My youngest daughter, baby girl, will turn 10 soon. Do you know how many kid movies you can watch in 10 yrs? I’ll make it easy for you, add up all of the movies from Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, with a few others sprinkled in for good measure. That should cover most of the them. Her favorite? It’s a toss-up between Frozen and The Little Mermaid. She rarely watches these movies anymore, but trust me: these stories are seared into my mind. I know them forward and back again. Or so I thought.
Once I became a storyteller, I learned about Folk Tales and Fairy Tales among other genres of stories. Even though I never read them, I knew that Frozen and The Little Mermaid movies were changed from the original stories. I never fully knew how much. Then I listened to a telling of Little Red Robin Hood from the Blue Fairy Book. I won’t ruin the twist for you if you have not read it yet. Just know that old time words and out of date expressions are not the only differences. The twist will hit you in the face.
So, why is that?
Folk Tales and Fairy Tales (2 separate story genres) do more that entertain. They teach lessons and morals. You can check my blog post on Folk Tales and Fairy Tales to see what I mean. Given that I wrote these posts last year, I this isn’t new to me. So why talk about it now?
And then there is one of my favorite Podcast
If you aren’t currently listening to Malcom Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History” start now. And start with episode titled “Little Mermaid Part 1: The Golden Contract” He is taking about the very thing I stumbled upon by accident; the stories we know, need a closer look. His take is a little different, though. Gladwell looks at the original stories as being the stories kids NEED to hear, not the Disney ones. His thoughts make for an interesting 3-part series in his podcast. It culminates with a rewrite of the of the ending of The Little Mermaid. Let’s just say, it very 2021.
Why bring it up?
The podcast reminded me of the fact that a story, over time, can be adjusted. Sometimes that a good thing, sometimes not. What is good or bad can be subjective. And apparently, what is good or bad in the story can be changed. Something to remember in the stories we chose to tell others. We should the how the original story started, and how it was framed. Something to remember when you tell your story on purpose.
Story Telling On Purpose 