No, most likely, you had a childhood with normal children's light-hearted age-appropriate entertainment.
Tigriswolf and I were clearly exposed to the darker side of previous generations' imaginations.
You know, before fairy tales were Disneyfied and Cinderella's stepsisters amputated their toes to fit the slipper and the Little Mermaid died and talking animals who guided the hero/ine were typically murdered, and in fact often *asked* for death as part of their reward.
Oh yeah. Death is handled so cavelierly in them. Not just things like Hansel and Gretal's witch burning up. Like Big Hans and Little Hans and the dead grandmother.
And did you ever notice how frequently talking animal guides meet aweful fates? The Goose-Girl? With the disembodied horse's head hanging over the city gates and yet still giving her advice. Or Billy Budd's bull. Or that one with the talking fox? I remember that one because the fox was actually a female in that one and most of the time all the characters were male. She aids the youngest son (of three, and the older brothers are cads, of course) with a variety of tasks and then asks to be killed and her body mutilated as a reward. (Of course, this breaks the enchantment that returns her to her human form)
Yeah, I probably spent an unhealthy amount of my youth reading the Lang "Fairy" book stories and ancient myths.
It would explain why even my very young childhood imagination games involved not birthday parties and "mommy's having a baby!" but capture and slavery and enchantment and persecution.
Lol... Disney still managed to traumatize me with movies like Bambi. I mean seriously that's a horrible movie for little kids, it's scary.
I remember reading some of the older versions of fairy tales... I kinda thought Cinderella's stepsisters cutting off their toes to fit into a shoes was kinda funny, is that wrong of me? lol Seriously though I liked the older versions of the fariy tales.
Who WASN'T traumatized by the murder of Bambi's mother as a child?
Disney can still be pretty dark/scary - a couple years ago someone put out a "Scariest Movie Villains of All Time" list - Cruella DeVil and the Evil Queen from Snow White both made Top 10 of the females.
The one that really freaked me out? Great Mouse Detective. I saw about 3.5 minutes of that one at the movie theater before my dad had to take me out and to this DAY have not seen another second.
(There was a giant scarred BAT with a PEGLEG! And he attacked the poor wee little girl mouse and her father/grandfather in the middle of the night and kipnapped them! That movie is EVIL!)
...I just realized that probably what scared me so much about that opening scene was it's resemblance to the scene where Sikes kills Nancy in Oliver Twist. I read that book when I was only 6.5-7, which would have been right before the movie came out.
And I can STILL recall exactly how I felt reading that scene. One of the scariest things of my early childhood. Especially since they don't really tell you what's going on. They leave it up to your imagination...and I had a very active imagination.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-25 05:15 pm (UTC)Tigriswolf and I were clearly exposed to the darker side of previous generations' imaginations.
You know, before fairy tales were Disneyfied and Cinderella's stepsisters amputated their toes to fit the slipper and the Little Mermaid died and talking animals who guided the hero/ine were typically murdered, and in fact often *asked* for death as part of their reward.
Which... explains a lot, actually.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-25 06:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-25 08:58 pm (UTC)And did you ever notice how frequently talking animal guides meet aweful fates? The Goose-Girl? With the disembodied horse's head hanging over the city gates and yet still giving her advice. Or Billy Budd's bull. Or that one with the talking fox? I remember that one because the fox was actually a female in that one and most of the time all the characters were male. She aids the youngest son (of three, and the older brothers are cads, of course) with a variety of tasks and then asks to be killed and her body mutilated as a reward. (Of course, this breaks the enchantment that returns her to her human form)
Yeah, I probably spent an unhealthy amount of my youth reading the Lang "Fairy" book stories and ancient myths.
It would explain why even my very young childhood imagination games involved not birthday parties and "mommy's having a baby!" but capture and slavery and enchantment and persecution.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-26 02:24 am (UTC)I remember reading some of the older versions of fairy tales... I kinda thought Cinderella's stepsisters cutting off their toes to fit into a shoes was kinda funny, is that wrong of me? lol Seriously though I liked the older versions of the fariy tales.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-27 09:07 pm (UTC)Disney can still be pretty dark/scary - a couple years ago someone put out a "Scariest Movie Villains of All Time" list - Cruella DeVil and the Evil Queen from Snow White both made Top 10 of the females.
The one that really freaked me out? Great Mouse Detective. I saw about 3.5 minutes of that one at the movie theater before my dad had to take me out and to this DAY have not seen another second.
(There was a giant scarred BAT with a PEGLEG! And he attacked the poor wee little girl mouse and her father/grandfather in the middle of the night and kipnapped them! That movie is EVIL!)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-27 09:14 pm (UTC)And I can STILL recall exactly how I felt reading that scene. One of the scariest things of my early childhood. Especially since they don't really tell you what's going on. They leave it up to your imagination...and I had a very active imagination.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-27 09:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-27 09:25 pm (UTC)