Hi folks! Welcome to my My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analysis blog. A blog where I'm analyzing several Disney films, Disney or Animation in general! These entries are just meant to be my analyses. Not reviews or statements. Just fun analyses! Though I'll make some personal remarks now and then, the content of these entries are meant to be depicted objectively. They're made for entertainment purpose only and the pictures/clips are copyright Disney or other companies.
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For the first time ever I`m going to write about an author. An author who`s inspired many Disney stories. But hey, there`s always a first for everything, right?
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| There was no room for Andersen in this picture :) |
It`s hard to believe that we live in a time where Disney has pretty much left what was their original staple: To adapt well-known and famous stories. It was essentially Disney`s bread and butter all along. Which essentially started way along with Walt. Despite how Walt essentially made some original stories, he mostly adapted many stories. Which started the issue of Disneyfication. While the trend of adapting well known stories continued way after Walt`s death, where Disney afterwards began to adapt other source materials, like myths (which certainly was an issue during the Disney Renaissance), the truth is that Disney began making original stories afterwards.
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| You know what they say: Ignorance is bliss. So that`s why I`m glad by what`s happening behind my back :) |
And while some of the Revival pictures that featured Princesses were based on well known fairy tales (The Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Frozen), it`s been a while since Disney actually adapted a famous story. However, there have been many famous authors that have inspired Disney`s library. And they were essentially authors who existed long before Disney and created many iconic stories. One of them happens to be none other than Hans Christian Andersen, one of the most famous authors of the Century. Despite how he wrote plays, novels, poems and travelogues, he was mostly known for his fairy tales. But what made his work remarkable is that unlike the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault, Andersen was able to create new fairy tales that could stand among them.General Information About Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, born in Odense, Denmark, on 2 April 1805. Named after his father, Hans. Who was a poor shoemaker. H.C.`s mother, Anne Marie Andersdatter, was an illiterate washerwoman. There have been suggestions that H.C. was an illegitimate son of King Christian VIII. His father, who had received an elementary school education, introduced his son to literature, reading him Arabian Nights. The family didn`t have an address until 1807. His father died of an illness he got when he enlisted as a soldier at the Napoleonic Wars in 1812-14. After his death in 1816, H.C`s mother remarried in 1818. Andersen went local school for poor children and had to support himself, working as an apprentice to a weaver and a tailor. At 14, H.C. moved to Copenhagen to work as an actor. Having a good soprano voice, he got into the Royal Danish Theatre, but his voice soon changed. A colleague told him about his poet skills, which H.C. took seriously. Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Danish Theatre, sent him to grammar school in Slagelse. Convincing King Frederick VI to pay H.C.`s education. H.C. also attended school at Elsinore to 1827.
For H.C., the years at Elsinore were the darkest years of his life. But at a school, he lived at his master's home. Where he was abused, to improve his character. Which prevented him from writing and made him depressed. Between 1845 and 1864, H.C. lived at Nyhavn 67, Copenhagen, where a memorial plaque is placed. In June 1847, H.C. visited England for the first time. At party he met Charles Dickens. Both respected each other. In 1857, H.C. visited Dickens and extended his brief visit to five-weeks. To the distress of Dickens' family. After H.C. was told to leave, Dickens stopped all correspondence
between them. To H.C.`s dismay and confusion. However, regarding`s H.C.`s sexuality, it`s true that he was also attracted to men. As he crushed on Edvard Collin. H.C. had a relationship with Karl Alexander, the hereditary duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Jackie Wullschlager`s biography indicates he was possibly lovers with Danish dancer Harald Scharff. Who met H.C. when the author was in his 50s. People regarded the relationship as improper and
ridiculous. However, the relationship ended in November 1963. Which H.C. took calmly, despite how he tried to restore the relationship many times and failed. But due to his moral and religion, H.C. had to hide his gay relationships. But H.C. also fell in love with unattainable women, and referenced them in his stories. As in The Nightingale for Jenny Lind, inspired by her nickname, "Swedish Nightingale." 
H.C.
was shy around women and had a hard time proposing to
Lind. When she boarded a train to an opera concert, he proposed to her through a letter. Her feelings to him were not the
same. It`s suggested that H.C. portrayed Lind as the antihero of The Snow Queen. In early 1872, at the age of 67, H.C. fell out of his bed and was
hurt. And never fully recovered from the
injuries. Soon afterward, he showed signs of liver cancer. H.C. died on 4 August 1875 at the age of 70. In the country house Rolighed (calmness) near Copenhagen, where his close friends, the banker Moritz G. Melchior and his wife lived. Shortly before his death, Andersen asked a composer to make music
for his funeral, saying: "Most of the people who will walk after me will
be children, so make the beat keep time with little steps." H.C. was interred in the Assistens Kirkegård in Nørrebro, of Copenhagen, in the Collin family plot. Hans Christian Andersen`s Work
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| The picture was taken way before technicolor :) |
Hans Christian Andersen`s fantasy took shape from his first visit to the Odense theatre. In 1822 he published his first story, The Ghost at
Palnatoke's Grave. However, an early fairy tale, The Tallow Candle,
was discovered in in October 2012. Also written
in the 1820s, is about a candle who`s not accepted. dedicated to one of his
benefactors. It was
found in family papers in a local archive. In 1829, Andersen wrote the short story A Journey on Foot from Holmen's Canal to the East Point of Amager, which was a success. Afterwards he wrote the theatrical piece, Love on St. Nicholas Church Tower, and a short volume of poems. He didn`t wrote after those poems, but received a small travel grant from the
king in 1833. Which made Andersen to
journey throug Europe many times. At Jura,
Switzerland, Andersen wrote Agnete and the Merman (preceeding The Little Mermaid). The same
year, he spent an evening in the Italian village of Sestri Levante, which inspired The Bay of Fables. And his travels in Italy were reflected in his first novel, a fictionalized autobiography named The Improvisatore. Published in 1835 to instant success.  |
| This is how diaries used to be :) |
Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection had nine fairy tales. Published in a series of three books by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, between May 1835 and April 1837. Being Andersen's first venture into fairy tale genre. The first book of sixty-one unbound pages, published 8 May 1835, had The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Princess and the Pea and Little Ida's Flowers. The first three tales were based on tales he heard as a child. The fourth was his creation for Ida Thiele, daughter of folklorist Just Mathias Thiele, Andersen's benefactor. Reitzel paid Andersen 30 rigsdalers for the script, and it was priced at 24 shillings. The second booklet was published 16 December 1835, which had The Naughty Boy, The Traveling Companion and Thumbelina. The last story was inspired by Tom Thumb and other stories of miniature people. Naughty Boy was inspired about Eros from Anacreontea and The Traveling Companion was a ghost story Andersen experimented with in 1830. |
| No, this Donkey ride is not for free :) |
The third booklet had The Little Mermaid and The Emperor's New Clothes, published 7 April 1837. Mermaid was inspired by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué`s Undine (1811) and legends about mermaids. The tale established Andersen's international reputation. Clothes was based on a medieval Spanish story with Arab and Jewish
origins. However, Danish reviews of the first two stories weren`t good. They hated the chatty, informal style and
apparent immorality, since children's literature was meant to educate than to amuse. The critics told him to prevent that style. But he wanted to work against their notions of fairy tales, and he
returned to novel-writing, waiting a year before publishing his
third work. In 1838, The Steadfast Tin Soldier was published (which wasn`t based on a existing tale). Both The Ugly Duckling and The Nightingale were published in 1843, The Snow Queen was published (the longest of his stories) in 1844. And the following year The Little Matchgirl and The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep. In 1868, Horace Scudder (editor of Riverside Magazine For Young People),
offered Andersen $500 for 12 new stories. Sixteen of them
were published in the magazine, and 10 of them appeared there before
they came to Denmark.  |
| We`re the cupids of the lake :) |
In 1851, Andersen published In Sweden, some travel sketches. Which got wide acclaim. A keen traveler, he wrote many other travelogues: Shadow Pictures of a Journey to the Harz, Swiss Saxony, etc. etc. in the Summer of 1831, A Poet's Bazaar, In Spain, and A Visit to Portugal in 1866. In his travelogues, Andersen used current conventions about travel writing, but developed a style of his own.
Each of his travelogues had documentary, descriptions of his experiences and philosophical passages on authorship, immortality, and fiction in travel
reports. Some of them had fairy tales. In the 1840s, Andersen returned to the theatre, but
with little success. He had better luck with Picture-Book without Pictures (1840). Andersen made a second series of fairy tales in 1838 and a third series in 1845. At this point, he was cherished by Europe, but Denmark still showed resistance to his work.
Andersen was known for writing stories with simplicity and grace. However, he was also known for not knowing to end his stories. The Disney Properties That Hans Christian Andersen Adapted
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| I know my hug would be anti- feminist for a Princess nowadays :) |
Regarding the properties Disney has adapted from Hans Christian Andersen, the truth is that Disney has adapted many of them. Not only in movies, but in shorts, too. Walt had made a black-and-white Silly Symphony episode of The Ugly Duckling in 1931 (where the Duckling is a duck who`s hatched by a chicken). Walt also made the Symphony short The China Shop (based on The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep) in 1934. But his first truly remembered adaptation of an Andersen story was with The Ugly Duckling (1939), the final short in the Symphony series. And won the Oscars in 1939 for Best Animated Short Subject.  |
| The orange garment below my shoulder compliments me :) Sort of :) |
However, Walt wanted to make a documentary about Andersen. The parts of his life were going to be in live-action,
while intertwined parts of his fairy tales were
animated. Which were Mermaid, The Little Fir Tree, Through the Picture Frame, Nightingale, Tin Soldier, Clothes, Through the Picture Frame and The Little Fir-Tree. Walt made a partnership with MGM Studios, asking them to make the live-action parts (before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). With Samuel Goldwyn, in March 1940. But Walt hated the scripts MGM sent to them. In December 1940, Larry Clemmons wrote a script, which involved MGM and Goldwyn again. But Disney became too busy with war-related films to make it any further.  |
| We`re the kings guards :) And yes, that even counts me (the Ballerina :) |
However, there`s no doubt that one of Disney`s most well-known property of Andersen story is Mermaid, from 1989. Everyone who knows Disney knows the immortal position of that iconic movie. But what`s remarkable is that in the TV series (1992), Andersen himself appears to visit the sea in the Metal Fish episode (where he writes about Mermaid). Another Andersen property that was adapted was Tin Soldier. As a short segment in Fantasia 2000 to Piano Concerto No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich. And directed by Hendel Butoy (The Rescuers Down Under). While Lilo & Stitch had little to do with Andersen, it still had a slight nod to Duckling. |
| Wow, even a book of Ice can be read :) |
Another Andersen short made was The Little Matchgirl who was originally intended to be in Fantasia 2006 (set to the Nocturne from Alexander Borodin's String Quartet #2). Directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King) and produced by Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast). But it was devised as it`s own short and released with Mermaid`s Platinum Edition DVD in 2006. However, it`s needless to say that the most famous Andersen`s property is none other than a little film called Frozen (from Snow Queen). Who became Disney`s biggest hit to date (and the adaptation of an Andersen story who`s the least faithful to it`s source material most). Frozen also had a slight nod to Duckling. While Frozen II had less to do with Andersen`s original tale, at least it had a cute tongue-in-cheek nod to the original tale of Mermaid.Non-Disney Properties That Were Adapted From Andersen`s Stories
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| I`m the White Iron Queen :) |
As for other non-Disney animated properties that`s been adapted from Andersen, The Snow Queen was adapted in 1957 as an animated film in Sovjet. By Lev Atmanov of Soyuzmultfil. A faithful depiction of the fairy tale which gained critical acclaim. The Wild Swans (1962) was also Soviet animated version of the tale, by Soyuzmultfilm. The Little Mermaid (1968) is a 30-minute faithful Soviet animated short, also by Soyuzmultfilm. The World of Hans Christian Andersen (1968) was a Japanese anime film from Toei Doga, based on the works of the author. Andersen Monogatari (1971) is a Japanese animated anthology show by Mushi Production. Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (1975) was Japanese anime film from Toei. The Wild Swans (1977) is also Japanese animated version by Toei. Thumbelina (1978) is also an Japanese anime film from Toei.  |
| This is made for Sleeping Beauty :) |
The Girl who Trod on the Loaf (1986) is an animated movie from Kievnauchfilm. Timeless Tales from Hallmark (1990) was an American live-action/animated direct-to-video show of fairy tales, hosted by Olivia Newton-John. Produced by H-B Production Co. and Hallmark Cards, it aired on USA Network in 1991. The fairy tales shown were Clothes, Thumbelina, Duckling and Tin Soldier. And let`s not forget Don Bluth`s Thumbelina (1994), which was a conscious Disney spoof at the time. The Fairytaler (2003), Danish-British animated series based on several Andersen fairy tales. The Snow Queen (2012) is a Russian 3D animated film, the first film of series made by Wizart Animation (preceeding Disney`s version). Ginger's Tale (2020) is a Russian 2D animated film loosely based on The Tinderbox, made at Vverh Animation Studio in Moscow.
Epilogue
At the end, Hans Christian Andersen remains one of the World`s most famous and well-known authors. And it`s a truly astonishing that he lived in a time before our times. And his work is going to continue to live on forever for many generations. As for my own personal experiences with Andersen`s stories, the truth is that I knew about them and read them in my chilhood. But unfortunately I don`t have any specific memories of how and when I heard about them. However, as for Disney`s adaptations, I remember seeing both Duckling and Mermaid during my childhood. I remember renting , where it actually was on a compilation video (which I didn`t like). Frankly, I don`t remember if I was mesmerized with Duckling, but I was most likely not. As for Mermaid, I saw it with a childhood friend of mine. And frankly, Mermaid was always a movie that I liked, but never truly loved (until I reached my adult years).
But as for the other adaptations Andersen`s other works, I remember seeing Timeless Tales from Hallmark on TV as a child. And liked it well enough. I also liked the Metal Fish episode in the Mermaid series and Tin Soldier in Fantasia 2000 (despite how I was already a teenager when that movie was released). I found Matchgirl to be a well-made and fine little short. And while I liked Frozen when it first came out, I was never gaga for it, as it became massively overexposed. The sequel was better as a whole, thogh.. And sure, it`s a departure to write an entry about a person who`s actually dead. But of course by writing one, it`s always with a little respect for the person. Since this entry was meant to synergize his anniversary, there`s nothing left to and thank him Hans Christian Andersen for
his everlasing influence and legacy that he`s left to our World. %20-%20(MeisterDrucke-676478).jpg)
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