Blog 16: Fairy Tales

The Origin of Fairy Tales

"However, once Upon a Time, fairy tales weren't written for children. In spite of their name, the popular fairy tales usually have very little to do with fairies. We took the name from the French "contes des fee", and the French literary fairy tales of the 17th century do feature far more fairies than the tales which are best-known today. The Grimm brothers collected the folk tales of the German people to make up their volume, but fairy tales are more than just folk tales. The German term for them is "M�rchen", a word for which there is no satisfactory English equivalent - it is the diminutive of M�r, a story or a tale, and has come to mean a story of wonder and enchantment, as the fairy tale is. 

Although large numbers of literary fairy tales were written in 17th century France, most of the tales which are still told and retold now are far older in origin. Many of the stories were edited and changed as they were written down, removing the darker and more gruesome elements of the stories. The intended audience of the stories has also changed. Perrault's collection of tales was written to be presented at the court of Versailles, and each tale ended with a moralistic verse. At the same time, literary fairy tales of great imagination and invention, often quite cruel and gruesome, were being created by the women surrepticiously rebelling against the contraints placed on them by their restrictive society. They were not written for children." 

Found at bobhuang.com

Me: So why is it that fairy tales are now fantasies for children when they were originally a political/social statement for women? I guess it does explain the romance and sophistication of each fairy tale. This is includes Cinderella which has over 340 variations from around the world. I'd say that Cinderella is the most popular fairy tale only because of its magic and happy ending.

"Much has been written on the subject of Cinderella, perhaps because it has become such a big part of American culture. Some have written about it as a reworking of Shakespeare's "King Lear", where a daughter is cast out by her father because she is misunderstood. The small slipper is said to symbolize the beauty of Cinderella, because small feet were said to be a virtue of femininity. Psychoanalysis from the Freudian viewpoint has considered Cinderella's relationship to her father and her stepmother, and her eventual overtaking of power from the stepmother. The feminist viewpoint has been that the story has exemplified ideals for women in America, particularly in the 1950s, when the film versions were released; the idea of being rewarded for being pretty and polite, and marrying not just anyone but a "prince," is looked upon as part of the message taught to women from the 1950s onward. The evolution of traditional fairy tales will continue as a trend."

Found at bobhuang.com

Me: Originally Cinderella was my least favorite fairy tale because of how over popular it is and the cliche story but now that I know the history and actual meaning of the western version which we are most familiar with, I appreciate it more for its political and historical value. And although my opinion has changed it still doesn't change the fact that this story is a bit stretched for everyday women; after all it is a fantasy. To me they were transformed into children stories to give children hope and something to believe in. A child's imagination is one of the beauties in this world and without it we'd all be lost. Children are in their own way magical and its only natural for us to want to give them something magical to believe in such as fairy tales. For the longest time I didn't believe in them because of my slightly cynical view on the world but things change...things always change. Someone special to me made me believe again only because of how absolutely wonderful they are; they changed my entire view of the human race once again. Maybe its not as bad as the news makes it sound or as immature and wild as reality television portrays. I've learned a lot of things and a lot of my opinions have changed now that I'm older and what I feel about fairy tales such as Cinderella has. Now is the time to tie what I love to something I've learned to respect. Onto writing my reenactment of Cinderella!