Yes, it has. But that’s what always happens. If successive generations couldn’t put their own stamp on sources, we’d be pretty limited in what we could read, see and hear. There’s a theory that there are only around seven plots that show up in every piece of fiction ever written. I’m not sure that I quite buy that, but it’s certainly true that the same themes show up over and over again. We never tire of true love’s triumph, for instance. And I am especially fond of fairy tales, having devoured so many of them when I was in grade school. How exciting it always was to go to the bookmobile with my mom and see what new choices were there. If a book had the word “fairy” in the title, I was game.
In this post I’m including short sections on four folk/fairy tales that have been used in Disney films. I have individual posts on The Lion King and Toy Story 2. I’ve sung selections from all of these films with my own choir and have thoroughly enjoyed doing so.
First, Beauty and the Beast, from which a nice choral selection “Be Our Guest” has been taken. This is the only one of these four films that I’ve watched, and I’ve seen it at least twice, plus the live-action 2017 film. Love, love, love this story! I would say that, in essence, the Disney version stays pretty close to the original at least in some aspects. I don’t see the Gaston character in the Wikipedia summary of the original story; instead, the villains of the piece are Belle’s brothers and sisters. But there’s a sense of danger hanging over Belle from the very first: she doesn’t fit in. There’s no one in the village whom she’d want to marry, and her love of books is laughed at. The same dislike of those who are different will also drive the villagers’ attack on the Beast’s castle.
The first published version of this particular tale is from France and dates to 1740. (The French title is so much more fun to say: “La Belle et la Bête.”) It was later trimmed down and revised in 1756 and eventually made its way into the Blue Fairy Book, first published in the 1880’s. A reprint of that book was available in the bookmobile; I remember reading it. But the story itself wasn’t new. The plot is actually taken from the myth of Cupid and Psyche from ancient Greece, and who knows where that came from? In the end, the transforming power of love carries the day.
But I must hasten on, as I’ve used up almost half of my self-imposed limit of 1,000 words. Let’s move on to Pinocchio. Talk about lightening and brightening! The original Italian children’s book written in the 1880’s is pretty dark; Pinocchio is downright nasty! He kills Jiminy Cricket! With a hammer! (The cricket reappears as a ghost later on in the story.) There’s a lot of violence in the original that I’m sure doesn’t appear in the film: Pinocchio goes to sleep with his feet propped up on the stove and wakes up to find that they’ve burned off; Geppetto makes him some new ones. Pinocchio bites off the cat’s front paw when the cat is disguised as a bandit. At one point Pinocchio is being hanged, but apparently he’s taking too long to die and so the cat and the fox wander off. Then the Turquoise Fairy rescues him. And so on. I’ve gotten so intrigued with the story that I’m going to re-read the original and watch the 1940 film. (My family’s personal folklore says that I read Pinocchio, the actual novel, when I was three, and I do indeed remember paging through a thick book and reading at least some of it. Isn’t it funny what the mind retains?)
The Jungle Book isn’t actually based on a fairy tale per se but on a set of stories by Rudyard Kipling. I wrote quite a bit about these stories back when I wrote about “Seal Lullaby” by Eric Whitacre; I’d encourage you to read that post since it gives some background on TJB as a whole. The Disney movie is based largely on the first story, “Mowgli and His Brothers,” with some elements from “Kaa’s Hunting” and “Tiger, Tiger!” It’s a much happier tale than the original, which has a lot of death in it. (Again, I haven’t seen the film but only read the synopsis.) Kipling’s big thing in these stories, if you read them carefully, is the need for the animals to follow the law of the jungle, which in his version is a little more complicated than just the survival of the fittest. Certain rules must be followed or society will fall into chaos. In the end, Mowgli realizes that he’s going to have to return to the world of men, and there’s no pretty girl at the edge of the village to make his re-entry less painful.
And, finally, Pocahontas, which isn’t of course based on a fairy tale but on actual history. Well, sort of. Did Pocahontas, the daughter of the Indian chief Powhatan, actually save the life of the English explorer John Smith? Yes, at least in his telling. Were they romantically involved? No. Pocahontas was only 11 or 12 at the time, and Smith was a mature man. Here’s the original story from the pen of John Smith himself:
Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the king’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save his from death: whereat the emperor was contented he should live. (from John Smith’s The General Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, originally published in 1624)
Some historians think that Smith misunderstood what was going on and that he was never in any danger of being killed at all but that this whole whoop-de-doo was just part of an initiation ceremony. Pocahontas and Smith were never romantically involved, but she did marry another Englishman, John Rolfe, moved to England, and died there of tuberculosis.
Well, I must quit, as I’m way over my limit. Do take a look at some of the source material on these tales! So, so interesting how successive generations re-imagine and re-interpret the past. Here are videos showing choral performances from all four films:
© Debi Simons
