Some Quick Thoughts on Fairy Tales

Classics vs modern

Entry posted by Kaleidoscope Tekulo January 30, 2013

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I am a huge fan of the original stories by Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers Grimm. I could fill this blog up about aspects of their lives and why the stories are the way they are and how that actually translates to the writers' outlooks on life and how you make the connection between fantasy and reality and how those stories always felt like a special link between the two and all of that, but without the form of a run-on sentence.

Instead, I'll save that entry for a later date, because I bet a lot of people don't want a lengthy rambling of all that out of the blue.

So, basically I'm a fan of the original tales. I still haven't really gotten into Aesop outside of running into those through culture. What I really love about them are the moral ties to apply to life, especially the ones that apply to children (which, not all of the stories were catered to be written specifically for children. I'll rant about that some other time). Hansel and Gretel: A sweet story about two children who get lost in the woods (due to their parents after the wicked mother convinced the father to leave them for dead) and simply want to find their way back home. It's a story about family, especially at the end when they find their father (their mother had passed) and despite the hardships cast upon them by life (mainly poverty), they still decide to remain a family from then on.

Sweet, right? Charming.

That's the feeling that made me fall in love with the stories to begin with. It's also why I love Once Upon a Time (a show that airs on abc) namely the first season (I'm not loving the second thus far, though I still believe the writers might still have something up their sleeves). The show has, in my opinion, captured that aspect of the classic tales, and has also developed many tales from simple stories into a series of events to make an overall plot similar to modern day story telling. I think it's a clever idea, and I also think that the show is carried out fabulously (especially in season one).

So, that is why I am far less inclined to watch the new Hansel and Gretel film that's coming out, nor am I inclined to watch the Jack and the Beanstalk movie. They were never meant to be big action-hero movies with princess love interests and fighting the occult. Heck, Hansel, Gretel and Jack were never royalty and in their stories they had nothing to do with royalty. They all came from a similar background which was poverty. It was supposed to show that even in the darkest of times, humans still had something to hold onto.

I just honestly don't get that vibe at all from the movie trailers. I might consider watching one of them outside of the theater if say a friend had the dvd a few years from now, and maybe I'll be proven wrong... but, I just don't think I'd enjoy a movie that completely rewrites the overall moral of the classics.

Those are my opinions, Billy. Now,

GET OFF MY LAWN!

~Tekulo <3