Why does the man-eating villain have to be the big bad wolf? Why can't you just chase it away but have to let the hunter kill it? Why do snow white and Cinderella both want to marry the prince? Why can't anyone other than the prince give them happiness? Why do they always say, "They have lived a happy and happy life ever since", instead of their life being difficult, but still happy?
The dream world that fairy tales have built for us doesn't seem to be all right.
Rebel Nursery Rhymes is an animated short film released in the UK at the end of 2016 that brings together the fairy tales we watched as children and gives us a different fairy tale world.
In this fairy tale world, Little Red Riding Hood killed two nephews of the big bad wolf and made two wolf skin coats.
She was no longer a simple little girl, and there seemed to be no rules in the world.
Cindy Leela is also less gentle, she steals jam to eat, and she loses her temper with elves.
And her prince is just a grumpy maniac who loves to cut off people's heads.
Jack's mother is greedy and violent, and values money more than her son, and is eventually eaten by the monster on the magic vine.
The little pig who built the brick house opened a bank, but he stole the customer's finances.
When Little Red Riding Hood found out, she made him into a pigskin suitcase and took him away with gold coins.
The seven dwarfs loved to gamble and ended up losing all their money.
Snow White steals the Mirror to help them, and asks the Mirror to tell them what to bet on the next day and win.
It all seems to be getting evil, but don't worry, the world is inherently good and bad.
CindyRella and Jack are neighbors, and Jack has always had a crush on her.
Jack knew that Cindy Leela liked to eat jam, so he plucked some gold coins from the magic vine, bought the elf's shop, and opened a jam shop.
Cindy Leela ended up with Jack, and their lives were ordinary, but happy.
The big bad wolf kidnaps Little Red Riding Hood's nanny and comes to her house while Little Red Riding Hood is away, posing as a nanny to take care of her two children.
He cooks for the kids, tells them true stories, and makes them laugh.
The big bad wolf did not avenge his two nephews, and after the children fell asleep, he waited until Little Red Riding Hood returned, politely said goodbye to her, and disappeared into the forest.
Although this fairy tale is full of evil and greed, it is not absurd.
Although there is more evil in it, it is warmer than the deliberately created beauty.
I sometimes wonder why we pretend to be beautiful by escaping from reality, as if we can leave the bad things behind us as if they don't exist, as if they can live happily ever after without telling our children about the ugliness of the real world.
Perhaps what we need to let our children know is not that the world is perfect, but that despite its many dangers and disappointments, we can still find beauty in it.
I grew up watching the original fairy tales, and I thought they taught me how to discover the goodwill of the world and to judge whether a person's qualities are good or bad. But when I saw the big bad wolf knocking on the door, I was so ashamed that I thought he would eat the two children, and even when he talked politely to the nanny like a gentleman, it did not change my stereotype of him. When I saw Jack picking gold coins on the magic vine, I thought to myself: From now on, Jack will not have to work, he can do whatever he wants...
I finally understood why it was called "Rebel Nursery Rhymes" and why I was not happy after watching it.
Because when it presents another kind of beauty, we unconsciously have doubts.
When the big bad wolf and the babysitter talk about Little Red Riding Hood killing his nephew, the babysitter is excited, and strictly speaking, the babysitter represents us in the audience. Absurdly believing that we have the whole truth, rejoicing that reality is in line with our expectations, and not regretting the death of the wolf nephew, which inadvertently reflects how we treat other lives. What we think is right is really just pandering to selfish personal interests.
In fairy tales, we set the big bad wolf as a villain, but we never question it, but in the real world, the "beasts" that are imprisoned and hunted by humans are far more than the number of humans they hurt.
We let the girls in the story be with the prince, and in real life, the so-called "prince" may be "rich and handsome", but with them may not be able to "live a happy and happy life from now on".
When we grow up, we find out that life is a "rebellious nursery rhyme", and this movie just brings us reality.
No matter what age we are, we need to be authentic, we need to make our own judgments through the understanding of the facts. For example, we used to think that big bad wolves were dangerous, but in fact, what really hurt us was the things that didn't seem to pose any threat. Maybe we shouldn't build a too-perfect fairy tale world for our children, because growing up, it's even more uncomfortable to find that the good is collapsing little by little. We need to face the courage of reality, a courage that the imaginary world of perfection cannot give.