Stepmother/Mother Dynamic
In a lot of original tales, the mother characters has been replaced in many retellings by the stepmother character. In, for example, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Diamonds and Toads, instead of a biological mother menacing her daughter, it is a stepmother, removed from the immediacy of a blood relationship and vilified.
I think it's a lot easier to accept a story where it's not the REAL mother who threatens and tries to destroy her daughter. It's a lot more disturbing now to hear news stories of mothers who physically threaten or injure their children; personally I think it's more disturbing when that happens than almost any kind of news you hear. So for those stories to suggest that a biological mother would do something like that... well, I guess in this case I can at least understand why someone would de-Grimm those.
Which stories do you think are/would be the most disturbing with the mother instead of the stepmother in place?
A lot come to mind for me, but I think that Snow White is probably the creepiest, if you look at one of the versions where it's her biological mother that's out to get her. There is the aspect that we may be jealous of our daughters' youth and beauty, so symbolically I can see that -- but there is also the aspect of the story where the mother wished for a daughter (you know the bit, hair black as coal, lips red as blood, skin white as snow). I think that adds a whole "be careful what you wish for" aspect to the story in a twisted and discomfiting way.
Do you prefer the versions with the mothers, or the stepmothers?
I think it's a lot easier to accept a story where it's not the REAL mother who threatens and tries to destroy her daughter. It's a lot more disturbing now to hear news stories of mothers who physically threaten or injure their children; personally I think it's more disturbing when that happens than almost any kind of news you hear. So for those stories to suggest that a biological mother would do something like that... well, I guess in this case I can at least understand why someone would de-Grimm those.
Which stories do you think are/would be the most disturbing with the mother instead of the stepmother in place?
A lot come to mind for me, but I think that Snow White is probably the creepiest, if you look at one of the versions where it's her biological mother that's out to get her. There is the aspect that we may be jealous of our daughters' youth and beauty, so symbolically I can see that -- but there is also the aspect of the story where the mother wished for a daughter (you know the bit, hair black as coal, lips red as blood, skin white as snow). I think that adds a whole "be careful what you wish for" aspect to the story in a twisted and discomfiting way.
Do you prefer the versions with the mothers, or the stepmothers?