Cannibalism, Child-Trafficking, & Striptease: the Truth Disney Buried | Dark History | Bailey Sarian

Bailey Sarian introduces 'Dark History,' promising to uncover the untold, often disturbing, origins of familiar stories, starting with Disney movies. She highlights the unexpected controversies surrounding 'Aladdin,' including mispronounced names, nonsensical Arabic script, and problematic lyrics describing a 'barbaric' land, which Disney later altered due to protests.

Sarian reveals that 'Aladdin' is not from 'Arabian Nights' as commonly believed, but an ancient Chinese story, which a French translator in the 1700s arbitrarily relocated to Arabia. This discovery leads her to investigate the dark origins of other childhood fairy tales and Disney adaptations.

The episode dives into 'Little Red Riding Hood,' first recounting the familiar Disney-fied version. Sarian then exposes earlier, more adult-oriented oral traditions, including a 14th-century French version where Little Red is a 'seductive young woman' performing a striptease for the wolf, ultimately being eaten with no rescue. A later published version portrays an even darker narrative where the wolf kills Grandma, chops her up, and serves her to Little Red, who unknowingly consumes her own grandmother.

Sarian discusses the symbolism of Little Red's red hood, theorizing it represents female sexuality or menstruation. She also touches upon a 1922 Disney cartoon of Little Red Riding Hood, which, despite its quirky elements like a go-kart and a donut tire, features a creepy male predator instead of a wolf, highlighting early attempts at adapting these dark tales.

The focus shifts to Disney's 'Mulan,' praised for its empowering female protagonist. Sarian explains that Mulan's story has roots in a 500 AD Chinese ballad, where a daughter takes her elderly father's place in war, fighting for 12 years undetected as a woman. Different versions of the tale exist, including one where Mulan commits suicide to avoid becoming a king's concubine. Sarian notes the absence of popular Disney elements like Mushu and a love story in the original ballad.

Sarian discusses how the 'Mulan' narrative evolved, including a Ming dynasty play that objectified Mulan, turning her transformation into a burlesque-like performance. Despite this, archaeological findings of female warrior skeletons suggest the story might have real-life inspirations.

The episode explores the significant deviations between Disney's 'Pocahontas' and the real historical figure, Amonute. Sarian explains that Amonute was a child, not a grown woman, when she met John Smith, who was significantly older and a 'jerk.' Their relationship was never romantic. The true story reveals Amonute marrying Kocoum, being kidnapped by English settlers at a young age, and taken to England where her husband was killed. She was manipulated, brainwashed, raped, and eventually forced to marry John Rolfe, converting to Christianity and being renamed Rebecca. She died tragically young at 20, never returning home. Sarian critically examines how Disney sanitized this brutal history, attributing the romanticized version to early American propaganda and Christian evangelism.

Sarian concludes by reflecting on why these stories were altered. Citing psychologists like Freud and Bruno Bettelheim, she suggests that the original, darker fairy tales, despite their cruelty, were crucial for children to develop a sense of right and wrong, and to cope with intense emotions by seeing villains justly punished. She questions whether sanitizing these tales for children might be hindering their development of justice and understanding the harsh realities of the world.