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Everyone loves a happy ending, right? It is for this reason I think that Fairy Tales are so popular - in fact, popular enough to take Disney to a market capitalisation today of 253 billion dollars! And to think, had Snow White failed all those years ago, they wouldn't exist.
But - Fairy Tales used to be dark - their intention was to scare children into behaving, and to teach a lesson - and that lesson wasn't 'good girls get a prince'. It was more along the lines of, if you go into the forest, the wolves will get you, or the witch will eat you.
Gulp, right? - You might have heard of the Brothers Grimm, since they have certainly been popularised and were the subject of their own film. Their occupation was the collection of folk tales and folk lore - and we often associate them with the fairy tale.
But Disney doesn't look like this 'grim'?
And that's because the answer lies 100 years before the brothers - in a Frenchman named Charles Perrault - who is often considered the fairy tale genre inventor - and, it was his re-imagining of the stories of the past, that crafted the narratives that Disney is known for.
- Cinderella is his story, as is Sleeping Beauty.
- He wrote Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood.
In French, Little Red Riding Hood has a beautifully alluring name: Le Petit Chaperon Rouge. I say those words now slowly - and let them resonate.
- So, at it's core, it's what we call a morality tale. It warns young girls of the vices of the woods - don't stray from the path! You can hear the religious undertones working through that command, can't you?
And - I'm going to offer it as my filmed fairy tale, but in a way that people don't usually recognise.
The Wizard of Oz - an appropriation of the cape, replacing it with some ruby slippers. But the morality tale remains the same: follow the path, the yellow brick road is spoken about and sung about - and, warning: do not leave the path. The mythical Emerald City, a Heaven of sorts.
And then, something more domestic:
Don't trust anyone, lest you be corrupted - and return to the safety of home. - Oh TowTow, I don't think we're in Kansas any more.
This tale was released in 1939! That's an awful lot of years ago, and it always strikes me as funny when you hear people talk about these 'new' fairy tales, which are re-tellings of the story, and how 'new' they are. To them I say, Yea, not as new as 1939!
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https://twitter.com/CineTv_io/status/1507457318610382850
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