Can You Guess 7 Disney Classics Based On Gruesome Source Details?
Who knew children's stories could be nightmare fuel?
Disney has long become this giant media and entertainment conglomerate, standing behind many valuable brands. For many viewers, however, it remains synonymous with magical fairy tales wrapped in the special packaging of childhood happiness. For generations of people around the world, it is hard to imagine growing up without Disney animated films.
To achieve this effect, Disney creators have reimagined many classic fairy tales and told them in a new way, adding happy endings and leaving out gruesome details. Meanwhile, some of the original stories have plots that can make your hair stand on end.
Let's play a game and see if you can name the Disney classics based on the grisly details of their source material.
Dancing Queen
As punishment for her crimes, the story's antagonist is forced to wear red-hot iron shoes and dance at the protagonist's wedding until she drops dead.
Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Yep, the Evil Queen's death in Disney's first hit (she falls off a cliff) is a blessing compared to the fate the Brothers Grimm wrote for her.
Maimed & Blinded
Two young ladies are first disfigured and then have their eyes pecked out by a flock of birds.
Answer: Cinderella (1950). This torture was part of the original Cinderella's stepsisters' arcs, written by the Brothers Grimm. These young women may have been mean, but did they really deserve to have their toes and heels cut off to fit into the glass slipper and then be blinded as punishment? Thank goodness Disney changed that.
Speechless & Heartbroken
First the main character gets her tongue ripped out and then she disappears altogether.
Answer: The Little Mermaid (1989). Yes, Hans Christian Andersen wasn't much kinder to his characters than his German colleagues. His Little Mermaid has a horrible ending. After trading her tongue for legs, she fails to charm the prince and turns into sea foam at his wedding with another woman.
Protecting Happiness
The protagonist becomes a paranoid killer.
Answer: Aladdin (1992). Disney’s classic is based on a short story from One Thousand and One Nights. But in that story, Aladdin becomes restless and paranoid after marrying the Sultan's daughter, and eventually brutally kills the evil sorcerer when he tries to sneak into the palace.
Slow Death
The female lead is hanged for her beauty and free spirit, and the male lead takes possession of her body and remains with it until he starves to death.
Answer: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). The Disney movie is often called dark, but it doesn't even compare to Victor Hugo's original novel. The female lead is Esmeralda, and the male lead, who dies slowly behind her body, is Quasimodo.
Suicide As Escape
After many adventures, the main character returns home to find that her family is dead and she must become a concubine to survive. So she kills herself instead.
Answer: Mulan (1998). The Disney film is based on an ancient legend of Hua Mulan, which has been retold many times by various authors. In these retellings, the writers have given poor Mulan all kinds of horrible fates, but the one described above, penned by Chu Renhuo, definitely takes the cake.
Love Is Blind
The lovesick male lead searches for his beloved only to find that she is gone forever. In desperation, he jumps off a high tower and gets his eyes poked out by the thorns of a bush. Blind and heartbroken, he wanders through the forest.
Answer: Tangled (2010). The gruesome twist is part of the prince's arc in the original Brothers Grimm tale. What's with the brothers and the eyes, right? Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. Rapunzel meets the prince and her tears restore his sight.
