11,12,2024

https://app.engxam.com/cae/use-of-english/4/ 

   

  

   Despite the often-disturbing content of the stories, the Grimms' primary contribution to fairy tales was making them tamer.

It's no coincidence that the adultification of the fairy tale happened over the same time period in which the children who'd originally enjoyed the Disney versions grew up, and surprisingly little needs to be changed to turn a children's story into an adult-oriented (and adult-rated) film. Despite the best efforts of the Grimm brothers, Walt Disney, and their contemporaries, fairy tales can never be completely separated from their darker origins. 

But there's a final wrinkle to the subversive fairy-tale trend: From movies like Snow White & the Huntsman to TV shows like Grimm and Once Upon a Time, a twisted fairy tale only works if the audience has enough knowledge of the original stories to appreciate how they're being subverted—a knowledge that contemporary children are getting further and further away from. 

In many ways, the reverse-sanitization of the fairy tale is a return to the origins of stories that were, in their earliest forms, only "related at adult gatherings after children had been put to bed for the night." As adults turn on an episode of Grimm after reading their children to sleep, or see Snow White & the Hunstman while their kids stay at home with a sitter, they're embracing a concept of the fairy tale that predates even the Grimm Brothers—a trend appropriate enough for the oldest stories of all. 

1 Do you prefer the darker, adult-oriented versions of fairy tales or the sanitized, child-friendly ones? Why?

2 The text mentions that fairy tales were originally told to adults. What do you think this says about the role of storytelling in society?

3 If you were reading fairy tales to a child, would you prefer sharing the lighter Disney versions or the more traditional, darker versions? Why?

taken from https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/fairy-tales-started-dark-got-cute-and-are-now-getting-dark-again/257934/

https://app.engxam.com/cae/listening/1/