Happy Birthday, Jacob Grimm

[filkertom]

On this date in 1785. He became famous for being transformed by cosmic rays into the Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed...






... Sorry. Wrong guy. This Grimm, and his brother Wilhelm, collected Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Different approach from normal: What fairy tales bug you the most? For me, trying to describe the plot of Rumplestiltskin is like trying to describe the plot of The Rocky Horror Show. It makes absolutely no frickin' sense at all.

Comments

[mstrhypno.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the related, but not really fairy tale-ish Hunchback of Notre Dame and the extreme re-write that it got at the hands of several groups, Disney being probably the most egregious!

Every time I see one of these re-written things on film or dvd, whether from the House of Mouse or other companies, all I can do is sit back and wonder at how traumatized some people will be when (and if) they ever see or read the original story.

Grimm Brothers seemed to have a thing for Matri- and Patricide, mutilation, torture, abuse, starvation and denial of rights.

Anderson was just plain sadistic.

But we have to remember that, with the Grimms, at least, they were collecting local folk and fairy tales, not necessarily writing them as original works, themselves.

Which speaks to a cultural climate that had to be in place during that period, that scares the living hell out of me!

Of course, if you look at many of Disney's films, especially his animated features, and even some of his nature studies (like the one about the squirrel), a LOT of them START with the Mother (primarily) or Father, or BOTH parents of the main character getting killed off in the first twenty minutes...! It is damn-near formulaic in many of these stories, from Grimm to Anderson to Disney.

My question would be - WHY is that seemingly so necessary?