A Dog of Flanders
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070968/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4346362/
> NBC executives had originally ordered that Heidi begin at 7:00 p.m. EST, but then decided to allow the game to air to its conclusion. However, communicating this revised plan to the technicians running NBC's master control proved impossible – as 7 p.m. approached, NBC's switchboards were jammed by viewers phoning to inquire about the night's schedule, preventing the planned change from being communicated.
Same for Niels Holgerson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atq032t1wAQ
In contrast to the Dog of Flanders, who is much less widely known in Flanders.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermansLoveDavid...
Another example is 'dinner for one', an ancient British theater play/sketch that is on Germany a new years tradition.
For instance Uriah Heep, while moderately successful in the UK, they were and still huge in Balkans, Germany, Japan, elsewhere.
In December 1987 they became the first ever Western rock band to play in the Soviet Union.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_boj,_u_boj
It is sung in Croatian!
I was a huge Blake's 7 fan as a kid. I watched it again lately, and a Bulgarian friend said as children she and her friends played Blakes 7 in the street in Bulgaria!
Also, Edgar Allan Poe was huge (first) in France.
From a Soviet perspective, London's admiration for socialist principles made him an ideologically fine choice. And his subject material made Russian struggles with winter, prospecting culture, etc. seem universal.
London has been read to some degree in the U.S. ever since his death in 1916, but his awkward (or perhaps horrifying) racial attitudes, plus his gruff, beat-the-drum writing style have diminished his appeal in his native country as tastes change.
Whereas in England she's a bit of an embarrassment to be forgotten.
I would say it may not be a complex story but the feeling just conveyed really well.
2. Cute dog
3. Sad ending
Sounds like a winning Disney film. Curious why we have not seen this yet. Technically they own this fox work now right? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052745/
You know if Disney did this the kid and his dog would be adopted by loving parents in the end.
Old Yeller.
you're also less than an hour from Bruges and Brussels as 2 of many other places to visit in the area.
A well done sad moment probably has a lot more emotional impact than a saccharine ending. I certainly remember Bambi's mother death scene or Alfred's parents death, while the happy endings are lost to the fog of childhood memories.
Of all the things I remember from childhood the weird or scary stuff sticks in my mind like a knife. I believe thats is critical to inspiring creative people later in life with vivid memories of the scary or strange. A lot of those weird and scary memories have shaped the way I think and look at life. The sanitizing of stories leaves little to remember and likely to be forgotten after the next sugary schlockfest has been consumed.
I grew up in Russia, so I have a very different baseline for what is a "standard" fairy tale. The tales I grew up with tended to have a solid moral lesson - for instance, I remember "7-year-old Daughter," a tale with two brothers, one rich and stupid and the other poor but with a smart daughter. The poor brother's horse gave birth to a foal, but the foal crawled into the rich brother's wagon, and so the brothers began arguing about who owns the newly born animal. To settle the argument, they go to a tsar, who gives them some lofty riddles to solve to determine ownership. The rich brother thinks the riddles are easy and doesn't think too deeply about them. The poor brother, distraught, seeks his daughter's help. I remember one riddle involved bringing to the tsar the "softest item ever," and the daughter recommended to tell the tsar that this item was a fist - since when one lays to sleep, no matter the pillow, does one not always place their fist to support their head?
In the end, the clever triumph over the stupid rich, the poor brother gets his foal, and the daughter eventually marries the tsar (who's impressed with her cleverness).
Or another tale spoke of a fisherman who discovered a magic genie fish in his net, who granted him endless wishes if he only asked - but with each wish, his wife became more greedy, until she wished to be a fish goddess herself. So the fish left the family with naught but the poverty they started with.
Now imagine my bewilderment when I watched The Little Mermaid and then followed it up with reading the book. What is the advice of the first? Abandon your family for a "true love" you only met once? And the book - it seems to say that doing so will only end in your misfortune and death? The first is foolishly romantic, but the second hopelessly tragic. I would love to hear the perspective of a scholar in Western fairy tales - specifically, what such tales can tell us about the moral fiber of England, France, Belgium, US, etc.
The story is about a young person faced with adversity, it's age appropriate and prepares a child reader for what lies ahead.
Edit found the title song. “Niklaas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjarYm1lVRE
The cartoon would still not be as sad as Plague Dogs though.