Quote:
Originally Posted by Taualumna
Other movies:
Disney's The Little Mermaid and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. OK. I have to admit that I was a little kid when Little Mermaid came out and loved the movie a lot. But at that time, I had not read the original Hans Christian Andersen version and didn't realize that Ariel actually died. Did Disney really have to change it? Why can't kids accept that things don't always end happily ever after? Same thing with Hunchback. Actually, I don't think Disney should have done Hunchback to begin with. Victor Hugo's writing isn't exactly kid-friendly.
|
I believe the mermaid in the original was "nameless", but yes, the Little Mermaid does die, as does the Little Matchgirl and other protagonists in many other fairy tales. When you ask: "Why can't kids accept that things don't always end happily ever after?", I don't think it's kids, I think it's meddling, overprotective parents groups and Disney trying to dodge anything controversial ("Song of the South", anyone?). I guess it's Disney's way of keeping everything happy happy in Happy Land.
The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the aptly named Brothers Grimm are gruesome and brutal, and as a little kid being read to by her German (what else?) Grandma, that's how I liked 'em! LOL In Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf definitely ATE Red and the Grandma (one would surmise he swallowed them whole) and then the huntsmen came, CUT OPEN the stomach, out they jumped and he sewed in some big a$$ boulders and then the wolf went to get a drink from the river, fell in and drowned. There was none of this "the wolf put them in a cupboard" business, which is the sanitized Disney version.
Another thing about Disney movies that I have noticed. In the final showdown, even though the antagonist "gets it" in the end, the protagonist NEVER, EVER, EVER, is left with the proverbial blood of their enemy on their hands, because for them to actually "kill" their enemey would make them "bad", too, right?
Lion King: Simba vs. Scar - Scar slips and plummets to his death.
Beauty and the Beast: Beast vs. Gaston - Gaston slips and plummets to his death.
Hunchback of Notre Dame: Quasimodo vs. Evil Magistrate Guy - Evil Magistrate Guy slips and plummets to his death.
Any other Disney movies with the cop out 'plummets to their death' cause-of-death that I'm missing? Surely there must be more.