If you have never read an older
version of the Cinderella story you might not know that it has very little
resemblance to the Walt Disney retelling of the story. In the version provided for us by the
Brothers Grimm there is no fairy godmother, no helpful mice, or pumpkin
carriage. In this older version
Cinderella’s stepsisters are very beautiful, her father is a jerk toward her
and her help comes from her dead mother and two birds that tend to hover about
Cinderella’s mother’s grave, and the story is violent and bloody.
This old story was a cautionary
fable for children to teach them to be “devout and good”. The Disney version was an entertainment
effort designed to make money for the Disney Corporation. Disney could not have been true to the original
version and get the film to theaters.
Some scenes would not have been palatable for Pollyanna consumers of
children’s entertainment. For example,
when the prince arrives with the golden slipper the eldest stepsister tries the
shoe on in private, but her foot will not fit.
But her
great toe prevented her getting it on.
Her foot was too long.
Then
her mother handed her a knife and said, “Cut off the toe. When you are Queen
you won’t have to walk any more.”
The
girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the slipper, stifled her pain, and
went out to the prince.
It was only on the way to the palace, tipped
off by the birds, that the prince notices the bloody trail following them and
hence he returned the older sister. The
second sister was able to get her toes into the shoe, but her heel was too big
and so at the insistence of her mother she cut off her heel. The results were the same. On the way to the palace the prince, tipped
off by the birds, again noticed the bloody trail. One wonders how bright this prince was. He returns the second daughter and then
Cinderella tries on the shoe and it fits.
But the story is not done. The stepsisters
come to the church for the wedding hoping to curry favor with Cinderella and as
they are going into the church the two birds attack them and each girl has an
eye pecked out. After the ceremony, as
they were coming out of the church, the birds attack again and each girl has
her remaining eye plucked out.
The story doesn’t end with the
happy married couple riding off in a carriage to live happily ever after. The ending is not really about Cinderella at
all. It concludes with; “And so for
their wickedness and falseness they were punished with blindness for the rest of
their days.” This ending seems more Alfred Hitchcock than Walt Disney.
In order to get parents in 1950
to spend money, and take their children to the theater Disney had to soften the
hard, sharp edges of the story. The
optimistic and positive outlook of the 50’s would not be consistent with the
self-mutilation and avian savagery of the older version. To be successful, Disney had to give the
people what they wanted, a story that was as hopeful as the American Dream.
I fear that the church in America
in the last generation has done much the same thing as Disney. We have taken the edge off the message
because, we think, people will not respond well to a message that is
negative. People want to hear ‘good
news’ at church, but we have miss-defined good news. We have defined good news down to personal
peace and affluence. I know a preacher
that was once told by his leadership team to preach, “sermons that make people
feel good”.
I recently listened to the song
“Hold Me” by Jamie Grace. If the word
"Lord" is an interjection, this is simply a love song of a girl for
her boyfriend. If the word
"Lord" is a reference to the King of the universe, this song is the
religious pabulum that makes up 'contemporary Christian' culture. We have had to drop some key themes from the
message of the Gospel in order to make is sellable to the masses.
I believe the Gospel is good
news; it is, in fact, the greatest news.
But the message of the Gospel has no good news until we first explain
the bad news. Until we understand the
bad news we have no way to value the good news.
Without hearing the bad news the message we have is little more than,
“You are a nice person, but you may have a few little issues and your life is
pretty good, but Jesus makes you, and everything else, better.” If that is truly the message of the Bible,
then it is a small wonder that the church in American is in rapid decline.
But if the bad news is: “You are
doomed, dead, lost and hopeless. Your
life on earth is a mere temporary reprieve from a just and fair punishment of
utter isolation in a torment that is beyond imagination and is eternal. At your very best you are vile, dirty,
disgusting and as wholesome as a used tampon (Isaiah 64:6). But the whole account of your evil and
wickedness debt has been transferred to Jesus.
On the Cross He has made possible for His perfection and holiness to be
transferred to you. It is yours completely free.” When we hear the good new in light of the bad
news, we see it really is the best news.
We do not need a Disney version
of Christianity; there is just too much at stake for us to offer anything less than
the good news of the Cross.
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