  Cruelly forced to do housework in a stereotypical manner for a gang of different sized persons |
For most, they are innocent tales that define childhood.
But some parents are ditching fairytales, believing they are politically incorrect or ‘too dark’ to read to children, a survey has found.
One in four mothers has abandoned the likes of Cinderella and Rapunzel in favour of The Gruffalo or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, written in 1969 by Eric Carle.
One in ten parents even said Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs should be re-titled – because ‘the dwarf reference is not PC’.
Rapunzel is considered ‘too dark’ and Cinderella outdated, because she is forced to do the housework.
[…]
A fifth of parents said fairytales were no longer politically correct, while 17 per cent worried they would give their children nightmares.
Instead, let’s tell a story about two gay daddies who have thrown off the shackles of male-dominated Western religion to raise their boy (adopted from a crack whore, ooops, cocaine enabled service provider) and girl (artificial insemination) to fight inequality wherever it appears. Now, don’t you feel enlightened?
LoL, “dwarf” isn’t PC enough? I guess we might as well go back to calling them midgets.
How can ‘Dwarf’ not be PC when it’s the name of a mythical humanoid race? That’s like saying an ‘Elf’ or a ‘Gnome’ isn’t a PC term…
Look how long Disney has been dragging its feet releasing “Song of the South”…
On the up side, the Bush library now has lots of donated material.
I love the PC version of “Crack whore”, I think we should lobby to have that made legally binding.
“Cocaine Enabled Service Provider”
🙂
#5: Thought of an even better —
Cocaine Enabled Personal Touch Therapist
Okay, nothing against old fairy tales etc, but The Gruffalo is a pretty damn good read ….
If you think the Disneyfied versions of these tales are not PC, you should try reading the original Grimm’s or Andersen’s tales. Some of them are pretty hair-raising!
And, BTW: They were NOT children’s tales originally.
Whats wrong with the Very Hungry Caterpillar? in fact, Eric Carle books are quite enjoyable with great artwork.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Carle
And, I find most classic fairy tales to be very dark. If you read the originals, they’re all crazy! Disney cleaned up what they needed to, but they’re still not that great.
Kinda like nursery rhymes. They sound all cute and stuff but are loaded with political melodrama and murder. Hell, look it up! Freaky stuff!
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/
# 10 pedro said, “#4 WTF that has to do with anything.”
It is non-sequitur. Some people have aberrant thought processes. Usually the result of drug usage…
11,
What kind of drugs? Tylenol? Aspirin? Caffeine? Alcohol?
Don’t forget the one about the two gay penguins…
PC or censorship, two sides to the same coin…
#10, #11
Actually I am a PC person but WTF does that have anything to do with this?
How about you Myspace girls just carry on with your usual Dvorak blog chitchat. It’s fascinating.
Ah, Paddy, Disney did release Song of the South, decades ago. Just not in the USA. I have a VHS edition, but it is in PAL format from the UK. IIRC, they have actually discontinued distribution of the film.
As far as it goes, yes, indeed a lot of fairy tales are very dark, witches eating children, poison apples, being swallowed by whales, etc.
But, “They lived happily ever after.”
As for the PC nonsense, well, it just goes to show you that you don’t need much intelligence to reproduce. In fact, the lower the IQ, the more likely you are to breed like rabbits. See the film Idiocracy. Or just watch Jerry Springer.
# 16 Dave W said, “Ah, Paddy, Disney did release Song of the South, decades ago.”
Umm, I’m talking about the major market for that film, not a backwater market.
Agreed about politically incorrect fairy tales. I’m still upset the Paperbag Princess didn’t attempt to resolve her differences and instead simply dumped her boy-friend prince who criticized her for wearing a paperbag after she had just rescued him from a dragon.
RBG
18,
Well, that’s typical of modern male / female relationships. In fact, it was very far ahead of the times when first published. He was a bit of a dick though…
Nice to see that a story about overly-protective parents can be turned into an excuse to bash gay parents.
On the topic of the actual story there was a guest on the Dian Rehm show today talking about his book on Sesame Street and one of the callers called in ranting about how much better Sesame Street was when she was a kid but she won’t let her kids watch it because it is too superficial and too tied to popular culture. I think the television shows her kids watch are the least of their problems…
What a bunch of retarded wimps. Grimms Fairy Tales and especially Aesop’s Fairy Tales were never really meant for children. Nor were the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, or most of the ’30 and 40s cartoons.
This less a case of political correctness and more a realization that maybe these fairy tales deserve a different place than stories for toddlers.
The Hungry Caterpillar truly sucks. But I’m sure Cow Paddy and ‘dro like the pictures.
8 CORRECT..
the SIMPLIFIED DISNEY TALES, are Nothing compared to the original versions..
9 The ORIGINAL tales were precautions to scare kids.. and for GOOD REASON.
Its no worse then Warning your kids about strangers.
No worse then TEACHING your kids NOT to lie.(dont cry wolf)
PC?? Might as well put us out to pasture and milk us ANYTIME they want. IF you DONT TEACH reality, we will be Lost in fantasy.
MAKE us think that the GOV. is correct in everything, that we have no rights and RESPONSIBILITIES…
When you BEST friend is being ABDUCTED, let us RUN from the wolf, and NOT Take the license number(or CRY WOLF).
Lets us wonder the forests(neighborhood) and NOT be AFRAID/Weary of the GINGERBREAD HOUSE (Child molester).
Let RED RIDING hood run over to GMa’s house and NOT worry about the WOLF(gang member), and find GMa Slaughtered in her OWN HOME, and the Child??
YES be PC..And lead us to water and feed us, and LET US BE SHEEP.
amen #22
“housework”? That’s so non-PC… the sub-title should be revamped to say “domestic tasks” instead.
Sure, Uncle Dave, what could be worse than a story about gay parents? I’m so sorry the State is forcing you to read material about such evil people.
Oh, wait — no such thing has ever been forced upon anybody…?
Idiot.
What Uncle Dave is too ignorant to know is that the “traditional” Disney Fairy tales are themselves completely whitewashed “politically correct” versions of very different fairy tales.
According to Uncle Dave, when a story is whitewashed to conform to the tastes of conservative America of 1950s, that’s not “political correctness,” that’s just good thinking.
Real folk/fairy tales *are* fascinating and pretty twisted usually — because they are the expression of thousands of years of unconscious fears of a given culture. And these have nothing to do with “traditional” Disney stories as mushy-headed Uncle Dave would have you believe. Real fairy tales often involve things like cannibalism, mutilation, etc. I don’t mind them for my kids, really — but the people who are seeking something else are not holding up stories of gay parents demanding tax hikes for everybody, as Uncle Dave thinks. He’s truly a dipwad.
I have 2 kids, 3 and 5 years old. I read them the old fairy tales every chance I get. When we go to the library, I pick out Hansel & Gretel, or recently, a collection of Brother’s Grimm Fairy Tales. It important to know these ubiquitous stories. They are often not illustrated, but my children still enjoy them (as do I).
Three visually handicapped rodents.
Three visually handicapped rodents.
Observe how they scurry,
Observe how they scurry.
They all pursued the agricultural producers significant other.
She amputated there posterior appendages with a cutting utensil.
Have you ever observed such a whimsical sight, as three visually handicapped rodents.
Three visually handicapped rodents.
#20 & 25: Where the hell did you get the idea that I’m bashing gay parents? Obviously — to those intelligent enough to see it — I was mocking the PC & religious right folks who would look at both the article and my ‘comment’ in totally different ways. If anything, I am very supportive of gay parents. I didn’t realize I needed to spell it out for you in capital letters and explain the sarcasm.
#26: I have, in fact, read some of the original tales the current, watered down versions are based on, so please keep your ignorant views to yourself since you don’t appear to want to do the research on me before you attacked. As should be obvious, most of those complaining about fairy tales have only heard, read or seen the Disney versions, so it compounds this whole argument about PC since they don’t really understand what they are complaining about.
Little Red Riding Hood is eaten by a wolf. The witch tries to eat Hansel and Gretel. Cinderella’s stepsisters have their eyes picked out by birds.
Old != Good
Gee, I wouldn’t want to be a wretched gnu wandering around Uncle Dave’s neighborhood about now.
*
Uncle Dave is among the least homophobic people I am aware of. And I do admire his sarcasm at times, it can be so satirical.
I know someone who the PC patrol would have you call a “little person” who HATED that and thought it was even more demeaning. He’d demand “call me a midget, damnit!”