Through the decades as we've continued to tell the story, small but key details like these have changed to reflect shifting cultural sensibilities. And their father-already unsure of abandoning his kids in the original story-was presented in a more sympathetic light, thanks to added lines of dialogue, including, early on: "I do feel sorry for the poor children." As such, all subsequent editions transformed Hansel and Gretel's coldly practical mother into an overtly abusive stepmother.
It took less than 50 years, however, for their original version to undergo some significant updates.īy the time the final Grimm edition emerged in 1857, the idea of parents leaving their own children alone in the woods had simply become too taboo to retain-even in a tale that featured attempted cannibalism. The tale proved so compelling that it was passed from generation to generation via oral traditions until the Brothers Grimm finally immortalized it in print in 1812. As such, when Hansel & Gretel first circulated, there was nothing particularly fantastical about a story of "terribly hungry" disowned children nearly being eaten by a frightening stranger. There were also rumors of cannibalism during the period as people struggled to survive. At the time, conditions were so dire and starvation was so widespread that parents were known to abandon their own children, either to fend for themselves or simply to die. The story's origins have been traced back to the Great Famine that started in 1315 and killed millions across Europe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this tale about siblings being abandoned by their parents in the forest, enticed to the home of a witch and then almost eaten by her, the roots of Hansel & Gretel spring from shocking real-life horror. What's more, it continues a long tradition of shifting the story's narrative in order to reflect, and better suit, the era in which it reemerges. Gretel & Hansel is the logical evolution for a story that's terrified children and adults alike since the 14th century. A new movie version of Hansel & Gretel hits theaters this month and, unlike the children's adaptations we've grown accustomed to, it is very much a horror film.
0 kommentar(er)
