Modern fairy tales are making more generations of whiny dreamers. Remaking fairytales are becoming the latest trend. People should stop reinventing fairy tales unless they are reviving the original texts. However, the one thing they are missing when they do so is the true meaning of what a fairy tale is.

Fairy tales in their original form were much more graphic than the ones that we see today. For instance, in the original “Cinderella,” the step sisters cut off their toes in order to fit into the slipper.

“The Little Mermaid” version that everyone adores leaves out the fact that if Ariel were to fail at making the prince fall for her, she will die. It also left out how painful it would be for her to have human legs.

In “Beauty in the Beast,” Belle’s sisters are extremely jealous of her, and when she visits, they try and trick her into staying with them longer in the hopes that the beast would actually eat her alive when she returned.

“Snow White” is actually raped by the king. After climbing into the window and discovering that she was unconscious, instead of trying to help her, he takes advantage. This joining results in two kids who his current wife tries to have killed, cooked and fed to the king. In the end, it all works out because the queen was unsuccessful in her attempts.

These original versions of the stories were altered because people felt they were too harsh. But these stories were not just made to scare children. They were created to teach children about the horrors of the world while still reminding them that there is still some light that shines in the darkness.

The modern adaptations of these stories have been distorted in such a way that they lose the meaning that the authors were trying to portray.

Most of the time when you ask little kids what they want to be, they typical response is  a princess. Some will go into more detail and say Cinderella, Jasmine or Snow White. However, if you showed them the original version, I doubt that they would still want that for their lives.

They shouldn’t aspire to be these women because these women did not lead easy, picture perfect lives like the ones you see splashed across Little Golden Books or locked away in the Disney vault.

Some of these stories were used to downright scare little kids into behaving and doing their chores. Not if you wish upon a star you’ll get your way or the person who is torturing you will magically disappear.

That is not the type of example we should be setting for our kids.

That’s the problem with our society. When someone has a bad life, they keep expecting something to go their way, and that’s just not the case. Sometimes the world isn’t a happy place and your life isn’t all rainbows and smiley faces. Bad things happen to good people, and there isn’t much we can do about it. We can’t close our eyes and hope our fairy godmother will save us. Sometimes we have to pick ourselves up and figure out a way to save ourselves.

I don’t think the original versions of the fairy tales are negative things. If producers want to keep making live action versions of these movies, then they need to make accurate portrayals of them. That way, kids can know that life is scary and full of dark places, but they will also know that happiness exists as well. Sheltering children never turns out okay for the kid. Ever. So let the tales as old as time exist in their original texts.