In this essay, I examine what Zipes means by institutionalised, define what makes a fairy tale and evaluate how different versions of Little Red Riding Hood reflect the social ideology of the period. Zipes is not using ‘institutionalised’ in the traditional, negative sense of being rigid and never evolving. He theorises that fairy tales have become part of the social psyche. They permeate into every aspect of the social unconscious to become meme, examples of which are ‘tunes, ideas and catchphrases’ (Montgomery, 2009, p. 46). Zipes proposes that this meme is similar to a virus mutating and evolving with each generation. Each generation’s variation reflects their ideas and concepts regarding universal aspects of human existence like love, identity, revenge, sexuality and betrayal. The reasons why fairy tales embed into the social psyche is the simplistic and plot driven nature of the story. Even the smallest child instantly understands the characteristics and motifs of the story. It is set with simple characters with one characteristic for example the wicked stepmother is only every wicked. There are no further details as to how or why she became wicked. The actions of the character further enhance this singular characteristic. The primary drive of the story is the plot with repeated refrains in text and in character’s discourse but with a non-specific setting and period. Few fairy tales include fairies in them but are abound with fantastical creatures and events. The fantastical is still believable as it merely bends the laws of physics. 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... ... middle of paper ... ... the fairy story of the Snow Queen to expound his Christian viewpoint whereas Pullman’s book Northern Lights is its antithesis. Advertisers readily use the unconscious to sell products to society, e.g. the use of Little Red Riding Hood in the 1963 advertisement for lipstick to add a sexual allure (Orenstein, 2004) and the promise of living happily ever after by buying a broadband package in 2010 (Johnson, 2010). In conclusion, the extent to which a specific fairy tale meets Zipes’ definition varies dependent upon its adaptability and acceptance by society. Some fairy tales are harder to manipulate and their plot is insufficient to reflect society’s values so not all fairy tales are institutionalised. Thus, the manipulation of Little Red Riding Hood throughout its history and its adaptability to a myriad of usage passes Zipes’ definition of ‘institutionalisation’.
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.
Fairy tales are under attack in the United States from both right- and left-oriented pressure groups. (Ravitch, 62-96) From the left, the charges include sexism, stereotyping, distortion, and anti-humanism. (Ravitch, 84) From the right, the charges include immorality and objections to the portrayal of violence, death, and the supernatural. In addition, some critics claim that the tales terrify their children. (Ravitch, 76). In The Language Police, Diane Ravitch claims that both groups understand the importance of putting pressure on state textbook adoption committees, and that, as a result of such pressure, most major publishers are simply dropping the tales from the textbooks they sell to schools. (77-78) Thus parents who assume, or would prefer that, their children are reading traditional fairy tales in school may find themselves mistaken.
Fairy tales have been told for generations and now every child has dolls, movies and books filled with magical adventures. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White have become classics in every household. However, J.R.R. Tolkien described in his essay “On Fairy Stories” that the world has corrupted fairy tales by making them childlike and denoting them evil. Our culture prescribed fairies to be diminutive, supernatural creatures; however, fairies are neither small nor necessarily supernatural. A fairy is a direct product of Faerie, which is “the realm or state in which fairies have their being” (Tolkien “On” 2).
During childhood, full intellectual capacity has not yet been reached. Due to this, it is unreasonable to think that a child would be able to fully grasp the exact meaning of a literary piece. As an alternative, their mind will focus in on certain portions or details, and they will use those elements, whether they are good or evil, to guide their imaginations in developing their own understanding of the piece. When I was a child, my mother read Rumpelstiltskin to me many times. This particular fairy tale sticks out to me, because after reading it, my mind was not absorbed by the happiness of the miller’s daughter being able to keep her baby, it was instead absorbed by the cruelty of Rumpelstiltskin, the imp that was planning on taking the baby away. The experience that I had with Rumpelstiltskin was not limited to itself; I had similar reactions to almost all of the fairy tales my mother would read to me. One in particular took place after my mom was reading Little Red Riding Hood, and instead of trying to copy the pleasantness of Little Red Riding Hood, I found myself trying to copy the wolf’s actions of swallowing her grandmother whole. When I am called to read these tales to small children, due to my childlike perception, a similar insight is created within their concept of the piece. My personal experiences greatly illustrate the ignorance of Bennett’s idea that “moral literature can produce good citizens” (232). Due to this, Bennett’s Book of Virtues is not nearly as reliable when it comes to transmitting “timeless and universal cultural values” (232). As fairy tales are read, not everyone will focus on the most understandable and positive elements, just as I
read through the article I had to pick out ten important facts about the fairy tale genre and its origins. Collecting my facts was difficult because there were many writers that changed the audience for fairy tales. I didn’t want to just write down 10 authors and their works t...
Fairy tales are one of the longest lasting forms of literature. Though now they bring to mind classic movies engendered by Disney, many of these stories were first passed on in an oral manner, meant to convey a message, moral, or lesson. Alison Lurie’s “What Fairy Tales Tell Us” covers a broad range of classic tales, discussing how under the guise of an entertaining story comes life lessons we would all do well to follow. To begin this paper, some of the tales Lurie examines in her article will be looked at and critically examined beyond what she discusses. This will then move the text towards its remaining sections, which will take Lurie’s ideas and have them applied to folk and fairy tales that have not yet been contemplated; for the purpose
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.
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
During the 19th century, Grimm’s fairytales were strongly disapproved of due to harsh, gruesome details and plots. One American educator from 1885 stated, “The folktales mirror all too loyally the entire medieval worldview and culture with all its stark prejudice, its crudeness and barbarities.” As childre...
Fairy tales have been part of our lives ever since we were young children. We all either grew up watching Disney renditions of fairy tales, or we had storybooks filled with vivid pictures of a tale. Fairy tales are so important in our culture that it would be difficult to find someone who has not heard of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, or other fairy tale protagonists. Interestingly enough, fairy tales have been a very integral part of Western culture since the time they were written. Fairy tale writers, such as Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers, revolutionized culture in the 17th and 18th centuries with their writings. Not only did these writers write these tales for entertainment, but they also accomplished to influence the
“The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms” (Rukeyser M 1968, cited in Daniels K 2000, p. 135), therefore, it is no wonder how folk tales have managed to enrapture people from all over the globe, spanning throughout history and culture. These tales are told from to the young, teaching morality and proper societal behaviour. However, as folk tales depict differing behaviours for boys and girls, ideas on gender are created. Despite this, changing attitudes towards gender roles alter the content of folk tales to suit such changes, producing new, different, gender ideas. This can be seen by comparing the Red Riding Hood Tales: ‘The Grandmother’s Tale’ and ‘Little Red-Cap’ set 400 years apart as women's place in the story, the process of becoming a woman and on which gender blame tends to be put is analysed.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. Print.
Bettelheim, Bruno. "The Struggle for Meaning." The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Knopf, 1976. Print.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.