Disney fairytales may seem sweet and innocent, but the truth is that the majority of them are based on folklore created by the Grimm brothers, and they didn’t exactly intend for those stories to turn into kids’ movies. The original versions of these classics were actually pretty dark. If you’re ready to have your childhood ruined, read on to see what these fairytales were initially about!
Snow White
If you ask us, even Disney’s version of Snow White is pretty dark. The Prince kisses Snow White, who — for all he knows — is deceased, and he’s never even met her! These days, if some guy kissed a girl who’s passed out, it wouldn’t be seen as romantic.
Anyway, for some reason, the Queen is the villain of this story rather than the Prince. Well, in the original version, she’s forced to wear fiery shoes and dance in them, until she eventually dies from exhaustion.
Beauty and the Beast
Those who say Beauty and the Beast is about Stockholm Syndrome are actually kind of right! The original tale was written as a critique of arranged marriages that were commonplace at that time. In those days, girls as young as 13 would be forced to marry wealthy adult men.
Later versions of the story did the exact opposite of the original intent and actually tried to teach women “good manners” and how to accept being in such a marriage.
Sleeping Beauty
After hearing what Sleeping Beauty was originally about, we kind of wonder if the King was the Prince from Snow White all grown up.
The story goes that a wandering King impregnated Aurora while she was asleep, and she gave birth while still in a coma. Eventually, Briar Rose woke up to find that she was the mother of twins. Of course, by then, the King was nowhere to be found.
Little Red Riding Hood
The OG Little Red Riding Hood was anything but a sweet girl trying to care for her grandma. Little Red Riding Hood is a story of a young girl and the Big Bad Wolf who work together to eat the grandmother.
Then, Red unclothes and lies beside the wolf on her grandma’s bed. To be fair, the Wolf did coerce Red in the original tale as well. But, come on, could you be convinced to eat your grandmother?
Cinderella
We have to give Cinderella’s Evil Stepsisters credit — those two were dedicated! In the original story, the pair mutilated their feet in order to fit into the glass slipper. They fooled the Prince for a bit… until magical doves removed their shoes to show the Prince the truth.
Later, after Cinderella became queen, she ordered the doves to peck out the Stepsisters’ eyes as revenge. Why she wasn’t mad at the Prince, who called her the love of his life but literally couldn’t recognize her face, is beyond us.
The Princess and the Frog
Have you ever gotten so frustrated with your phone or some other item that was acting up, that you just threw it against the wall? That’s essentially what the Princess went through in The Princess and the Frog when that pesky Frog just wouldn’t become human.
She got so exasperated that she threw him at a wall, and the impact broke the curse! We don’t recommend trying that strategy with a bad date at home.
