14 Disney Movie Facts That Are A Little Disturbing

**This Will Change How You Think About Disney Movies**
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**Warning:** This post mentions sexual assault, violence, death, murder, and human trafficking.

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1. **The Original Brothers Grimm Cinderella is Darker Than Disney’s Version**
The original Brothers Grimm version of *Cinderella* is considerably darker and more terrifying than Disney’s adaptation. In the Grimm tale, Cinderella’s stepsisters actually cut off their toes trying to fit into the glass slipper. If that wasn’t bad enough, at Cinderella and Prince Charming’s royal wedding, pigeons peck out their eyes.

2. **Winnie the Pooh Characters and Mental Health Theories**
Many theorize that the characters in *Winnie the Pooh* represent various mental health conditions, including compulsive eating disorder, ADHD, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, OCD, and social anxiety.

3. **Elsa’s Original Role in Frozen**
Queen Elsa in Disney’s *Frozen* was originally intended to be the vengeful villain, similar to white-haired villains like Cruella de Vil and Ursula. However, after the screenwriters heard the song “Let It Go,” they scrapped that idea and reimagined Elsa as a powerful, beloved protagonist.

4. **Disney Princesses’ Ages**
Many Disney princesses are surprisingly young, especially when compared to their male counterparts. Jasmine was only 15 in *Aladdin*, Aurora was 16 in *Sleeping Beauty*, and Ariel was 16 in *The Little Mermaid*. The youngest is Snow White, who is only 14 years old in *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*.

5. **The Original, Darker Snow White**
The Brothers Grimm story of *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* is much darker than Disney’s version. The evil queen orders the huntsman to kill Snow White and bring back her lungs and liver. At the story’s end, the queen is forced to dance in boiling iron shoes until she dies in agony.

6. **Marlon’s Tragic Backstory in Finding Nemo**
In Disney Pixar’s *Finding Nemo*, Marlon loses 399 unborn children in a barracuda attack that also killed his wife. Throughout the film, Marlon copes with this trauma while searching for his only surviving child, Nemo.

7. **Sleeping Beauty’s Dark Original Tale**
The original Italian tale of *Sleeping Beauty*, known as *Sun, Moon, and Talia*, is much darker. Unlike Disney’s film, Princess Aurora is not awakened by true love’s kiss. Instead, she is assaulted while asleep and gives birth to twins before ever waking up.

8. **Princess Jasmine’s Supporting Role**
Princess Jasmine is the only Disney Princess who does not star as the main character in her film. Although beloved and powerful, Jasmine does not get the title role; the story centers predominantly around Aladdin.

9. **The Tragic Ending of The Hunchback of Notre Dame**
In Victor Hugo’s novel *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*, Esmeralda is the only suspect for attempted murder and is publicly hanged. Quasimodo then dies beside her grave. This contrasts sharply with Disney’s happier ending where all survive.

10. **Human Trafficking Theory in Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island**
A haunting theory about Disney’s *Pinocchio* is that Pleasure Island represents human trafficking. Children who arrive are forced to indulge in cruel “pleasures,” transformed into donkeys, and sold into labor.

11. **The Original Little Mermaid’s Tragic Ending**
In Hans Christian Andersen’s original *The Little Mermaid*, Ariel does not get a happy ending. Prince Eric marries another woman, and Ariel dissolves into sea foam after leaping into the sea, heartbroken.

12. **The Grim Fate of Little Red Riding Hood**
In Charles Perrault’s *Little Red Riding Hood*, both Red and her grandmother are eaten by the wolf, with no happy ending. The story is a cautionary tale with sexual undertones warning girls about the dangers of strangers, symbolized by predatory “wolves.”

13. **The Genie’s Slavery in Aladdin**
In *Aladdin*, the Genie is a slave bound to whoever possesses the magic lamp. The character’s premise is that he is trapped in a cycle of forced labor—granting wishes—until eventually freed by his master.

14. **The Dark Reality Behind Pocahontas**
Disney’s *Pocahontas* drastically alters the true story of the Native American woman. The real Pocahontas suffered horribly at the hands of white English colonists—kidnapped, raped, and forcibly taken to England where she died under mysterious circumstances before turning 21. The film’s romance with John Smith is entirely fictional, and it glosses over the brutal history of Indigenous peoples and colonial violence. Pocahontas’s life represents one of the earliest cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

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Which Disney fact did you find the most unsettling? Do you know any others that didn’t make the list? Be sure to share your thoughts and theories in the comments below!

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https://www.buzzfeed.com/kbball27/disturbing-disney-movie-facts