Modern Day Fairy Tales
A lot of these fairy tales that I have read remind me of modern day cartoon shows. For example, after I read The Cat and the Mouse Set Up House it instantly reminded me of the cartoon show Tom and Jerry. Just like the cat in the fairy tale, the cat (Tom) in this cartoon show is constantly trying to eat the mouse, which is basically what happens in the story in the end. The cat was very sneaky and lied to the mouse about the food they stored up for the winter and in the end when the mouse figured it out, the cat ate the mouse too. I find it interesting because shows like these that are very popular now have parallels with these fairy tales so maybe its possible the creators based the show off these fairy tales and changed somethings to make it more appealing for the audience like how Tom and Jerry is a slapstick comedy. Even though the show doesn't have any dialogue between the cat and the mouse like it did in story, it forces you to imagine what the characters are thinking and what they would say if they could talk.
Source: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/tom-and-jerry/images/2507494/title/tom-jerry-wallpaper-wallpaper
Some other fairy tales that I read like The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs and Godfather Death (and this is sort of a stretch but it) reminds me of the cartoon show The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Their story lines aren't exactly the same but to me this show had a close resemblance to these fairy tales. Again, since it does have some similarities it is possible that this show was based of the fairy tales like these. These fairy tales have a like a "what is the moral of the story" thing and so does the show to an extent I guess. But, this cartoon show incorporates powers from the grim reaper (from a higher being) and the characters Billy and Mandy controls the Grim Reaper.
I just think a lot of cartoon shows that have become sort of main stream drew inspiration from fairy tales like the ones we have read in the Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm.
I loved watching Tom and Jerry when I was little! I haven't read the Cat and Mouse fairy tale yet, but from your synopsis it sounds really similar. Another thing that these cartoons have that the fairy tales don't have is that the "weaker" person is the one who succeeds in the end. Like in Tom and Jerry, Jerry always fools Tom and Tom never ends up eating him. And in The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy, they have some power over Death. So I think that it's also important to look at this idea of the underdog coming out on top in these modern cartoons compared to the fairy tales, where everyone mostly sticks to the status quo.
ReplyDeleteTwo things: One, thank you for bringing back The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy back into my life, and two, I definitely agree with your logic. It seems like the only logical conclusion one can come up with is that these fairy tales get repeated in modern media - there are only so many variations of the same story. The only differences were mentioned by Lexi - that our modern counterparts seem to have the underdog coming out on top. When you think about it, today's cartoons seem to hold the same place that fairy tales once did - a way to engage people of all ages and slip a moral into our ears so that we may perpetuate it. Think of Pixar's Wall-E, there's an animated film with a big brash message that gets hammered home not unlike Hansel and Gretel.
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