The Real Origins of Famous Disney Stories

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs When the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, it was a huge hit and was the first and now many princesses for Disney. We are all familiar with the story. It's about Snow White living with her jealous stepmother who orders her Huntsman to kill the princess. But unable to face killing Snow White, he lets her free in the forest where she lives with the seven dwarfs.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs When the evil queen finds out that Snow White is still alive, she possesses an old hag to give Snow White a poisoned apple. When she takes a bite, she's thought to have died and lays motionless until a prince finds her and kisses her, bringing Snow White back to life and they live happily ever after.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs It's a lovely story but the original has an alternative with a pretty gory ending. The original Snow White story was written by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, and was first published in German. It shares pretty much all the similarities to the Disney film, except for when Snow White is poisoned by the apple. The prince does not kiss her and bring her back to life.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs He takes the casket she is lying in, trips over a branch in the forest dropping Snow White and causing the poisoned apple to dislodge from the throat and she comes back to life. Now, here is where it gets dark. They then arrange a huge wedding, inviting every king and queen in the land. The wicked queen accepts the invitation, not realizing it's a stepdaughters wedding.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs And when she arrives, she is made to wear a pair of shoes that are glowing red hot and is forced to dance until she drops dead. This was a punishment for trying to kill Snow White. It's pretty disturbing since it is supposed to be a children's story and you can see why they didn't include that part in the film.

Pocahontas This Disney film was perhaps one of the most controversial of the Disney princess films, mainly because it was based on a true story but was changed so much that many believe it took historical liberties with this portrayal of Pocahontas, straying too far from facts to make it into a children's film.

Pocahontas In the film, Pocahontas is a young American Indian woman whose father is a powerful Indian chief. He wanted her to marry a native warrior but she falls for a British captain and her father disapproves. These are made worse when the British captain's fellow Englishman try to rob the Native Americans of their gold.

Pocahontas But this is very different to the true story of Pocahontas, the daughter of a poet and chief. She was born in around 1595 and her birth name was Mitaka. Pocahontas later became a nickname given to her which means, 'Spoiled' or 'Naughty' child.

Pocahontas Pocahontas was part of a tribe located in Tidewar Virginia and her childhood would have seen the English arriving in search of the New World which resulted in many clashed between the English and the Native Indians. During this time, Captain Smith and English soldier and explorer was captured by Pocahontas' tribe and faced execution. This was when the 10-year old Mitaka threw herself at Captain Smith to stop him being executed.

Pocahontas Now, it is unlikely there was romance between the two like in the film but young Mitaka was later captured by English settlers and this is when she met tabacco planter, John Rolfe. In order to secure her release, she agreed to marry him and was renamed, Rebecca. This was also the first recorded marriage in history between a European man and a Native American woman.

Pocahontas After two years of marriage, John Rolfe and Mitaka went to England where Rolfe used his wife as a symbol of peace and goodwill between the English and Native Americans. His thoughts that whilst in England, Mitaka ran into John Smith, the captain she saved from being executed. But she refused to speak and turned her back on him.

Pocahontas Unfortunately for Pocahontas, who was returning by ship back to Virginia, she became ill and was taken off the ship at Gravesend, England where she sadly died at the age of 21. There was a lot of suspicion that her death was caused by poisoning but this has never been confirmed.

Tangled In the 2010 Disney film Tangled, a story is told about a baby princess named Rapunzel who has magical healing powers. She's stolen from her crib by Mother Gothel and taken to a hidden tower where her golden magical hair grows incredibly long. As she grows older, Rapunzel becomes curious about the outside world, especially the bright light she sees every year floating in the sky beyond her tower prison.

Tangled She plots with a local thief to escape the tower and go on an adventure discovering that the lights in the sky are lanterns that her parents release every year on Rapunzel's birthday. She then falls in love with the thief after bringing him back to life with her powers and they eventually marry and live happily ever after. That is the film version of the original which is called 'Rapunzel.'

Tangled Rapunzel starts with a lonely couple who lived next to an evil witch named, Dame Gothel. The neighbor who is pregnant sees a Rapunzel plant in the witch's garden and asks her husband to steal it for her to eat. She enjoys it so much that she asks him to steal some more. But this time, he's caught by Dame Gothel. He begs for his life and the evil witch agrees to let him go on the condition that he hands over their baby as soon as it's born.

Tangled The witch takes the newborn baby and calls her Rapunzel. She raises her as her own. Rapunzel grows up to have long, golden hair and when she reaches the age of 12, Dame Gothel locks her in a secret tower. Rapunzel's hair grows so long that when the witch visits her, she shouts up for her to let her hair down. Rapunzel would then drop her hair down from the tower and let Dame Gothel climb up to her room.

Tangled Then, one day a prince hears Rapunzel singing in the tower. They eventually meet and fall in love. They both plan her escape so that they can marry but Dame Gothel notices that something is not right. So, she watches the tower and finds out about the prince visiting. In a rage, she cuts of Rapunzel's hair and slings her into the woods to fend for herself.

Tangled She then uses the cut hair to trick the Prince into thinking that he's climbing up to see Rapunzel. But when he reaches the top and is told Rapunzel is gone, he jumps from the tower in attempt to kill himself. He survives but thorns pierce his eyes, leaving him blind. For months, he wanders aimlessly in the forest until one day he hears Rapunzel singing and is reunited with her and she restores his sight. As for Dame Gothel in a fit of anger, she has dropped the lengths of hair and is forever trapped in the tower to die.

Pinocchio The 1940 film Pinocchio is told through the eyes of Jiminy Cricket. He tells how woodcarver, Geppetto makes a wooden puppet called, 'Pinocchio' and how he wishes it was a real boy. Then, one day he sees a shooting star and the next morning Pinocchio has come to life. One day, when walking to school, Pinocchio is persuaded to join a traveling show where he performs with other puppets and when he tries to return home to Geppetto, he is locked up by the owner of the traveling show.

Pinocchio He is rescued by a magical fairy but when he starts lying about what he's been up to, his nose starts to grow. Eventually, Pinocchio and Jiminy cricket returned but discovered that Geppetto has gone to sea in search of him and has been swallowed by a whale. Pinocchio sets out to free Geppetto from the whale's belly but drowns trying to save him. Because he has proved himself to be good through, he is brought back to life by the fairy and his puppet strings are removed, finally making him a real boy.

Pinocchio The film is a classic but the original Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi which the film is based on tells a much darker story. It was originally published as a weekly series in a comic type newspaper for children. Carlo often describes Pinocchio as a wretched and thoroughly disobedient boy who laughs in the face and steals the wig of his creator and father, Geppetto. In these stories, Jiminy Cricket is not the wise guide friend of Pinocchio but the opposite.

Pinocchio Jiminy Cricket warns Pinocchio of the perils of disobedience and hedonism (pleasure/self-indulgence.) In return for Jiminy Cricket warning him, Pinocchio kills Jiminy Cricket by bashing his brains in with a hammer. Pinocchio is often starved, tortured, robbed and kidnapped and has wooden legs burned off. Nearly every chapter of the book indicates the author's contempt for badly behaved children, with Pinocchio being made an example of what happens to disobedient kids.

Pinocchio Carlo did not want the story to have a happy ending at all and wanted to end Pinocchio's life by hanging him. But publishers were horrified by this ending and was forced to bring Pinocchio back to life. This is when he introduces a child with blue hair, the character that becomes the magical fairy in the Disney film. But even after being brought back, the writer continued to enjoy torture and abuse upon Pinocchio in the stories which thankfully was never shown in the film.

Winnie The Pooh Winnie the Pooh is a lovable teddy bear who was created by English author, A. A. MILNE and adapted by Disney into a series of short features that included Winnie the Pooh's friends, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Rabbit, Roo, Tigger, Owl and the only human character, Christopher Robin.

Winnie The Pooh Winnie and his friends enjoy several adventures in the hundred acre woods but you may be surprised that some of them are actually based on true characters. In 1925, A. A based Winnie the Pooh on a soldier's bear who was sent to London Zoo when the soldier was shipped off to the front lines in France. Christopher Robin Milne, A. A Milne's son was a visitor to the zoo and loved the female bear. He named his teddy bear, Winnie The Pooh and this created the inspiration for his dad to create the yellow bear we all know of today.

Winnie The Pooh So, Winnie the Pooh was based on the bear. Christopher Robin was based off on A. A Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne. But behind the laughter and fun, Winnie the Pooh and his friends are thought to have a deeper meaning to their characters. Now, this was never confirmed by the creator but is a widely believed theory by many. And when you hear it, it definitely makes you wonder.

Winnie The Pooh It's thought all the characters show traits of mental disorders. Here are the psychological profiles of them. Winnie The Pooh is thought to suffer from a range of mental disorders. His careless and dreamy nature and disregard towards rules point to a form of Inattentive Attention Defect Hyperactivity Disorder. Also, his obsession with honey and willingness to risk everything to get it indicates to some that he is suffering from Impulsivity and with obsessive fixations.

Winnie The Pooh Piglet is thought to suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. His general nervousness and low self-esteem contributes to his stuttering speech and the irrational anxiety he displays. The owl seems to be Dyslexic as he spells things jumbled up and in the wrong way. Tigger is unable to control his constant bouncing and has an extremely impulsive nature. Despite this, the others are drawn to him as he is very sociable. But by association, they risk getting themselves in trouble due to his behaviors. Some say this is a classic sign of, 'ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.)'

Winnie The Pooh Some say Kanga shows signs of Social Anxiety Disorder. She's an over-protective, super-organized mother and is obsessed with controlling little Roo, preventing him from making his own decisions. Kanga also tries to mother Tigger in much the same way, feeding him and looking after him, although she is unable to control him. The Rabbit who is over-organized and obsessed with having everything in the right place has led people to believe that he is suffering from 'OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.)'

Winnie The Pooh Eeyore, the downcast donkey who has a negative spin on everything seems incapable of getting any joy out of life and is definitely suffering from some kind of Depression. And finally, Christopher Robin, with his wild imagination and stuffed toys as best friends is thought to have created all the characters in his own head and they represent all the feelings he is actually experiencing. Some believe Christopher is suffering from Schizophrenia. But this is not the first time something like this has happened in a children's movie.