The Dark Origins of Fairy Tales, Part 2

Podcast Transcript

Walt Disney Animation Studios has crafted dozens of the most popular children’s movies ever made.

These stories shimmer with whimsical magic, showcase bold characters, and burst with joyous conclusions, where the hero triumphs and everyone celebrates a happily-ever-after.

However, the true stories lurking behind these films are darker than you’d ever imagine.

Stay tuned for the second installment of true stories behind popular fairytales on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

A while back, I had an episode on the true stories behind popular Disney animated films, covering the fairy tales that inspired Snow White, The Little Mermaid, and Sleeping Beauty.

However, these are far from the only fairy tales to have been adapted by Disney. In fact, almost every animated story they have told has a much darker origin than what is presented on-screen.

To be fair, I don’t think that Disney’s approach to storytelling is necessarily a bad one. If they were true to the original, many animated films would be far from family-friendly and probably couldn’t get a G rating.

With that, the first story I want to cover in this episode is “Cinderella.”

Over thousands of years, storytellers have retold Cinderella in countless ways. The earliest version dates to Greece in the early first century, and follows a girl named Rhodopis, a Greek slave who rises to marry the King of Egypt.

The fundamental narrative of Cinderella, originating with the Greek tale, remains consistent: a girl overcomes suffering and misfortune, experiences a stroke of good luck, and ultimately achieves a royal marriage.

Disney unveiled its version of Cinderella in 1950, basing it on Charles Perrault’s 1697 tale, Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper. Perrault’s story drew from many European renditions and soared in popularity at the time.

Perrault’s version entertained audiences, adding new fantastical elements, including a fairy godmother, a pumpkin carriage, and the iconic glass slippers.

The Disney version closely mirrors the Perrault version in many aspects of the story. Both feature an evil stepmother and two wicked stepsisters who mistreat Cinderella, who toils as the family maid. There is a fairy godmother who spirits Cinderella to the ball, where she dances with the prince. The entire glass shoe debacle ensues, and Cinderella ultimately claims her happily-ever-after.

The only main difference between Perrault’s version and the Disney version is that the stepfamily begs Cinderella for forgiveness, which she gives. In contrast to the Disney film, Perrault’s story ends with Cinderella not only forgiving her stepsisters but also arranging for them to marry noblemen, so the entire family lives happily ever after.

The name “Cinderella” comes from the French Cendrillon, derived from cendre meaning “ash” or “cinder.” It refers to the character’s association with sitting among the ashes by the hearth, symbolizing her low status and mistreatment before her transformation.

Many assume the Disney version of the story is based on the Brothers Grimm’s early 19th-century rendition, Aschenputtel. This is a common mistake, one I initially shared. However, the Grimm version is significantly darker and more violent, standing in stark contrast to the lighter Disney adaptation.

The Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale begins with the death of Cinderella’s mother. From her deathbed, she implores her daughter to remain “good and kind.” She passes after saying her final wish.

Cinderella is distressed by this and makes sure to visit her mother’s grave on a daily basis, and grieves. At the same time, her father remarries to her evil stepmother, who brings her two daughters to the house.

While the three newcomers are physically beautiful, they are ugly in spirit and are wicked and cruel.

As months unfold, Cinderella’s clothes and belongings are taken by her wicked stepsisters, reducing her to rags. Banished to the kitchen, she earns the nickname Aschenputtel, or “Ashfool,” which is the German version of Cinderella.

The sisters refuse to lighten her burden and instead deliberately wreck the house to pile more chores on Cinderella. Despite their cruelty, she clings to her kind spirit, honoring her mother’s dying wish.

Later, the King throws a festival over a series of evening and invites all the maidens in the kingdom to find his son a bride. Cinderella begs to go, but her stepfamily throws lentils on the floor. They tell her she can only go if she picks them up in two hours.

Cinderella completes the task with the doves’ help, but her stepmother again overturns the lentils. After triumphing again, Cinderella watches as her stepmother escorts her daughters and husband to the ball, abandoning Cinderella in tears.

Cinderella rushes to her mother’s grave and pleads to attend the ball. Doves descend, bestowing her with gifts that allow her to attend the festival. Each night, Cinderella flees the event as the prince chases her, but she evades him every time.

On the third evening, the Prince makes sure the stairs are smeared with tar, causing Cinderella to lose a shoe. The prince vows to go door-to-door to find the owner of the shoe and marry her.

At Cinderella’s home, her stepsisters try on the shoes. The stepmother, hoping her daughters would become queens, mutilates them by cutting off their toes and heels in order to fit the shoe. The prince is fooled at first until he sees blood dripping from their feet.

When the prince storms back to the house, he insists on seeing the other girl. Cinderella slides into the shoe and fits it perfectly. As they ride away, doves dive from the sky and gouge out the stepsisters’ eyes during Cinderella’s wedding.

While the Grimm version is not the version Disney’s Cinderella is based on, it is one of the most popular versions of the fairytale, and shows just how dark fairy tales can be.

The next Disney adaptation we are going to delve into is Pinocchio, which was released in 1940. Unlike most of the Disney animated classics, Pinocchio often disturbs young children for a variety of reasons, but the original is even creepier.

Disney’s Pinocchio is based on Carlo Collodi’s original Italian story, The Adventures of Pinocchio, serialized in an Italian magazine in 1881 and 1882.

Collodi’s tale opens with a carpenter named Master Antonio. He attempts to carve a block of wood, but the timber shrieks at him. Nearby, Geppetto, his neighbor, knocks on the door and eagerly receives the log as a gift. Overjoyed, Geppetto carves the log into a puppet.

Geppetto names the puppet Pinocchio, who springs to life as a mischievous child. After Geppetto teaches him to walk, Pinocchio bolts from the house, inciting Geppetto’s arrest for mistreatment.

At home, Pinocchio meets a cricket who warns him not to become lazy or rebellious. Pinocchio hurls a hammer at the bug in rage, crushing it.

In the Disney version, this is the character of Jiminy Cricket, who avoids the crushing fate of the cricket in the original tale. Alongside Geppetto, he creates the puppet and earnestly wishes for Pinocchio to become a real boy.

A fairy hears this wish and turns the marionette into a real boy, though he is still a puppet. She tells him he will become human when he proves he is truthful, unselfish, and brave. The fairy also makes Jiminy Cricket the boy’s conscience.

In both tales, Pinocchio goes on wild adventures and gets into trouble. The type of trouble changes by version. The Collodi version sends Pinocchio on zanier adventures.

Collodi’s version has Pinocchio dismiss wise counsel and repeatedly fall for tricks. This culminates in the puppet being hanged from a tree, slowly suffocating to death as his wooden body resists. During this excruciating ordeal, Pinocchio reflects on his poor choices.

A fairy goes to rescue Pinocchio. She consults an owl, a crow, and the ghost of the dead cricket. The cricket says Pinocchio is still alive but has been disobedient. The fairy revives him and asks what happened. After Pinocchio lies his nose grows and woodpeckers come to peck at it.

The Collodi version continues with many more tales. Some inspired the Disney film, like the dogfish and the donkey transformation.

Ultimately, Pinocchio conquers his troublesome attitude, transforms into a real boy after rescuing his father, embraces honest work, and treats others with kindness.

While the Disney adaptation is generally more childlike and whimsical, some unsettling elements persist. The transformation into a donkeys can be frightening, and many children find the Disney scene with whale, scary as well.

Both tales end with Pinocchio rescuing his father and proving his loyalty. At its heart, the story urges us to resist selfishness and cultivate virtue. It champions obedience, education, and hard work over the lure of easy gains.

Though both stories share themes, the original is much darker. Disobedience in Collodi’s version invites literal death by hanging, while Disney’s adaptation launches Pinocchio on an Odyssey-like journey without graphic violence.

The final Disney film I am going to cover today is Peter Pan.

The Disney Version of the fairytale was first released in 1953 and follows three siblings: Wendy, Michael, and John Darling, and the titular character, Peter Pan.

The Darlings all believe in a character named Peter Pan, who is a young boy who never had to grow up. Wendy, who is about to age out of being a child, is visited by Peter Pan and a fairy named Tinkerbell at night, and the duo decides to take Wendy and her two brothers to Neverland.

The three Darlings arrive in Neverland, where they meet the “lost boys,” a group of young boys that Peter Pan is the leader of. The group then had a few adventures in Neverland, including encounters with Indians and Pirates.

Despite enjoying their time in Neverland, the Darlings ultimately decide to return home and grow up, leaving the audience with the idea that while enjoying childhood and having an active imagination are important, growing up is inevitable.

The original version of Peter Pan was a Scottish play written in 1904 by J.M. Barrie. This work was later turned into a novel in 1911. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a troublesome little boy who lived in Neverland.

The Barrie story starts the same way as the Disney version, with the Darlings being invited to Neverland. From there, much of the story actually stays the same. The chaos with the pirates and Native Americans remains pretty similar across both stories, and many of the characters’ arcs do not change.

However, there is one disturbing element in the original version that does not make the Disney tale. In the original play, the Lost Boys come to Peter Pan and Neverland when they fall out of their mothers’ strollers.

In Neverland, Peter Pan welcomes the Lost Boys into his gang and looks after them. However, their membership is temporary.

Peter Pan is determined to maintain his eternal youth and never grow up, even if it requires extreme measures.

To preserve the eternal youth of his gang, Peter Pan ensures the Lost Boys never get “too old.” If the children reach a certain age and haven’t already met their end, Peter Pan himself will “thin the number out”, meaning, he will kill them.

The story of Peter Pan shows the lengths to which Peter will go to never grow up in both versions. The difference with the original play is that Peter will commit murder to ensure his eternal youth.

The stories we think we know are actually something else entirely. The fairy tales passed down through generations weren’t created to comfort children, but to warn, to frighten, and to reflect a much harsher world. What the Walt Disney Company did was transform those grim cautionary tales into something softer, brighter, and far more marketable.

Yet beneath the songs and happy endings, the older versions still linger, reminding us that these stories were never just fantasies. They were lessons, wrapped not in magic, but in the things people once feared most.Walt Disney Animation Studios has crafted dozens of the most popular children’s movies ever made.