A recent article in the Boston Globe notes that new, sanitized versions of traditional fairy tales (including a retelling of “Rapunzel” that accompanies a Rapunzel playset) are leaving out the most important elements: the frightening and violent parts.
After I got over the fact that someone had made a playset out of the tower in which a girl (Rapunzel) was imprisoned for years until a wandering man climbed up her hair to sleep with her — wait a sec, I don’t think I’ve gotten over that yet. I guess it makes sense that the book accompanying this toy would be a sanitized version, because what’s so fun about imprisonment?
The article’s author, Joanna Weiss, interviews Jack Zipes, a well-known fairy tale scholar, about the deeper meanings of traditional fairy tales and how they have changed in recent years. Weiss writes: “Zipes points out that many fairy tales become far more sanitized when they meet the children’s literature industry - which is increasingly dependent on sequels and product tie-ins, and calibrated to appeal to the lowest common denominator.”
I agree that the Disneyfication of fairy tales has led to an inordinate amount of pink princess costumes, but I’m not sure that the entire children’s literature industry is so callously stripping traditional fairy tales of their deeper, darker meaning. I don’t think the writer really believes this either, since she mentions Donna Jo Napoli’s complex retelling of “Rapunzel,” Zel. (Confession: I own the book, but I haven’t ever managed to read it.)
In fact, I think that fairy tale retellings — adventurous, complicated ones — are just as in vogue as ever, if not more. But simultaneously, there is a huge princess industry that publishers, movie studios and toy manufacturers are all deeply invested in. And to be honest, when I was a kid I wanted a princess costume, too. I didn’t know that Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit them in the glass slipper until I was well past the Disney stage of my Cinderella obsession. And I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.
The point is, I did ultimately find out that fairy tales are much more multilayered than Disney makes them. I’m sure that not every kid is going to, but times change. Fairy tales get retold in books like Harry Potter, as Weiss and Zipes note; movies like Star Wars reshape the old tradition of the heroic quest. The main problem is that there is so much out there these days, both good and bad. How do we wade through it all to find the gems? Because I think there are a lot of them.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Rosie // Sep 24, 2008 at 5:23 am
the original fairly tales are way dark. I remember getting hold of some of the Brothers Grimm stories when I was younger and getting quite frightened, it was nothing like I was expecting… a lot more murder, rape and torture. Yikes.
2 Malinda // Sep 24, 2008 at 10:23 am
To Rosie — I agree, the old Grimms stories are often frightening. It was a frightening world back then, but maybe those terrors — wolves, dying young, wicked stepmothers — were less terrifying than the vague ones we face today in “the war on terror.” Perhaps that’s why today’s mainstream fairy tales are often so sanitized — the world is so scary we need a little bit of respite from it. Or at least we want our kids to avoid it as long as possible.
3 Julie // Sep 25, 2008 at 10:01 am
I don’t think adults are in a position to “sanitise” classic fairytales as it’s impossible to judge what a child will find frightening. I was scared witless of “The Sorcerers Apprentice” and my mom took my fear as a sign that I was gripped by the story. A good fairy tale, in the eyes of a child, has a lot to do with the way it’s told or the pictures…the actually story coming second.
4 Inger // Oct 12, 2008 at 12:19 pm
As a parent I wish to protect my kids from experiencing deliberate acts of violence until they and I am ready to explain it to them in a way that makes sense to them (and me). Perhaps in our western culture we are able to do that a little later (if we don’t let kids watch the news) in life than those who lived in Grimm’s time.The times i have read fairy tales to my kids, I have gone for a modern re-telling. It makes more sense to them and doesn’t try to scare them in the process, just makes them think about larger issues.
And one of the questions I get asked quite often by my kids (4 and
is “Why did Anakin turn into Darth Vader”. In my mind stories that discuss these things without being too graphic or scary are a great way to bring the larger issues of fear, desire and greed into the discussion of understanding our world. Not quite fairy tales but still just as archetypal.
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