The Dark Secret Behind Disney Movies

The Dark Secret behind Disney movies

Hello Internet. I am Parthiv, your host through this sea of dark. Today, I am presenting you something rather peculiar at first glance. 
Disney movies - how calming, amazing, funny. They are kids' major source of entertainment since the 80's. From Peter Pan to Inside Out, Disney has given us these movies to enjoy and feel like children again. But, they have secrets. 
DARK SECRETS. 
Explore those with me today. 

The Dark Secrets Behind Disney Movies

1. The Little Mermaid 

A Disney Classic. The story revolves around Ariel, a mermaid, daughter of the king of mermaids. She wants to experience life on land. One day, as she is peering over the water, she sees a handsome prince, whom she immediately falls in love with. Thus, she strikes a dangerous deal with the sea witch Ursula to become a human for three days. Ursula betrays her. 
In the movies, Ariel has a happy ending. She kills Ursula, and lives with the prince as a human, happily ever after. But what you may not know is that the story is taken from a book by Hans Christian Anderson. In the book, the ending is a little different -  Ariel learns she must kill the prince to save herself, but she doesn't do so and dies. She is given the chance to gain an immortal soul by serving humanity for 300 years after her death. So yes, in the actual book, the little mermaid DIES. 

2. Mulan

We all know the story of Mulan - Mulan, a girl, is afraid that her father will be taken into the army, potentially resulting in fatal consequences. As a girl, she is unqualified to join the army. But Mulan, disguised as a man, takes his spot. She falls in love with another man. At the end, her identity is revealed, she is expelled from the army, but honored by the king for her war brilliance. Disney have been inspired by the heroic female warrior not once but twice, first in their 1998 animated adaptation and in the live-action remake. Both films follow quite closely the original poem, 'The Ballad of Mulan', but the 1695 version of the tale, things take a darker turn. When Mulan takes her father’s place in the army she meets the king’s daughter, who is also a warrior. The two become inseparable, and when the king is defeated they offer to be put to death in his place. They are eventually spared, but when Mulan returns home she finds that her father has died and her mother has remarried. With her female identity revealed Mulan is ordered to become a concubine, but she commits suicide rather than submit to this fate.
So, in the actual poem, Mulan DIES. Again.

3. Frozen

Disney's one of the best and popular movies, 'Frozen' is loosely adapted from Hans Christian Anderson's book, 'The Snow Queen'. Both share similar endings, but the original one has a dark beginning. In the book, Devil himself makes a magic mirror which reflects people's bad and ugly side only. When it is shattered, fragments get into the eyes and hearts of the surrounding people, freezing their hearts. Years later, a splinter gets into the eye of a boy called Kai, causing him to become cruel and reject his grandmother and his best friend Gerda, which makes him an easy target to be imprisoned by the Snow Queen. When he disappears, people believe that he has died by falling into the river, but Gerda believes otherwise and sets out on an epic quest to save him. So, in this book, the hero Kai who inspired the character of Elsa, BECOMES EVIL. 

4. The Lion King

The age old story of Simba, an outcast prince, whose father, King Mufasa was killed by Simba's evil uncle, Scar has a dark secret. The tale is based on Hamlet, where prince Hamlet seeks to take revenge on Claudius, his uncle , who murders his father to become king. At the end, Claudius is killed by Hamlet, and Hamlet is stabbed by a poisonous sword, resulting in his death. So, at the end, Hamlet, who inspired Simba's character, DIES. Seriously?

The Conclusion :-
You may see a pattern here. In three of these, the person whom the lead character is taken from, DIES and in one, he becomes EVIL. Disney movies remix dark and gruesome stories so that they are more family-friendly.

So there you have it, the dark secret behind Disney movies. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

See you next time!