[ivanhoe]

Those books shouldn't be judged by today's norms. They were not written for the children (nor parents... especially not parents) of today, but for children back then who lived in a completely different world.

For instance, in the version of Cinderella by Charles Perrault - the version that we all know - one of the evil stepsisters was advised by her mother to cut off her toes in order to fit the slipper. She almost fools the prince, but doves warn him about blood dripping from her foot. He then goes back again and tries the slipper on the other sister. She cut off part of her heel in order to get her foot in the slipper, and again the prince is fooled. While riding with her to the king's castle, the doves alert him again about the blood on her foot.

How about that for a good night story?

[foobarian]

Or, original Hansel and Gretel - parents dropped them off in in the woods because there was not enough food for everyone.

Or, "The Little Match Girl." Yikes.

[copperx]

Aren't we and our children exposed to much more violence, blood, and plain evilness in media nowadays?

I don't understand how people in those times would be less sensitive to such themes.

[riazrizvi]

In older societies, people see a lot more violence/blood toward animals. In old-fashioned societies, when you need a chicken, the butcher grabs a live one, wrestles it's wriggling body, wrings its neck, and skins it in front of you. You grab the meat and it's still warm. Butchers killing larger livestock is likely a show you can see near the market, you may even have participated in some such act yourself because of customs. It would be a common thing and it's so visceral. You smell it. You can see the animal's struggle, fear and pain. After you are habituated to that, a story is not so bad.

[barry-cotter]

> In older societies, people see a lot more violence/blood toward animals.

Older societies? Every farming family in Western Europe would have been familiar with how to slaughter and process their own animals until the 60s at the earliest. There are very few people more than three generations removed from agriculture, and most of those would have seen animals slaughtered up until the rise of industrial cold chains in the early 1900s.

[realo]

Hum... Mozart's father (Leopold) took his son and daughter to a public hanging ‘for a jolly treat one free afternoon’.

That would not work, nowadays...

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-marvel-of-mozart-s-l...

[ivanhoe]

We're exposed to a lot of it, but it's Hollywood depiction of violence, which is a very sanitized, stylized version. People back then had more direct contact with nature and death, it was part of their everyday life and all around them. Many kids would die young, so they all have lost some brothers and sisters. They were expected to work on farms and land, take part in all activities. How many kids today have ever helped parents to slaughter and butcher a pig? Can you imagine today's 5-6 years olds holding a bucket to collect the pig's blood. Or 8-9 y/o being sent by mother to go and cut of the head of a chicken with an axe, and then pluck the feathers and clean the chicken by pouring boiling water over it, all alone without any supervision? And everything else was rougher also. If there was a war it was perfectly common for soldiers to rob, rape, kill and burn down villages along the way. People (poor ones at least) accused of thievery would be killed without much trial, and usually in a very bloody manner (hanging, drowning, boiling, quartering, etc.). Their corps would be left in sight in public places for days. It was a very different world than today for a majority of people.

[taneq]

I think this is an example of the "everything getting worse" fallacy. We're far more sheltered and lead far less awful lives these days. There's fictional violence available in movies if we choose to watch it but compared to today, life was far more nasty, brutal and short.

[lainga]

I think the operative term is "evilness" - if you are a moderately wealthy westerner in this century, violence and bloodshed are things you have relegated to seeing in media, and not an unavoidable part of life

[bscphil]

> violence and bloodshed

And ideally, most of that sanitized away by the media which just talks numbers, shows air strikes from 50 km away, and tells you how many "insurgents" were killed today.