Where do the original princess stories take place?

[Mikieboy84]

In the more recent Disney musicals there is at least a general reference to where the stories take place, Beauty and the Beast in France, Aladdin somewhere Arabian, and The Little Mermaid alludes to somewhere French with "Les Poisson" etc.

It seems that Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty all take place in a similar "once up on a time" location, looks like maybe Austria or Germany, but were they actually supposed to take place somewhere specific?

 

[Sirenia]

It seems that Cinderella is litterally from around the world. There are hundreds of different "cinderella" type stories. I beleive the Disney version is a general european version (if I recall correctly the "cinderella castle suite" is meant to feel french.)

the little mermaid was originaly written by a Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Later it was translated into a french opera (la petite siren(and thus my sn)) so that may be where the "french" theme was added by Disney. it takes place in a kingdom under the sea (lol otherwise all the mer-people would have a hard time breathing)

snow white also has several different versions from around the world however the most common is the german version.

Sleeping Beauty written by french author Charles Perrault was based on an older italian version of the same story called "Sun, Moon and Talia"

Aladdin from The book of 1001 Nights is Arabic. It was added to the book when it was translated into french by Antoine Galland. the original story is said to take place in China. however the country it takes place in is islamic. Other manuscripts of the story come from Syria and Iraq.

It should be noted that anything the Grimm Brothers wrote/translated/copied/etc. were changed commonly into the now oh so common "happily ever after" storys.

 

[Mikieboy84]

WOW

That's a lot of great info that I had absolutely NO idea about. I have a book of grimm fairy tales SOMEWHERE....did they adapt or create any or all of the disney stories? I seem to recall most of the princess stories in the grimm book as well as the traditional Rumplestilskin, Rapunzel, Baker and his Wife etc stories, but not sure about Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, or Little Mermaid.

IN any event, thanks for the info!

Mike

 

[Sirenia]

I have a book of grimm fairy tales SOMEWHERE....did they adapt or create any or all of the disney stories?

they collected stories from around the world and then proceeded to..."edit" them to their own taste. I'm not sure how many or exactly which stories they "rewrote". Most modern Disney movies are based on the Grimm versions of the stories.
With the exception of the Black Cauldron which is based off a book of the same name by American author Lloyd Alexander. (in case you wanted to know, it takes place in an imaginary world named Prydain which is a very very Welsh place)