introduction
Hansel and GretelHansel and Gretel were brother and sister. Their poor parents were starving, so they went out in search of food. They took one slice of bread along, which they used to mark a path back to their home by leaving crumbs along the way. After a while, they came upon a little house made of gingerbread. Hansel broke off a piece to eat.
Suddenly, the door flew open and an old woman came out and invited them in. She fed them mountains of pancakes and fruit, and then tucked them into bed to sleep. What Hansel and Gretel didnít realize was that the old woman was fattening them up so she could use them in her favorite dish roasted child! Now they were prisoners, and the old woman kept feeding them, and when she asked them to stick their fingers out of their cell so she could judge how fat they were getting, Hansel held out a bone instead. Finally, the children escaped and pushed the old woman into the oven. They filled their pockets with jewels and food and used the trail of bread crumbs to find their way back home, where they lived happily ever after. |
Hansel and Gretel: Witch HuntersThe siblings Hansel and Gretel are left alone in the woods by their father and captured by a dark witch in a candy house. However they kill the witch and escape from the candy house. Years later, the orphans have become famous witch hunters. When eleven children go missing in a small village, the Mayor summons Hansel and Gretel to rescue them, and they save Mina from the local sheriff as he wants to burn her because he believes she is a witch. Soon they discover that the Blood Moon will approach in three days and the powerful dark witch Muriel is the responsible for the abduction of children. She intends to use the children together with a secret ingredient in a Sabbath to make the coven of witches protected against fire. Meanwhile Hansel and Gretel discover secrets about their parents that left them orphaned all those years ago.
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Ideas explored in hansel and gretel
depiction of women
Throughout both movie and fairytale, women are depicted very interestingly by both the Brothers Grimm and Tommy Wirkola. Women in both texts seem to be portrayed to the extremes either very pure/innocent or evil and dangerous. This makes me wonder if societies views on women really have changed over the past few years. Even in the modern portrayal the witches are bad therefore they are ugly, while Gretel is good therefore she is gorgeous.
growing up
A coming of age story where the children lose their innocence and mature throughout the story and really thats what the movie is an extension of the coming of age story, as seen when it is a continuation of their lives after they kill candy witch. Even as adults their coming of age story seems to be more about the acceptance of who they are and where they come from.
moral message
One thing that interested me most was the fact that Hansel and Gretel the fairytale has quite a strong moral message i.e. don't talk to strangers or take their candy #whitevanman and the fact that the film adaptation puts less prominence on the moral message and more prominence on the hollywood consumerism ideals. Hmm I wonder why they would change that now? Maybe because society doesn't really care about morals or values and they now just want to be entertained (not that I am any different).
stereotypes within society
The traditional white, Christian male is the hero, the female heroin who at some point in time (or twice) needs to be rescued by the leading male in the story who could've guessed it? Well everyone could guess it really because that is what happened in most fairytales as men were seen as the strong ones and women the weak. Even with the adaptation the male is still dominant, while the female gains more control she still is subject to becoming the damsel in distress. Wow this sounds like every Hollywood story ever told to be quite honest.