Back in 1992 students in Duval [FL] County public school libraries restricted students unless they had parental permission to check out Snow White by Jacob Grimm because of it's graphic violence: "a hunter kills a wild boar, and a wicked witch orders Snow White's heart torn out."
I remember watching the Disney movie based on this story as a child and, yes, I was scared, but not tramatized. It didn't teach me to kill or wish to tear out someone's heart either. What it did was encourage me to see every Disney fairy tale flick up through adulthood when Entangled was released and for my imagination to feel free to explore and grow exponentially.
If you're interested in fairy tales in their original format, a book I frequently revisit and highly recommend is
The Annotated Brothers Grimm by Maria Tatar. It delves into the brothers mindset at the time they were written as well as how they were altered over time.
Visit the
ALA to find out more about Banned Books Week.
2 comments:
People are too sensitive. They think EVERYTHING they read/see/witness is directed AT them. *insert eyeroll*.
One of the best quotes I've read is "There's nothing special about you, snowflake. It isn't about you." It's not verbatim, I'm sure, but that's the ghist of it. Yes, we're all unique, but a book written centuries before couldn't and shouldn't be observed as an attack on today's children or mental capability to tell fiction from fact.
*blinks* Okay, I'm getting off my highhorse now. *wow* (Who gave me a keyboard this morning?) *mutters and wanders off*
Oh darlin', totally agree with you and I get on my high horse every year around this time and struggle to tone it down.
I'm loving the snowflake quote - can think of so many instances when it will now reside in my head :-)
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