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Essays on orginal fairy tales
Fairytales and their impact on human development
Essays on orginal fairy tales
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While there has been much academic disagreement over the years regarding fairy tales, most scholars and critics agree that fairy tales emanated from oral traditions. However, there remains no consensus around their origins, or how they evolved and spread. In fact, a pair of researchers has conducted a phylogenetic analysis on common fairy tales and has found that many of them appear to be much older than has been thought; some perhaps thousands of years older than believed. Their research was based auto-logistic modelling to analyze the relationships between folktales, population histories and geographical distances using signatures found in cultural traditions. However, their investigations have been complicated by a lack of historical data.
It is thought that the folklore stories have lives of their own, perhaps told or read to make meaning of common people’s commonplace lives, which may also explain their irresistible appeal. It is also thought that the oral folklore shared among common people evolved, was adapted over time and through innovation found its way into print. Authors like Charles Perrault published several tales from oral tradition. Although Perrault did not create the folk tales, but he did give them literary legitimacy, as his fairy tale legacy demonstrates. He was very successful and his adaptations of oral tales to print were immediately popular. His tale of “Bluebeard” began as adult entertainment. As author Willa Cather, famous for her frontier stories, opines: “There are only two or three human stories and they go on repeating themselves fiercely as if they had never happened before. Although each of us might have different candidates for those two to three tales, many of us would come up with the usual suspects.” In other words, folk tales were often adapted to fit the teller’s experiences, adding details and changing others. For example, yes, “Bluebeard” was a story told as a barbaric husband, a curious wife, a forbidden chamber, a blood-stained key, and corpses in the closet. A story told many times in many ways that “produces the suspense of all stories in which an enigma about a killer must be solved by one of his potential victims.” We can find these spine-tingling themes throughout West Europe folklore, turned fairy tale literature.
In his evaluation of Little Red Riding Hood, Bill Delaney states, “In analyzing a story . . . it is often the most incongruous element that can be the most revealing.” To Delaney, the most revealing element in Little Red Riding Hood is the protagonist’s scarlet cloak. Delaney wonders how a peasant girl could own such a luxurious item. First, he speculates that a “Lady Bountiful” gave her the cloak, which had belonged to her daughter. Later, however, Delaney suggests that the cloak is merely symbolic, perhaps representing a fantasy world in which she lives.
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
Shrek, an enormous, disgusting green ogre falling in love with a beautiful princess (later turning into a nasty ogre) is a perfect example of a stereotypical fairytale, right? Well in the movie Shrek, the voice over in the trailer talks about a “hero” attempting to rescue a “fair princess” with the help of “his trusty companion." Besides the fact that the hero is a voluptuous green ogre and the companion is a donkey, everything fits in normally to the definition of a traditional fairytale (Diaz). Also according to Mary Kunimitsu, in fantasy films “There may be characters with magical or supernatural abilities such as witches, wizards, superheroes, mythical creatures, talking animals, and ghosts” (Kunimitsu). In Shrek, there are many of these different characters. Therefore, by explanation, a traditional fairytale with the beautiful princess getting saved by the prince and falling in love is exactly what happens in the movie Shrek, just with a twist. The voice over in the trailer for Shrek states it perfectly as he says “Shrek is a highly irreverent take on the classic fairytale” (Adamson). As an untraditional fairytale, and a parody, the movie Shrek poses the breaking of stereotypes of gender and film fairytales all the while keeping the criteria of a fairytale.
The Authors of the Literary Fairy Tale When asked to name authors of fairy tales, most people now (if they
Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton: Princeton Univ Pr, 1987. Print.
In “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality,” Catherine Orenstein discusses what television has turned the modern fairy tale into, reality television, and how ordinary viewers can play a part into this new romance. However, she continues to relate modern situations to the stereotypical fairy tale, and how they are both based historically accurate situations, but twisted into something more beautiful. She uses the example of Sleeping Beauty; in the original story she is not awakened by a kiss. She is impregnated by a prince and left in the woods, and then later the prince's’ mother tries to eat her. Orenstein goes on to explain how much our expectation of love and marriage has changed in three centuries -- because historically marriage was a financial
...use every tale presents a theory. In the end everything boils down to the fact that, fairy tales were written to be enjoyed.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Today, I am going to present you a paper that discusses the concept of emotional literacy and how fairy tales encourage it. A definition of emotional literacy is given at the beginning of the paper and is followed by the role of fairy tales. The bibliography that is used is secondary with an emphasis on the analysis of Bruno Bettelheim's book: 'The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales' .2. Main Part First of all, when we speak about emotional literacy, we don't refer to emotional intelligence. The term emotional intelligence is said to focus on the individual and was first appeared in a 1964 paper by Michael Beldoch and was popularized by Daniel Goleman and his book 'Emotional Intelligence:
Fairy Tale Text & Motif. Prod. Distribution Access. Distribution Access, 2001.Discovery Education. Web. 1 December 2001. .
Over the years, there were created a variety of versions of the well-known Snow White. In every edition and adaptation though, there were slight or evened major changes in the character of the Snow white from Grimms’ original story (1812). This essay centres on the significant changes that the character of Snow White undergoes, by contrasting the two editions of Grimm brothers' fairy tales Little Snow-White (1812,1819) to two films adaptations; 1937 Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 2012 Blancanieves. Subsequently, based on those changes and drawing data of controversial views, the essay will discuss the significance of these changes for gender politics. All things considered, the essay will show the differences of Snow White’s character throughout these different renditions and try to unfold the connotations of these changes in relation with the roles and positions of women and men.
I chose to research the genre of fairytales because the genre retold by Grimm’s caught my attention. Fairytales in modern day usually have a happy ending after the good versus evil concept. Rapunzel specifically, isn’t told in its original form.Theres much more darkness and even though happily ever after is in play, not all fairytales end that way. Fairytales have much more depth than people realize in modern day. It portrays the real struggles we face growing up. In Rapunzel, her mother gave her away and she was raised by an enchantress who locked her away. This very much explains child abandonment or a child that has been given up for adoption and the things they face growing up.Theres a connection between these fairytales and real life situations .Fairytales have a way of expressing real life situations in a way that uses a few elements that help tell the story in a way children can understand. Some of the elements include: magic, morals, royalty and love.
Stereotypes are out there, even if you don't realize that they are. Like at work, school, and even public. I will be discussing how these stereotypes can affect students.
Normally, when one was a child, our parents would tell us fairy tales as bed time stories, or to simply entertain us. This is a worldwide tradition in which every parent tells their child the stories they were told when they were little, or new stories. There are infinite stories to be told as well as infinite stories that have already been written or told. The stories told by our parents have influenced us and still influence us in our beliefs and values today. Throughout our childhood, we have been told many stories that teach us to be brave and courageous, respect others, love ourselves and others, to obey orders, and even to help and
Fairytale is one of the intricate genres in literary history. It is impossible to say exactly when the first fairytale was created. They have been in practice since the beginning of time. The famous scholar Jack Zipes agreed that evolution of fairytales could not be determined. In his book The Irresistible Fairytales, he says: “It is impossible to trace the historical origins and evolution of fairytales to a particular time and place; we do know that humans began telling tales as soon as they developed the capacity of speech. They may have even used sign language before speech originated to communicate vital information for adapting to their environment”
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.