Today I got to thinking about Disney movies and why they choose, change, and cut off the story lines of famous fairy tales the way they do. Well, sometimes it's obvious- quite a few of the real story lines are unnecessarily grim, violent, and graphic! For example, legions of small children didn't need to know Peter Pan killed his Lost Boys when they reached puberty, or that despite several forms of torture (her tongue was cut out and walking felt like stomping on shards of broken glass) the Little Mermaid doesn't get her prince, but instead, dissolves into sea foam. And it wasn't essential to the plot that in the original version, Cinderella's step-sisters mutilated their own feet to fit the glass slipper, or that in the very end of the real Snow White, the evil queen is forced (as punishment) to wear red-hot iron shoes and dance til her death.
Yes, some of the choices they made make a lot of sense! But today I was thinking about possible changes and additions to the stories that wouldn't necessarily make them any more pleasant or sinister, but instead, realistic and relatable. Mainly, life AFTER the "happily ever after." And I'm not talking about the Direct-to-Video sequels Disney put out!
Off the top of my head, I'm talking about things like Cinderella having a baby, and Prince Charming's father dying. They don't include that stuff because it involves sex and pain and possible risk of the mother and baby dying in childbirth. And why go through the trouble of grieving the loss of a character the story doesn't need or focus on? Well, in my experience, when it comes to joy and sadness, you can't really have one without the other. Each throws the other into sharp focus. With Cinderella having a child, she is given someone to care for and love and nurture, things she's been lacking a lot of throughout her abuse and enslavement. And you know what? Even if she died, or the baby, it would hurt like hell, but they would live on through each other. And with the King dying, yes, it would be so painful for his son and for the kingdom, but it would put the Prince into the position of deciding who he is and who he wants to be. What kind of ruler he is, versus the ruler his father was. What things are truly important. The loss of his father could be a defining moment in his life. And it would celebrate the life of his father! It's always seemed sad to me that our funerals happen after we die- because funerals allow us to focus on the life of a person, the joys and triumphs brought together for everyone to appreciate. It would be kind of nice to be there in person and realize how good your life has been. What other people are to you and what you are to other people.
I guess it's mostly the complexity of human life that I find lacking in Disney movies. In Disney, there's good guys and bad guys, heroes and villains, and hardly ever someone in between. I don't think I've ever met a person I thought was truly all good or bad. That's kind of what being a human is all about... not what happens to you, but how you react and grow.
I realize I got suuuuuuuuuuuper deep with all of this! Unnecessarily so! Haha it's easy to criticize and speculate about fictional beings :P
Anyway, on a different but related note, I love writing my blogs, but eventually as a writer I want to write fictitious novels, as opposed to my blog writing which is more of a journal. So at some point I may start a different blog that is purely fiction and may possibly include some Sarah-rized version of old fairy tales!
I hope you will support me with that too!
Sarah
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