COP2 Essay
Shelly Kaur 254299 COP2 Essay
How and why have fairy tales endured to still be a significant part of our sociocultural environment today? This essay aims to explore the methods and reasons in which fairy tales have continued to stay with us throughout the years and as a result become an important influence within our sociocultural environment. “Once upon a time” is phrase not uncommon in the world of narrative. It is a phrase that tells one that they are about to hear something enriched with endless fantasy, an enchanting plot and folkloric characters that are both alluring and bizarre. A tale riddled with morality and told with a captivating narrative energy. An utterance traditionally used to begin a fairy tale. Fairy tales first made their way into popular culture many years ago, the earliest stories dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are continuing to work their magic to this day. They have been endlessly re-worked and re-written over time but have never ceased to entice the hearts and minds of many, be it old or young, male or female. This timelessness is a result of their ability to evolve and respond to current cultural affairs and issues within society and it is this very fact that makes them so valuable. This essay aims to explore the specifics of how and why this has come to be and the reason individuals such as poet Wystan Hugh Auden have considered fairy tales ‘next to the Bible in importance’ (Haase, 1993). The origin of fairy tales is somewhat perplexing to identify due to the mass reproduction of the stories and tremendous amount of variations. It was said to have begun through the ‘oral tradition of storytelling…’ however the ‘…communication and transmission of literary tales gradually became institutionalised through print and word of mouth by the seventeenth century’ (Zipes, 2013). Fairy tales then progressively became more popular due to the achievement of writers of the genre and their stories or interpretations. It is clear to say some the most renowned versions include the works of Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875), Jacob (1785-1863) & Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm (a.k.a The Brothers Grimm), Charles Perrault (1628-1703), Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) and Andrew Lang (1844-1912) to name a few. According to novelist A. S. Byatt, the initial purpose of fairy tales was to idle away time spent on relentless, uninteresting tasks such as mending and sewing (Tatar and Byatt, 2012, p.xxxviii) thus suggesting the initial audience was that of adults. This has taken a significant turn over the course of time in the sense that now most common versions of the stories are considered children’s literature -a likely result of the Grimm Brother’s decision to re-appropriate their tales for a younger audience in 1815 (although, it may be adults who most predominantly read or use fairy tales in most recent years (Newstatesman.com, 2017)). Alongside this change in audience came a change in purpose and function and the genre now stands as a means of instructing and educating but in an entertaining manner. Further adjustments saw them embark on a change in writing style (focused on making the narratives more descriptive) and subsequently, a modification of the stories to eliminate any references of a sexual nature, as this was deemed ‘unsuitable for children’ (p.xlix). However, some academics, more specifically critic John Ellis believed that the Grimms “tampered” with their work too much and this resulted in a loss of ‘authentic folk quality’ (p.xlvii). This however, did not affect the popularity of their material. There are many possible reasons as to how fairy tales have proceeded to travel through countless generations. Some of these reasons are based on theories regarding the content of fairy tales, others regarding the psychological side of the spectrum. An example of which is derived from analysis carried out by cognitive scientist Dan Sperber, who established a theory of an epidemiology of