Essay Fairy Tales

The tradition of telling fairy tales to children effects not only the listener but also the reader. Maria Tatar, in her book Off with Their Heads!, analyzes how fairy tales instill and reaffirm cultural values and expectations in their audience . Tatar proposes that fairy tales fall into three different tale-types: cautionary tales, exemplary stories, and reward- and- punishment tales. These three types portray different character traits as desirable and undesirable. Due to the tale’s varying literary methods it can change the effectiveness of the tale’s pedagogical value. In Tatar’s opinion, all of these tales are similar in the way they attempt to use punishment, reward, and fear to encourage or discourage certain behaviors. In the cautionary fairy tale “The Virgin Mary’s Child”, the use of punishment and fear to discourage certain behaviors is enhanced by the Christian motifs and values employed by the tale. These literary devices encourage the audience to reflect on and internalize the lessons that are presented in the fairy tale.

Fairy Tales are not just stories that parents tell to their children, but stories with hidden valuable messages which are mostly left on a side. In the article “An Introduction to Fairy Tales,” Maria Tatar clearly explains how people need fairy tales in their lives. Tatar also states how fairy tales have the ability to take the listener, especially children’s, into a journey in which they can play with their imagination so that they can discover their deepest fears and wishes. Personally I agree with the author, because of the fact that in an individual’s lives as they get older, they will try to define themselves, sometimes comparing their own life with a character from their favorite story or Fairy Tale.

A stigma on the identity, the image of stepmothers in fairy tales affect heavily: “To this day, our culture makes second-class people out of stepparents or stepchildren… Such is the pervasive and continuing impact of tales told at firesides 200 years ago” (Homburger).

Some things about fairy tales we know to be true. They begin with "once upon a time." They end with "happily ever after." And somewhere in between the prince rescues the damsel in distress. Of course, this is not actually the case. Many fairytales omit these essential words. But few fairytales in the Western tradition indeed fail to have a beautiful, passive maiden rescued by a vibrant man, usually her superior in either social rank or in moral standing. Indeed, it is precisely the passivity of the women in fairy tales that has led so many progressive parents to wonder whether their children should be exposed to them. Can any girl ever really believe that she can grow up to be president or CEO or an

The goodness of Snow-White is heavily emphasized in the story even though she is only said to be 7 years old at the time. “When she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the light of day,” (Grimm). For someone so young to already be so good and

Everyone loves a good fairytale, and nothing is quite as magical and heartwarming as a Disney fairytale. The themes of love, comedy, and morality deem them as more than just little kids' stories, but suitable and entertaining tales for the entire family. This is known by a majority of the stories' readers. However, what one may not be so familiar with is the origin of these tales. Where did the stories of Cinderella, Ariel, and Rapunzel come from? The Disney writers certainly did not create them themselves. The differences in the originals will shock anyone familiar with Disney. And what about Snow White? There are differences between the original Brothers Grimm version of the ebony-haired, white-skinned princess and the Disney movie, believe it or not. Some major differences between both versions are the multiple ways the evil queen tries murdering her stepdaughter, the cause of Snow White's revival, as well as how the evil queen died. Why the story was altered is obvious:

Walt Disney Productions Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937) premiered locally on December 21st at The Carthay Circle Theartre in 1937. Shortly after, it was released nationwide during the February of the following year. Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs briefly held the role of the highest grossing film after its international release while earning a total of eight-million dollars. During the 11th academy awards Walt Disney was awarded an Oscar while the film itself was nominated for best musical score. Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs is indeed a very influential piece of film that helped evolve and expand the space of animation with its off-screen sound, however; it was neither his first attempt at integrating animation with

First, published in 1812, the Grimm Brothers wrote their story of Snow White. This story starts off the same as Disney, the one we all know. An envious stepmother orders a huntsman to kill Snow White, but the action is never carried out. Then, things take a different twist than Disney’s. A liver and lung from a bear are brought back for proof, and the queen eats them! Once the mirror reveals that Snow White is alive and

With his eyes closed and his arm gripping Dumbledore as tightly as he could, Harry stepped into that felling of compression. Then, instantly, they were there, at the top of the astronomy tower.

On the very first page of Oz Baum actually states that his wish was to

Be someone you’r not and your almost generated to win over the prince, and be admired by all. Two weeks ago, my daughter and I spent nearly two hours waiting in a line at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom to meet her favorite princess, Ariel. While in line I couldn't help but notice the joy all the children expressed in meeting this larger than life heroine, and just how much of an impact she had on them. But, is Areal really a hero? And does this fairy tale send the right message to children, especially little girls? The story of a rebellious thrill seeking ginger (no, I’m not referring to Lindsay Lohan) who trades her talent, and gives up everything and everyone she knows in order to fit-in a world she scarcely knows and win the favor of a charming

Sagas about princes and princesses, beauty, magic, and love, fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella among others have become children’s favorite bedtime stories. However, as parents tuck their sons and daughters in, they fail to realize that there is a much more daunting purpose to these stories. American writer and poet, Jane Yolen suggests that fairy tales indicate life values. Furthermore, Yolen insists that these tales are “thumbprints of history” (Yolen 27). Studying fairy tales in depth, she proves that the “functions of myths” consist of “creating a landscape of allusion [and] enabling us to understand our own and out culture from inside out” (Yolen 18). Yolen confirms that these stories comment on, “the abstract truths of our

full length animated feature and the turning point in Walt Disney's career. There were about 750 artists who worked on the two million drawings. It was originally budgeted at $250,000, but the total cost ended up being $1,480,000. Before the release, Disney stated, “I've seen so much of Snow White that I am conscious only of the places where it could be improved. You see, we've learned such a lot since we started we started this thing! I wish I could yank it back and do it all over again.” The world premiere was on December 21, 1937 and it was released on February 4, 1938. It ran five weeks at New York's Radio City Music Hall and grossed over $8 million on initial U.S. release. Howard Barnes of New York Herald Times wrote, “After seeing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the third time, I am more certain than ever that it belongs with the few great masterpieces of the screen.” In 1938, Disney won the Special Academy Award for “a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.” It made $4.2 million in 1938 in US and Canada alone. The movie was dubbed into ten languages and ran 31 weeks in Paris. In 1989, USA Today estimated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' theatrical makings exceeded $6 billion. In it's eighth reissue in 1993, it's total sellings for that year was $80 million. This movie was such

Fairy tales such as Snow White, have been rewritten and interpreted in many different stories throughout a vast amount of years. Two stories that retold the tale of Snow White were “Little Snow White”, Written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and Snow White and The Huntsman, directed by Rupert Sandors. The brothers Grimm wrote the “Little Snow White” in 1812 and explained the story of Snow White as a young child who was targeted to be killed by a jealous queen and hide away in a house of 7 dwarfs. In their home, Snow White was constantly tricked by the evil queen and killed then brought back to life by the 7 dwarfs. The story of Snow White and the Huntsman was directed in a much darker direction than the brother’s Grimm version where survival was sought for both the huntsman and Snow White. Similarities arose in both versions where Snow White had to survive a terrible ordeal that she is being placed in from being vulnerable to tricks from the queen in the brothers grimm version to surviving from her stepmother but also from the environment she encounters conflict in the Snow White and the Huntsman movie. The themes of both versions contrast each other since Snow White beauty is able to save her from different situations in ‘Little Snow White”, however, the queens obsession on being young and beautiful ultimately led to her downfall in Snow White and the Huntsman.

Over the years, Snow White’s story has been told in numerous different versions then its original version in 1812 by the Grimm Brothers. The main basis of the story has remained the same. Only a few minor tweaks to the story have changed. The three versions of the story that are going to be analyzed are the original story “Little Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Disney, and “Mirror, Mirror” by Disney also. They each were created in very different times and the original story has changed over the years to appeal to the audience of that time. No matter how many versions there are Snow White is considered, one of the most cherished fairy tales of all time. They each use different methods to get their