, even futurist iterations. The basic lessons these stories teach are simply too resonant with the vibrations of the basic questions in our lives recurring generation after generation, to not be as a riveting and relevant as when they were first circulated in voices by candlelight. This week it’s the opening of “Snow White and the Huntsman.” Early reviews indicate that the film improves upon the main “lesson” of physical beauty possibly disguising a black heart together with inner goodness being the truest beauty has been improved upon. According to early reviewers this updated version emphasizes the severity of the overemphasis on attractiveness in women’s lives generally and the modern woman’s struggle to be herself and rise by her own abilities rather than on her looks. What on it’s trailer surface looks to be just the sort of summer fantasy and action entertainment I’ll certainly enjoy on Thursday midnight – also presents some important life lessons that younger viewers need to know. The fairy tale, and its sacred mission, lives!
It’s not just in new retellings of classic fairy tales that this desire to revisit these stories resurfaces in later adulthood. The current inundation of competing movie superhero canons seems to reflect the need to sort out basic human questions about right and wrong, patriotism and treason, honor and deceit, valor and cowardice, etc. Yes, I am especially thinking of Joss Whedon's wonderful Avengers screenplay. The complexity and gray areas that make these issues so difficult in adulthood makes our basic grounding in the ethics and absolutes of a childhood fairy tale “education’ all the more important.
Fairy tales forewarn and prepare us for a life that will be loaded with dangers – but dangers that can be intelligently calibrated so that we’ll know when we must be brave and fight despite the odds, and when we should retreat to seek a safer way around. Moving beyond films, I am hopeful an upcoming video game being developed by Krillbrite entitled "Among The Sleep" brings this classic fairy tale aesthetic to the gaming medium with a compelling and rich narrative to go with it. I also believe the Latin American literary movement known as “magical realism,” exemplified in novels like Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is another example of the reemergence of the fairy tale in “adult” storytelling. Not to be confused with “surrealism,” in “magical realism” the narrative remains absolutely realistic – but with the moments of magical epiphany just as emphatically asserted to be “real.” The effect is a powerful statement that there is more to life than what the controlling “order” demands life must be limited to. The novels of Isabel Allende also comes to mind as examples of "magical realism”. In his “real” fairy tales, Marquez teaches that there is real magic in our lives, but it is only attainable by those with the truest and most faithful hearts.
2. It definately shows an empowerment of women but also gives an interesting twist. They still have a very fragile look and feel but show power through that.
3. Beauty and the Beast- then again I couldn't watch Rudolf as a child either because the Abomidable Snow Man scared the crap out of me.
4. I loved how exciting Peter Pan was, I always wanted to jump off my bed and find that I was flying. (Though I found out soon it usually issued a loud boom and caused everyone to come running to see what was wrong with me.)
5. Honestly? Cinderella. I mean please, the originals date all the way back to ancient China and are way more symbolic that finding "Prince Charming". Please, lets hear more about foot binding and the ingenious part of Cinderella that got her out of tough scrapes.
2. Even though I find it kind of interesting, I would once love to see fairy tales that are less famous being made into movies rather than always re-filming movie stories again and again, by changing the stories in such way that they are hardly recognisable and definitely unfitting for children, who will probably watch these version rather than reading the books. Even though it is said that the originals are brutal, since they are setted in 'non-modern' times, I think they are alright.
3. I was terrified by a kind of Russian version of "Snowwhite", with the witch "Baba Jaga", I can't recall the whole title, since it was Slavonian, and I am normally really bad with titles. I was afraid of the witch, but I still loved the story just like the Grimm version.
4. Many, too many to count them. Somehow, all of them brought me spirit and ignited my fantasy!
5. Although I just love the 'modern' Disney versions of Rapunzel and The Frog Prince, both movies have nearly nothing to do with the originals, although I'm intrigued that Disney even decided to call the Rapunzel-movie "Tangled" only to be able to 'trick' young boys into watching this movie. However, they still have some part of the original fairy tale-essence in it: magic, love, fights and whatsoever.
2- I think it has nothing to do with empowering females, they are already seen as badass heroines, so there's nothing new about it. I think it gives a bit more of reallity instead of the fragile little princess, 'cause we all know, in the middle ages like snow white, even women were badass.
3- Yes, Hansel and Grettel.
4- Yes, the last unicorn. I remember watching the movie all over the time and always understanding that there are no boundaries on what you believe, and that the only barrier is yourself.
5- Yes, Tangled. Although I love the movie, I think it runs away from the story we all know, and they turned the princess into a teenage "highschool musical" kind of princess... But that's only my opinion.
2) It doesn't bug me at all honestly; just as long as they didn't mess up the story. And I'm very neutral about whether it did or didn't, it doesn’t to me but to another it may.
3) I always thought Hansel and Gretel was quite frightening. I love to eat sweets and just the thought of eating a candy house will lead me to my end, kind of makes me regret ever having a sweet tooth.
4) I say The Golden Key was a great one! I just have to know what was in that box!!! The suspense just makes me so thrilled about what could be in it, but at the same time it makes me wish I had that key.
5) I would have to say that the latest Alive in Wonderland movie and the latest Alice game Madness returns have messed up what my younger siblings see of Alice in Wonderland now. Yes they were good to watch and play but it just ticks me off when they make a story into a movie (or game) and leave out some of the important parts!! The one movie I say that did this story right is the one made in 1998; that one did a splendid job at keeping the story's original essence.
2. this answer might be slightly biased b/c the newest rendition of Alice in Wonderland is one my all time favorate movies. >.> i havent seen Snow White and the Huntsman YET but it looks fantastic. i am a great fan of fairytale remixes. They do seem to wipe out the "damsel in destress" steryotype often associated with the classic DISNEY fairytales. with that steryotype gone, it definately gives the leading female a far more heroic presence.
3. i was never terrified by fairytales. when i was little my dad would read me Harry Potter before i went to bed and my mom didnt want me to be influenced by the helpless princesses, so most of my fairytale exposure was from my peers in grade school (when i finnally saw Dinsney's version of Sleeping Beauty at about age 8, i only saw that dragon as the coolest thing ever). FAR more recently though (only a few weeks ago) i was discussing Little Red Riding-Hood with a friend and some of the subjects we explored gave me the chills.
4. i have always love Aladin and i still do (favorate Disney movie). recently i watched and read the Arabian Nights and it sparked my imagination (genies are especially facinating) but i have a long list of favorates. The movie Tangled based off Repunzel was an enjoyable twist on the orriginal and had a heart-warming ending. Cinderella is just imposible for me to dislike b/c it's all about how anyone can be a "princess" AND can be aplied to real life (as you can see from the dozens of movies based off it).
5. ok...Mulan (not a classic fairytale i know...) is an awesome movie... but is painfully inacurate. it is based off an ancient [Chinese?] poem about pain, and suffering, and sacrifice. last i checked there wasn't a comic-relief-gardian-miget-dragon named Mushu. -__-
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(i apologise for the spelling errors and biased-ness...pls dont hurt me....T^T)
1)What is your favorite classic fairy tale and why do you suppose it has a special significance for you?
I know it was in an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm and was called 'Fearnot' but I can't remember what the original was called. The idea that the main character travelled all over & diced with demons etc to learn what fear was, only to come back home and find what scared him the most was a loved one dying, has always resonated with me. It's a case of 'don't go searching for what is right in front of you'!
3) Is there a particular fairy tale that terrified you as a child?
A tale called Nix Nought Nothing...no reason I can specify, it just completely freaked me out.
Fairy tales will always have relevance and, if not read as children, there are enough books to keep the basic themes alive (even if they are made somewhat more clinical) Even Harry Potter (not a personal favourite of mine at all) borrows heavily from farytale themes - an orphaned child fighting the hordes of evil and triumphing by his 'goodness & love'? - all it lacks is a beanstalk.
A very good, if slightly wordy, read is a book called 'Farytales and the art of subversion' which looks, in part, at the way every culture and each time period has changed common fary tales to suit the cultural desires prevalent at the time. Personally, I think that fairy tales are a part of culture and they are not so much changed, as re-told with different emphasis.
Fairy tales originated as an oral tradition, and there are many, many different versions of each, some called by different names, when they are the same story in essence, just with an altered ending or a different slant to the tale. It is in the nature of the fairy tale to reflect the fears or desires of the culture surrounding them.The nature of Disney & Hollywood is more to bring in revenue and provide entertainment for a large & varied audience than to provide life lessons, however their lack of 'deeper meaning' as such still, I think, provides an adequate comment on current society.
2)The films themselves are well done. Snow White’s new version is a good separation from how Disney portrayed it. I am also a major Tim Burton fan so Alice in Wonderland is something I find awesome. I agree that it is female empowerment; however you are taking away the original story basis of it. Snow white was not a warrior, Alice was a curious little girl, I get that they are trying to make women feel like individuals, but it is still taking away some of the principles of the story.
3)Honestly (I know this might not count) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow scared me the most, a shorter version not the original. It’s the original thriller, the suspense of when it will happen. Plus (other than churches) the only place he can’t enter are covered bridges. He will always find you.
4)See question 1
5)Essentially, the movie with Heath Ledger and Matt Damon in the one where they play the brothers Grimm and go to this enchanted forest, where most of the fairy tales we grew up are all mashed together. I mean how does that make any sense. No disrespect to ether of them, but the movie was just overcomplicated; the writers really screwed them over.
As much as it pains me to say this, the TV show Grimm also sort of butchered these stories. As much as I love the TV show and what it does, I have to say it does sort of mess up the classic tales. I mean, they sort of did a Cinderella aftermath one where she was a bat like creature that murdered her stepmother, stepsister, and tried to murder her other stepsister.
American McGee however turned Alice in Wonderland into a murderous, awesome video game that I would love to see a movie out of. I get that it does misrepresent the story and does so in the sequel as well, but the other two just completely butchered the stories. At least with American McGee’s Alice and Alice: the Madness returns, he stuck to the major storyline of the book. And don’t even get me started on how Disney has ruined these stories.
P.S. can you imagine if pokemon did this [link]
2. I'm not sure how to feel. On one hand, I feel like it's changing the story and its message too much (even if its subtle, a pebble dropped into a pond can make huge ripples). On the other hand, pull it off correctly and it can work perfectly.
3. It wasn't really fairytales that scared me. As a child, I was scared by villains like Scar and Jafar, some excellent Disney fairy tale villains. Though their stories are made less gruesome for children, their stories none the less served as my fairytales as a child, and taught me many things about life.
4. I'm not sure on this one. I was reading big stories when most kids were working on their fairytales. The original Aladdin (from China) was definitely one of them. The fantastic worl of Aladdin drew me in and made me imagine far off worlds and lands.
5. Rygar most certainly takes the cake here. If you're bored and want an interesting storyline, it's fun. Otherwise, you'll be pulling your hair out due to its mind numbing simplicity, simple plotline, name and creature theft, and its overall lack of morale.