Kevin Rutledge

Professor Voisard & Hoenhe

FIQWS Fairy Tales and Rewritings & Composition 

8 October 2019

Innocent Brainwashing

Fairy Tales have been used as a basis of morals, ideals, and purpose for centuries, and recent stories, despite their new adaption to the big screen, have had the same effect. Through their often mystical characters and details of a favorable lifestyle, (or a tragedy we would hope to avoid), these stories can easily influence any young mind. The lesson can be anything; take Sleeping Beauty, for example, which attempts to persuade the audience into thinking that assault is okay. No matter what the moral is, as long as the details are used correctly to persuade the reader, it will stick. 

Before discussing how the style of writing in fairy tales affects our minds, we must first cover why we rely on and use the pieces of literature in the first place. There are many great classics when it comes to works of literature, like The Namesake or Oliver Twist, but none match the popularity or common knowledge of fairy tales. Even before the Disney versions, everyone knew about a version of Cinderella that they could pass on to the next generation. In Decolonizing Fairy-Tales Studies, Donald Hasse presents a quote by Jonathan Gottschall that might explain why this is. The text states, “First, folktales are a universal and indigenous narrative form and therefore allow the compilation of samples possessing maximal cultural diversity. Second, they are a “cheap” form of cross-cultural data, available to any researcher with library privileges. Third, although folktales are not pristine, having suffered potential distortion through poor translation and the whims of collectors and editors, it can be argued that they provide a more direct perspective on life in traditional societies than the heavily mediated accounts of anthropologists and ethnographers” (Haase 3) In simpler terms, one of the elements of fairy tales is that they are a gateway to the morals and differences of our ancestors; what they believed. This element alone is one reason we rely on fairy tales so much, and why it affects our minds. These stories were written to inspire our ancestors to become well-mannered, respectful human beings, and to be cautious of the world around them. As a product of those human beings, we are led to believe that passing these stories on will inspire future generations to act the same, just as they did with us. Our parents became the people they are today based on the morals of these stories, so we should follow them. Through this, the stories continue to live. 

Versions of Sleeping Beauty convinces its audience that rape is acceptable even favorable through its words and descriptions. In Giambattista Basile’s version of the story, there is a section where the prince assaults her in her sleep, inadvertently waking her up months after. The scene goes, “Crying aloud, he beheld her charms and felt his blood course hotly through his veins. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to a bed, where he gathered the first fruits of love” (Basile 2). The first line describes the king’s sadness in such a passionate way, making the reader feel sympathetic for him, despite just meeting the character. Furthermore, when he rapes Talia in her sleep, the reader most likely has not realized, because the act is referred to as “gathering the first fruits of his love,” which is nothing short of romantic. Through Basile’s phrasing, he has turned a dark act into something beautiful and romantic. 

The age we read these stories does not matter,  as the value and meaning to them remain in its audience’s minds for years. Kay Stone spoke with young adults for her article “Things Walt Disney Never Told Us,” with one stating, “I remember the feeling of being left out in fairy stories. Whatever the story was about, it was not about me. But this feeling didn’t make me not interested in them – I knew there was something I was supposed to do to fit in but I didn’t. So I thought there was something wrong with me, not with the fairy stories” (Stone 49). The stories from her childhood had affected the woman so much that she believed that the ways and attributes of the characters in the story were what made the “ideal girl”, not being herself, not to mention that her trust and belief in this thought was so strong that she thought she was at fault, not the story.

To this very day, fairy tales impact our lives in ways most of us do not even realize until closer inspection. Surely we cannot fix how fairy tales affect us, as firm details and morals have become an essential part of what fairytales are. So perhaps what we need to do is work on our future stories. Improve our stories and what they stand for instead of repeating the ones we have today. This time, with morals and lessons that future generations can be proud of.

Works Cited

Haase, Donald. “Decolonizing fairy-tale studies.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, p. 17+.

Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A229652001/LitRC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=LitRC&xid=c1588d7a . Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.

Basille, Giambattista. “Sun, Moon, and Talia.” The Pentameron of Giambattista Basile (Sun,

Moon, and Talia). Accessed 7 Oct. 2019. 

Translated by Richard F. Burton, 1893 (1634).

Stone, Kay. “Things Walt Disney Never Told Us.” The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 88,

No. 347, Women and Folklore (Jan. – Mar., 1975), pp. 42-50. American Folklore Society,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/539184 . Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.