Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes, and Children’s Movies Aren’t for the Faint of Heart by Debra H. Goldstein
My daughter and son-in-law recently had a beautiful (okay, I’m partial) baby boy. While they were in the hospital, I was charged with caring for their almost three-year-old daughter, who loves to be read to and is just beginning to be interested in movies. What I rediscovered is that many fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and children’s movies aren’t for the faint of heart. A number of them are downright frightening.
For
example, one of her favorite chapter books to be read to her contains stories
of The Frog and The Toad. All seems pretty innocent between the two good
friends as they help each other find a missing button or take care of each
other when one feels ill, but there are also stories where the twist or final
moral isn’t as kind. In Shivers, the Frog recounts an encounter he had
as a child frog with the Old Dark Frog who eats little frog children for supper.
The child being read to is left to decide if it happened or not. A calendar
trick used in Spring teaches that a little deception can allow one to
accomplish a goal.
Then,
of course, there are those fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm. We think of
them as children’s stories, but really they were adult versions with adult
themes. For example, what is soothing about The Mouse, the Bird, and the
Sausage? These three live together, each doing their own share of the
tasks: the bird collects wood for the fire, the mouse brings in water, sets the
table, and lights the fire, while the sausage keeps all three well fed. When
the bird decides they should all switch jobs because the bird is doing more of
the backbreaking work, the story ends with the sausage being eaten by a dog
while going out to collect wood, the mouse imitating the way the sausage
seasons food by throwing itself into the pot and dies, and the bird, while
trying to fetch water, falls into the well and drowns. Not particularly
comforting to an adult, let alone a child.
To
this day, I can’t watch Bambi without having a panic attack when the
fire kills Bambi’s mother. Similarly, the wicked witches and stepmothers in
Cinderella, Snow White, and other stories/movies, don’t leave me with happy
feelings.
Growing
up, did a fairy tale, nursery rhyme, or children’s movie leave you scarred for
life?
