(Un) Happily ever after: Disney heroines meet their demise in photographer's twisted take on fairytale endings




Disney princesses don't always live happily ever after.



At least, not in Thomas Czarnecki's twisted world.



The French photographer's series, 'From Enchantment to Down', includes alternate endings for The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and other saccharine heroines. But in his re-imagining, the women meet their demise.

A twisted ending: 'The Little Mermaid - On the other Shore', from Thomas Czarnecki's photo series, 'From Enchantment to Down'

It's past midnight: Cinderella's glass slipper sits at the top of the stairs in 'Cinderella - Too Fast'

Was it the big bad wolf? Thomas Czarnecki's 'The Little Red Riding Hood - Happy End'

Crime scene: Alice appears tethered to a chair in an abandoned basement next to the white rabbit in 'Alice - Just a Trap'

The Queen got her wish: Yet another heroine was taken by surprise in 'Snow White - My Sweet Prince'

The series of sinister images, which walks viewers into crime scenes, feature most of the princesses splayed face down in abandoned rooms, as if having tripped and fallen, their high heels tumbling off their feet in attempt to flee an attacker.



Jasmine's legs appear from behind a lighted hallway, a blue puff of smoke from a genie lamp suggesting someone else was just here.

A flame-haired Ariel is washed ashore but appears limp and lifeless, her legs bound in seaweed and plastic between a pair of rocks.



Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, as if caught by surprise, have dropped their baskets of fruit in two other scenes, while Alice in Wonderland is slumped over in a chair, feet away from a dead white rabbit, in an abandoned basement.

Caught: A huntsman takes a beauty as his prize in 'Pocahontas - One More Trophy'

The ball is over Belle: Mr Czarnecki's 'The Beauty and the Beast - Not So Romantic'

Did the genie do it? A puff of smoke erupts from a magic lamp feet away from another Disney princess in 'Jasmine - One Last Wish'

Long night: A blonde-haired beauty is without her prince in 'Sleeping Beauty - Naughty Girl'

Mr Czarnecki admits his aim was pure culture shock.

The photographer was inspired to create a clash between what he calls 'the naive universe and the innocence of the fairy tales' and a 'much darker reality that is as much part of our common culture' provided through imagery we see in entertainment and media.

'So many Disney characters embedded in the collective culture as sweet and innocent creatures that I decided to get out of their recognized fairy-tale frame and universe,' he said.



Mr Czarnecki, who is from the north of France, studied advertising at Saint-Luc in Belgium.

