Week 3: September 9-13



What is a Fairy Tale?
The definition of a fairy tale according to Google a fairy tale is “a children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.” To most people that is what a fairy tale is but to the Grimm brothers they are so much more. They are history, they teach lessons, and are a way to escape the world and all the ongoing issues. Magic is the heart of every fairy tale, without magic is it really a fairy tale? Almost no one in a fairy tale is surprised when an animal talks, when the ‘hero’ has supernatural powers, or when fairies gives a gift to newly born child. There is no element of disbelief or wonder in a fairy tale when it comes to magic and there are no questions asked by anyone in the fairy tale or anyone reading it. For example, “Sleeping Beauty” she pricks her finger and is put to sleep for 100 years but does not age even after she awakens. Or why the big bad wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood” can talk to her.

Now with every fairy tale there is a “falcon” this means that each story has a special uniqueness to it every fairy tale has magic, a hero, a lesson, and a falcon. Within every story there is symbolization, in “The Beauty and the Beast” the falcon is the red rose, “Sleeping Beauty” the spinning wheel. Every fairy tale would simply be the same if there wasn’t a falcon. This aspect of the definition won’t ever be a part of Google’s definition or any dictionary but within my FYS college class this is a very crucial part and we always talk about the falcon of each story to help understand the lesson it is then trying to teach.

Looking at Google’s definition again a fairy tale is about a magical being within a land. While there is always a hero within a fairy tale sometimes the hero is not the main character. Max Lüthi says “the real fairy tale hero is not astonished by miracles and magic.” (Lüthi 46). Looking at “Sleeping Beauty” again Brier Rose is the main character within the story, but the hero is prince charming that kisses her after she’s been asleep for 100 years. The story is about Brier Rose not Prince Charming the hero of the story, so Google’s definition is once again inaccurate. The hero is not the most important aspect of a fairy tale the lesson of each tale is most important. 

Fairy tales are such versatile stories that creating a concise definition is impossible. Doing so is the equivalent of attempting to verbally describe a color. Though fairy tales are not all alike, they all share similar characteristics that separate them from other stories. Primarily they are full of magic, action, a lesson, a falcon, and are miniature realities.


References:     
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS847US847&sxsrf=ACYBGNS81Ra-Bat_XXfXsXfav2k_z2WYMg:1568556803991&q=definition+of+a+fairy+tale&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVmvK4gdPkAhWEjlkKHTXwBo0QBQgvKAA&biw=1600&bih=789

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 14: November 25-29

Image
The Ending of A Fairy Tale After reflecting and looking back at all the blogs I have previously posted I have definitely learned so much from this course. Not only was this course a huge eye opener to see how much Walt Disney actually changed the fairy tales, but I also learned where they originated from. The course gave us a huge introduction to Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm and rightfully so, their knowledge and work ethic is amazing and to learn about their family’s hardships and challenges was fascinating. Also, we looked at what a “falcon” is and how every fairy tale has one. This was interesting to see how each fairy tale has one but how all the falcons had a common theme. With looking at the stories as a class we also looked at theorist and how the stories can also be interpreted. This definitely threw everyone for a loop when we first heard some of the theories but as a class, we definitely got the hang of it and understood how the theorist got their theory.   Along, with...
Read more

Week 1: August 26-30

Image
Since I was a little girl, I have loved Disney and everything about it. Disney has been a huge influence on my childhood. So, as soon as I read the course description I was immediately intrigued. I also felt with my other academically challenging courses that a course about Disney would be an interesting and awesome thing to learn about. I've been to Disney 8 times in my life and has always loved Disney but never questioned about who came up with the stories, and why?   During this semester I'm hoping to have a better understanding of the decisions and changes Disney has made with some of their most classic characters. I also am hoping to understand who the Grimm brothers were and their significance to not only Disney but to German and literature history. Everyone knows Disney or some type of fairy tale written by the Grimm brothers, but nobody really knows who the brothers are or anything about them.    My favorite fairy tale is Sleeping Beauty. M...
Read more

Hansel and Gretel

Image
Week 11: November 1- 10 Hansel and Gretel The Grimm’s fairy tale of “Hansel and Gretel” and the MGM version had many similarities but also differences. Overall the moral and lesson of the fairy tale  remained the same as well as all the characters and their names. The witch still captures the children and Gretel is the one that saves them from her eating them. Also, both versions had a famine within them which is the reason for most of the family’s issues. Some differences within the story is the stepmother within the Grimm’s version convinces her husband to take Hansel and Gretel to woods and attempts to leave them two different times. The second attempt worked, and the children were then captured by the witch. Within the MGM version the stepmother is their mother and she send the children to the woods to collect berries for dinner since they had let the donkey in the house and he then ate their dinner. From being sent into the woods they accidentally get lost in the wood...
Read more