No, he's referring to the Grimm stories. They are indeed violent. They simply are a product of their time. The Disney version is easier to digest. All of this should not detract from his main point, tho.

All of this should not detract from the fact that Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, "Spare Tire" Dixon.

They were actually a product of a time earlier than the Grimms. They were acting as proto-anthropologists, collecting oral tales from illiterate peasants because they feared that these were about to be lost with modernization. This is different from later people like Hans Christian Andersen, who really did create new fairy tales.

This is an almost impressive misinterpretation.

What lessig is likely referring to is the violent and grotesque consequences of the original Grimm stories as well as their brazen antisemitism.

https://www.history.com/news/the-dark-side-of-the-grimm-fair...

Everyone was antisemitic back then, even semites –against other semites. Not unlike current events.