The Atlantic

Fairy Tales Started Dark, Got Cute, and Are Now Getting Dark Again

The action-packed 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is less a subversion of an old story than a return to one.

The action-packed Snow White and the Huntsman is less a subversion of an old story than a return to one.

[optional image description]

Universal Pictures

"I guess you think you know this story.

You don't. The real one's much more gory.

The phoney one, the one you know

Was cooked up years and years ago,

And made to sound all soft and sappy

Just to keep the children happy."

–"Cinderella," by Roald Dahl

In the first minute of the for , Charlize Theron's evil queen Ravenna strips naked, sucks the "youth" out of a teenage girl, and plots to rip Snow White's heart from her

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Return of the John Birch Society
Michael Smart chuckled as he thought back to their banishment. Truthfully he couldn’t say for sure what the problem had been, why it was that in 2012, the John Birch Society—the far-right organization historically steeped in conspiracism and oppositi
The Atlantic17 min read
How America Became Addicted to Therapy
A few months ago, as I was absent-mindedly mending a pillow, I thought, I should quit therapy. Then I quickly suppressed the heresy. Among many people I know, therapy is like regular exercise or taking vitamin D: something a sensible person does rout
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop

Related Books & Audiobooks