Hans Christian Anderson was a master of miserable stories. Read the Little Matchstick Girl, the story of a poor girl who sold matchsticks for a few pennies each to help feed her family and avoid punishment from her mother. As she freezes to death with no shoes and tattered clothes, she lights her matchsticks one by one for a moment of warmth and is granted visions of food, a christmas tree and lastly her beloved dead Grandmother who was the only person in her life who loved and cared for her. She is found in the morning having frozen to death in a corner of an alley- with a smile on her face as her grandmothers spirit had whisked her away to heaven with her last lit matchstick. Pure emotional hell that makes me tear up just thinking of it.
I like how you described this story. Most of the time when people are describing the original version they try to make it sound as horrific and creepy as possible. The way you summarized it was very straightforward. Honestly I don't think the ending is that depressing anymore, because even though she doesn't marry, she does gain an immortal soul
I'm SO glad you said this because I noticed that when doing research for the video! That's actually part of the reason I wanted to do my own version. Every single page I saw the original story mentioned on tried to exaggerate how dark certain aspects were (to the point where they were straight up lying) and it annoyed me to no end.
Thank you for pointing that out! I grew up with This story and as a dane it is very near and dear to my heart, and it frustrates me when people talk about it like it is a horrible story and like Hans Christian Andersen was some sort of morbid psychopath. I personaly find This story very beautiful and like so many of HC Andersens stories it has multiple layers you Can look into. It really is a piece of art.
Sandra Lunø Kristensen I'm Danish too. It really annoys me when people misstreat the tales from h c Andersen (or any other author from any other country for that sake) yes They Are Dark, but newsflash, so is the Real World. The little mermaid isn't even that Dark. It has a happy ending. I remember as a kid to be both crying and smiling at the same time when I was told the tale. It teaches several important lessons way better than many modern childrensbooks or -movies ever could.
oishii-amai Yes, but she is allowed into heaven, because of her sacrifice. In danish folklore, mermaids Are seen as monsters, and Are Therefore not allowed to come into heaven. It's a rather normal situation in Danish folklore. Most of Them Are about evil (Sometimes just cruel and playful) elves, faries, mermaids etc. trying to trick humans. Often by kidnaping their children, making unfair deals or simply killing Them. H. C. Andersen based his tale upon the old folktales and was actually thought to be very modern. He did after all use a creature only known for evil, as the main character. He even gave her a personality filled with passion and kindness AND Said that she could go to heaven. It was actually quite revoulutionary for the time.
There needs to be a movie of this. The original is beautiful, dark, sad, and hopeful. Instead of it just being some young woman having the hots for a guy and willing to throw her entire world/family away for a life she doesn't even know, she wants to become a human so she can have a freakin' soul and get into heaven. It doesn't get much deeper than that. It wasn't some selfish crush that would end in danger to her family but because she didn't want her eternal existence to be destroyed.
Also she wanted to be human before she ever saw Eric it was because of all the things she collected and if her father hadn't destroyed basically the only thing that made her happy she wouldn't have gone to Ursula in the first place
You're forgetting that Ariel had a facination with human life before she even knew who Erick was, hence the big collection of items she owned. She also sings a song about wanting to be a part of the surface world, it's the main song of the movie ffs. One of the lines even goes: "bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand".
thetony458 me too. I loved the Disney version and my mom rented me a copy from the library which told the orginal h.c.a tale with just still illistrations and I lost my shit..lol.The orginal has a better moral though which I understood when I got older.
Cool “ Fun Fact “ - so this could’ve been out close to the same time as Snow White . I think I like the original story. Nothing in this life has to be “ fairytale endings “ - it’s kind of making little kids wanting life to work that way. Morals should be part of stories like this.
I like this story more than the movie. Its frustrating that getting the man is always considered a happy ending. This has a fantastic moral and intriguing ending. I love it.
Very true. I'm single have been for a while. And if die single that doesn't mean I'll have a sad end. As long as my soul is saved it'll be a happy ending because I won't have an end I'll have eternal life with my Heavenly father. That's the best gift!
For sure. The original was a sacrifice for love better told. Ariel, motivated by lust and greed essentially. Suffering the pain of having what you want right in front of you but never to say or be intimate with. Much like Tantalus. Then finding redemption by forfeiting everything. Your wants, desires, and future to save the one thing you would want but never have. Then being carried to your true prize, a better prize and everyone truly lives happily in the ever after. That's rad.
Fortunately this didn't ruin my childhood of the little mermaid. In the weirdest way it's a little bit more realistic. I definitely will watching a lot more of your Disney movies.
Something you might find interesting on this subject. There is a USSR animated version of The Little Mermaid and it's much closer to the original than the Disney version. It follows the fairytale to the T until the wedding day. In that animated version, yes, her sisters want to save her, but they give her a kind of a jar with a storm in it. They have traded their beautiful hair for that jar(I guess that happens in the original story too, at least the illustrations you used look like it) and the little mermaid can live if she unlishes the storm and kills the prince and everyone on the ship. But she refuses and ....here's where the real gruesome version kicks in...she DIES. She becomes the sea foam and that's it. I remember myself crying when walking along a pond with my mom and seeing something that looked like sea foam after I had seen that USSR Little Mermaid, because I thought that mermaids died in that pond)))
Yep I knew this. She just turned into sea foam after dying, which in my opinion, is even worse than how humans die because she just fades from the world.
Audacity Of The Mind hahahahhaha. False. They adapt various aspects of them. Cinderella is based on the Charles Perrault French tale, which is not only lighter than Grimm's it predates them. Other films use fridge horror. Snow White was originally going to be as dark as the original, but they didn't have the animation techniques or money to do it. Beauty and the Beast is actually darker than the original tale.
It’s understandable why they changed it. Disney was aimed for little kids back than before breaking out into MCU. Disney probably realize if they kept with the original version of little mermaid and especially Aladdin they have give it an R rating. It would their target audience wouldn’t be allowed to see it
Communication is very important for building and maintaining bonds. When she sacrificed her voice, she gave up the means to communicate her thoughts and the feelings she had for him. A classic tale of getting tongue tied over a fear of rejection, which is indeed the story's true depressing origin.
Same here. I remember how disappointed I was when the Disney version came out when I was a kid. It was my favorite story growing up and I went on a rant for months after seeing it.
I'm glad you included the part about the importance of having a sole. I think there's been times when people have told the story about the Little Mermaid and just assumed that She turned into sea foam, when it was actually just the sword that she didn't use. I think it would be interesting to have this original story on the screen and honestly, now that I'm an adult, I actually like the idea of a mermaid wishing to be a human, not just because they are infatuated and like learning about humans, but that there's something more to humans than just the physical collections. So thank you for including the importance of how humans have a soul. 😊♥️🕊️
Hello there Jon. I'm Mindy. I am a fairy tale ophile--addict and lover of the stories/fables. My favorite book is one I got from a library in Iowa. (I live in New Mexico--since 1976.). This book has a printed date of 1943, and YES, I still have it. I remember that I was disappointed when I saw the Disney version of this story. I have a "few" fairy tale and fable books. The Disney version never existed before the movie did. Yeah, the darker storyline made sense to me. It is closer to what reality was for people in those times that they were told. I really appreciate the written stories, as I am impressed that the "writers" tried to stay true to the story as it had been told through the years. I remember the ending being something like, when she hit the water turning to foam, and then floating up into the air, where weeping "?" informed her that they travel the world. As they come across children, each child's laughter gave her a day off of her "bodiless" state, while every tear added a year or some such. She had to float around in this state for hundreds of years before she may be allowed to ascend. To me..... this ending is heart wrenching. Her salvation depending on children's happiness. You would hope that more children laugh than cry, but that's all children do as they are babies. The book does not clarify if those tears count. Have you noticed the Snow Queen's butchering? It is a VERY long story with several chapters. It starts with 2 young "children" (I believe teenagers.), that are in love. They live near one another, and spend all their time together. One year, after a bad winter storm, the Snow Queen had been "primping" in front of her mirror up in her northerly home, and something happened that this mirror broke. Because it was her mirror, it had the power to corrupt a person, should they come across one of it's tiny pieces floating around in the air. If one landed in an eye, that person would see everything dark, black, loveless, sad, and would lose everything they loved. If one landed in an extremity, it would "freeze" and become useless. In this story, the boy gets a splinter in his heart, and he becomes frozen, unable to feel warmth and the emotions of warmth. The Snow Queen sleighing by one day, caught him up, and he ended up going up to the Snow Queen's northern home. The girl inconsolable, left her home in search of her friend. The story includes many "adventures" and people that the girl meets up with in her travels. In the end, she ends up in the Snow Queen's castle, and finds her friend. He doesn't recognize her, and the Snow Queen doesn't want him to. So, the challenge was to try to get him to remember their life before, and that would melt the sliver of mirror in his heart. This story ends in a happier feeling, with the girl succeeding, and the boy leaving the castle with her, going home, and marrying, or some such. Much less dark ending, but the story in it's entirety is dark. I think that this story would take quite a lot of time to tell correctly on film. Thanks for doing this video of yours. I appreciate the truth behind it. There are going to be some die-hard Disney addicts that are going to growl at it, but not those who are open to possibilities. Thanx, Mindy
Wow Mindy that was quite a tale! I do know a lot of stories back in the day were Grimm (Get it?) but so was their life and any little bit of happiness was appreciated. I liked Ur contribution!
I think there needs to be a remake ‼️ in the real story Ariel left her family and life to find a better future‼️ But in the Disney version Ariel left home for DICK 😭😭😭💀
I prefer the orginal version. It has more to the story and I enjoy a story that has true morals in it. Although Disney's story is lovely, I own and have read Hans Christian Anderson's books to my children before they saw those movies. Both stories have their own purity to them. Thanks for the video.
I love both versions of the story. I love that Disney gave her the traditional happy ending with them getting married. But I love Mr Andersen’s version showing actual true love where she’d give her life for him. Plus she will get soul.
This actually isn't that messed up for such a story. In fact, its pretty uplifting all considered. Also, thats an... interesting... choice for clickbait. Why does that picture even exist? What sadist took the time to draw that?
That picture was fanart was made by somebody on Deviantart years and years ago. I think the context was that human life wasn't all Ariel expected it to be so she wanted to go back home. It's very graphic and kinda emo but also supposed to be symbolic in a way.
I think it's funny most people outside of europe don't know the originals, I grew up with a grimm fairytale book, so I was surprised by the disney versions. I love the way you tell the stories and background of them, keep it up!
6:13 realized that I have watched the original mermaid movie. I watched that when I was like 10 from some Swedish/English show it was animated. I can’t be the only one that saw that.
See that's the story I grew up reading except for the air people bit lol in my version she became sea foam and it was SO much better than the bloody Disney version way more romantic with much better life lessons about how you should strive to do the best you can for others even if they never know you've done it and even if it means you have to make great sacrifices i don't know why people think kids are too delicate and sensitive to understand these old stories its silly insulting and such a loss of great literature
If Ariel would have turned into foam when I was 9, I would have been traumatized and I would hate my dad for showing me that movie lmao no thanks I'll stick with my Under the Sea and my Kiss the Girl thanks
Yeah, growing up I had a HCA book full of different stories he wrote and the air people were not a part of it. I remember specifically the illustration on I believe the final page was just seafoam floating on moonlit water. I remember being heartbroken that she turned to foam because the Disney version was my favorite "Disney princess" movie.
My childhood was ruined when my mom unwittingly brought the Hans Christian Anderson book home for me when I was 8. I had fallen in love with the movie in kindergarten. I cried for a week when I read it, but I kept reading it again and again & cried each time. I still cry when I break it out every once in a while.
mermaids: sister we have a solution to the problem we found a magical knife and if you stab the prince you will... me: grabs knife bye and see ya wouldn't wanna be ya (stabs Prince) mermaid's: o.o oh well that was easier than we though
I really like the true Ariel story because in the ending she gets what she deserves she became a human by a potion that feel like a sword is splitting her in half, and when she walks it feels like knifes, goes through Alot of emotional pain because the prince does not see her that way and likes another woman, and when she has a chance to become human by killing the prince she refused because she loves him more than she loves herself and now she is able to get her soul and go into heaven
when I was younger my brother was a big fan of your channel, I remember seeing him watch one of your Star Wars videos (The TRUTH About Where Grievous Got His Lightsabers | Star Wars Theory) and when I asked who you were he said so later I looked you up and this was the first video I ever clicked o of yours. this was exactly 5 years ago in 2 weeks, and this just popped back up on my feed. I just wanted to say that sadly he doesn't watch you anymore but your messed up origins are still bringing good memories even though I don't really watch you anymore. I hope you're doing good if you see this.
I enjoyed your vid on this Disney movie and it's true story. I found it to be quite dark and sad but one has to remember that in it's time story's were more like warnings to children as to what not to do. Not simply a bed time story to lull the kids to sleep.
It will feel like a sword splitting you down the middle, every step will be like walking on knives, if he doesn't love you and marrys someone else you will die the next morning. *I guess thats fair.?* OK ILL JUST GENTLY RIP OUT YUR TUNG NOW
Fun fact: Rusalka, a Slavic water spirit, may have been Andersen’s inspiration for the story. It was circulating a lot during the time period before he published his version. It’s basically the same, but in a woodland swamp rather than the ocean. I studied Slavic folklore in college, and focused on water spirits for part of my presentation :).
The rusalka is a metaphor for beautiful seductive women who lure men into sexual sin, only to break their heart, steal their souls and abandon them(drowning them) , leaving them emotionally traumatized
Omg I know that I just found this channel and all, but please don't stop what you are doing! My little sis loves these stories and when I talk to her about them with actual facts her face lights up. You have no idea how much happiness you're bringing to us Disney fans keep it up man!
@@gissellevilla5863 Gisselle Villa King Triton is Poseidons son so Ariel is Posiedon grand daughter! The original comment is correct Ariel is Zeus' s Grandniece
Ariel is my fave Disney princess. I did some research of this story as well. It turns out too that the Little Mermaid was Hans Christian Anderson's favorite character because he related to him so much. Later in his life, he had suffered like how the Little Mermaid suffered, walking on land. That is the reason behind that. I am so excited to see this in Live-Action because Disney is just deciding to do this one too.😂 Great analysis on this!
technically forever because every time a child is naughty a day is added to her sentence lol.. and there will always be naughty kids :p So she's actually cursed to serve humanity forever!
She wasn’t about to trade someone else’s life for her own That’s not lacking self respect that’s just being a good human being (which is exactly what she wanted)
@@s.nifrum4580 i think they are also referring to the fact that she traded her identity Just to be with someone. If she had Self respect (and some common sense) she wouldn't have made the deal in the first place. She couldn't kill the Prince because she actually loved him more than she loved herself.
Alrighty then o.o I've heard this before multiple times really, but I was not aware of the end where if she spends three hundred years doing good deeds she could still go to heaven. Also I had no idea that the original mermaid was interested in becoming a human not just to get the prince, but to gain a soul 😮 Wow I really loved this one, gave me even more insight into the original Little Mermaid story then I had previously had. I would really love to see more of these videos and I hope that @JonSolo can continue to make more of these! 😊
Disney has no creativity then. They are always taking stories from others and turning them to crap. I used to like the little mermaid as a child. I wanted to be like her. I wanted a tale and wanted to swim into the never ending sea happy with no care in the world. Then I grew up. I find the original versions more interesting than Disneys.
This is one of the best video's I've ever seen on You Tube! As one of the millions of girls who grew up with Ariel I was astonished at the Origin . Amazing! Thank you so much for making this and putting it out for the world to know ! Sincerely. You outdid yourself with this one. !!! Absolutely Loved it!
Well, that's life..there is no guarantee that people we love will love us back...and she got her happy ending... I'm actually glad the real story didn't make 'marriage' THE ultimate happy ending..because we know that's sht...
He probably would have if she had her voice. Its really silly she went with the deal because it was too risky but I guess she was just that desperate for a human soul.
Truthfully the thumbnails of your up Origins videos creeped me out, and despite having down my own studying of ancient fairytales, (love love love them,) I worried your take would be much too morbid, but after seeing a couple videos I'm sorry I waited so long! You really do love these stories and do your homework! And you know some things I never heard. (Like Sun Moon and Talia - yikes and wow!) Anyway, you've got a new subscriber, that's for sure. 😄 I look forward to more!
That's a better version than what I heard in the end. The ending that I heard doesn't end happy and instead when she chooses to spare the prince when she jumps in the water she does turn into sea form(sorry if I spelled it wrong I'm bad at spelling) and there's no angels.
I watched the original cartoon when I was really small. Even tho it turned out bad in the end I still loved it and love it to this day. Even the Disney version. Thanks for making this video. I never knew she got a chance at a soul. I thought she killed the prince and died in the end anyway.
sjeelaaaa if you want to add to your presentation, Rusalka (Slavic folklore) May have been Andersen’s inspiration for the story, as it was circulating a lot during the years before he published it. I did a presentation on Slavic folklore for college, and focused mainly on water spirits for part of it :).
Mparker123wolf adapted various oral traditions, you mean. And their version of Cinderella is actually Grimmified. The original tale by Charles Perrault is actually adapted fairly well by Disney.
