← Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
The Dark Origins of Fairy Tales, Part 2
00:14:17
Loading summary
Transcript6 lines
- [00:00]
Narrator
Walt Disney Animation Studios has crafted dozens of the most popular children's movies ever made. These stories shimmer with whimsical magic, showcase bold characters and burst with joyous conclusions where the hero triumphs and everyone celebrates a happily ever after. However, the true stories lurking behind these films are far darker than you'd ever imagine. Stay tuned for the second installment of True Stories Behind Popular Fairy Tales on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Audible. It's time to believe in the Hail Mary, one of the most talked about science fiction adventures of the decade. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is now on the big screen, and there's never been a better moment to experience the audiobook that started it all. Rylem Grace is humanity's last hope. Alone in space with no memory of how he got there, he must solve an impossible scientific mystery before the Earth is wiped out forever. What follows is a smart, thrilling and surprisingly emotional journey that blends hard science with non stop suspense. Fans favorite narrator Ray Porter delivers an unforgettable performance, balancing humor, heart and escalating tension as the stakes grow higher with every chapter. Part scientific puzzle, part interstellar adventure, Project Hail Mary is a story about curiosity, ingenuity and survival against impossible odds. Now that the blockbuster movie has finally arrived in theaters, there's never been a better time to start listening to the universally acclaimed audiobook Project Hail Mary. Listen. Watch. Save the world. Start listening today@audible.com Hailmary
- [01:48]
Carvana Advertiser 1
Carvana's so easy. Just a click and we've got ourselves a car.
- [01:52]
Carvana Advertiser 2
See so many cars. That's a clicktastic inventory.
- [01:56]
Carvana Advertiser 1
And check out the finance financing options payments to fit our budget. I mean, that's Clickonomics 101 delivery to our door.
- [02:03]
Carvana Advertiser 2
Just a hop, skip and a click away and bought. No better feeling than when everything just clicks. Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.
- [02:21]
Narrator
A while back, I had an episode on the true stories behind popular Disney animated films covering the fairy tales that inspired Snow White, the Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty. However, these are far from the only fairy tales to have been adapted by Disney. In fact, almost every animated story that they've told has a much darker origin than what is presented on screen. To be fair, I don't think that Disney's approach to storytelling is necessarily a bad one. If they were true to the original, many animated films would be far from family friendly and probably couldn't even get a G rating. So with that, the first story that I want to cover in this episode is Cinderella. Over thousands of years. Storytellers have retold the Cinderella story in countless ways. The earliest version that we know of dates back to ancient Greece in the early first century and follows a girl named Rhodopis, a Greek slave who rises to marry the king of Egypt. The fundamental narrative of Cinderella originating with this early Greek tale remains consistent. A girl overcomes suffering and misfortune, experiences a stroke of good luck, and ultimately achieves a royal marriage. Disney unveiled its version of Cinderella in 1950, basing it on Charles Perrault's 1697 tale Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper. Perrault's story drew from many European renditions and soared in popularity at the time. Perrault's version entertained audiences, adding new fantastical elements including a fairy godmother, a pumpkin carriage and the iconic glass slippers. The Disney version closely mirrors the Pierrot version in many aspects of the story. Both feature an evil stepmother and two wicked stepsisters who mistreat Cinderella, who toils as the family maid. There is a fairy godmother who spirits Cinderella to the ball where she dances with the prince. The entire glass shoe debacle ensues, and Cinderella ultimately claims her happily ever after. The only main difference between the Perrault version and the Disney version is that the step family begs Cinderella for her forgiveness at the end, which she gives. In contrast to the Disney film, Perrault's story ends with Cinderella not only forgiving her stepsisters, but also arranging for them to marry noblemen. So the entire family lives happily ever after. The name Cinderella comes from the French Sondrion, derived from sondar meaning ash or cinder. It refers to the character's association with sitting amongst the ashes by the hearth, symbolizing her low status and mistreatment before her transformation. Many people assume that the Disney version of the story is based on the brothers Grimm Early 19th century version of the story called Aschenputtel. This is a common mistake, one that I initially shared. However, the Grimm version is significantly darker and more violent, standing in stark contrast to the lighter Disney adaptation. The Grimm Brothers fairy tale begins with the death of Cinderella's mother. From her deathbed, her mother implores her daughter to remain good and kind, and she passes away after telling Cinderella her final wish. Cinderella is distressed by this and makes sure to visit her mother's grave on a daily basis in Greaves. At the same time, her father remarries to an evil stepmother who brings her two daughters into the house. While the three newcomers are physically beautiful, they are ugly in spirit and are wicked and cruel. As months unfold, Cinderella's clothes and belongings are taken by her wicked stepsisters, reducing her to wearing rags. Banished to the kitchen, she earns the nickname Aschenputtel, or ash fool, which is the German version of Cinderella. The sisters refuse to lighten her burden and instead deliberately wreck the house to pile more chores onto Cinderella. Despite their cruelty, she clings to her kind spirit, honoring her mother's dying wish. Later, the king throws a festival over a series of evenings and invites all the maidens in the kingdom so he can find his son a bride. Cinderella begs to go, but her stepfamily throws lentils on the floor. They tell her she can go only if she picks them up in two hours. Cinderella completes the task with the help of doves, but her stepmother again overturns the lentils, after again cleaning them up. Cinderella watches as her stepmother escorts her daughters and husband to the ball, Abandoning Cinderella in tears, Cinderella rushes to her mother's grave and pleads to attend the ball. Doves descend, bestowing her with gifts that allow her to attend the festival each night. Cinderella flees the event as the prince chases her, but she evades him every time. On the third evening, the prince makes sure that the stairs are smeared with tar, causing Cinderella to lose a shoe. The prince vows to go door to door to find the owner of the shoe and marry her. At Cinderella's home, the stepsisters try on the shoes. The stepmother, hoping her daughters would become queens, mutilates them by cutting off their toes and heels in order to fit the shoe. The prince is fooled at first until he sees blood dripping from their feet. When the prince storms back to the house, he insists on seeing the other girl. Cinderella slides into the shoe and fits it perfectly. And as they ride away, doves dive down from the sky and gouge out the stepsister's eyeballs. While the Grimm Brothers version is not the version Disney's Cinderella is based on, it's one of the more popular versions of the fairy tale and shows just how dark fairy tales can be. The next Disney adaptation we're going to dive into is Pinocchio, which was released in 1940. Unlike most of the Disney animated classics, Pinocchio often disturbs young children for a variety of reasons, but the original is even creepier. Disney's Pinocchio is based on Carlo Collodi's original Italian story, the Adventures of Pinocchio. Serialized in an Italian Magazine in 1881 and 1882, the Collodi tale opens with a carpenter named Master Antonio. He attempts to carve a block out of wood, but the timber shrieks at him. Nearby, Geppetto, his neighbor, knocks on the door and eagerly receives the log as a gift. Overjoyed, Geppetto carves the log into a puppet. Geppetto names the puppet Pinocchio, who then springs to life as a mischievous child. After Geppetto teaches him to walk, Pinocchio bolts from the house, inciting Geppetto's arrest for child mistreatment. At home, Pinocchio meets a cricket who warns him not to become lazy or rebellious. Pinocchio then hurls a hammer at the bug in rage, crushing it. In the Disney version of the story, this is the character of Jiminy Cricket, who avoids the fate of the cricket. In the original tale, he, alongside Geppetto, creates the puppet and earnestly wishes for Pinocchio to become a real boy. A fairy hears the wish and turns the marionette into a real boy. Though he's still a puppet, she tells him he will become human when he proves he is truthful, unselfish and brave. The fairy also makes Jiminy Cricket the boy's conscience. In both tales, Pinocchio goes on wild adventures and gets into trouble. The type of trouble changes in the version of the story. The Collodi version sends Pinocchio on zanier adventures. Collodi's version has Pinocchio dismiss wise counsel and repeatedly fall for tricks. This culminates in the puppet being hanged from a tree, slowly suffocating to death as his wooden body resists. During this excruciating ordeal, Pinocchio reflects on his poor choices. A fairy goes to rescue Pinocchio. She consults an owl, a crow, and the ghost of the dead cricket. The cricket says Pinocchio is still alive but has been disobedient. The fairy revives him and asks him what happened. After Pinocchio lies, his nose grows and woodpeckers come to peck at it. The Collodi version continues with many more tales of Pinocchio's adventures, some of which inspired the Disney film, like the story of the dogfish and the donkey transformation. Ultimately, Pinocchio conquers his troublesome attitude, transforms into a real boy after rescuing his father, embraces honest work, and treats others with kindness. While the Disney adaptation is generally more childlike and whimsical, some unsettling elements still remain. The transformation into a donkey can be frightening, and many children find the Disney scene with the whale scary as well. But both tales end with Pinocchio rescuing his father and proving his loyalty. At its heart, the story urges us to resist selfishness and cultivate virtue. It champions obedience, education and hard work over the lure of easy gains. Though both stories share similar themes, the original is much darker. Disobedience in Collodi's version invites literal death by hanging, while Disney's adaptation launches Pinocchio on an odyssey like journey. The without any graphic violence. The final Disney film that I'm going to cover today is Peter Pan. The Disney version of the fairy tale was first released in 1953 and follows three siblings, Wendy, Michael and John Darling, and the titular character, Peter Pan. The Darlings all believe in a character named Peter Pan, who is a young boy who never had to grow up. Wendy, who is about to age out of being a child, is visited by Peter Pan and a fairy named Tinker Bell at night, and the duo decide to take Wendy and her two brothers to a place called Neverland. The three Darlings arrive in Neverland, where they meet the Lost Boys, a group of young boys that Peter Pan is the leader of. The group then has a few adventures in Neverland, including encounters with Indians and pirates. Despite enjoying their time in Neverland, the Darlings ultimately decide to return home and grow up, leaving the audience with the idea that while enjoying childhood and having an active imagination are important, growing up is inevitable. The original version of Peter Pan was a Scottish play written in 1904 by J.M. barrie. This work was later turned into a novel in 1911. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a troublesome little boy who lived in Neverland. The Barry story starts the same way as the Disney version, with the Darlings being invited to Neverland. From there, much of the story actually stays the same. The chaos with the pirates and the Indians remains pretty similar across both stories, and many of the characters arcs do not change. However, there is one disturbing element in the original version that does not make it to the Disney film. In the original play, the Lost Boys come to Peter Pan and Neverland when they fall out of their mother's strollers. In Neverland, Peter Pan welcomes the Lost Boys into his gang and looks after them. However, their membership is temporary. Peter Pan is determined to maintain his eternal youth and never grow up, even if it requires extreme measures. To preserve the eternal youth of his gang, Peter Pan ensures the Lost Boys never get too old. If the children reach a certain age and haven't already met their end, Peter Pan himself will thin the number out, meaning that he'll kill them. The story of Peter Pan shows the lengths to which Peter will go to never have to grow up. In both versions. The difference with the original play is that Peter will commit murder to ensure his eternal youth. The stories we think we know are actually something else entirely. The fairy tales passed down through generations weren't created to comfort children, but to warn, frighten and reflect a much harsher world. What the Walt Disney Company did was transform those grim, cautionary tales into something softer, brighter, and far more marketable. Yet beneath the songs and happy endings, the older versions still linger, reminding us that these stories were never just fantasies. They were lessons wrapped not in magic, but in the things that people feared the most. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ashe. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible, and I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read in the show.