Literature has always been a part of society. Some is deemed superior to others and have unique, artistic merit. Some is read as adolescents. A large portion of literature for growing children is fairy tales. Modern fairy tales are about Alice falling down a rabbit hole, into Wonderland, or Dorothy traveling to Oz. The old classics are Cinderella and her glass slipper, or the adventures of Peter Pan in Neverland. Fairy tales are extremely popular around the world. Statistics show that over two-hundred million people watch fairy tale based films per year, whether it's at home or in theaters. About twelve million of them purchase the soundtrack. The new Disney princess film, Frozen, made over three-hundred million dollars in the United States box office alone. After including overseas profits, the film made over seven-hundred million dollars, demonstrating that fairy tales are still a big aspect of children's lives.
Fairy tales are one of many ways to teach young children how to behave when they grow up. It teaches them to follow their dreams and express themselves. Fairy tales affect children's developing brains in the strangest ways. They inspire children to be and act like heroes. The options are endless. Children can be anything they want to be. Little girls can be beautiful princesses and little boys can be fearless princes. Imaginations run wild. The entire world is in their hands. But as they run away with their imaginations of magnificent lions and legendary wizards, their innocence diminishes because of the brutality displayed. The reality is that fairy tales aren't as sweet as we think they are. For this reason, parents are doubtful about reading fairy tales to their children. As society shift towards a era of fairy tales...
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...en to understand. Rumpelstilskin allowed his excessive pride to get the best of him, leading to his destruction. Rapunzel was kidnapped because her parents stole an old witches cabbages. Poor Rapunzel, but the story asserts that there are consequences and rewards to all your actions. Little Red Riding Hood teaches kids not to talk to strangers. Society frowns upon arrogance. Pride is good, but excessive pride comes off as arrogance. Rapunzel's entire life change due to the actions of her parents. Society is always saying "think before you act" because Rapunzel's situation is exactly what they're trying to avoid. Little Red Riding Hood is simply giving an example of what can happen when a child talks to strangers. The way the issue was a approached as not the kind that society would approve of, but it give a realist view to children rather than hiding half the truth.
Throughout history it is known that fairy tales were written to teach children lessons about life in a way they could understand and that is fun and unique. Authors of fairy tales put simple lessons into the stories so the children could understand them easily while reading. Whether this be a lesson to be nice to all people, like in Cinderella, or to not judge someone by their appearance, like in Donkey Skin, both by Charles Perrault. Each fairytale has a moral that can be found throughout reading the stories that teach children right from wrong while letting them use their imaginations to discover that moral. The good and the bad lets them express their thoughts openly, rather it be their negative thoughts through the villian or their
Children can identify themselves with fairy-tale characters; they imagine themselves as heroes, who are capable of killing dragons, or simpletons, who demonstrate the superiority over clever people. Fantasies based on the fairy tales are extremely important part of the children’s lives, and this is not only because they describe threatening situations that resemble main fears of a young child such as the fear of getting lost, fear of wrong decisions, fear of monsters or evil animals. Happy endings, which are always present in fairy tales, give children the confidence that despite all their fears they will be able to win in the end. This knowledge helps them to prepare for the difficulties of life, regardless whether they are real or imagined (Doughty, 2006).
We all grew up hoping that we were the princesses who met the dreamy prince and lived ‘happily ever after’ like in a fairytale.People debate over whether or not Disney fairytales are beneficial for children. Like Melissa Taylor the author of the piece ‘10 reasons why kids need to read non disney fairy tales’, I am against disneyfied fairy tales. In this essay I will argue on why kids should not only watch disney fairytales but also the real versions.
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
It’s no brain teaser that classic fairy tales are dark, grim and violent. They are filled with situations that leave your mind blown or saying to yourself “That’s insane!” Children have a hard time distinguishing the line between the real world and make believe. In the fairy tale “Ashputtle”, the stepmother orders her daughter to cut of her own toes so the gold slipper would fit and she would become queen. This is where the line can become very fuzzy for some children. A few children might comprehend this as an example of problem solving. “Oh, my shoe does not fit anymore. I’m going to cut off my big toe because I love my limited edition light up shoes and I don’t want new ones.” I can see why Disney did not put that into the movie, I would not want to be the cause of children around...
While it is not the sole reason of writing, discovering a moral within a story helps reflect on modern society, influence its normalities, and question societal values and stereotypes. In Rumpelstiltskin, the explicit and implicit meanings in the story not only reflect on issues in today’s world, but also touch on deeper conflicts within one’s self and between other
Another lesson that can be taken from this movie is love is can fix everything. In the film, Anna meets Kristoff’s family – a bunch of magical trolls that know the trick to cure Anna’s heart. The trolls sing to Anna about Kristoff’s imperfections that can all be fixed by true love. Olaf spurts additional words of wisdom here and there throughout the movie. Among them is the popular ironic quote, “Some people are worth melting for,” in reference to him helping Anna in front of the fireplace. Other lessons that come from this movie include facing your fears and doing what is right for
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
Fairy tales teaching more valuable lessons than just teaching children than just how to behave.
Fairy tales such as the Brothers Grimm version of “Little Red-Cap” provide a great deal of morals and values. The tale begins with a young, pretty girl that goes to take cake and wine to her ailing grandmother. Little Red- Cap was illicitly told by her mother to walk nice and quietly, not to run off the path or she might break the bottle of wine, and not to peep into every corner before saying hello to her Grandmother.
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
The lack of real partnership between the males and females, depriving women of their rights, creating an incorrect image of masculinity and adulthood, and blaming kids for their mistakes are not the values which guarantee a happy and successful life. The Elizabeth Danish, the author of an article “Influence on Fairy Tales on Children” states that kids “should be exposed to lots of different stories and stimuli so fairy tales alone aren't going to have any particularly stronger impact on their development.
I am writing this paper because I was assigned to write it as a class project. Along the way I realized the importance of sharing the real meanings of all these stories. Stories are important because in the society we live in things are constantly changing. Fairytales change but the base of the story always remain the same no matter how many times it has been retold. It’s important to reveal the true meanings of these stories, even with its dark characteristics, because the world is dark .Children need to know that there are people that have told stories relatable to what they are going through. Fairytales help the development of children; it helps their maturity as they confront someone else’s tough situations, instilling hope of a more positive ou...
Hansjorg, Hohr, (2000). Dynamic Aspects of Fairy Tales: social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 44, No 1, Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
A fable is a narrative that teaches a moral through the use of animals as the main character. Fables toy with the idea of human vanity. Fables are very popular in children’s literature as it teaches children lessons while keeping them interested with the animal characters. Fables were westernized through the help of Aesop. It is unknown whether or not Aesop was a real person but is viewed as one of the fathers of fables. Modern editions contain up to 200 fables and are growing.