You know… I’m starting to understand the gripe everyone has with Disney’s… bastardization of children’s literature. Initially, whenever someone griped over the princesses or the cheesy love at first sight stories, I kind of just rolled my eyes. Come on, they were harmless children’s stories, right?

Well…

Yesterday, we put on Mickey and the Beanstalk for Gabe and… well let’s just say it’s a lot different from the version I grew up with.
In Jack and the Beanstalk, the one I remember, Jack was scammed out of his cow and his mother threw the beans out the window after smacking the crap out of him.
The beans grew where they landed and Jack climbed it to find the giant and his wife. The giant’s wife was hospitable, fed Jack and everything.
He repaid the kindness by stealing the harp (which cried out for it’s master) and then murdering the giant.
After of which, he took the giants treasures and forced the harp to play for him and his mother

Having become a fan of classical fantasy and folklore, and reading some of the stories that these movies are based off of… maybe these people have a point? Granted, I’ve never been a huge fan of the feminist argument against the classic princess, but then I look at what other plot points have been altered. In the original stories, there was always a sort of gruesomeness or dark reality to them that made us as children think… or at the very least get freaked out.

In Cinderella, her sisters cut away their heels. In Rapunzel, the Prince had his eyes slashed by thorns (I think). Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother had to be cut out of the stomach of the Wolf… the examples go on.

Kids for years have been handling these stories in their original forms. Why are we suddenly so scared of letting them hear these as they were meant to?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim