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Originally Posted by flower
I do think the general public is mostly to blame. They seem to feel sencering the world is better then real parenting, but thats another subject completely.
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I didn't express myself very clearly in my first response to you - what I meant is that I don't think the public minds the darker aspects of fairy tales, I think it's more a case of many people feeling that fairy tales aren't applicable to our time, and thus they're a waste of time. So I'd agree that fairy tales are losing the public's interest as a genre, but I disagree that it's because of the darker elements. I don't get the impression that parents shelter their kids that much, but there is a tendency to not develop children intellectually, because their parents spend so little time talking to them, encouraging them to think and reading to them. Which I think is the main reason why Disney has taken the place of the original fairy tales - A lot of children just haven't got the kind of concentration that it takes to appreciate the stories. They've grown up with busy parents and the telly being on constantly, so who can expect them to sit down with a book of fables? I'm guessing that the reason your children can appreciate fairy tales is because of the way you brought them up.
I'm guessing that we're in different parts of world though, so that would explain it if we have different impressions of the way children are generally being raised.
I hope you'll like Angela Carter. And thanks for making an effort with your grammar, your post was much more pleasant on the eyes this time
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Originally Posted by HumanePain
I am of two minds in regards to Disney and the Hunchback of Notre Dame:
b) But I do like lessons the Disney version teaches young children:
1) that a monster does not have to be ugly, and in fact can hide behind a religious facade.
2) That Ugly does not a monster make, but by actions and words can reveal a loving and beautiful person.
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Although those are good lessons, I don't like that Disney always has to have a villain, even when there aren't any real villains in the stories that the films are based upon. In "The Hunchback" Disney demonised Frollo completely and made Phoebus a hero. In Hugo's story it was the imperfect emotions of every character that culminated in disaster (including Quasimodo's brutality and Esmeralda's naiveté and inability to see beyond external beauty)
Same goes for Disney's Beauty and the Beast - Gaston wasn't necessary. The morale that beauty can exist on the inside was obvious enough without him, and all his character did was make Belle an innocent victim. Instead of using Gaston as a dramatic effect, Belle's conflicting feelings for the Beast should have been drama enough.
I think Disney often underestimates how much children can understand.
In any event, I think one of the most valuable lessons children could be taught is that humans are fallible, not either good or evil.
Again, I don't like the changes that Disney makes, but I still think it's a lesser evil than the stories being forgotten about.