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Again, though, were the fairytales just not scary, or were they poorly told? There are a number of stories in the big old Grimm's or similar collection(s) that properly unnerved me as a kid. 'How the Children Played Butcher', 'The New Mother' and even 'Snow White' had that nailed-in-a-casket-and-down-the-river bit. The princess being impregnated while asleep, in 'Sleeping Beauty'.
To update to films and 'original' stories that are still operating as fairytales... the execution by bird in 'Barbarella' still kinda gets me. The way children are presented/treated in 'Forbidden Zone' even, is frightening and that's out and out farce. Sadism only works if it's actually sad, after all. And I could go on and on for ages about how great 'Utena' was/is - but nobody wants to have to scroll past all that again.
As to Dahl, the early bits of 'James and the Giant Peach', where he's basically put on, disempowered, and hungry all the time? That's scary as a kid, especially if you spent any time poor (and thereby hungry in the seriously-got-no-food way). Actually, Dahl's kids do tend to suffer in ways a lot of children's book protagonists never do. Maybe it's because they haven't got nannies and all... maybe, not. Maybe it was a marketing thing....
We should have a fairytale thread, instead of this, yeah? |
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