I don't know where you're coming from, but having read some things on my own (e.g. some myths, apocalyptic literature, books on medieval necromancy) I just don'

I don't know where you're coming from, but having read some things on my own (e.g. some myths, apocalyptic literature, books on medieval necromancy) I just don't see what is there to be "darker" in Grimm's Tales. The representation of violence in them seems to be like the same as it ever was before and if they don't all happen to be senselessly violent, it's because in there you'll find everything between Aesop, medieval romance and some absolutely mad tales. What would, in my opinion, be an effect of 19th century sensibilities, of Romantic, Gothic and Wagnerian sensibilities, would be the attribution of any sort of gravitas to the original material. I think the violence is not even supposed to shock, scare or be believable. It is supposed to be ridiculous: the tone of story will shift in a single page into some ridiculous over-the-top violence and then go back to normal as if nothing happened. The attitude towards violence is pretty much the same as in that of Monty Python and The Holy Grail. About children not caring about fairy tales: I don't think it's that unusual, though I don't think it has got anything to do with either children or fairy tales. A minority of people hugely enjoy something and it's because of them that the everyone else enjoys it, because they manage to make it sound fun by constantly playing with it. People don't just happen to aggregate, collate and modify folklore to the benefit of folklorists. They do it because they happen to be the main audience for folk tales. Because they are constantly alternating between telling and hearing them, even in their old age, they get good at it.