EP 15 - The Dark Side of Once Upon A Time

Step beyond the magic and into the shadows.

In this episode, we uncover the surprisingly dark origins of classic Disney fairy tales. The versions you probably never heard as a kid. From eerie curses and brutal endings to unsettling moral lessons, these original stories paint a much different picture than the ones we grew up with.

If you’ve ever wondered what lies beneath the polished happily-ever-after, this episode might just change the way you see your favorite childhood stories.

Listener discretion advised… these fairy tales didn’t always have happy endings.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to another episode of I've Got Something to Say. I'm your host, Courtney, and today we are going to be talking about the dark and twisted history of the Disney princesses. But before we get started, we are going to be talking about our current obsessions, and I feel like we have a pretty hot topic today.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

What? You didn't say I was here.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Oh okay. Frequent Flyer here, Kristen, my beautiful wife. She is back.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I just want to say that this was my idea.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

This was, this was, and I was gonna mention that. I was gonna mention that. Don't you worry, our current obsessions. And we have a pretty hot topic this week. And it makes me question if we're in the wrong. So this is being recorded on April 1st, yesterday evening. Amanda Batulla and West Wilson made a confirmed made a joint statement about their connection. Never once did they confirm that they were in a relationship, but they were exploring a connection that they felt. Here's my hot take. I'm not mad about it. So this is editing Courtney jumping in because I wanted to talk about the beginning of the podcast where me and Kristen were going to start talking about the summer house scandal, also known as Scamanda. Um, actually, it's called like a bunch of different things. But we at the time that we recorded this, we were like fully thinking that this whole thing was getting blown out of proportion and we did not know there were so many more details. So we, in fact, were going to be on the wrong side of history. Bravo history, that is. I just want to say, and Kristen is already in bed, and I am up late editing this podcast because it is Wednesday, and this podcast was supposed to be up yesterday. There is definitely more information that has come out in regards to the whole statement around West and Amanda being together, and there are speculations that West and Sierra have been kind of rekindling their flame like for a couple of months. Like they were pictured last month in March at their co-star Lindsay Hubbard's house with baby Gemma. And there have been like they went to the Super Bowl together. Well, they didn't go to the Super Bowl together, but they hung out at the Super Bowl. So, like, there's a lot of messy timelines. And I think that at the time where we were recording this podcast, it was literally like right after the announcement, it was like the next day. Uh, we did not have all of that information. And here's what I want to say we definitely are and will forever be girls, girls. I think what was deterring me in the beginning from like wanting to like fully stand behind like the whole team Sierra was the fact that like people were like really ruthlessly bullying Amanda, and I still don't condone bullying on the internet. Um, I don't think that that's very kind, and I do think that there is a problem with that. However, uh you can't go sleeping with your supposed best friend's ex-boyfriend who might also be a current fling. And also, if you think that he's not going to play you in the same way, you're kind of silly because he and this has completely changed the way that I view West, unfortunately, because I loved him before. However, I think he is just a player and like it's 2026, and we do not have time for players and fuck boys, and like I do really love his fashion, and I'm gonna still say that I really like his fashion, and some people really hate it, but that's okay. But no, you can't like fuck around with girls like this. Be a fucking man, grow the fuck up, go record another podcast with fucking Sophie Cunningham. But yeah, so fully fully supporting Sierra at this time. Okay, so they made that announcement on the 30th, which I think was like a week ago, and I'm trying to think what day we recorded this. I can't remember. But like Sierra was just on the red carpet for the euphoria premiere. There was definitely some shade thrown in that interview. Amanda has been seen on the streets of New York with Kyle interchanging or interchanging, exchanging the dogs. But other than that, like there's not really any update. Lindsay Hubbard was activated this weekend because she was overheard somewhere in New York having a conversation with one of her best friends, and whoever was around her overheard the conversation and sent it to to moi the like reality or like pop culture. Like it's basically basically like TMC. And so she was like fighting with them in the comments and being like, that's not what I said. So she was activated. But yeah, so nothing's really come out like too much more, but they still have not recorded the finale, or not the finale, the reunion. Allegedly, it's supposed to be recording on April 15th, although Lindsay Hubbard did say that that has not been confirmed. So, I mean, the most uh most content we are getting out of this is Lindsay Hubbard uh being on fucking uh social media and Carl's a mess and everybody's team Sierra. I I don't know how Summer House is going to come back from this. Like, I don't know, like I don't think that Sierra and Amanda will ever be in a summer house again together, so I don't know who's gonna step out on this one. I can see it definitely being Sierra because she's really like making a name for herself, and like she doesn't really need the show anymore, and like Paige DeSorbo already left, and like Hannah's not hasn't been on for a while. I could see like the three of them doing something. I don't really know, but she does deserve the world, and clearly she's getting that support on social media, and I do see I just like have a I just have a hard time with like people that are getting like really beaten down, and I do really feel for Amanda because it really to me, if I'm being really honest, to me, it feels like West is just like playing every fucking buddy because there was even girls coming out that like that they were talking to him also in the past couple of months and like sleeping with him, so he just seems like a really big fucking player, and Amanda potentially just lost a best friend over this, but then also there's been more speculation that Amanda was like too flirty with Craig when Paige DeSorbo was with him. I don't think that they hooked up, but I do think that she tends to cross the line. I don't know, even this season right now on like this current season of Summer House, I do feel like her with Ben is a little weird. So it just like seems like her like thing, I guess, unfortunately. But I guess if you're not getting love at home and you don't feel loved by your husband, you probably do desperate stuff for attention or validation or whatever. So I don't know. I'm really curious to see how this all plays out, and I am very looking, very much looking forward to the reunion. I think it's gonna be fucking epic. Curious on what the seating chart's gonna look like, but yeah, so I just wanted to pop in and say that at the time that we recorded this, and we were saying that we were not on any side and like Amanda wasn't in the wrong, yeah, we changed our mind on that, and we've had lots of conversations about that. So we want to make it known that we are on the right side of Bravo history, so unless something changes and as like more updates come out, obviously for my Bravo fans, I will continue to update you or talk about it because it's the only thing that's on my mind right now. But, anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the episode. Okay, bye, love you. But there was one other thing. Okay, this is gonna go back to last week's topic because I want to ask you. So, what did you think about so we love we watched, okay? Let me let me slow down, let me back up. Last night, me and Kristen watched On the Basis of Sex, which is It's on Netflix! It's on Netflix, it's a movie about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and I wanted to know your thoughts. I loved it. You did? I loved it. It was so good.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah, I cried. I yeah, I I hate to say it, but I didn't really know a whole lot about her. I just wasn't raised in the feminist world. Right. I was raised very conservative, Catholic, all of that.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

So that's like not something that you guys like would have, you know, talked about. Yeah. No. But I mean, she has a very interesting story. Obviously, I talked about that last week, but I was just curious on like what your thoughts were on the movie. Genet. It's been a minute since I watched it. I think I watched it when it first came out, so I really enjoyed it. And like I said, I literally cried at the end because like she like walks up the steps and then like they like pan to another like point of view, and then it's like it's the real Ruth Baderginsberg.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

It was good.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Rest in peace. It was good. Um and then yeah, I think that's my uh those are my only obsessions. I we just recorded the last episode literally like three days ago. So there's there's not been much change in in in my mental my mental space. Yeah. But okay. Are we ready for today's topic? All right, okay, so like I said, we're gonna be talking about the dark and twisted history of the Disney princesses.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Which Disney princess sings that? Snow White? Princess Fiona. Oh. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Okay. The beloved Disney princesses are largely based on folk tales, myths, and literature from the 17th to 19th centuries, which were often far more violent, gruesome, and cautionary than the animated films. Original tales featured themes of cannibalism, intense bodily mutilation, suicide, and sexual assault.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Damn.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yes. So I do want to give a quick and brief trigger warning that there are gruesome topics that we're gonna be con talking about, such as sexual assault.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

But just think of Disney princesses.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah, sexual assault, suicide, and other kind of gory things. So just fair warning. But yeah, so let's start off. I'm gonna start off with the oldest Snow White? Yes, the oldest Disney princess. Well, it's the oldest animated film, I should say. Not like the oldest store. Yes. Because actually, I read that Mal Mulan dates back all the way to ancient. Oh no, no, no. Cinderella, I assumed because it was China. Cinderella stories have been go like have been known all the way back to ancient China, but we'll get to that in a second.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah. But the oldest animated film was Snow White. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was the first animated Disney movie, and the storyline depicted in this film was not far off from the original 17th century and 19th century versions by both Guillaume Batista Basile and the Brothers Grimm. The main difference is that the evil queen was Snow White's biological mother and not her stepmother, which makes her actions much creepier. In the original story by The Brothers Grimm, the queen summons the huntsmen and huntsmen to the woods not to kill Snow White and bring her heart back in a pretty little box, but to actually kill Snow White and bring her lungs and liver back so that the evil queen can cook them up with salt and eat them to absorb the princess's beauty. However, in this darker version of the story, Snow White does get her revenge on the evil queen by heating up a pair of iron shoes and making the evil queen dance while wearing them, burning her feet and causing her to quite literally dance herself to death. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, and like I I wish I would have like taken the time to like actually like read the stories.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Because like I would I would love like a book of all of the like actual folklore tales, like by the brothers Grimm.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah. Well, because there's like three main three main writers that we'll see in this. It's the Brothers Grimm, the Guillain Batista Basile, and then there was one other one too. Oh, Christian Andersons. So those are like the three main main story writers. Or like the yeah, the folks, folks, folklore tales, whatever, whatever I'm trying to say. But yeah, but I would love the brothers grim version of the stories because they are pretty dark and I like them. But yeah, Snow White story, it being her mother, gross. Because like I feel like a lot of times in like the folk folklore or like fables, tales, whatever you want to call them, it's always like an evil stepmother, yeah, and never like an actual like relation. Yeah. So this one was like, yeah, that's really fucked up. And then cannibalism of like eating the liver and the lungs. Yeah. Gross. Oh my gosh, this is so off topic. But you sent me a TikTok today.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

About the gallbladder. Yeah. I laughed so hard. It was so funny. But it was a TikTok, and it was like, who who is that?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Who um Bradley Might Matt Matthew, Bradley Matthew Perry, somebody, the guy from Good Luck Charlie.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Okay, yeah. The little brother. Yeah, the little brother from Good Luck Charlie was like doing an interview and somebody brought him a gallbladder because his dad had to get his gallbladder replaced, and the guy was like, Yeah, I heard your family was in need of a gallbladder. And it was just so funny. It was just so funny. Like, also, how did you get that?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I hope it was fake. I'm pretty sure it was fake.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

But they gave it to him in uh in between two paper plates, which I thought was hilarious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Just the fucking gallbladder on the plate.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

They gave it to him and they opened it, and he's like, What is this? He's like, Ew, what what is that? And they're like, It's a gallbladder. And he's like, What?

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Yeah, it was it was really funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

I would have died if somebody I'm pretty sure a gallbladder is a lot smaller than that. I thought so too. I thought it was like smaller than your fist.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Like I thought it was like the size of like a ball, like a tennis ball almost.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

I don't know. Just on my coke. Okay, on to the next. We're going to go with another classic, Cinderella.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Cinderelli, Cinderelli.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

There are various Cinderella stories that date back all the way to ancient China, but it was the 17th century adaptation that made the infamous point of a shiny slipper becoming Cinderella's ticket to her happily ever after. However, in Guillaume Batista Basil's edition, Cinderella is a cold-blooded killer who snaps her stepmother's neck with the lid of a dressing trunk at the orders of her scheming governess. The governess then gets to marry this gets to marry Cinderella's father and banishes his daughter to the kitchen. All of the remaining themes, including the grand ball and the handsome prince, remain the same, but in this version of in this version, the slipper is made out of patent and leather instead of glass. And the 19th century version of this dark tale, the brother's grim version, takes the gore to the next level, depicting the stepsisters cutting off their heels and toes to try and fit into this lost slipper.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

That's the one that I have heard before.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yes, I have heard of I have heard of the one where the sisters cut off their toes and heels to fit into the slippers, and I gross.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Like, okay, cutting off your toes is one thing. It's cutting off the heel that makes me like one of the things.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Well, because you don't like the Achilles. Right? You have like a fear of the Achilles tendon.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

I have a fear that somebody's gonna cut my Achilles tendon.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Yeah. So that's why you don't like thinking about cutting the heel of the foot.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

But yeah, gives me like the ick. I feel like I could do the heel more than the toes. What? The thin the skin is thicker. It's easier to like not feel it.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

No. No. No. You would have to literally cut off like a chunk of your foot. I know, but I feel like a lot of your walking on your tiptoes. Yeah. Or the balls of your feet. Yeah. Because they also cut off their toes. That would be so painful. I wouldn't you but bleed to death? No. If you cut your Achilles tendon. Right? No.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Okay, but I thought it killed you. No. Are you sure?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Football players have torn their Achilles.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Okay, well, why do I think that it's gonna kill me?

SPEAKER_00 18:51

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Okay. Well, maybe I'm an idiot. You're not. Maybe. But that's okay. That's alright. But I have never heard the part of her killing the stepmom. Yeah, I've never heard of that one. But my question is, okay, so like in the movie, are we assuming that the evil stepmom is the governess that then married the dad? And like she killed her original stepmom? Because it says that she killed her stepmother by snapping her neck because she was given orders by the scheming governess. Yeah. And then the governess then got to marry Cinderella and banished her to the kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

So that's Marry Cinderella's dad.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Marry Cinderella's dad and then banished her to the kitchen. So I'm assuming I'm assuming that like in the movie, the evil e the evil.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

There's no there's no first step mother.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

It's not mentioned in the movie, but that's what I'm assuming is where we're coming in is after Cinderella commits murder.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Oh, yeah. Now I see what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. The movie comes in after she's been banished to the kitchen. What is a governess? Just like the ruler, a different name for a queen. Um it's just like the governing body. Okay, but not everybody's called a king and queen.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Whatever happened to Cinderella's mother, do we know that? Probably like had cancer and died. Or like the bubonic plague.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yeah, tuberculosis. I feel like that was a thing back then. Tuberculosis.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Black plague. Well, I thought that was the same thing as the bubonic plague. I have no idea. Me either. Alright. So the next one that is another classic is Sleeping Beauty. Now, this one had me feeling irate. I'm just gonna give a heads up. So I feel like I have a sense of what's coming. Okay. Like most themes in Disney Tales, Sleeping Beauty is a tale of good versus evil, love and fate, and lovely and a lovely and innocent story. However, you bet that the 17th century adaptation of the story is the opposite of innocent and was written by our recurring pal, Gian Batista Basile. The story was then called Sun Moon Talia, and it began the way we are familiar with, as Princess Talia was condemned upon birth to have her finger pricked, causing her to enter an eternal slumber. After her devastated father leaves her lying in an abandoned castle, the princess is not awoken by true love's kiss. Instead, a nearby king stumbles upon the abandoned castle. And finds the princess lying there sleeping. Mesmerized by her apparent good looks, he takes it upon himself to grape her and ends up impregnating her. Jesus. While still under the sleeping spell, the princess gives birth to twins. In a desperate attempt searching for milk, one of the twins sucks the splinter out of the princess's finger, which breaks the spell, and she awakens. When the king returns and sees the princess awake with the twins, he is pleased with himself. His wife, the queen, however, is not happy with his apparent infidelity. She then begins to plot and steal the twins with plans to kill the child and feed it to the king. A plan that goes wrong when the cook saves the twins, prepares lamb instead, and tells the king of her plans after dinner. Once the king learns of the evil plan, he sentences his wife to be burned alive along with anyone who betrayed him. And then he and Princess Taya marry and live happily ever after. What the fuck? Yeah. Also, I did not put it in here, but I want to make note that the twins were named Sun and Moon. That's why it's called Sun, Moon, Taya. But yeah.

unknown 23:24

Dang.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

So, I mean, a girl went through some trauma. First, she gets pricked, and I'm pretty sure to a coma. I'm pretty sure that, and I might be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure that the reason why she had that curse put on her was because of something that her father did. And that's why he leaves, like, devastated, and he's like upset with himself that she is now in this eternal slumber. And he just abandons her. He just literally leaves an entire fucking castle because he's like, I did this to her. I must leave her in this castle. And so she's just alone. Yeah. So she's just unprotected, laying in this castle. And then a king, which like from God knows where. Right. First of all, what are you doing? Why are you trespassing? You're breaking the law. And then you're gonna look at a girl and then be like, oh, she's so pretty. I need to F her. Without consent.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

While she's sleeping.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

And I'm pretty sure that she was like 16.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Because all of the princesses were pretty young. Yeah. And then not only does she experience those two traumas, but then while she's asleep, she wakes up and has two babies on her.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Has twins. God knows how old they are because apparently they know how to move. Well, the i that's why I how did it say in a desk amount?

SPEAKER_01 24:55

I I don't know. It's a it's a it's a tale, I guess. I don't know. It's a fairy tale. It's a not so fairy tale. Damn. But then all of that, and then then her her children almost get murdered because and taken away.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah, taken away and murdered.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Yeah, because the person that assaulted them, assaulted her, was married and pissed his wife off. Don't trust men. And then she chooses to stay with him. And that's weird to me. Yeah, I mean, money will do it. I mean, probably didn't have a choice.

unknown 25:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Probably not.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

But yeah, no, that one was that one was pretty, pretty wild. When I was reading that, I said, What?

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah, no, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

That's insane. That's insane. The next one is a little sad. So just an FYI. Mulan. This women's empowerment film was based on a poem from the 19 or I'm sorry, from the 1695 version of the Su Tang romance. Majority of the storyline story aligns with the 1998 film. However, the poem takes a bit more of a tragic ending. Upon returning from war, Mulan finds that her father died while she was gone, and her mother has already remarried. On top of the emotional challenges that brings her, she also faces more challenges when her identity as a woman is then revealed. As punishment, she is going to be sentenced to becoming a concubine, concubine, which is essentially being a slave to a man. A less respected version of a wife. Mulan takes the tragic decision to take her own life to spare herself from this fate. I had to Google what the what a concubine is. Wow. Because I had no idea. I assumed that it was like some sort of sex slave. Yeah. But I mean, it's more so like you're not married. Like you have no, like there's no love, right? You're just an object. That one's a slave. You are assigned to a house, to a man, and you must tend to both the house and the man.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

But there is no like romantic feelings. There is no passion, there's no love, there's no caring, there's no tenderness. Very sad and traumatic life, honestly. So I mean, I don't blame her. But also coming back because like the whole story of Mulan is like she's fighting in war for her dad because she thinks that her dad is too old to fight in war. So she goes and she fights for him under his name, and then she comes back, and while she was gone, he's died. Yeah, that would be devastating. And then the mom is just like, Oh, yeah, sorry, your dad died, but here's your stepdad. So, like, damn, a girl really went through it. Yeah. There was also another part that I obviously did not write down, but it was like something about like she did meet like in the poem or the story or whatever, she did meet another female that was a warrior whose father was like a powerful person or something, and they were like going to be like tortured to death, and like they somehow escaped that. So, like, she went through shit in the war too. Dang. But I for some reason didn't write that down. Yeah, that's okay, but still pretty interesting. Yeah. I also didn't realize that, like, I've heard of like you know, the three that we've already talked about being like from like gory stories before, but I didn't I didn't know that about like Moolan's story either.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Yeah, no, I thought it was just kind of like a pro-woman right war type of story.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Yeah. Same. Same, honestly. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

35 minutes. Are you done? We'll find something to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Okay. Okay, the next one is I believe, I feel like, and I don't know. Okay, so actually, I'm gonna sidetrack for a second. So growing up, I do not remember ever going through a princess phase. Oh, I did. I know, and and I I think we've talked about this before, but I don't recall ever really like loving watching like the princess movies. I remember watching Cinderella, but like other than that, I don't really like feel like I was like obsessed with it. The movie that I was obsessed with as a kid was fucking Tarazan.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Interesting. That one was never really like a reach for for me. I liked anything with dogs and cats in it.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

No, I literally used to have a recurring dream that I would tell my mom about like once a month, where I was like in Tarazan, and I was in the jungle, and I was like, I guess like interacting with like the animals or whatever, but in the jungle there were also cows, and the cows wore pink bonnets if they were girls, and they wore blue bonnets if they were boys, but we were all just like chilling in the jungle with Tarzan, and I I loved that movie, truly, honestly love that movie. But I will say one of the princess movies, and this was where I was going from the and from the start, was one of my favorite princess movies was The Little Mermaid, and I feel like it might have to do with like the year that it came out versus like how old I was. Yeah, because I don't remember what year The Little Mermaid came out, but I know it was in the 90s, so that has probably something to do with it.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

I liked Cinderella, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I just like I didn't care for it.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah. Cinderella and then Sleeping Beauty were my top.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Never watched Sleeping Beauty. I thought Sleeping Beauty was so boring. Never watched Snow White, that was too old. What other ones?

SPEAKER_00 31:47

I always thought Snow White was ugly, so I didn't want to watch it.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Okay, that's wild coming from somebody that likes dark features. And she's the only princess with dark hair. Yeah, but she's so fucking pale. Okay. All right. I mean, that's fair. That's fair. Okay, anyways. That's so funny. That's so funny. What princess do you think would be the prettiest?

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Jasmine.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Again, with the dark features. I love me some dark features. I would have to say that okay, Jasmine was hot though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Jasmine was she was stunning. And her body. Give me some of that.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

See, I didn't I don't know. Like honestly, in my opinion, the hottest city Disney princess, Pocahontas. Yeah. I was obsessed with Pocahontas as well. Yeah, she's pretty. That was another one that I was really into. And I remember going to Disney World when I was in the fourth grade, and I remember being so embarrassed. Okay, this is little little Courtney not realizing literally, I was in the fourth grade. So not even I didn't even know what a lesbian was at the time, okay? But there are there are points in my life that I look back on and I'm like, she was in there. Yeah. She just didn't know. But I remember we went to Disney World in 2004, and my brother would have been like five, because I think I was like nine. And we were, I want to say we were in Animal Kingdom, and we were in line to get Pocahontas' signature. And my brother walks up there, and my dad, being my dad, who always wants to make a joke, even at the most inappropriate times, tells my brother that he should get Pocahontas' number. And I was so mad that he did that. I was embarrassed. I said, How I literally remember thinking, how dare he embarrass me in front of Pocahontas? I am mortified. I am mortified. I was like, I am literally little Courtney was like, Pocahontas isn't never gonna speak to me again because of that. My dad is so embarrassing. Like you were gonna see her again. I was in love with her and I didn't know. But I was like, oh my god, that is so embarrassing. And then my brother is just like five, and he's like, What? And I'm like, oh my gosh. So yeah, that is my dad embarrassed me. And he might that is just my dad. Yeah. Another time we went to Hooters for my brother's birthday. How old was he turning? Like seven. What? I have never been to Hooters. I was never allowed to go. Yeah, no, we literally went to Hooters for like my brother's birthday. I think we were like going down to like Cincinnati or maybe we were in Columbus for something, but like, yeah, it was literally my brother's birthday, and he was like an infant, essentially. And I my dad kept making jokes, and I was like, oh my god, this is so embarrassing. But I do remember that my brother they did come out and sing my brother happy birthday, I think. And my brother was What do they do? Shake their boobies? They jump up. They like clap and jump, like I don't know, like cheerleaders, I guess. Yeah. And yeah, that was. I went to Hooters on several occasions growing up as a kid. That time, and then there was another time where my sister went to like she was, we were going down to Cincinnati for her to be in a cheer competition for like high school cheer. And on the way home, all of the girls, like all of the cheerleaders, said that they wanted to eat at Hooters. And I remember it was drama because the school bus was like, I'm not parking in that parking lot. Granted, that's that's fair. Yeah, that's fair. But like all of the parents are like, why? That's so funny. It's all just it's just a bunch of girls. Exactly. And then there's like little Lesby and me sitting at the table being like, This is great. I love it here. I really had no idea at that at that time. I did always think girls were pretty, but I it was not obviously something that I was like thinking of. And then there was another time. Like I said, there was there were various occasions where I found myself at a Hooters with my family.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

That is so funny.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Like one time it was like my extended family, like my aunts and uncles and my grandma.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

That is so funny.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

I've never been. We love women, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Never been.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

The food's really not that good. I've heard they have good wings. I don't think so. Okay. From what I remember, the food is You just go for the waitresses. I mean, I never I never picked it. Like I it was never like somewhere that I wanted to go. Yeah. I would much rather go to Red Robin where they have endless fries. Like that that would have been my choice. Yeah. But no, there were just several occasions where I found myself at a fucking Hooter's with my family. That's funny. But, anyways. What were we even talking about? How did we get there? Because my dad embarrassed me in front of Pocahontas. You like Pocahontas. I do. I do like Pocahontas. Yeah. I also am a fan of dark features, but I like they're uh they're great to look at. Like, I think dark featured women are beautiful. I tend to go for more the blondes, the lighter features, the German ladies. Yeah. Anyways. Okay, so the next one would be The Little Mermaid. In Hans Christian Andersen's original story, Ariel does not win the heart of Prince Eric and get her voice back to live the rest of her life happily ever after. In the original ver version, Ariel experiences tragedy throughout the story. When the sea witch gives Ariel legs, she is she not only takes her voice, but she also makes it to where Ariel is in excruciating pain with every step she takes. Like, I think they described it as like when she walks, it felt like she was being like stabbed with knives. Oof. She also does not win the heart of Prince Eric and must watch him marry someone else. The sea witch tells Ariel that she can save herself and relieve herself of the pain and getting her voice back by killing Prince Eric. Ariel cannot face the idea of killing the one she loves despite him not loving her back and decides to sacrifice herself by jumping into the ocean and dissolving into sea foam. Damn! So literally just like a heartbreaking story.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Right? I'm sorry. If I were Ariel. Okay, honestly, though, picture this rom com. Turn that story into a rom-com. I would love it.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Even though it has a bad ending? Yeah. You watch movies with bad endings?

SPEAKER_00 40:00

Yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Oh my gosh. Speaking of bad endings, man, I can go off on tangents all.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

But like make it funny, make it a comedy.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

Like a dark comedy. Ooh, yeah. Alright, so for the last one, we are going to be talking about Rapunzel. Now, I love the movie Tangled, still not super familiar with like the story of Rapunzel, other than she had long hair.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

They're making a live action tangle. I saw that. And that one girl is her. What's her name? Mother Gothel. What is her name? Katherine. Katherine Hahn. Catherine Hahn is Mother O'Hare. Mother Gothel.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Mother O'Hare.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

I was thinking of Catherine O'Hara.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Rest in peace. I know. That's so sad. Why would you bring that up?

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Because I made the mistake and I had to explain why I made the mistake.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Okay, so Disney's Tangled is another modern-day tale that shows Rapunzel is a heroine when she breaks out of her tower to explore the outside world. However, the original story, like most others, has a darker, more twisted version. The original version, Rapunzel is locked in the tower by an evil witch. When the witch discovers a prince has been visiting her nightly, consentfully, the evil witch chops her long, beautiful hair off and casts her out into the tower, casts her out of the tower into the wilderness to fend for herself. At night, when the prince comes back, she tricks him into climbing up the cut-off hair into the tower, only to push him off the tall tower. I'm repetitive. I'm so sorry. He falls into a thorny bush that pierces his eyes and leaves him blind. Holy shit. Literally dove headfirst into a thorny bush. Somehow survived. Unlike the other Twisted Tales, this story does have a decent ending. After the prince's dreadful fall, he wanders into the wilderness where he is reunited with Rapunzel by following the sound of her singing. This is where he learns that she has given birth to twins.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Interesting. Right? Also, what is up with these tales and twins? Right? Maybe twins are a bad omen.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

No, I don't think that. Well, because in both cases where the twin there have been twins, they do get a happily ever after. True. Maybe twins are a good omen. Okay, but I they're making it sound like twins is a more occurring thing than it actually is, because I want twins.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Yeah. I love twins. Twins in folklore and mythology often symbolize dualism representing opposing forces like good and evil, sky and earth, or creation and destruction. Okay, that makes sense. It's like the good and the bad. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Oh, I want to know where the storyline comes in that her hair was magical. Like is that just a Disney thing? Probably just Disney. So then why was her hair so long in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 43:24

So he could climb up the tower. Because she's still stuck in a tower.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Okay, but then why does the witch have her in the tower?

SPEAKER_00 43:32

I don't know. Maybe there's like a beginning part to the story that we're missing. Very interesting. Yeah. I found one. It's not a Disney princess, but it is Pinocchio.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Oh okay. I almost I almost put that in here, but I was keeping on the theme of princesses, but we can definitely talk about it. You you go for it, girl.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

Okay. For children today, Pinocchio is nothing more than a sweet young puppet. The 1940 Disney movie follows his adventures with. With his friend and advisor Jiminy Cricket and the silly hijinks he gets into in his quest to become a real boy. But the Italian author who first created the character, Carlo Colodi, wrote the story as a cautionary tale of the severe consequences of misbehavior. It was published in serial form in the early 1880s before the full book was released in 1883. Colodi's Pinocchio was cruel and mischievous. In the opening pages, the puppet runs away and is caught by the police who imprison Geppetto for suspected child abuse. The character of Jiminy Cricket, referred to only as the talking cricket in the book, is killed early on when Pinocchio throws a hammer at him. What the fuck? His ghost accompanies the puppet through the rest of the story. In one particular grizzly scene, Pinocchio's enemies are the fox and the cat, and they hang him from a tree and leave him to die. If he's just a puppet, though, how is he gonna die? Good question. Cologne reportedly intended for this scene to be the end of Pinocchio's story, but after the public outclock outcry, he relented and continued his tale, which was eventually adapted into the Disney film. Like the movie, Calodi's book ends with the puppet transforming into a human child and living happily ever after. So he pretty much made it a happy ending because everybody was pissed.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Oh hey, some stories don't have a good ending. Yeah. Yeah. And that's just the way it beats. That's just the way it beats sometimes. But okay, my question though is like, okay, did Walt Disney write these stories? No. Okay. What did Walt Disney do? Did he create Mickey Mouse? Yes. Okay. I'm confused.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse and then he created his adaptations of these. So he wrote the adaptations. I I'm not sure if Walt Disney did it, but like Disney itself as a whole did it. Redid their own adaptations.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

Okay. Walt Disney kind of freaks me out. I don't think he was a good guy. He was not.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Don't quote me though.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

There's you know, there's that whole conspiracy theory on why frozen was created. Oh yeah. Which is so funny to me. Yeah. Walt Disney Frozen under Disney. Because he wants to come back to life one day. And I don't think he should.

SPEAKER_00 46:42

I mean, he would definitely be old to the time, late to the times.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

I know he would literally hate everything about this world.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Right? He'd be like, where's my slave?

SPEAKER_01 46:55

I'm pretty sure that he was okay now. Okay, actually, get my phone. I need to wait, no, it's right here. I need to Google this before we say anything.

unknown 47:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

But yeah, I I just have a feeling that he probably wasn't a good person, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Okay, okay, okay. So I I Googled, was Walt Disney a Nazi? Because I had heard that he was like, you know, pretty not not good. But it says no, Walt Disney was not a Nazi while he has faced accusations of being anti-Semitic or racist. These claims are heavily contradicted by those who knew him. During World War II, he and his company actively produced anti-Nazi propaganda for the US government. But okay, was Walt Disney a good person? Okay, Walt Disney was a complex figure, largely considered a visionary genius and a devoted family man, but also a demanding, sometimes ruthless and flawed individual. While he created beloved entertainment and showed kindness, he faced allegations of being a tough boss, anti-union, and occasionally culturally insensitive, reflecting the area of which in which he lived.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Yeah, and what I'm reading right now says Walt Disney has faced criticism for harboring a ferocious temper and being cruel or controlling towards employees.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Yikes Aronian cheese. Oh, reports indicate he held biased views against women in creative roles, particularly early in his career. He would really hate the feminism movement.

SPEAKER_00 48:33

I just want to rip that mustache off his face. This says, in fact, Disney struggled with drawing and was even fired from being a cartoonist.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

Hey, you know what? When I went to Disney World, I took a cartoon drawing class.

SPEAKER_00 48:49

But you went to where? To Disney World.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

Oh, yeah, one of those drawing seminar things.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

And literally, we had to draw Mickey Mouse, and I that was the ugliest shit I've ever seen. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

I really want to do one of those. Well, we're going to Disney. I think it would be fun.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

I don't remember where that was though, because I think it was at MGM Studios, but I don't know what MGM is called now. Because I don't think it's called MGM anymore. Yeah. Oh, now it's called Disney's Hollywood Studios. Okay, yeah. No, I've heard of that. Okay. Yeah. Renamed in 2008. It shifted from a working production studio to an immersive park featuring major attractions like the Star Wars. Oh, this is where Star Wars is. The Toy Storyland and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Oh my god! Oh my god. Okay. Oh, the Tower of Terror. Okay, okay, listen, listen. I gotta tell you guys a story. I'm going to tell you before we end this episode. I'm gonna tell you my two stories from my trip to Disney World that are that will be forever ingrained in my brain. One of them, actually, okay, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna I'm not gonna tell you the one because it has to do with an episode that I'm gonna do with my dad. So never mind. I'm not gonna tell that one. Okay. But the other one that has to do with the Tower of Terror. So I was like nine years old and my brother was like five or six when we went to Disney World. And okay, he would have been to 2004.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

He would have been like eight or nine. Nine or ten. No, that's us, babe. I'm I'm going the wrong way.

SPEAKER_01 50:24

He was born in '98. So he would have been. Okay, well, whatever. So he was, yeah, like six or seven, whatever. Six or seven. And when we went to MGM, and like literally the first thing that you see when you go into the park is the Tower of Terror. It's so tall. Actually, it probably isn't as tall as what I remember it to be when I was little, but anyways, and you hear people screaming on this ride. And I asked my mom, like, what is that? And she said, Oh, it's a ride. It takes you up, like it takes you up and then it drops you. And so I'm hearing these people screaming. I was like, Well, I'm not riding that. And she was like, Yeah, you don't have to ride that. I was like, okay. So then it fast forward like midway through the day, and we're like going towards the Tower of Terror. And I kept telling my mom, I really don't want to ride this ride, mom. And she's like, We're not gonna ride it, honey. You're fine. I'm like, okay. I was like, well, then what are we waiting in line for? She said, We're waiting in line to go into the gift shop. I said, Okay. And so we're waiting in line, waiting in line, waiting in line, and it's taking four fucking ever, right? So then we finally get to the point where we're like actually inside the building, and it looks like a hotel. It's so cool. It looks like a hotel, and you're like in the lobby, and like you go to the lobby, and I was like, Mom, are you sure? Like, it looks like everybody else is in line for the ride. And she goes, No, it's fine. We're in line for the gift shop. You literally have to go into the line, and then they split you and they tell they say you go this way for the ride and this way for that is not how they do it. I know. So I'm like, okay, okay, okay. And mind you, I'm like nine or ten. And so I'm like, you know, trying to trust my mother. And so we're like getting in line, and then all of a sudden, we're like being brought into this, like we're going onto an elevator, and the elevator has seats. And I was like, mom, I do not want to ride this right. And she goes, honey, you're fine. They're taking us down to the gift shop. I said, Are you sure? She said, Yes. I'm like, okay. So we sit down, we get buckled in, and I'm like, this is a lot of work just to go down to the gift shop. And so we get into it, and then all of a sudden I feel the elevator and we're going up, up, up, up, up. And I said, Mom, and she goes, honey, you're gonna be fine. And I was like, Oh my god, I got gas lit by my mother. And so I'm literally, so we go, like, we're in we're in the elevator, and then the doors open, and it's like a dark like hallway, and like it starts moving you through the hallway, and then there's like these like projection ghosts that are coming out, and I am to weaken, okay? I'm freaking the fuck out. I was so mad at my mom, and so we like get to the point, like we get to like a wall, basically, like it's all dark, like you can't see anything, and we're sitting there, and then all of a sudden the door, like the windows, flap open, and you can see the whole park. And I literally, I think I started screaming before we even dropped. I was so fucking scared, and then we drop, and then you go up, and then you drop again, and you go up and you drop again. And literally, like, I I wonder if my parents did get the picture because me and my brother are like, you thought that we were dying. And my mom and my dad and my sister are all fucking laughing. Oh my god. And I we get off the ride. I was so mad at my mom. I said, You said we were going to the gift shop. There was no gift shop, there wasn't even a gift shop at the end. It was just the fucking ride.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

That is so funny.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

And I got gaslipped by my own fucking mother.

SPEAKER_00 54:07

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Hey, it makes a good story. So, I mean, it's fine. I survived, I didn't die. Yeah, it probably wasn't as scary as what I I remember it to be, but you know, it wasn't my favorite thing that I've ever done. Would not go again. So that says something about my parents. Yeah, we love them, we love them. I do, I do love my parents. You know, our trip to Disney was a very interesting time.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

A very interesting time because like one thing about us is we didn't travel, we didn't go on vacations, we were just like a bunch of hillbillies in the fucking Disney World, which uh in some aspects we did fit in, but but anyways, so that is that is my funny story, and you'll might you might hear more when I interview my dad for Father's Day.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

You will hear more.

SPEAKER_01 55:02

Yes, and it's it's kind of funny, but anyways, I hope that you guys enjoyed this. I definitely did. I love doing the research on this, it was very interesting. As always, Kristen, do you have any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 55:16

No, don't trust men. Don't trust men, and don't trust your mother in Disney World. Yeah, well, oh, I thought you're don't trust your stepmothers. Yeah, and don't trust men.

unknown 55:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

But thank you guys so much for listening. As always, please subscribe to wherever you listen. Leave me a review, leave me a rating. It really helps my ego. Well, yes, my ego. But also it helps with the interaction, helps get my my podcast out there. Um, I definitely want to like try to like do something where like I I don't know, like get my get my podcast out there more. So, so share, share my post, like my post, follow me on Instagram, follow me on Facebook, follow me on TikTok. And yeah, we'll be back next week, maybe. I don't know what next week's topic is going to be about. I haven't done the research on it. So to be determined. That's okay. But, anyways, okay. Well, I hope that you guys have a great day. And I love you. Okay, bye. Bye.