Violence in Fairytales

Once upon a time, in a small town in Europe, darkness arose. This darkness was seen in fairytales. Yes, fairytales. Not the ones you know of but the ones kids and adults grew up with in the 17th century. 17th century fairytales were not full of happiness. In the article, Fairytales are not just for fun, said  “..some of these old tales, children have their heads hacked off and adults are stuck in barrels full of nails and rolled in to rivers to drown.” which was one of the many ways that were shown gruesome tales the 17th century, the fairy tales that were created wouldn’t be stories that you would read during to a child during bed time. These tales were for adults originally not children. These fairytales were twisted and did not have happy endings. These twisted tales were known as the Grimm's Tales. Grimm's tales had gruesome ways in showing different messages. With the collection of tales, they began to slowly create the tales we know now.

The Grimm's Tale Version
of  Little Red Riding Hood

Before Disney took over Grimm's tales,  these tales consisted  of sex  and violence. The tale like Little Red Riding Hood is an example of a tale that is quite disturbing for children.   

Other Versions of
Little Red Riding Hood

An article by Elite Readers, Original Version Of Little Red Riding Hood Is Pretty Sick and Violent, one of the many versions of the story of Little Red Riding Hood includes “the wolf asking the little girl to take off her clothes and throw them in the fire.” Many people interpret that it meant sexual actions that shouldn't be seem on tales. In the Grimm's tales the cover is nothing compared to what Disney and other cartoonist began to change. As seen in the Grimm's tale, it is definitely scarier than the other version shown. The Grimm's also shows the "Little Red Riding Hood" to have a short dress that is revealing. Unlike the other version which shows the "Little Red Riding Hood" to be a little girl which was very happy. The wolf in the other version of the tale is smiling unlike theGrimm's version which is scary looking. They are very different and I definitly wouldn't want to be read a story like the Grimm's tales. Grimm’s tales included child abuse, insest, and sex according to the article, The Dark Side of the Grimm Fairy Tales. Many of these Grimm’s tales included lessons even with the violence. Nothing like the other versions of these tales.

The Grimm's tales consisted of sex and violence. They toned the sex down when the audience changed but the violence stayed the same. The violence stayed the same with the new audience being children. Lessons were still taught in this violence. The lesson primarily had fear so children would listen to these lessons as shown in different studies. For example, in the article, Violence and Fear in Folktales, says “fear through fairy tales is a proven method of helping children…improves child’s judgement and critical thinking” which showed how having fear in the tales would benefit the children. These tales would tell children different lessons.

When people began to change to realize these tales were not appropriate for children, Walt Disney began to recreate them to be child friendly.

Disneyfication is when Walt Disney took different 
tales from Grimm's Tales
 and made them children friendly. 
Took the violence and sex out of the tales. 
Made these stories with happily ever afters 

Disneyfication was Walt Disney way of changing these gruesome tales. The Disney fairytales, still were able to give a message but not with fear. “Stories like "Little Red Riding Hood" have barely-concealed themes about violence, sex, and the loss of innocence that can never be fully expunged” as stated in the article, Fairy Tales Started Dark, Got Cute.., showed how withe trying to change it, people still remembered the gruesome tales. These dark versions will not be forgotten even with Disney changing them. These dark stories have been around since the 17th century and will continued to be passed on.

These fairytales that we know may not have been the same ones people grew up with in the 17th century. The 17th century fairy tales were gruesome. Many people know fairytales to be full of happiness and princesses but those are the fairytales of today. Disney was able to teach lessons without fear. The original fairy tales were not stories children would want to be told before bed. The Grimms tales were violent with a lot of things that were not intended for children. These fairytales would continue to change and there will be many versions but the twisted dark version will always be there. Many of your favorite Disney movies may have been dark gruesome fairytales. The fairytale Sleeping Beauty, isn't your typical princess movie. Sleeping beauty is raped in her sleep. With the disneyfication of fairytales, they took the awful part of sleeping beauty and made it to a movie that children would like.
Thankfully our fairytales now do not include rape or killings. Thankfully those fairytales, the ones with death, were originally for adults. With the changes the fairytales are no longer with violence but will still be remembered. 17th century tales will be remembered.