Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Response 1- Nikki
I took this question as being asked which essay helped me look beyond fairy tales as childrens' entertainment. For me, this was Robert Dartons' essay entitled "Peasant's Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose". With this essay, a lot of connotations that different cultures have about fairy tales were brought up, many of them sexual. This was not what I would interpret these fairy tales as at first glance, although I can see where they can make it work in these contexts. I have always thought of fairy tales as picture books and disney movies. This lets me see beyond the ordinary so-called "stereotypes" and "assumptions" I may have towards the genre of fairy tales. From the point of view of this article, these are definitely not just the children's stories that we know and love!
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I agree that Darnton's essay does a better job of shedding light on our naive views of fairy tales - that version of little red riding hood was definitely not meant for children's entertainment!
ReplyDeleteBut I also think Bettelheim's essay was really good at showing that fairy tales can be more than children's entertainment - they can be really helpful in healthy development and can also be very educational.
I agree that Darnton definitely got me thinking about the fairy tales as more than just innocent stories to teach morals. I was surprised at the different connotations available in these stories. I think Bettelheim's essay did provide an interesting perspective.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on Darnton, but didn't you also think that this essay helps the reader to think more critically about fairy tales, rather than taking them for granted as just something told to children? I guess what I mean is that I had never thought of fairy tales as being particularly literary or academic, though the origins of both fairy tales and literary fiction comes out of more or less the same place.
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