From Grimm to Disney

Disney based most of their original movies on fairy tales written by the Grimm brothers. Movies like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and even Snow White. Between the Disney movie and the original fairy tale there are some key differences. The first is a more technical difference in which Disney had to turn a fairy tale into an hour and a half film. This meant that they had to add characters and such. This came in the form of personification of the different woodland animals, as well as giving certain characteristics to the dwarfs. Both things the fairy tale did not do, there was no distinction between the dwarfs, and the only animals mention are the owl, the raven, and the dove that attend Snow White’s funeral. Disney also deviates in how Snow White wakes up, in the story a prince happens to travel by the mountain and decides he wants to take the glass coffin back with him. The dwarfs eventually allow him to take snow white but while his servants are carrying the coffin one of them stu...

Before the late 1800’s, marriage was a way to connect rich families so that they may grow in power. It wasn’t very common for people of lower standing to marry into a rich family. This almost never happened, which is probably why the story Cinderella feels magical to those who read it in the past. Cinderella was able to marry a prince despite her social standing, which was very important back in the day. In this time and century it is more possible to marry into a rich family as social status is not as important anymore. This is because of the changes in the economy and society at the time. More and more people learned how to read, which used to be a staple quality of the upper class. As society advanced they needed people to do more complicated jobs, and thus they earned more money. As such the middle class was beginning to grow and as they did the gap between the poor and the rich lessened.  This caused the lines between social s tatus to become blurred as there was now a cla...

The elements of a fairy tales are stories that has magic and fantasy at every turn in the story. They begin with “Once upon a time..” and display feats that shows the extents for human imagination. Fairy tales have an end goal or an objective set for the protagonist to complete. Fairy tales have magic in them at every turn making appear only normal that there are talking animals in the forest or magic jewels that grant wishes. These stories differ from legends and myths because they use exaggerations to build on a true story. While in a fairy tale the magic comes from the human brain and how far their imagination goes. That being said there are certain motifs or tropes that the human mind unconsciously follows such as a fair princess being saved by a prince. Including a sorcerer as means to advance the plot by giving the prince a sacred piece of knowledge he needs to succeed. Or giving the protagonist a quest to do to prove his worth. They also might have the protagonist come just in...

The film The Brothers Grimm has a lot differences when compared to the real life of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The film portrays the brothers as con artists. When in real life the Grimm brothers were scholars and would have never tricked anybody because it is against their Calvinist religion. Calvinists believe in working hard for what you earn in life. The film also shows them at a bar with friends and colleagues, Wilhelm, who is called Will in the film even gets two other girls to come up to his room. This never would have happened in real life simply because the Grimm brothers were shut ins as well as very studious. They spent numerous hours studying while their classmates partied. Moreover, in the movie the brothers relationship was very strained and indifferent. While they still loved each other Will blames Jacob for the death of their sister. In actuality the brothers had 9 other siblings, three of which died. The relationship between Jacob and Wilhelm was very romantic because...

I choose From Grimm to Disney as my first year seminar because I have a slight fascination with different stories and myths stemming from my all time favorite childhood book Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I read those books religiously and in between the tween drama and various Greek mythical monsters the book portrayed I fell in love with the series. Thus the reason I choose this seminar was because I was interested in what other fairy tales and myths were out there. What I am hoping to learn in this course the most is why the fairy tale came to be. I know that most were passed down in oral tradition but I wonder who actually came up with these stories and the history behind why they were made. My favorite fairy tale was  Little Red Riding Hood. I liked this tale back when I was a child, I think I liked it so much because as a child my mother was very overprotective of me. She wouldn't allow to go to a friends house unless she knew their mother the same would go with birthd...