The Brothers Grimm (creator): Difference between revisions

{{creator}}

''Jacob Ludwig Carl'' and ''Wilhelm Carl Grimm'', known collectively as '''The Brothers Grimm''', were German linguists born in the late 18th century, who, in an effort to preserve Germany's heritage and promote cultural unity in a period of [[All the Little Germanies|political disunity]], collected a vast array of folk tales from their fellow Germans (mostly middle-and upper-class friends). The brothers eventually published these stories in the famous collection which they called ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' (''Children's and Household Tales''), but which is generally better known among English-speakers as ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''.

 

Although the original intent of the collection was to preserve the stories exactly as told, the Grimms gave in more and more in each new edition to the temptation to make various "improving" alterations. The scholarly Jacob sought to establish more Germanic forms of the stories by replacing foreign words such as „''Prinz''” and ''Prinzessin'' with Teutonic terms such „''Königssohn''” and ''Königstochter'', replacing [[The Fair Folk|fays]] with enchantresses and wise women and by supplying missing plot-elements from historic sources; the more creative-minded Wilhelm tried to make the stories more acceptable to a popular audience (presumably including children), by selectively [[Bowdlerise|Bowdlerizing]] the tales published, notably removing evil mothers and replacing them with step-mothers (as in the case of "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]"), by removing implications of sex and pregnancy (as in "[[Rapunzel]]"), and by re-writing the stories in a more literary style. (Though they notably did not tone down the violence, even for the children.)

 

 

Although many of the Grimms' fairy tales now languish in obscurity, a significant chunk of these stories remain in the popular consciousness. Some of the better known include:

* "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]" (''Schneewittchen'')

 

 

Although the Grimms' collection does contain a version of ""[[Cinderella (novel)|Cinderella]]" ("Aschenputtel"), the better known version is based on an earlier story by [[Charles Perrault]]. "[[Sleeping Beauty]]" was also written by Perrault, but the Grimms' version ("Dornröschen") is better known. And despite popular belief, "[[Beauty and The Beast]]" has nothing to do with them at all.

 

 

The Grimms were the subject of a [[Hollywood History|highly fantasticated]] [[Musical]] [[Biopic]] in 1962, called ''The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm'', with Karlheinz Böhm as Jacob and Laurence Harvey as Wilhelm; the film won 1 [[Academy Award|Oscar]] (Costume Design) and was nominated for 3 more. In 1998, the brothers, played by Andy Henderson and Joerg Stadler, made an appearance in ''[[Ever After (film)|Ever After: A Cinderella Story]]'' (despite the film being a riff more on the Perrault than on the Grimm version of ""[[Cinderella (novel)|Cinderella]]"). In 2005, [[Terry Gilliam]] made ''[[The Brothers Grimm (film)|The Brothers Grimm]]'', a [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|decidedly unsettling reinterpretation]]; Heath Ledger and Matt Damon were the brethren in this outing. The Grimms in the form of Allen Smith and Millen Baird were deconstructed in the 2006 film ''Big Bad Wolves''.

 

An anime series, ''Gurimu Meisaku Gekijou'' (retitled ''Shin Gurimu Meisaku Gekijou'' in its second season and shown on Western television under various titles such as "Grimms' Fairy Tale Classics") was produced in 1987-1988. Not all were actually found in the Grimms' collections.

 

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Well, step-parents, anyway.

** In a lot of cases, this was an example of editing on the part of the Grimms themselves. One of their areas of emphasis was on the virtue of a good, German family, so they changed all abusive mothers in stories to step-mothers.

* [[Rule of Seven]]

* [[Rule of Three]]

* [[Silver Bullet]]: In "The Two Brothers", a [[Immune to Bullets|bullet-proof]] witch is shot down by silver bullets, fired from a gun.

* [[Standard Hero Reward]]

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[[Category:Fairy Tale]]

[[Category:Authors]]

[[Category:Creator]]