Everyone knows the tale of Cinderella - It starts as a sad story but has a happy ending. Its the perfect love story for all the family. But what if I told you that these stories were not as perfect as you thought? Yes, if you wanted the dark truth about the complex evolution of fairy tales you’ve come to the right place because I’m here to reveal it. This is Tinderella - Fairy Tales Now And Then. So lets get started.
It is thought that most famous fairy tales originated from the german siblings, the Grimm Brothers. Tales such as Cinderella, Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin all originated from the pair. However, although these stories seem innocent, the original versions were darker, scarier and much less PC than the ones we read today. The tales evolved to suit the current era and setting. For example in the Chinese interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf is replaced by a tiger because it seems much more commonplace than a large dog. In Iran, Little Red is a boy because it seems strange for a girl to wander alone.
So , when we look at the changes that have occurred in the tales we see that most of them are very different to the originals. Expert on the subject, Dr James Tehrani thinks that all the tales link further back than the brothers grimm, possibly up to 2500 years. The earliest ancestors of the stories we can find do not date this far back but all share one thing in common - dark and spooky messages that today would be considered scandalous. Themes such as murder, rape, self harm and crime are all placed in fairy tales - sometimes clearly and sometimes subliminally.
Considering this, it would come as no surprise that society has shunned the original fairy tales and evolved them into the smiley faced, perfect love stories that they are today. One example is Snow White - Todays version involves a kiss that wakes up a beautiful princess, and results in a happy couple. One of the earlier versions involved the evil queen being Snow Whites actual Mother and her sending her huntsmen to retrieve Snow White’s liver and lungs, which she plans to eat. Snow White is also killed by a poisoned apple, which turns the handsome prince right off her, until one of his servants bumps the apple out of her throat. Interesting, but who in their right mind would want to read a 1 year old that?
Unsurprisingly, not many parents. Aside from the disturbing plotline, 1 in 10 mothers said Snow White should be renamed for the sole reason that the reference to dwarves was not PC enough. Cinderella was left in cinders for being “Too Dark”, Hansel and Gretel was rejected for the reference to abandonment and The GingerBread man was scrapped because he gets eaten by a fox.
In the future, who knows what will happen? Maybe fairy tales will have a more relevant time period, like the present. Maybe they will be even more PC than they are now. Fairy tales have, after all shaped society in their own way. They have cautioned children about the dangers of the world which are in fact, very real. If we worry so much about the disturbing references we are forgetting that these things do happen, and we should try and inform the youth of today about them.
