Cop2 essay plan b

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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

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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