Cop2 essay plan b

COP2- Essay Plan: Fairy Tales Key: •

Main Points ▪ Jack Zipes- Why Fairy Tales Stick ▪ Bruno Bettelheim- The Uses of Enchantment ▪ Maria Tatar- The Annotated Brothers Grimm

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Introduction ▪ “Once upon a time”- know you’re about to hear a fairy tale ▪ Many of us “try to make a fairy tale out of our lives” even without knowing it ▪ Our key aim is to find meaning in life- want to make a significant contribution ▪ The importance of moral behaviour ▪ Communicate in a way that reaches the child’s mind as well as adults ▪ Feed imagination/ aids socialisation ▪ “Even in an age when the attractions of high-tech entertainment distract us from stories found between the covers of books, fairy tales continue to work their magic.

They ceaselessly migrate from one medium to another, shape-shifting to suit audience both young and old and morphing into variants that crackle with renewed narrative energy”.

▪ Wystan Hugh Auden- ranked as “next to the bible in importance” ▪ “fairy tales have a depth that keeps us talking about the characters in them without every feeling that we have exhausted their riches. The tales not only reflect psychic realities and lived experiences, they have also shaped lives through their construction of cultural anxieties and desires.”

Where fairy tales originated ▪ Initial purpose- “communicate ideas about natural instincts, social relations, normative behaviour, character types, sexual roles, and power politics.”

▪ To shorten time spent on repetitive jobs ▪ Purpose now- to entertain and instruct ▪ Initial audience- documents for scholars ▪ How they came about- oral storytelling ▪ Functions of fairy tales varied depending on sociocultural context ▪ The Grimms wanted to “capture the pure voice of the German people”- got their tales from real people Common features found in fairy tales ▪ What do they teach ▪ Tolkien- Fantasy, recovery, escape & consolation – the relief that comes with the happy ending ▪ Hero projected into danger without reason ▪ “Consolation is the greatest service a fairy tale can offer” ▪ Juxtapositions/ opposites- “rags to riches” ▪ Stereotypes of gender – changed over time- i.e. brave ▪ Vladimir Propp- ‘Villainy’- fuels the plots of fairy tales – “danger lurks in every corner of the world” Most popular writers and tales

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▪ The Brothers Grimm ▪ Hans Christian Anderson Tales can be moulded ▪ Can easily be moulded and re-written ▪ Have been condensed and refined ▪ Example (case study) i.e. Different versions of Cinderella ▪ Friedmar Apel- Lost deeper significance due to torn relationship between imagination and reality ▪ Jack Zipes (counter-argument)- Apel failed to take into account adaptability and evolvability ▪ Maria Tatar- Moulded and change but story still shines through How fairy tales have changed and evolved over time ▪ One of the biggest adjustments- have been appropriated for children- 1819 (Grimms) ▪ Change in writing style- more descriptive ▪ Eliminated references of a sexual nature, bawdy humour etc ▪ Preserved violence – added value- distinction between virtue and vice- children find cathartic pleasures in displays of physical violence- find theory ▪ John Ellis- argued that Grimms lost “authentic folk quality” ▪ Fairy tales made or reiterated in the 20th/21st century- for entertainment ▪ More relevant today due to increase in literacy & technology ▪ Sperber- Due to mental representation & public representation- “Only those representations which are repeatedly communicated and minimally transformed in the process will end up belonging to the culture.”

▪ Children need stories to be repeated to them to fully understand ▪ Luthi- Grimms narrative style changed- “replacing psychological suffering by a physical blow”- Rapunzel Why are fairy tales so popular?

▪ Deal with daily issues ▪ Address important matters that can be difficult to communicate “these are the tales that continue to enchant and entrance, the stories that invite us to engage with events that still matter to us today.”

▪ Deal with universal inner human problems rather than external life ▪ How valuable they are in the upbringing of children ▪ Contagious/ “they are injected in our systems almost as a cure for dreaded social diseases.”

▪ Appeal- utopian transformation- feeds desire for a better life ▪ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza- “an idea is like a circuit of neurons, once an idea has been formed in our brains, it has the capacity to live for a long time, even for an entire lifetime” ▪ Fairy tales are a unique art form- open to interpretation- can take different things away from it ▪ Children curious about outside world and future life- engaging ▪ Have great psychological meaning to people of all ages and genders- irrespective of the sex of the story’s hero ▪ Therapeutic – find their own solution ▪ Perfect balance of what is real and what isn’t Why do we need them?

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Live at a time where divorce, families of stepchildren and stepparents, dysfunctional families, child abuse is high- gives children hope- overcome abuse i.e. Cinderella ▪ “Today children no longer grow up within the security of an extended family, or of a well-intergrated community.”- important to show children they can make it on their own (confidence/ reassurance) Children’s literature ▪ Bruno Bettlehiem- for children, literature is the most effective in communicating information ▪ Most children’s literature shallow in meaning- learning to read devalued- adds nothing to importance of life ▪ What should they gain from literature? “access to a deeper meaning” ▪ Reading vs telling – need to be repeated ▪ Telling allows for flexibility ▪ Has to be an inter-personal event ▪ Stories should not be explained- independent process of learning ▪ Myths- similarities/ differences ▪ “The trouble with some of what’s considered “good children’s literature” is that many of these stories peg the child’s imagination to the level he has already reached on his own.”

Re-interpretations ▪ See pages 15, 16, 17 ▪ Case study- research ▪ Reach different cultures- Greek Mythology vs. fairy tales- Europa vs. Red riding hood ▪ Joseph Cambell- Myths deal with the serious matter of living life, fairy tales told for entertainment ▪ Tatar- Fairy tales can rise to seriousness in re-interpretations- i.e. poets, Angela Carter ▪ Cultural issues- Cinderella: courtship, marriage, romance/ Little red riding hood: vulnerable young against predator Re-interpretations in other forms ▪ Technology- TV/ Film- Disney ▪ Have turned into “empty-minded entertainment” ▪ Disney studios have kept fairy tales alive and breathing ▪ If it wasn’t for them fairy tales might not still be as popular ▪ Is it better to have simplified versions for entertainment or none at all?

▪ Multiple “delivery systems”- “have reclaimed multi-generational appeal” ▪ Reach different audiences- i.e. tv shows for young adults, books for children Psychoanalysis of fairy tales (children) ▪ Childhood fears▪ Abandonment ▪ Separation anxiety/ independency (loss of parents) ▪ Abuse ▪ Being devoured ▪ Tackled issues that haven’t been resolves over time- family legacy, sibling rivalry, parental love ▪ To hold child’s attention- must be relatable- see p.5 ▪ “speak to his budding ego and encourage its development, while at the same time relieving preconscious and unconscious pressures.”

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Similar to dreams and daydreams “It is here that fairy tales have unequalled value, because they offer new dimensions to the child’s imagination which would be impossible for him to discover on his own.”

▪ Simplify all situations- easier to understand ▪ Play a huge role in personality development ▪ Can gain better solace from fairy tale than adult reasoning and viewpoints ▪ Piaget- animistic thinking- no clear distinction between objects and living things ▪ The importance of fantasy ▪ A language of symbols- know it’s not reality ▪ Sigmund Freud- id, ego, superego ▪ Chesterton- children love justice, adults prefer mercy Psychoanalysis of fairy tales (society) ▪ Social Darwinism?

▪ Norbert Elias & Pierre Bourdieu- western civilising process?

▪ Problems – solutions- “communicate feeling in efficient metaphorical terms” ▪ “use classical fairy tales in mutated forms trough new technologies to discuss and debate urgent issues that concern our social lives and the very survival of human species” ▪ “Fairy tales don’t teach about specific conditions in modern mass society. But teach how to handle inner problems of human beings” Arguments against fairy tales ▪ Parents believe they are “fantastic rather than true”- “false” information- realistic explanations incompetent ▪ Parents believe children should only be exposed to the sunny side of life – nourishes mind in a one sided way- life isn’t always sunny ▪ Shows children they will face hardships/ basic human predicaments- be able to deal with this ▪ Parents want children to believe all men are good- counter-productive because children have a naughty side- believe they are a monster ▪ Parents hesitate to tell “gory and threatening stories” ▪ Parents sometimes painted as villain ▪ Piaget- animistic thinking- negative? False hope?

▪ Threatening figure magically changes to friend- dangerous?

▪ Parents who were read fairy tales are more likely to see benefits ▪ Everyday events lead to great things- encourages child to trust real small achievements ▪ Parents believe mind will be overfed with fantasy- neglect reality – but those who believe in magic stop believing as an adult ▪ Some believe stories encourage violence – have “violent, anxious, destructive, sadistic imaginations” ▪ Ephraim Biblow- ‘imaginative play and the control of aggression’- research The Language of fairy tales ▪ “Once upon a time”- deliberately vague- leaving concrete world ▪ Tale endings bring back to reality- hero finds way home Illustrations ▪ Theory- children learn through visuals ▪ Illustrations in books are distracting ▪ John Ronald Reuel Tokien agrees

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“a fairy tale lose much of it’s personal meaning when it’s figures and events are given substance not by the child’s imagination, but by that of an illustrator.”

▪ Colours used- red, white, black, silver, gold, steel ▪ Don’t often use green as a symbolic colour- interesting- green = health, positive, red = danger, negative Characters in fairy tales ▪ Common use of stepmothers- Grimm’s did not want to disrespect their own mothers or mothers in general ▪ Good and evil given human forms ▪ How they reflect people- themselves- “child’s wishful thinking get embodied in a good fairy; all his destructive wishes in an evil witch; all his fears in a voracious wolf…”

▪ Child splits themselves- blame evil version- don’t believe it was them ▪ In fairy tales children’s anger has no consequence- only adults ▪ How characters reflect others i.e. mother and evil stepmother ▪ Characters are typical not unique- can picture themselves as hero ▪ Good always wins out, evil-doer is punished ▪ Children learn morality- identify with character most attractive to them- hero ▪ Amoral fairy tales- assurance that one can succeed ▪ Juxtaposition of different characters- polarities make it easier to see difference Conclusion ▪ “reassures, gives hope for the future and holds out a promise for a happy ending”