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.

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.

Why Grimm to Disney???

https://acryliczombie.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/the-horror-of-disney/

While looking through the possible freshman year seminar classes it was relatively easy for me to pick out the classes I wouldn't like but the ones I did became harder to choose between. I knew that if I wanted to really do well in my FYS class it would have to be something I truly enjoy. Growing up I've always loved fairy tales as in The Brother's Grimm and then that faded when Disney movies became more apparent. So having a class where I'll be able to study the correlation between the two was something that sparked my interest. Obviously it was also the luck of the draw since we had to wait to see which one we'd actually be placed in, but I would have picked this one anyway.

Within the seminar I hope to expand my overall knowledge of the topics discussed in The Grimm tales. Along with the transformation and manipulation of the tales to fit the target audience of the Disney ideals. There is probably more that I’ll learn that I’m not expecting but that is part of education, isn’t it? This class allows that to be an option since it is unlike most classes we’ve, or at least, I’ve taken in high school. This seminar is really going to be an fun yet informational class.

http://movies.disney.com/sleeping-beauty

My favorite fairy tale is definitely Sleeping Beauty. I’ve always loved the fact that “true love’s kiss” saves the day, since I am a hopeless romantic. While at the same time the fact that the villain is so powerful and evil, I really just love Maleficent. So the combination of gushy love story and powerful women villain makes for a perfect balance in a fairy tale.  

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/28/sleeping-beauty-ukraine-allegory