the difference in fairy tales between the brother grimm's time and modern day?

Question

What kind of things have changed in fairy tales?

why are they more violent?

why do they no longer include so many references to religion?

is there any major difference in the grammatical structures?

Answer 1

Fairy tales have become more fluffy...

The Grimm versions are far more violent than todays fairy tales, here is the end from Grimms Cinderella, "When the wedding with the king's son was to be celebrated, the
two false sisters came and wanted to get into favor with
cinderella and share her good fortune. When the betrothed
couple went to church, the elder was at the right side and the
younger at the left, and the pigeons pecked out one eye from
each of them. Afterwards as they came back the elder was at
the left, and the younger at the right, and then the pigeons
pecked out the other eye from each. And thus, for their
wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness
all their days."

The Grimm versions have a lot more violence because they were originally intended to keep children from doing things they shouldn't. They were used more as a boogyman story. Don't talk to strangers(witch in the woods), don't wander away, don't bother large animals, don't treat your siblings badly you never know when they will have more power... etc...

Fairy tales now are intended more for entertainment than as a lesson. They are meant to put children to sleep and make them dream of sugarplums. Grimms tales are a mixture of classic folk tales passed down through generations to teach the children how to be an adult.

As far as religion is concerned that is easy people were more religious in the times of Grimm. It was not an option to be religious, you were and that was all there was to it. It's like someone paying your bills now. You really don't have an option, if you want a home a computer and a car you pay your bills. Religion used to be very much like that the church controlled everything and so it really wasn't a choice. People were born religious and religion was a part of every aspect of their lives.

The grammatical structures are different because there are hundreds of years between now and then and so naturally language has changed. Time changes every language and creates new terms while loosing track of old ones. Plus the Bros Grimm used stories that were verbaly passed down and so the language is more of a spoken sceme and has many cultural refrences to the politics and ways of life of the time that are no longer relavant.

Answer 2

There really aren't that many differences in the fairy tales of old and the urban tales of today.

The things that have changes are the ways in which they are presented, with emphsis on the violence (you don't think two children being stuff into an oven alive--to be baked and eaten by a hag, is violent?? and even more violent, having the children pull a switch and shove the witch in the oven and do the deed) ony the weapons and means have changes.

All government and life was dependant on the religion of the country. They were ruled by it. Today religion, though an important part of most lives, is no long the driving force behind the government (at least not in the USA) therefore other elements have replaced it.

Of course there are grammatical changes. Who would read and understand (with clarity) the meaning of these stories today without having them explained to them (in some cases).

I heard a speaker once who stated that all story plots today can be traced back to the basic plot of one of the familiar fairy tales. All that changed are the times.

Answer 3

In our insane race to technology we adopted the accursed term "politically correct" - that's why there are no more religious hints. But in the same said race, we have arrived at a point where most of our tales have become "intellectually incorrect". And that's my personal view for all the excesses of violence we see in the printed pages.