In my last post, I briefly talked about how people often view fairytale love as the ideal. However, a lot of people don’t realize that the original tales that our commonplace Disney stories sprang from are actually pretty gruesome. The original “Snow White” ends with the evil queen dancing herself to death in red-hot iron shoes. In “The Little Mermaid,” the mer princess trades in her tongue (or voice) for a magical potion from a sea witch that makes her human just as Ariel does. However, while the original little mermaid gains legs, it is said that when she walks it feels as though she is walking on sharp knives. On top of that, she never wins the love of the prince and instead turns into sea foam. If you’re interested in more original “happily ever after” tales, you can look them up on Google or in a library. It’s interesting to think that such joyous children’s films came from stories that initially were more horrific than happy.
Oh and don’t get me wrong, I still love the Disney films. Sometimes all people need is a story with a happy ending.
World of Wonder 