I went into this class with certain expectations about what I want to learn and what I want to be able to from the course when it ends. Looking back, it has truly been an enriching learning experience. I am now able to appreciate fairy tales with a fresh eye, and look at it with a more profound appreciation of the stories behind the words.
After this course, fairy tales are no longer simple fairy tales of princesses and far away lands, but actual tales of exotic lands and the lives and culture of the people living there.In my foreword I wrote that I particularly want to learn about how legends, fairy tales, and other similar stories have developed in the context of history. I believe that these stories are mirrors of the social, political, and religious realities of the times when the stories were written. As the course progressed, this belief has been reinforced and amplified.
Indeed, stories never come from an empty place.They are always anchored on the world that gave it life. The only difference is that these fairy tales offer indirect metaphors of their respective cultures. As Max Luthi wrote about fairy tales,When something has the ability both to attract and repel one so forcefully, one may assume that it deals with fundamentals. One is challenged to take sides, explicitly or implicitly.The role fairy tales play in the lives of children, and the role they played in the lives of adults in the millennia prior to the coming of the printed word, strengthens us in the belief that we are dealing with a peculiar form of literature, one which concerns man directly.
(1976, 22)Indeed, one has to dig deeper into the story to be able to see the relationship of the story to the real world. The comparisons and similarities are not always seen, but they are there. However, one must know how and where to look.Indeed, these indirect and not-so-obvious comparisons are the reasons why fairy tales make for a very interesting study. There are so many ways to interpret the story.
The way that fairy tales are written lend themselves to so many different explanations and analysis, and all are equally valid and grounded on solid inferences.The readings from Luthi’s book, Once upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales, has been really interesting and an eye-opener. In the very first pages, Luthi forwards the strong and wide-reaching influence of fairy tales (1976), so much so that the greatest of writers draw inspiration from this type of story form.They are not flights of fancies as some people are wont to believe. And they are definitely not “mere” children’s stories.
In fact, one of the most interesting nodes to look deeper into is the how these fairy tales evolved into children’s stories when the original forms were not intended as such.The book by Max Luthi is a very good resource material because it treats these fairy tales with the respect that it deserves. In the first chapter, Max wrote something that I personally find very affecting. He said that most people read fairy tales at a very young age, and as they grow up, they either become disillusioned by the realities and grind of daily living and are disappointed by the fairy tales, or they develop a lifelong love for fairy tales and come back to the stories to find solace and comfort from the realities of their own respective lives.I believe that this is very true.
Some people become bitter when the world they grow up in is not the fairy tale that they thought it would be, while some people turn to fairy tales as a means to escape, even for a while, the daily drudgery of living.From this course, I have also gained renewed insight on the dynamics of the reader and the material being read. While fairy tales are reflections of the realities of the times and places that they were written, the time and place surrounding the readers as they are reading the story influences their interpretations of fairy tales as well.A good case in point is the damsel-in-distress theme so relevant in many fairy tales. These themes, while beautiful and romantic, may no longer be very popular in this day and age of gender equality and woman empowerment.
These fairy tales were written in reference to the Medieval concepts of chivalry, when women were seen as fragile. While I truly believe that such fairy tales were written without any intentions of belittling women, it cannot be avoided that some people may perceive it as such.
