Disney cartoons filmed many well-known fairy-tales. But they were often changed thoroughly to make them less bloody and evil and to add a happily ever after. Find out the real stories behind the cartoon heroines. Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Pocahontas, Mulan, The Princess and the Frog, and Frozen.
Disney movies were most of our first
experiences with fairy-tales and when it
comes to their princess stories we know
they can sometimes be formulaic which
isn't a bad thing who doesn't love a happily ever after
right we love rooting for the princesses
to escape their evil stepmothers and be
happy but what if we told you the
original stories from which Disney was
inspired were actually not so happy
we've got a list of some pretty messed
up origin stories.
Rapunzel
Do you even hear yourself why would you ask
such a ridiculous question it was you
Rapunzel you probably associated
Rapunzel's story with Disney's Tangled
which tells the story of a beautiful
princess with long blond hair that has
magical qualities and lives locked in a
tower courtesy of Mother Gothel who kidnapped
her as a baby she meets a bandit who she
escapes with they have some adventures
fall in love and end up living happily
ever after but the original story is a
lot different Rapunzel's parents were
farmers who basically stole Goethals
plant for a salad when they were caught
her father agreed that an exchange that
would give up his child when his wife
gave birth she was named Rapunzel after
the plant and when she was 12
Gothel locked her in a tower and the
only way to get to her was by climbing
her long hair a prince strolls by and
hears her singing he sneaks up one day
after a brief introduction and a
proposal she decides to marry him but
Rapunzel is caught gets her hair chopped
off and is banished to the desert when
the prince returns for he finds Gothel
instead she throws him out the window
and he ends up with thorns and his eyes
and blind him he roams around and
eventually finds Rapunzel who now has
twins her tears give him back his sight
and they return to his kingdom Wow
must have been a really good salad.
The Little Mermaid
To the Little Mermaid in Disney's
version of The Little Mermaid we meet
the spunky redhead Ariel who dreams of
being part of the surface world she
falls in love with a human Prince Erik
and does everything in her 16 year old
power to be with him because love she
seeks out the sea witch
Ursula and exchanges her voice for some
legs so that she can go use her charms
and Dingle hoppers to make Erik fall for
her Ursula ends up playing some shady
games but don't worry she'll of
conquered all and they defeated her with
a boat right in the gut poor unfortunate
soul Prince Erik and Ariel lived happily
ever after complete with a sweet wedding
and awesome rainbow ah but in the
original Hans Christian Andersen version
the outcome isn't so solid part of the
agreement is that her legs will feel as
if she were walking on broken glass sad
right well Erik ends up marrying someone
else and Ariel throws herself in the
ocean and becomes seafoam are you upset
because we can't even right now
Ariel's trying face is sad enough can
you imagine her turning into a sad seafoam.
Cinderella
The classic rags to riches story about a young girl force
and de servitude by her evil stepmother
is one that Disney turned into a
wonderful classic Cinderella sings about
dreams love and maintains a positive
attitude through most of the abuse her
only friends are cute birds inventive
mice and an adorable dog it doesn't seem
all that bad with her little bird
friends helping her get dressed in the
morning and after she meets her fairy
godmother things get better as she
attends the ball with some fabulous yet
impractical shoes we're not here to
judge anyway we all know how it ends she
loses the shoe Prince goes on a search
finds her marries her and they live
happily ever after but the Brothers
Grimm did not tell the story as adorably
in this version one of her stepsisters
ends up with her toes cut off and the
other saws off her heels so that she can
fit into the tiny glass slipper little
doves alert the Prince that there is
blood on the shoe and discovers that
Cinderella is the true owner once they
realize Cinderella is to be queen they
try to win her favor into tender
only to have their eyes pecked out by
Birds pretty gruesome don't you think of
course you said so yourself
once upon a dream.
Sleeping Beauty
Disney's Sleeping Beauty is one of the
most beautifully animated films it also
has one of the sweetest ballets ever
once upon a dream will forever be
associated with romantic waltzing in the
florists the swoon worthy Prince Phillip
Can Dance is dedicated determined and
willing to go up against a massive
dragon just to prove his love and be
with Briar Rose aka Princess Aurora
again we have adorable woodland
creatures magic and happily ever afters
and of course the duel between pink and
blue but the original tale of Sleeping
Beauty is much more horrifying a king
wanders by Sleeping Beauty's castle and
when no one answers his knocks he climbs
through the window here he finds a
beautiful and unconscious princess so
naturally the creep decides to violate
her and leaves she only wakes up after
giving birth to twins she makes her way
to the palace and they fall in love
that wasn't cringy enough he is married
to someone else already she tries to
have one of the twins killed and burned
the princess at the stake luckily she
fails the king and princess get married
and live happily ever after and to that
we say no thank you
people use their imagination well it's
about time you got your head out of
those books and paid attention to more
important things.
Beauty and the Beast
Disney's Beauty and the Beast resonated with audiences not
just because it's a tale as old as time
but because it's a beautiful love story
that transcends appearances and
prejudice we love how Belle loves to
read and stays true to herself even when
her town makes fun of her for being
weird and who doesn't love the character
arc the Beast goes through so endearing
right Belle and beast both grow as
people and learn from one another but
most importantly it gave us major envy
of that gifted library that Belle gets
and let's not forget the beautiful
animation in the film the original story
by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
is followed pretty accurately
by Disney except with a few changes
Belle actually has two evil sisters as
per usual when it comes to these things
beast actually allows bill to travel
home and visit her family as long as she
promises to only be gone for a week but
when she shows up with some pretty nice
Red's her sisters become jealous and
convince her to stay longer
with the hopes that it will drive the
Beast mad and he will devour Belle don't
worry Belle makes it out safe and sound
Snow White
Disney's first animated
feature film is the 1937 film Snow White
Snow White was known for being the
fairest in the land so much so in fact that her evil
stepmother wanted her dead families are
pretty dark in these stories aren't they
even when they're Disney fine but what
if we told you that the original
Brothers Grimm tale wasn't full of cute
furry animals that helped you clean or
adorable dwarves we know it's hard to
imagine any other version but in the
original story the Queen is even more
twisted she asks the Huntsman to kill
her and bring her back her lungs and
liver but instead he brings back a boars
boar Venus she eats them thinking
they're Snow White's gross much when
snow is placed in a glass coffin after
being poisoned a handsome prince passed
by and fell in love so of course he
asked to take her away and give her a
proper funeral which is pretty odd if
you ask us but thanks to this gesture
the people carrying her coffin trip
causing the Apple to dislodge from snows
throat she then marries the Prince and
lives happily ever after the Evil Queen
is invited to the wedding where she is
forced to wear burning hot iron shoes
and dance until she dies there's so much
we can teach you we've improved the
lives of savages all over the world savages
Pocahontas
one of the great Disney films of the 90s is Pocahontas
like any good Disney cartoon there is a
beautiful young lady who falls in love
with a handsome stranger Pocahontas is
the Chiefs daughter who was in touch
with the beauty of nature her best
friend is a raccoon and she gets
guidance from a tree her love for the
Englishman John Smith almost starts a
war between two peoples but if you look
once more around the Riverbend you'll
realize that this film is historically
inaccurate Pocahontas was actually a nickname
meaning playful one her real name was
Mata Wacha when the English arrived in
Jamestown Pocahontas was about eleven
hold John Smith was captured by a POW
attends brother and according to Smith
his head was about to be smashed when
Pocahontas rushed in and saved him a
couple years later she was captured and
held for ransom she was violated and
consequently impregnated she was forced
to convert to Christianity and was
married off to John Rolfe to legitimize
her pregnancy she was a captive who
wanted to help and protect her people
she lived a very short life and died at
the age of 21 the details of how it all
went down I'm not fully certain but it
was definitely not a happy ending for her.
Mulan
Disney's Mulan was a story
of a young woman who took her father's
place in war her selfless act and
bravery led them to win the war and save
all of China now we know Mulan
technically isn't a princess but come on
she saved China and was totally selfless
that's pretty much royalty in our book
she was also friends with the talk
immunity dragon the story of Mulan came
about because China was suffering an
invasion during the fourth and fifth
centuries warriors needed a source of
hope and Mulan became that inspiration
her story is described in a poem the
ballot of Hua Mulan there's no proof
that she was a real person but heroic
actions inspired many The Legend of
Mulan has been written with many
variations but the plot remains the same
she heard the army was recruiting and in
order to save her ailing father she
disguised herself until his plates she
fought for 12 years gained high merit
but refused any reward she only wished
to return home many variations state
that when she returned home she
discovered her father had passed away
and was haunted by experiences in the
battlefield so she decided to take her own life
we enjoyed the liberties that Disney
took by making it a little more joyous.
The Princess and the Frog
Perhaps Disney's last 2d animated film
is the awesome story of The Princess and
the Frog it follows the story of a
hard-working and ambitious young lady named Tiana
who dreams of one day opening the finest
restaurant in New Orleans
it also follows an arrogant prince named
Naveen who gets turned into a frog by
evil Dr. Facilier a Tiana's dreams get put
on hold when her path crossed with Frog
Prince Naveen he mistakes her for a princess
and plants a kiss on Tiana except it
doesn't work in either of their favors
because she also gets turned into a frog
the to set off on an adventure to try
and repair things along with a trumpet
playing alligator named Louise Firefly
named ray and a voodoo woman named mama
Odie and their love for each other they
were able to return to their human cells
this whole movie is based very loosely
on the Brothers Grimm story the Frog
Prince the original version had the Frog
Prince being thrown against the wall to
break the spell and even more violent
version says that she has to cut the
frog head off he'll definitely go with
the smoochy instead.
Frozen
Frozen is a heartwarming story about true love and
self-acceptance it follows sister Anna and Elsa as
they rediscover their sisterly love for
one another and that they are two
independent princesses who don't need no
man just an adorable snowman but despite
all the goodness there's little
resemblance to the original fairy tale
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian
Andersen in that story there's a troll
with a mirror that reflects the worst in
a person who looks into it it ends up
shattering splinters and spreading out
everywhere one day friends Kai and
Gerda are out playing and Kai ends up
with a shard in his heart which changes
him for the worst he ends up being lured
away by The Snow Queen while on his sled
and Gerda sets out on a quest to rescue
him and thaw his frozen heart sound a
bit familiar Gerda finds out that the
key to saving Kai is her sweet and
innocent child heart much like Anna and
frozen she arrives at the palace and
finds Kai assembling shards of ice to
form the word eternity if he succeeds
The Snow Queen will release him
Gerda kisses him and breaks the spell as
they dance around the shards bounce
around and spell eternity they return
home safe and sound.
Wow those are some messed-up origin stories what did you
think are there any that we might have missed.
