Entry #8

       Growing up with many fairy tales being read to me as I drifted to sleep, I can remember "Hansel and Gretel" being one that I always enjoyed hearing time and time again. I found the gingerbread house so enchanting, even if there was a cannibalistic witch inside, and always depended on the ending where Gretel pushes the witch into the oven to settle my growing anxiety as I read on. This classic has been adapted and changed so many ways. Books, movies, and even TV shows have been created based on this Grimm tale, for example, the 1987 MGM version.
       After watching the MGM version of "Hansel and Gretel" I noticed many differences from the original tale, but also a few similarities. In the film, the mother of Hansel and Gretel are their true biological mother, unlike the original tale. This mother, while strict, does not actually intend for the children to get lost forever when she sends them into the woods to retrieve berries for her. The children are rambunctious, and mistakenly allow the family donkey out of the pen, who then gets inside of their house and eats the custard and fresh milk they were saving for dinner. This upsets the mother greatly, who sends Hansel and Gretel off into the woods to retrieve berries to get them out of her sight. This causes the children to stray off the designated path to get berries, and they get lost, leading them to the well-known gingerbread house. Another distinction between the two, is that there are other children trapped in giant cookie people outside of the witch's cottage, which Hansel and Gretel eventually free after defeating the witch. There are two other large differences, one being that while the children are missing, the mother feels incredibly regretful and guilty for what she has done, and the father goes off looking for them, while in the tale, the father does no such thing. Lastly, the demise of the witch is one of the largest distinctions between the tale and the movie. In the movie, the witch has a magic staff, which gives her the power to control the children. Gretel, knowing her brother is in eminent danger, takes the staff when the witch is not looking, and switches the places of her and Hansel, sending her into the air where she is about to get dipped in batter and cooked. The differences between the two versions definitely outweigh the similarities between the two.
       There are similarities as well, as in both tales, Hansel and Gretel's family is in deep poverty. In both tales, the father of the story also cares for his children greatly, and does not wish for their demise. In both, the children are stranded in the woods when they come across a delectable house that leads them to the conniving witch, who tricks the children into thinking that she's a kindly old woman. Most of the events that occur inside of the witch's house are accurate as well, for example, Gretel does chores for the evil woman to appease the witch, and Hansel is trapped in a cage, where the witch intends to fatten him up for her meal. He also offers the witch a chicken bone, in order to make the witch seem like he is not getting any larger so she wont eat him. Lastly, like the Grimm fairy tale, Gretel is able to trick the witch, eventually killing her and saving not only herself but her brother from a gruesome death.

        It is very obvious that the MGM movie is very different from the original tale, and I believe that the directors made these changes to (like even the Grimm Brothers did), protect children. In the very first tale of "Hansel and Gretel" the stepmother that sent them into the woods to perish, was originally their biological mother. The movie directors, like the original tale, did not want an aspect of the movie to be so harsh, so they had the children's biological mother unintentionally send them into the woods, not knowing they would face such doom. Following the realization that she may have sent them to their deaths, she is heartbroken and terrified over what she did. This is very different from the fairy tale, where the stepmother wants the children to die, so she wont starve. I believe the directors contaminated the tale to make the movie more appealing to children, as no child wants to believe that their mother would willingly send them off into the forest to perish.