Sunday, September 27, 2015

Little Snow White vs. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs


Disney took the ideas and plots from the Brothers Grimm but diverted from the original tale to make the movie more marketable for his audience. Disney then put a more magical twist on the story by including true love’s kiss and the magic used by the Evil Queen. Even though much of the Disney Movie is different, the story still has similarities to the Grimm’s.

https://knoji.com/images/user/SnowWhite_Juttner.jpg

Similarities
  • “Mirror, Mirror, On the wall…” phrase is the same
  • Queen orders huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and kill her
  • He’s suppose to bring the Queen her some kind of organ  
  • Huntsman lets Snow White go and kills a wild animal instead
  • Snow White is afraid in the forest
  • The cottage is empty; Snow White falls asleep in their beds
  • Dwarfs are mesmerized by Snow White’s beauty
  • Snow White is placed in a glass coffin by the dwarfs
  • Prince and Snow White get married

http://rointheknow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1920x1200.jpg

Differences
Little Snow White
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  • Queen wishes for a child; Little Snow White is her biological daughter
  • Queen orders huntsman to specifically stab Little Snow White to death, and bring back her lungs and liver for her to eat
  • Snow White runs the entire day until she stumbles upon the Dwarf’s cottage
  • The Queen attempts to kill Snow White 3 Times: with tight lace, a poisoned comb, and a poisoned apple
  • The apple is half poison
  • Prince gets the dwarfs to give him Snow White in her coffin
  • A servant accidentally knocks Snow White and the apple chunk comes out of her throat
  • Queen is forced to dance in hot iron shoes until she dies

  • Snow White is the Queen’s step-daughter
  • Prince meets Snow White in the beginning
  • Snow White is much older in the film
  • Queen gives orders to huntsman to bring back Snow White’s heart in a box
  • Many friendly animals comfort Snow White and lead her to the Dwarf’s cottage; the animals play a bigger role in the movie
  • Snow White and animals find the cottage dirty and empty so they clean it together
  • The 7 dwarfs have names to match their personalities
  • Poison Apple is in a spell book; it is to close victim’s eyes in the sleeping death, but True Love’s kiss will cure it
  • Snow White prays at the end of the night
  • The Queen dies as lightning strikes and she falls off the rocks; it is an accident
  • Prince finds Snow White and awakens her with a kiss
  • They rode off into the distance
  • Sunday, September 20, 2015

    Rags to Riches by Magic and Marriage

    Most everyone is familiar with the story of Cinderella. Whether it be the original Disney movie, the Brother’s Grimm tale, or one of the hundreds of interpretations out there in the world. The climb from “rags to riches through magic and marriage” is a classic plot used in so many different forms. But can this “rags to riches” dream be real without magic? Is it even possible to achieve fame, fortune, and happiness without magic?

    One of the most well known interpretations to my generation of this motif is A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff. She’s not actually a princess but she still has the dramatics of losing her father and then having to be raised by her gold-digging stepmother. Within the story Sam, Hilary Duff’s character, is forced to take care of the greedy stepmother and dumb stepsisters. There really isn’t much magic involved just hard work and finding yourself. However, there is the boy, who is suppose to be a prince of some sort as her love interest. But he’s just the star football player while she’s a nobody. You’ll have to watch to see how it ends but the story hits all the points of the motif, which might not be as easy not in the movie world.



    In the real world this motif is much harder to come by as there is no fairytale magic in our everyday lives. And yet it seems many women, in particular, have be able to marry into this ‘goal’ setup by this story. A prime example is Kate Middleton, now known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Her marriage to Prince William was a real life fairytale. She was a complete commoner that married into royal blood. Even though she originally did come from a wealthy family the “rags to riches with magic and marriage” still applies; she married A REAL LIVE PRINCE! Like how much better can that get as a normal person? She became someone to the world when she married William and so did her family. Her sister Pippa became a socialite and focus of the media the second Kate was married. This is just how our version of this motif is possible. Just like many celebrities who weren’t really known and then married a slightly more famous one. This is the world we live in. So yes the “rags to riches by magic and marriage” is realistic, when you take out the magic….



    http://i6.cdnds.net/12/41/hb-kateandpippamiddleton-310512-de.jpg

    http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTA1NDI0OTkwNDNeQTJeQWpwZ15BbWU3MDQ3Nzc1MjE@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg

    http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/4/44/Cinderella_Photo.jpg/revision/20130912022147

    Sunday, September 13, 2015

    Hansel and Gretel

    From a young age I’ve always enjoyed the story of Hansel and Gretel. I think mostly because of the gingerbread house and the idea of living in one, even if the two protagonists almost get eaten by an evil witch. But hey I was young, all I cared about was food. The MGM movie is vastly different, in regards to the little details, to the original Brother’s Grimm tale but the story is still relatively similar.

     
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Hansel-and-gretel-rackham.jpg
    Similarities: 

    • Poor, starving family 
    • Mother’s idea to send them away 
    • Hansel and Gretel use crumbs to mark their path which are eaten by birds 
    • Witch pretends to be an old women 
    • Ginger Bread home  
    • Witch deceives and feeds them to get their trust 
    • Witch has bad eyesight 
    • Gretel forced to cook and Hansel forced to eat 
    • Hansel sticks out a bone instead of finger
    Differences:


    Brother’s Grimm

    MGM Movie
    led into woods

    sent into for berries
    mom dies

    mother wants them back after they go missing
    pushed the witch into the oven

    used magic to switch Hansel and the witch
    Happy ending with father
    there were other children too


    Happy ending with both parents.


    The director most likely made these changes to make the story more family friendly and to add movie elements.

    Wednesday, September 9, 2015

    What is a Fairy Tale?

    http://questgarden.com/83/69/0/090618135615/images/fairytales.jpg

    Since the first day of class I’ve felt that we haven’t been given a specific definition for fairy tales, so it’s been up to us to figure it out.  With that being said my definition of a fairy tale is a short story or tale with magical elements meant to spark imagination.
    Before this class I would have added that fairy tales are meant for children as well but our discussions have lead me to believe otherwise. Obviously the Disney movies are aimed at children while the original Grimm stories have deeper meaning and cruder plot that would most definitely not sit well with young readers. For example, Brittney told us in her presentation about Sleeping Beauty/ Brier Rose that there is an analysis theory believing the whole story is about menstruation and coming of age for a women. How would a 4 year old girl possibly be able to understand that. I as an eighteen year old didn’t even think about that until it was brought to my attention.

    I’ve always been a huge fan of the Disney version, Sleeping Beauty. The whole idea of a prince coming to save you from an evil curse with true love’s first kiss, I mean come on that’s good stuff; especially for a hopeless romantic like myself. And the guy is super strong and brave because he kills the evil dragon, total man candy. But then you read the original Brother’s Grimm version and all that prince comes and saves the day idea is gone and it all starts with the differences between the villain.
    Maleficent, the most bad ass evil villain in all of Disney, isn’t even in the original story. Well she is, but she’s known only as the 13th fairy who curses Brier Rose. After the curse she’s just gone, doesn’t care about it anymore, no follow up on it, nothing. AND she doesn’t even turn into a dragon, LAME!!!! But this original story allowed the creators of the beloved Disney movie to use their imagination to expand beyond the pages and create a fantastic villain. And they continue to use this imagination to take the magic as far as making the 13th fairy a dragon with a grudge.
    http://i.imgur.com/pN2znng.png

    The differences in the movie to the story really solidifies my definition of fairy tales since the story version is more aimed to an adult audience who must use their imagination and the use of curses shows magic. I would venture to say that Disney movies aren't even fairy tales anymore; they're more the child friendly additions. The movies we love would be impossible without the magic and imagination of the original Brother's Grimm Tales.