The Brothers Grimm must surely go down as one of the most influential partnerships in storytelling, especially as they did not create the stories. The brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German academics who collected various folk stories, fairy tales and more and published them under the name The Brothers Grimm. Such stories as Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and Little Red Riding Hood were first collected in their books. And while they did not come up with these stories the act of collecting them and editing them has had a major impact on the stories – after all “their” version would usually be called the definitive one. Naturally, these influential and popular stories have been adapted into films many, many times.
Disney
Walt Disney has made many of the fairy tales found in the Brothers Grimm into some of the most beloved children’s films ever made. Its first feature film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a classic Grimm fairy tale and this film from the 1930s still has a lot of cultural power. Inspired by the 1916 silent film of the same name the animated version would become one of the most important animated films ever made. We can put everything from Cinderella to Tangled in with Disney’s hugely successful adaptations of Grimm fairy tales.
Cartoons
Next, we have Tex Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood. Cartoon legend Avery presents a twist on the familiar tale, starting the cartoon in the typical rural medieval setting and then changing tone and location entirely; putting the wolf in a tuxedo and Little Riding Hood as a singer at a fancy club. Whilst you may think you’ve not seen this cartoon you almost certainly have at least seen parts of it (let alone the huge influence it had on future cartoons). It has a famous early example of a “cartoon character seeing an attractive woman” and the exaggerated and impossible reactions of the cartoon character.
Horror
The slightly askew interpretation of the fairy tale by Tex Avery is far from the only example, with numerous horror films using them as inspiration. Those who aren’t terribly familiar with the stories could perhaps wonder why filmmakers are using children’s stories for horror films…but there is murder, torture, horrific cruelty and more in the source material.
Hansel and Gretel has served as a great example, with 2020’s Gretel & Hansel as a recent addition, a twisted horror-fantasy focussing more on Gretel and exploring the various themes of the original story. The fairy tale runs the gamut of poverty, parental abandonment, homelessness, kidnapping, gaslighting, child torture, the prospect of cannibalism and burning a witch alive in her oven.
A brief note on 2005’s The Brothers Grimm a fantasy adventure featuring the brothers as the central characters. Rather than being academics collecting stories they are monster hunters, travelling the land fighting evil…well actually, they’re con artists, creating these monsters with theatrical skill and cheap tricks.
The Brothers
It’s hard to separate the Brothers Grimm and their work from their nationality and culture. The brothers were born in the 18th century in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kessel, part of the Holy Roman Empire. They were German people but the country of Germany did not exist and would not until much later in the nineteenth century. The brothers felt a strong connection to fairy tales as art of the people, traditional and genuine, as opposed to high art which they considered more convoluted and artificial.
So why do these stories, collected by the Brothers Grimm over 200 years ago, based on stories that are far older still connect with people today? In European and American culture these stories are ubiquitous, giving a shared understanding. Reading your children these specific stories is a tradition. Whilst the stories may focus on stories of peasants, monsters and royals you get a lot in them – love, death, betrayal, heroism and usually a handy lesson to learn. Of course, at this point we are now in a feedback loop of cultural understanding, these stories, already prevalent, were stamped on the minds of children through Disney, the stories successfully attaching themselves to the new medium of cinema not long after its inception.
Also Read: Horror and Folklore: Movies Inspired by Myths and Legends
