Did Disney corrupt fairy tales?

Question

Do children of today even know names like the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen?

Answer 1

No Disney has always been G-Rated. Its the horny adults that turn it into something nasty.

Answer 2

I think time corrupted fairy tales. My old Brother's Grimm Book is extremely violent and disturbing. Most fairy tales were originally intended for adults not children. And in the case of the Brother's Grimm they tended to be some what political as the Brother's Grimm were active in the Unification of Germany. In the original Sleeping Beauty she is actually raped in the forest. I think Hans Christian Anderson had a softer take on fairy tales. My old book is little and pretty, definitely meant for children. I don't think Disney is completely reasonsible in fact I think they will maintain an interest in fairytales for generations to come. Children see the movie but then the like the books too. But I would hope children don't get into the old brother's Grimm because they scared the crap out of me when I was little.

Answer 3

a cartoon or movie is a visual medium it has a different impact on the mind than reading a book. Really it uses a different part of the brain

Now to your question Hans Christian Anderson was an Writer
his stories were original so yeah you could say Disney Corrupted Him.

The Grimm brothers collected other peoples stories and published them in a media format other than their original.
aka changed verbal stories into print. the way Disney changed
printed stories into animation. So if there was any corruption of the stories it started with the Grimm brothers.

Before being printed the stories were alive each story teller would change the story to fit their own style and their audience's mood. My grandfather was a great story teller he kept the books closed when he retold the fairy tales. that way he could add the wonderful colorful details of imagination that the set in permanent ink printed word lacks. In his version Red riding hood's basket was always full of my favorite holiday foods. small details of imagination like that are missing from just "read' stories

Answer 4

The problem with this is that even before HCA and the Grimms , fairy tales were once stories that were told around the hearths of our ancestors, and were listened to by everyone, young and old. Disney stripped out the violence, gore, sex and the more complicated plots to make it G-rated, thus debasing what had been a part of our history, and turning the stories into nothing more than nursery rhymes. I think it's a crying shame that fairy tales have been made into strictly kid stuff.

Answer 5

I think the problem is that we have very different understandings of children and childhood today than when the fairy tales were written. Children's literature of the Romantic period (i.e. the Grimms) differs dramatically from lit. of the Enlightenment because their understandings of children's brains and how they learn was very different. The differences are even more striking today. Disney is a perfect example of what we think is appropriate for children: sterile, saccharine tales with happy endings that have underlying messages about race and sexuality (that, admittedly, kids probably don't get).

I do think Disney took wonderful, unique literature (Anderson, Grimms, Hunchback of Notre Dame, etc.) and made crappy adaptations. Check out Cocteau's 1946 "La Belle et la bête" if you want to see a good fairy tale adaptation.

Answer 6

well, from a literary view, yes disney did corrupt the traditional fairy tales. i recently took a childrens lit class and we read most of andersens and grimms tales. i thought i knew my fairy tales!!! dont rely on what disney tells us as children. while there might be some resemblance of the old fairy tales they definitely do not tell the whole story. but as kids, they shouldn't be told as they were written because of the grisly and gruesome details.

Answer 7

Disney corrupted more than fairy tales! Look what he did to Kipling's 'Jungle Book' for crying out loud!

Some of the corruption is kind of cute, though.

To ensure that children know the real deal, find a book of the Brothers Grimm and read it to them. My kids thoroughly enjoyed them even after watching the Disney junk.

Answer 8

The princess didn't kiss the frog. She threw him across the wall.


What child needs to read that? Disney has an audience - kids. They cater to that audience. If you want your children to know the true fairy tales, you teach them. But they need to be at an age of understanding.

Have you also ever noticed that the majority of "bad guys" in Disney films have accents? Forget about corrupting fairy tales. How about creating stereotypes?

Answer 9

If you take them for what they are, original story aside, Disney has never done anything wrong. Oh and when i was a kid i certainly knew who The brothers Grimm and Hans Anderson were.

Answer 10

Twisted? Hunchback and the mermaid died in the original fairy-tale.
Would you prefer your kids to see something with a very sad end where the main hero dies ?
Children are so sensitive, I for example used to be down and cry for a long time after seeing a sad cartoon.
I agree that Disney just exploited some fairy tales, nothing wrong with that as long as it is for good!

Answer 11

no,of course not.i can assure you that children today know about Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen.It's not Disney's fault if parents don't give their children the proper education.