Board Thread:Fanon Discussion/@comment-14800267-20140205232944

There's a great deal of divide in the EAH community over the validity of  Disney versions of Fairytales.

Most of us know Disney bastardizes the tales it tells to sanitize for children, removing anything even remotely threatening aside, perhaps, one or two of the villains' main moments, white washing characters- even as the film progresses (Watch Aladdin. He starts the movie with a passably arabic skin tone, ends the film almost completely white with a mild tan as he goes from "Worthless Theif" to "Noble Prince")  change the entire story completely to fit their new "vision" for it. (Frozen and the Tale of the Ice Queen of which it is supposedly an adaption of only share the existance of an Ice Queen. That. Is.It.) remove sadface endings (Ariel was supposed to die) and change HISTORY and call it a fairy tale (Pocahontas was twelve. She wasn't in love with John Smith, he raped her)

However, it's really not that far off what the Brothers Grimm did in their day. Although so many people worship them as the pinnacle of fairytale lore, anyone with more than just a trumped up sense of education on the topic knows they hacked, sanitized and did dredful things to fairytales too. They sanitized them to make them less scary for children, just like Disney (In the majority of Red Riding Hood tales Pre Grimm, she eats her grandmother's flesh and drinks her blood, tricked into thinking it's just meat and wine.) and using the red riding hood example, they also take out those sadface endings as well... as red riding hood had no mention of a woodsman to save her. Although they didn't whitewash they misogyinized the tales, often removing or rewriting female characters who were strong and independant, re gendered them or reduced them to helpless princesses.They also often dehumanized them even more by removing speaking roles- things like "I must cut out your heart" Said the huntsman. Snow white pleaded for her life and the huntsman despaired "Run into the forest and hide, I shall find another heart" She thanked him- though not a direct quote, as I am too lazy to go get my book, it's the kind of thing they did to silence the women.

Most fairytales were made up and told by women TO women and daughters, as men had no time for such fippary, so strong female characters were common. Thanks to the brothers Grimm and then Disney's further blatent sexism, they aren't.

So with that in mind, considering the ever changing and adapting nature of fairytales, do you consider Disney versions just as valid as their Grimms brother counterparts, or are their frivolous, profit minded changes simply too over the top and disrespectful, and the creators of Disney based characters simply cheating, too lazy to bother finding the REAL versions to create from?

Personally, I reluctantly say they ARE just as valid, with the notable exceptions of things that were never fairytales to begin with, like Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, which are all children's books, Sword in the Stone, Mulan and Robin Hood which are an adaption of a legend- though all also have many various versions, and especially Pocahontas and Dreamworks often-mistaken-for-Disney work, Anastasia, both existing historical facts, and both horrifically mutilated and misrepresented versions of dreadful, tragic events turned into sparkly fluffy happy tales conveiniantly removing the blame off the real perpetrators. 