I wonder why Disney changed the stories?!

[Sheldonrs]

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10457

Disney movies and the original stories behind them.

[Plaidman]

Also: Disney owns Marvel.

[iradney]

Yeah, I had a compilation of the original stories...I don't think Little Mermaid would've been quite the same with the original ending...

[Plaidman]

Man, the original little mermaid story made me cry. Stupid vain prince. Though not as much as The Little Matchgirl. Then again, I read that when I was like 5, so I had to ask my mom what it meant, and she told me truth. "She died of being cold".

[Marmalady]

It's the same with the Hunchback of Notre Dame - not a lot of 'and they all lived happily ever after' in that original story. As for Hercules - speaking as a bit of a Greek mythology buff, there was very little that bore any relation to the myths, but they wouldn't exactly make for happy viewing for kiddies either....

[terakhan]

Okay, please tell me you are joking. Re-read that description of the original Sleeping Beauty, and tell me if Disney would touch that story with a 10 foot pole, even to push it away.

Admittedly with today's weird movie market, it could still work, but would never get high reviews, or even sales. Certainly not from Disney though.

That writer did leave out another story though. As I recall, Pinocchio was not quite as happy an ending as animated film version. Though its nowhere near as bad as THOSE stories.

[NorthernZel]

As I recall, Pinocchio was not quite as happy an ending as animated film version.

Well, kinda.

In the animated movie, Pinocchio turns into a human after he and Geppetto escape from the whale.

In the original novel, Pinocchio is still a puppet - but Geppetto is very ill after the whale incident, so Pinocchio has to take a job in order to provide Geppetto the food and medicine that he needs. (IIRC, the job consisted in pulling water up from a well, and he substituted a donkey that had died from fatigue. The donkey was actually one of Pinocchio's old schoolmates (one of the boys that were transformed into donkeys.))

After seeing Pinocchio's great devotion, unselfishness and love for Geppetto, the Good Fairy then chooses to reward Pinocchio by turning him into a human.

[Sheldonrs]

..Though not as much as The Little Matchgirl. Then again, I read that when I was like 5, so I had to ask my mom what it meant, and she told me truth. "She died of being cold".

That one always made me cry too. So did "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde, until I got to the anti-semitic part.

[tollbaby]

My ex has always called this process "Disneyfication". They bastardize everything they touch Why? Because depressing doesn't sell. And Disney is in the business of selling, whether we're talking about movies, vacations, toys... they're in it for the profit. And happy endings ensure decent profits

[lordlundar]

Yeah, I've already looked into the story of Cinderella. There's over 80 versions with various names spanning centuries, and most of them are pretty graphic.

[MoonCat]

Old folk tales were often intended as morality tales, so there was a lot of suffering and death in them. For example, the Polish legend of Prince (or Duke) Popiel, a cruel ruler who was eaten alive by mice. Let's see Disney do that!

Disney has had a huge influence on the way Americans tell stories to their children, sanitizing and dumbing down all these old tales. Take Bambi: If you've never read the original book, you'd be surprised to learn there is no Thumper or Flower or any other cutesy stuff. The story is about the deer, and it takes a dim view of human beings, especially hunters.

I never have understood how or when Bambi became a woman's name, since the Bambi of both book and film was male.

[42_42_42]

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10457

Disney movies and the original stories behind them.

Why??? Because the stories as recorded by the Bros. Grimm, Perrault, Giambattista Basile, d'Aulnoy, et al weren't exactly what would be considered family friendly fare in 20th C. America. Additionally, most of the tales are rather brief (some are a thousand words or less) and needed "fleshing out" in order to be made into a feature film.

However, don't assume that the stories as published by the above "authors" was the ORIGINAL form. The Bros. Grimm were especially guilty of changing the stories to incorporate morality lessons. As gruesome as they are, they actually "family friendlied" them up, at least according to the standards of their day! After all, they didn't compose the tales, they merely collected and compiled them (and then edited them into publishable volumes). These stories were, before being recorded by the above persons, oral tales passed down from generation to generation, and often the same tale was found in slightly different versions from one village to another. The "true" original forms are, sadly, lost to history.

/Happens to be a "fairy"tale buff, having done research on them for the last 4 years....

[terakhan]

Actually what I was referring to is, from what I hear, Pinocchio kills the cricket acting as his conscience.

That said though, its not just Disney that does it. There is something about our country that forces people to water down story and language in every media in order to make money, unless specifically aiming for 'mature' audiences.

One of my favorite examples is the video game Final Fantasy IV. In the unedited dialog, the phrase 'son of a bitch' is used. In the American release, that line becomes 'spoony bard'. Spoony having all the harshness that calling someone a fool can muster, of course.

Back on topic though, you also have to remember that Disney has all that 'hidden' imagery due to mischievous artists to balance out the watered-down stories.

[NorthernZel]

Actually what I was referring to is, from what I hear, Pinocchio kills the cricket acting as his conscience.

Actually, he does kill the cricket (by throwing a hammer at it), only does the cricket return again later in the story, as a ghost.

I checked the Wikipedia entry though, and actually I read that Carlo Collodi (the original author) really *did* intend to end the story with the death of Pinocchio (by hanging), but Collodi's editor convinced him to extend the story and add some more chapters.

[Plaidman]

Didn't the original Red Riding Hood have the big bad wolf wanting to rape her?