This week’s book was none other than the foundational stepping stone to our childhood movies: “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.” Just 213 years before the live-action Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler, hit theatres, the original concept was published as “Sneewittchen.”Adaptations of Snow White have been historically abundant, holding true to broader thematic elements like the poisoned apple and the dwarfs. The original Grimm’s version being so violent, the brothers themselves changed it during their lives.
“Grimm’s Fairy Tales” are infamous for their dark content. Originally, the brothers wrote the stories for scholars— not children. Yet as time tells, the stories are frightening, gory and so shockingly violent that they are still in common vernacular 200 years later. “Snow White” was not empowering or lighthearted in the original conception. The evil queen sends her child to be slaughtered in order to eat her organs so that she may steal the kid’s beauty. Her henchman slaughters a boar, bagging the insides to serve to the queen. She rips into the boar’s intestines to be horrified to find her daughter is still alive. The queen disguises herself, poisons Snow White with an apple and leaves happily. The dwarves put her in a glass coffin and eventually give it to a prince who wanders through the woods and becomes obsessed with the dead body. As this prince walks with the casket, it hits a bump and the poisoned apple bite falls from her mouth- awakening her. Taking over the kingdom, the pair decide to punish the queen by making her dance in red-coal hot iron shoes until she keels over, dead.
The general themes are there—just more aggressive. This reception has changed since the dominion of Disney but I would argue they still stand next to our foundational understanding of the Grimm’s Brothers. The 215 stories that conceptualized tales like Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel has created literary cornerstones.
I wanted to delve into the Grimm’s Tales for some time because I believe that their memory should be included in conversations with live-action remakes. Disney has saturated theaters with remakes of remakes, cycling through familiar actors and every so often, creating a live-action movie that resonates with viewers rather than disappointing them (cough, “Mirror, Mirror” cough). Between the 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and the poorly received 2025 “Snow White,” each has its own spin with roots in “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” foundation. Adaptations can be poorly done or revolutionary to viewers. Either way, adaptations are normal, especially when redetermining movies to be child-friendly and more inclusive to a growing audience that idealizes protagonists as role models. The newest “Snow White” was not bad because it did not follow the original (none of them really do) or because of casting decisions. It was bad because it lacked soul.
The Grimm Brothers’ stories are captivating for older audiences, as they can differentiate a story from a moral. As these tales are reimagined, they reflect modern culture, which focuses on being uplifting rather than tragic.
The matter of issue lies in the quality of work, not in reconstruction itself. Remembering originals and innovating are not mutually exclusive, but good creations and money grabs are. For the adults looking for a new read, consider looking back to these fairy tales to see a time capsule of not only childhood classics but a dark recollection of historical contexts.
