agreed speveO.
the first thing thing that should have given anyone pause before watching this video----tucker carlson.
while i found mr harris argument as a whole vapid and totally lacking imagination,he did bring up an interesting point that maybe guitarwolf was trying to point out to us all.and that is many "liberals" don't understand religious fundamentalism.that there is a percentage of the human population that
believes the "bible" "torah" or the "quran" are the literal words of the creator,
and that the dogma of the semetic triad is absolute in it's perfection and righteousness.
this kind of zealotry may explain the execution of a cartoonist,or an abortion clinic doctor,these incidents,while getting huge amounts of attention,are fairly small in scope relative to the bigger picture.
religious fundamentalism may be the rationalization of suicide bombers and other geurrilla war tactics,but it is the seeking of social justice for those who have been given no other option.for those who have been oppressed,brutalized,tortured while the world largely looks the other way.
religion is not the REASON,its the rationalization.
fundamentalism at its core is a stagnation of the mind,stifles growth as a society and leaves people open to manipulation and exploitation.
and as long as the world looks the other way and dismisses the impoverished,these people will always be vulnerable to indoctrination of many forms,religious fundamentalism being only one facet.
take away the voice of those who are being exploited,oppressed and abused.
they WILL find a way to fight back,and be heard.
religion is only one small part of the dynamic,take it out of the equation and there STILL will be violent reactions from those who have had hope stripped from their lives.
mr harris quantifying his argument on "liberals" misunderstanding of "fundamentalism" by premising his entire argument on religion is laughable.
because his argument is one big straw man,and totally ignores the very REAL threats of the world today.
mr harris should hang his head in shame for such a pathetic argument.
that being said,and those being my feelings.
mr harris is selling his book,and he really just echoing a premise that has been used by many,for many years.
this fact is something i find saddening,because it just re-iterates a faulty premise to excuse those who have allowed the silencing of so many and are the ones truly responsible.
truly heartbreaking,and mr harris is guilty of keeping the "status-quo" narrative going.
and so the cycle continues........................................
till next time...peace

The reason I posted the original story above was to show that the Disney short was a near exact translation of the original literature, so as such, Disney couldn't have done much in the way of "sanitizing" the story. The original theme of Anderson's work was to portray the terrible living conditions of children in Eastern Europe at the time, and that theme carried over to the animation quite well. Yes, the girl is bright and optimistic in the beginning, but it's her innocence and hopefulness that make her eventual fate all the more heartbreaking. Would the animation have been quite as touching if she had been a dirty urchin?

And if you study Anderson's original work, you'll see that he makes several allusions to her being "beautiful." In fact, in the text she's described as being fair-haired, something which was changed in the animation, and could arguably have LESSENED the beauty of the character portrayed.

As to comparing to Takahata's works, do note that Studio Toei did make their own interpretation of this work, which can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSvGKPMXRa0
(Do note that at the time it was made, Takahata WAS working at Toei, so it's quite likely he was involved with the project as well.) It is notable that while Toei's interpretation is more accurate with relation the girl's look and the location of the story (Holland), the story itself has been altered quite a bit more than Disney's version, and in fact has less of an emotional impact. One could argue that the dubbing contributed to that, but the overall meaning of the scenes is not lost, and in this case they prove to make the Toei version inferior. (Or as inferior as one could call it. It's still a decent animation.) While in the Disney version the girl was friendless and alone, with everyone indifferent to her predicament, in the Toei version people either treat her like dirt, or feel a great sense of remorse over her death. These extremes are too exaggerated, whereas the Disney version feels a lot more like something that would happen in real life.

And on a side note, enough comparing Disney's works to anime, people. While Disney is indeed guilty of producing quite a bit in the way of lousy works, a lot of it was the result of the leadership during the Michael Eisner era. The Walt Disney era was full of great works (which despite their changes with relation to the original stories were quite beautiful), and the Rob Iger era seems like it's on route to turning the company around. It's also important to remember that Disney animations and most anime target different audiences. Disney targets a younger crowd (in general), while anime targets an older crowd (mostly adults). Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies," for example, is most definitely not for children. They would find it boring, and perhaps a bit too sad in the end.

Disney's version of The Little Match Girl does walk a fine line here, as it has a more adult theme, and perhaps would be too sad for the children who did catch that ending. However, I think this one was made just as much for adults, as it was meant for the next iteration of Fantasia, and Fantasia is meant to be for both children and adults.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'dread zeppelin, heartbreaker, elvis' to 'dread zeppelin, heartbreaker, tortelvis' - edited by jonny

Another of their videos here on the sift

http://www.videosift.com/video/Dread-Zeppelin-Heartbreaker

Glad you enjoyed it. It really is a great movie. So NY Italiano! I only discovered it about 5 years ago and wondered why I hadn't seen it sooner.

In reply to this comment by thepinky:
Thanks for the Moonstruck video. I love those scenes. My favorite part is from 3:20 to 3:40 when Nicolas Cage yells, "I don't care! I ain't no freakin' monument to justice! I LOST MY HAND! I LOST MY BRIDE! Jonny has his hand! Jonny has his bride! Do you want me to take my heartbreak, put it away and forget?!"

When I first saw this movie I was laughing so hard I nearly peed.

Anyway, love the video.

Thanks for the Moonstruck video. I love those scenes. My favorite part is from 3:20 to 3:40 when Nicolas Cage yells, "I don't care! I ain't no freakin' monument to justice! I LOST MY HAND! I LOST MY BRIDE! Jonny has his hand! Jonny has his bride! Do you want me to take my heartbreak, put it away and forget?!"

When I first saw this movie I was laughing so hard I nearly peed.

Anyway, love the video.

I love these scenes. My favorite part is from 3:20 to 3:40 when Nicolas Cage yells, "I don't care! I ain't no freakin' monument to justice! I LOST MY HAND! I LOST MY BRIDE! Jonny has his hand! Jonny has his bride! Do you want me to take my heartbreak, put it away and forget?!"

When I first saw this movie I was laughing so hard I nearly peed.

>> ^thinkmorepink:
>> ^smooman:
I really hate this shit, cuz it makes me (a devout man of faith) look like an idiot. And I'm pretty sure......lemme check.......ya I'm sure I'm not an idiot.
she "got the atheism"?! My goodness nooooooooo!!!!!
She makes it sound like her friend has the friggin plague.
Unfortunately this is the Christianity you all bare witness to here in America. I (and many others I'm sure) are trying to change that image =)


I'm thinkmorepink, the creator of the video, It's on Youtube as well (same username).
I can assure you it's satire I put it on godtube for the 'lulz'
Take care,
Shan


well then i guess im slightly less annoyed. There are people ("Christian" people no less) that think this way and its heartbreaking

They should just leave the books in it and give this guy the keys to the back door. I haven't been to the library in ages but I still find this heartbreaking.

Awww, heartbreaking.

They don't translate part of what the Ossetian mother said in Russian in the beginning- she said she held him and his blood was all over her, is that right for a mother to experience. It's really heartbreaking.

Wow... thats both very uplifting and absolutly heartbreaking at the same time...

That is absolutely heartbreaking...

I think it's so easy to forget the enormous cost some families have really paid for whatever it is we are trying to achieve in Iraq...

Really just an awful shame... and to then treat her like that... a true injustice.

Wow, in the space of just 10 comments I'm called:

the shit
he/she
sifter of the year
awesome
heartbreaker
shit
stealthy

That's a 72% favorable, 28% unfavorable rating. You could run for President with numbers like that, though I expect blankfist would run baseless smear ads to drive those unfavorables up.

Thanks guys.

Heartbreakingly *happy