Why I Hate It When They Ruin Classic Fairy Tales
Specifications
Hello everyone!
I'm a sucker for old movies or cartoons - not just old ones, though.
This cartoon starts off with a mean girl named Inge who's bullying everyone and getting away with it.
The Girl Who Stepped on a Loaf. (1986)Her parents or anyone else never discipline her - her mom just fawns all over her and tells her to do whatever she wants, occasionally sighing when people start talking about her.
As a result, the girl ends up trapped underwater by a bog witch.
The Girl Who Stepped on a Loaf. (1986)Inge doesn't change at all, though - she's still just as mean and spoiled. I'm not sure why the bog witch lets her go in the end - maybe she just got tired of her whining...
The Girl Who Stepped on a Loaf. (1986)
The main weakness of this cartoon is that it shows off all the girl's flaws and what led her to trouble, but her period of redemption is barely a minute long. It felt pretty shallow to me. There's no sense of the girl changing, realizing her mistakes, or actually making amends...
And to top it all off, the whole story seems to take place over the course of one night. We don't see any real effort or suffering.
So, the focus shifts from the inevitability of punishment and the importance of making amends to how fun it is to bully others and then just fix everything.
The Girl Who Stepped on a Loaf. (1986)This cartoon is based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
His works have a deep Christian message, which is what makes them valuable. And yeah, a lot of them are better suited for older kids - the youngest ones might want to wait a bit. 'The Girl Who Stepped on a Loaf' is no exception.
As soon as Andersen's stories start getting watered down to make them more 'secular,' all their logic and beauty just disappears...
Going back to the cartoon, they removed the Christian context and toned down the parts that might have scared kids.
But in doing so, they chopped off the most valuable lesson it had to offer. It's like they were trying to make it a moral tale, but what sticks with you is the part about the girl's antics and that catchy song about how 'you won't find anyone worse than her'...
As for the quality, the cartoon is on par with most of the 80s stuff. The resolution is small, of course. The image is a dull green, with some attempt to make it pop with contrasting colors, but it doesn't quite work.
A Story About a Girl Who Stepped on Bread. (1986) A Story About a Girl Who Stepped on Bread. (1986)I think it's unlikely to grab the attention of modern kids unless adults are watching it with them.
Whether or not to show this cartoon to kids is up to the parents. Everything's learned through comparison. In my opinion, this cartoon is better than the crazy Masha and the Bear, but it's still a far cry from the original story's level...
A Story About a Girl Who Stepped on Bread. (1986)If my kid stumbled upon it, they could watch it, but I wouldn't push it on them. I don't see any valuable lessons.
You can check out my thoughts on other cartoons and movies and other reviews in my profile. Welcome!
