6 minute read
Origins of Disney stories
ORIGINS OF
Disney Stories
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MANDy MAH
Growing up, many were entranced by the magic that Disney brought into their lives. The cartoonish characters donning in layers of sparkling fabric, Prince Charmings saving fast asleep princesses, and ordinary pumpkins transforming into extravagant carriages introduced a whole new world in addition to our own. These happily ever afters will likely be passed on from generation to generation, influencing children for years to come. While these stories are etched into everyone’s lives, the stories that Disney took inspiration from are fading into the background more and more.
Although many have noticed that Disney stories share similarities with those from the Brothers Grimm (Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm) and Hans Christian Anderson, few take notice that some of these stories can be traced back to decades before the aforementioned notable fairy tale authors began writing.
Many variations of the stories popularized by Disney can be found throughout each decade, with each author putting their own spin on it. However, the one factor they all share in common is apparent: they are not nearly as magical as Disney’s version.
“I think it’s interesting to learn about the source and see how different it was, how it was originally conceived. When you’re able to read it as literature and are not very attached to the story it’s fine … But [the stories] shouldn’t be told to young children because they would get too attached to what they hear as a story,” said Guillermina Castellanos, a third-grade teacher at Sandpiper.
Disney maintained a pattern of lightening up stories that might not have been seen as fairy tale stories for children otherwise. But is anything lost when Disney glorifies these stories?
Carlo Collodi’s “Pinocchio”:
Pinocchio, a puppet carved by Geppetto, is troublemaking to the point of being malicious. As soon as Pinocchio is created, he begins to get involved in all sorts of schemes; he lies and lands Geppetto into jail, kills the Talking Cricket when the cricket admonishes him, and is often led astray at school. Eventually, Pinocchio finds himself swallowed by the Terrible Shark and discovers that Geppetto is also there. Pinocchio decides to save Geppetto and is turned into a real boy by the Fairy with Azure Hair. “I think this story, at least with the background of contrasting it to the more popularized version, would find a home with almost anyone who feels disillusioned by society in any kind of fashion.”
– Nolan Scheetz, a senior at Carlmont who is planning to attend film school
The original version of The Lion King (an African legend about Sundiata Keita):
Sundiata’s mother flees into exile with her children (including Sundiata or “the lion king”) in order to protect them from a power struggle in the palace. Sundiata then builds alliances while in exile after people express their wishes for him to return and take his rightful place on the throne. In this version of the story, the “lion king” has a disability. “With The Lion King, the original story had a disability that was taken out. In the Disney version, it was just a normal lion. It might have been better in a way if they had Simba have a disability because it would be more inclusive, realistic, and portray his struggles more in a different way.”
- Nikhila Raman, a senior at Carlmont
The little mermaid visits the sea witch to seek help with her unrequited love for a prince. The sea witch makes a deal with her: her tail will be transformed into a pair of legs in exchange for her voice. The little mermaid accepts this offer. Although she is able to walk on land, every step makes her feet feel as if knives are pricking them. She eventually fails to marry the prince and watches as the prince takes another princess as his bride. Suddenly, the sea witch cuts her another deal: the little mermaid can still live if she murders the prince. Again, the little mermaid accepts the offer. However, when she sees the infatuated prince again, she finds that she is unable to kill him. She casts one longing look back at him and jumps into the sea, dissolving into sea foam. “It’s like the author created this story so that when you see foam, you think: ‘oh, it’s the little mermaid.’ There’s also something good or important about having children understand that life is not always rosy and that things won’t always turn out as we would hope or expect. But even so, that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. Like in The Little Mermaid, you can see something positive in this story; the little mermaid became something beautiful in the end.”
- Guillermina Castellanos
The sleeping beauty is impregnated by a king while she is still unconscious and ends up falling in love with him. The king’s wife, the queen, becomes jealous and orders the royal cook to stew the sleeping beauty’s children and feed them to the king. She then prepares a fire for the sleeping beauty to jump into. Both of the queen’s schemes were unsuccessful, and the king ends up ordering her to jump into her own fire. He later takes the sleeping beauty as his wife. Moral of the story: “Those whom fortune favors, Find good luck even in their sleep.” “This story just struck me with how dark it turned at the end. I don’t remember the Disney version all too well, but I don’t recall it being this dark whatsoever. The moral seems off for what the story promoted, and it’s not one that can really be followed in life.”
-Nolan Scheetz
As these stories begin to become forgotten, many question if the abandonment of these stories is negative. They ponder if the original versions and older variations would appeal to a modern-day audience.
“None of the [older versions of the] stories seemed positive to me. I think nothing positive was lost. However, I do think that a lot of the underlying themes, which include highlighting the different life elements, were lost. They have more of a storyline where things like it happen in real life, but Disney glorifies it, so it takes away the more realistic problems,” Raman said.
Otherwise, Raman believes that the happier, censored Disney version is to be preferred.
Thinking of the young students she often interacts with, Castellanos said, “I don’t feel comfortable sharing them (the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Pinnochio in particular) with children. Maybe it’s fine for older children, but not young children that are really so young that innocence is like a gift at that point. Children who want to believe there is a Santa Claus; children who want to believe there’s an Easter Bunny. There’s something beautiful about that innocence. It’s those same children that believe in princesses and happily ever afters. And there’s something very special about that. I know it’s not reality. It’s not true, but there’s something special.”
Although both Raman and Castellanos themselves would rather listen to the Disney version and prefer to have those to be the ones shared with children, Scheetz feels that if the older variations or originals were to be made into films, it’s possible they could find the way into the hearts of the right audience.
“I think that [Sleeping Beauty’s] original story would appeal to fans of Lars Von Trier, which is still a rather niche group. I think parts of the story are a bit too conventionally fairytale to completely fit with that audience, but the almost random bursts of darkness could appeal to that sentimentality. [The Little Mermaid] would appeal to a generally broad audience, given the themes of unrequited love and sacrifice,” Scheetz said.
