Literacy Foundation Ads

This poignant campaign from the Literacy Foundation for the tenth anniversary of 'The Gift of Reading' shows fallen fairytale heroes. Cinderella, Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, a dwarf, and Hansel (sans Gretel) are all in a hospital/assisted living center. Their drawn faces and empty stares are soulless and unnerving.

With a tag line "When you don't read, imagination disappears," the ads by Bleublancrouge, channel the moment in 'Peter Pan' where Tinkerbell has been poisoned and can only be saved if people clap to show their belief in her.

(credit: Marrisa Brassfield)

I love this ad! As I've said before children take on to fairy tales well and to use it to send a message, to engage and motivate children in a positive way (in this case reading), is such a clever and effective idea! This is kind of what I want to achieve with the idea I posted previously; using the fairy tale to teach children of real heroes, real courage and bravery - ultimately to teach them that these attributes are possible to achieve themselves, because they have real people as examples.

Practical Idea 2: Into Fairy Tale Setting

From reading and the research gathered so far, I've come to a conclusion that there is no pleasing people. Even though there is strong evidence and back up that fairy tales are in fact more than mere tales, as they include invaluable life principles, some people still find that they heavily affect the self image of children due to the outdated and therefore unrealistic ideas and stereotypes. Attempts have been made, with film adaptations, to retell these tales so that the characters would be independent and capable figures, rather than damsels-in-distress. Yet, people believe that these adaptations still seem to lack in the role model department.

Since children take on fairy tales well, why not retell the stories of real people in a fairy tale setting? What happens if we put real people (ones that have achieved recognition in our society) and re-telling their stories in these well known and familiar fairy tale lands? Not only would they enjoy the fairy tale elements, but they'd also learn about these people, who have made such big achievements and difference in our world.

For example:

Malala Yousafzai (Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate) is looked up to and praised for her bravery (no doubt a suitable role model for the young and old) - since she is recognisable (in appearance) by her red head scarf, her story could be told from a Red Riding Hood perspective. Instead of venturing out into the woods to go to her grandmas house, she would be going to school, and faces obstacles along the way that would prevent her from reaching her destination. 

In the words of former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown,

"Malala is a brave, courageous, wonderful young woman who has shown the world that the determination and courage to stand up for your principles can mean huge sacrifices but can also show the world that good can come when you stand up for your principles,"

Sounds like fairy tale material to me! I think it would be a pretty interesting and enjoyable read, not just for children but adults as well.

Fear of Fantasy.

Bettelheim, B. (1976) The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Why do many intelligent, well-meaning, modern, middle-class par- ents, so concerned about the happy development of their children, discount the value of fairy tales and deprive their children of what hese stories have to offer?

Some people claim that fairy tales do not render “truthful” pictures of life as it is, and are therefore unhealthy. (p.116) Some parents fear that by telling their children about the fantastic events found in fairy tales, they are “lying” to them. (p.117)

Some parents fear that their children may get carried away by their fantasies; that when exposed to fairy tales, they will come to believe in magic. But every child believes in magic, and he stops doing so when he grows up. (p.118)

Other parents fear that a child’s mind may become so overfed by fairy-tale fantasies as to neglect learning to cope with reality. Actually, the opposite is true. Complex as we all are—conflicted, ambivalent, full of contradictions—the human personality is indivisible. Whatever an experience may be, it always affects all the aspects of the personality at the same time. (p.118)

Those who outlawed traditional folk fairy tales decided that if there were monsters in a story told to children, these must all be friendly —but they missed the monster a child knows best and is most concerned with: the monster he feels or fears himself to be, and which also sometimes persecutes him. By keeping this monster within the child unspoken of, hidden in his unconscious, adults prevent the child from spinning fantasies around it in the image of the fairy tales he knows. Without such fantasies, the child fails to get to know his monster better, nor is he given suggestions as to how he may gain mastery over it. As a result, the child remains helpless with his worst anxieties —much more so than if he had been told fairy tales which give these anxieties form and body and also show ways to overcome these monsters. (p.120)

without fantasies to give us hope, we do not have the strength to meet the adversities of life. Childhood is the time when these fantasies need to be nurtured. (p.121)

The fairy tale provides what the child needs most: it begins exactly where the child is emotionally, shows him where he has to go, and how to do it. But the fairy tale does this by implication, in the form of fantasy material which the child can draw on as seems best to him, and by means of images which make it easy for him to comprehend what is essential for him to understand. (p.122)

Wishing to be loved by their child, parents shrink from exposing him to tales which might encourage him to think of parents as bad or rejecting. Fairy tales are loved by the child not because the imagery he finds in them conforms to what goes on within him, but because—despite all the angry, anxious thoughts in his mind to which the fairy tale gives body and specific content—these stories always result in a happy outcome, which the child cannot imagine on his own. (p.123)

Are we more risk averse to ‘scaring’ children now?

The effects on children of the violence and brutality found in many fairy tales has been the source of considerable debate. Many adults consider the brutality in the tales harmful to children; there have been concerted efforts to remove fairy tales from the shelves of children's sections of public libraries for this reason. p.70 (TROUSDALE, A. (1989) 'Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?')

What impact might this have on children today?

Present versions of traditional tales that do not explore the dark places found in the original forms, the very same parts of humanity that young people often yearn to understand. You shouldn’t be afraid of the inherent darkness in the classical fables – after all, kids enjoy and expect it. As Arthur Schlesigner Jr writes, they ‘tell children what they unconsciously know – that human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real, that life is harsh before it is happy – and thereby reassure them about their own fears and their own sense of self.’

Today’s reader is often struck by the brutality of many of the original publication of these tales. Contemporary society has grown accustomed to the expurgated versions popularized through movies, television, and picture books. (e.g in their original form, the Little Mermaid does not get the prince and is turned into sea foam. Snow White makes the Queen dance in red-hot shoes until she dies.)

Adults’ desire to protect comes from a need to keep the seemingly helpless children safe from harm. This has led to the sanitisation of tales designed to soften the reception of the child.

For a story truly to hold the child’s attention, it must entertain him and arouse his curiosity. But to enrich his life, it must stimulate his imagination; help him to develop his intellect and to clarify his emotions; be attuned to his anxieties and aspirations; give full recognition to his difficulties, while at the same time suggesting solutions to the problems which perturb him. (Bettelheim)

While fairy tales reflect the time in which they were written, explorations of important issues such as abandonment and the struggle for independence still need to be presented to children. Through carefully crafted stories, young people can vicariously navigate their way through a world they are still trying to understand. Following the positive framework of fairy tales and writing new stories that question and challenge children to grow as strong, independent people is possible.

Artists create opportunities to teach life skills through experiences with their art. The Greek philosopher Plato viewed artists as the idyllic teachers: “Although one might think that the philosophers would do educational work in the ideal Platonic state, one would be surprised to learn that Plato placed this responsibility on artists (not philosophers) because the arts have hidden messages, delivered not only in cognitive ways but also via emotional channels” (Theatre as a Medium for Children and Young People, Shifra Shonmann p.30).

For many years, psychologists explored fear using fairy tale references as a metaphor, to expose young people to their fears, as well as to provide the tools to overcome those fears. Fairy tales provide young audience members an opportunity to subconsciously scrutinize fears and then gain the courage to face their real-life struggles and anxieties. The fairy tale presents a metaphor of fears from which an understanding of the world stems.

By viewing fairy tales as powerful metaphors in a young person’s life, artists begin to consider fear in a fairy tale as an opportunity for teaching.

“Within the framework of such a tale, children may discover ways of dealing with their own fears, of objectifying inner conflicts, of confronting danger through vicarious means, knowing that in the end the danger will be safely resolved” (“Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Children’s Literature in Education, Ann Trousdale p.78)


(credit: Amanda H. Kibler)

Female Role in Disney's Fairy Tales

Disney princess images have an immense impact on the minds of young girls. Although many of the films contain several unrealistic ideas and stereotypes, numerous films also include invaluable life principles.

In their article, 'The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children’s Fairy Tales,' Lori Baker- Sperry and Liz Grauerholz discuss the gendered messages in the media and how Disney princess films reflect norms in society. They state, “Fairy tales written during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were intended to teach girls and young women how to become domesticated, respectable, and attractive to a marriage partner and to teach boys and girls appropriate gendered values and attitudes” (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz p.714).

Baker-Sperry and her colleagues explain, “Recent Disney films and even contemporary feminist retellings of popular fairy tales often involve women who differ from their earlier counterparts in ingenuity, activity, and independence but not physical attractiveness” (722). Although they still portray various stereotypical images, the newer films convey more radical messages that correspond with a pro-feminist movement. These innovative princesses deviate from earlier conventional depictions, seeking alternative lifestyles and greater independence from a male dominated society.

In 'Images of Gender, Race, Age, and Sexual Orientation in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films,' Mia Adessa Towbin and her colleagues from Colorado State University discuss the portrayals of numerous stereotypical roles in Disney films and the various conventional images being exposed to children. They state, “Men are depicted as physically aggressive, non-expressive, and as heroic saviors, particularly of women. Women are portrayed as beautiful, dependent on men, and engaged in domestic responsibilities” (Towbin et al. 35).

In the popular Disney film, Beauty and the Beast (1991), characteristic gender qualities are clearly depicted. Gaston, an exceedingly arrogant and strong- willed character, states his dissatisfaction with Princess Belle’s deviation from ideal female characteristics. He says, “It’s not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking—” (Beauty and the Beast). Gaston’s statement highlights the conventional idea that women are not supposed to concentrate on intellectual behaviours, a strictly male responsibility. In the film, Belle is viewed as a highly peculiar individual because of her desire to read and her disinterest with Gaston’s pleas for marriage. However, his role as the villain in the film may direct many viewers to believe that his ideas about women are wrong.

More recent films, like Aladdin, tend to depict the principal female role as a self-assertive and resilient character. Aladdin’s Princess Jasmine, while resisting her father’s demand that she marries a prince, states, “How dare you! All of you! Standing around deciding my future. I am not a prize to be won.” Her declaration illustrates the progressive idea that a woman’s life should not be under the control of a male figure. This image teaches young girls that women are entitled to choose the lifestyle they wish to seek, including the choice of selecting whom they want to marry.

Many of the more recently released princesses convey some inspirational and positive messages to young girls. These newer films contain portrayals of a self-assured princess who refuses to succumb to some of society’s expectations of their gender.

In Mulan, the lead female protagonist similarly expresses a longing to follow her own path that differs from the role predetermined by her gender. She says, “Look at me... I will never pass for a perfect bride or a perfect daughter. Can it be, I’m not meant to play this part? Now I see that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family’s heart” - Mulan does not want to become an ideal Asian bride.

Bridget Whelan, in her article, 'Power to the Princess: Disney and the Creation of the 20th Century Princess Narrative,' describes changing images in newer Disney films. In response to The Princess and the Frog (2009) she claims that it “became the first Disney princess film to feature a heroine who aspired for something more than romance throughout the film’s narrative” (Whelan 30). Princess Tiana sought to open a restaurant, in addition to the ongoing romance throughout the film.

(credit: Ashley Bispo)

Film Adaptations.

Cinematic Updates To Classic Fairy Tales

These days, when we think of fairy tales, we usually think of either the funky mash-ups of the Shrek franchise, or the ‘classic’ Disney movies – pretty young things, perfectly rendered in animation, twirling among helpful animals while singing with the voice of an angel. Those movies are somewhat dated now, however, and Hollywood seems keen to re-adjust that picture – remaking those fairy tales without the sanitizing process previously employed, and instead embracing the darker, more disturbing elements of source material.

Every new interpretation is simply the latest embellishment in the life of these tales, which have been altered, edited and expanded upon for hundreds of years. They reflect both the times in which they are being told, and the capabilities of the media used to tell them. Always evolving, these are tales of human fears and anxieties, hopes and dreams, needs and desires.

Tangled (2010)

The male character here is a thief, rather than a prince, who initially becomes Rapunzel’s reluctant guide, rather than immediately the father of her children. Such adjustments to the traditional narrative make for wholesome entertainment the whole family can enjoy.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2010)

Attempts to re-imagine the character of Snow White as a self-reliant, capable, warrior of a young woman. What makes this re-imagining stand out from the crowd is the fact that it focuses on all of the foundational elements that traditional fairy tales have in common with the work of William Shakespeare. The death of a monarch parent, leaving a corrupt pretender in a position of dangerous influence; the victimization and rejection of offspring; the responsibility of the martyr child to restore peace and order – all of these plot points work to build the dramatic tension and create a framework in which an iconic and idolized female character can become an independent and capable figure, rather than a damsel-in-distress that enlists bluebirds to help with the tidying up.

Maleficent (2014)

This version of the story of Maleficent highlights an interesting point about traditional fairy tales in general. Often, the story is driven by the actions or needs of female characters – be they evil stepmothers, evil faeries, evil witches, or compliant women enabling abuses by others. But, in cinematic versions of these tales, they are pantomime villains – evil for evil’s sake, driven by power, vanity, vengeance, or money. Here, we have a look at what is rustling behind that curtain and, lo and behold, it is betrayal by a loved one.

Initial Practical Idea: Revisit

My initial practical idea was to re-illustrate children’s fairy tales, by putting a modern twist on them so that they would be relevant and reflect the morals held in society today, as it has been identified that some fairytales may be outdated and therefore are not as meaningful as they used to be. The idea is not completely original as this has been done many times before (like the examples below). However, I think most of these have been created with older audiences in mind. I don't think I have seen something that still renders the same reality in them, but with a more child friendly approach.

Massachusetts-based Illustrator Rachael Wise has given several classical fairy tales a dark, modern-day twist: In her self-described “f##ked up” illustrated series, it shows the Disney princesses like we’ve never seen them before. Ariel has chopped off her mermaid tail and put on a pair of bionic legs, Alice is seen drugged out in Wonderland, and Rapunzel has become an ‘anorexic’ runway model.

Dina Goldstein is a Canadian visiual artist based in Vancouver, Canada. She is most known for her series "Fallen Princesses", created in 2007, which depicts fairy tale Princesses placed in modern day scenarios. The series became a commentary on everyday scourges such as poverty, obesity, cancer and pollution. I like the way this image subverts the classic fairy tale narrative. Above, left we see princess Belle (the princess of beauty) getting plastic surgery to retain her looks. This juxtaposes the innocence of the childhood story and adds a realism to the fantasy. The use of colour is interesting. The muted pastel colours add a realism to the bright and colourful fairy tale we are used to.

Influence of Fairy Tales on Children: The Cons

Fairy tales might be a bad influence on women, whose roles are less liberated in most fairy tales.

The woman's portion of the story involves staying trapped in the castle and awaiting her rescue – much as once women would once have stayed at home with their parents until they met a man who could support them. Today though things are different and women are expected to have the same 'hero's journey' as men – and to live life as they choose and pursue a career and go traveling and do all the other things that men do. It could be that children who read fairy tales a lot end up with out-dated views of the woman's role and this could potentially have a negative impact on their ambition and their eventual life outcome.

Some studies have suggested that girls who read a lot of fairy tales or have a lot of them read to them have lower self images than others. This could also be because of the conventional image of the princess – of being slim and beautiful and attracting men from around the world – like sleeping beauty, 'Bell' from Beauty and the Beast.

Another problem that some might find with fairy tales is that they are often far removed from reality. Many women end up waiting out for their man that fits the image of 'Prince Charming' and who will ride in on a steed and rescue them – whereas the reality is often a beer-guzzling sports fan. - can lead to something like dissatisfaction.

Fairy tales can be somewhat scary for young children and that they often contain quite horrific images and scenes.

Many of the fairy tales we think we know – such as 'The Little Mermaid' – are in fact based on stories by the Brother's Grimm and originally these stories were much less 'Hollywood' and had rather depressing endings.

- Elizabeth Danish.

Fairy Tales And The Art Of Subversion

ZIPES, J. (1983) Fairy Tales And The Art Of Subversion. New York: Wildman Press.


They (fairy tales) have a powerful effect on how young and old behave and relate to their daily activities. Though seemingly universal, fairy tales serve a specific function in communicating the values and the various preoccupations of different nations.

Almost all fairy tale involve a quest. Therefore, their focus, whether the tale be oral, written or cinematic, has always been on the struggle to find magical instruments, extraordinary technologies, or helpful people and animals that will enable protagonists to transform themselves and their environment and make the world more suitable for living in peace and contentment.

Fairy tales, often called wonder or magic tales in oral cultures, were means of communication that afforded storytellers and listeners the opportunity to imagine and contemplate worlds more just and ideal than their realities

Once print became an effective means of communication and was followed by audio-visual modes of communication up though the present-day internet, the fairy tale was transformed and formed into paintings, moving pictures, cartoons, advertisements, plays, musicals, operas, toys, dolls, household artifacts, soap operas, and so on. In most western societies the fairy tale also had to be changed to make it more suitable or appropriate for children, for the fairy tales told in the oral tradition had never been explicitly told for children.

If we speak and use language to know the world and ourselves though metaphor, as George Lakoff and Mark Johnson maintain in Metaphors We Live By, the art of the fairy tale provides a means for understanding the real world though standard metaphorical clichés as well as through highly innovative articulations and inferences.

Fairy tales are not real; they tell us metaphorically that “life is hard,” or that “life is a dream,” and their symbolical narrative patterns that assume the form of quests indicate possible alternative choices that we can make to fulfill our utopian disposition to transform ourselves and the world.

Fairy tales test the correlation between real social practices and imaginative possibilities that can be realized but are thwarted in our everyday imaginations.

We must always ask that if the protagonists succeed in finding love, wealth, and contentment in fairy-tale melodramas, what is preventing us in reality from having the same success?

To have a fairy tale published is like a symbolic public announcement, an intercession on behalf of oneself, of children, of civilization. 

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry

ZIPES, J. (1997) Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry. New York: Routledge.


Filmmakers did not realize how rich and compelling fairy-tale material really was until the 1930s – coincidentally just as the great economic depression was shaking most of the world and causing widespread misery; just as fascism of all kinds was on the rise. Fairytale was to speak for happiness and utopia in the face of conditions that were devastating people’s lives all over the globe. Perhaps this utopian message was why Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was such a success in 1937.

(Fair tales) was never categorized as a “children’s” genre. Nor was it regarded as a genre for children.

The literary fairytales of Giovan Francesco Straparola, Giambattista Basile, Mme. D’Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle. L’Héritier, Mlle. De La Force, and other were complex symbolic social acts intended to reflect upon mores, norms and habits organized for the purpose of reinforcing a hierarchically arranged civilizing process in a particular society.

..literary fairy tales appropriated oral folk tales and created new ones to reflect upon rituals, customs, habits, and ethics and simultaneously serve as a civilizing agent. The fairytale demonstrated what it meant to be beautiful and heroic and how to achive “royal” status with the help of grace and good fortune.

To read a fairy tale was to follow the narrative path to happiness.

Not all fairy tales were the same at the time that Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Andrew Lang, and others made the fairy tale a popular genre in the nineteenth century. But they were all structured similarly to promise happiness if one could “properly” read their plots and symbols, even when tragedy occurred.

At first, fairytales were regarded as dangerous because they lacked Christian teaching and their symbols were polymorphously meaningful and stimulating.

the Grimms purposely changed their fairy tales between 1819 and 1857 to make them more instructional and moral, and other writers worked to create tales more appropriate for children.

Anderson, Wilhelm Hauff, Ludwig Bechstein, George Cruikshank, and Mme. Ségur are among the writers who sought to sweeten tales to direct them at children in a wholesome fashion.

it (Fairy tales) has also been changed in innovative ways to instill hope in its youthful and mature audiences so that no matter how bad their lives are, they can still believe that they can live happily ever after.

Writers stake out their ideological positions through fairy tales. For instance, such best selling books as Robert Bly’s Iron John (1990), Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s Women Who Run With the Wolves (1993), and James Finn Garner’s Politically Correct Bedtime Stories (1994) use the fairy tale to raise highly significant questions about social and political conditions, which reach broad audiences throughout the world.

Even more appealing to children are fairy-tale film, which take precedence over literature.
Children are more readily exposed to fairy-tale films though television and movie theatres than through books.

Of course, storytelling though books and film is only one way that children can be induced to become their own decision makers and creators. Oral storytelling have never ceased, and it continues to play a significant role in our lives. Unfortunately, most university coursed and studies of literature seem to imply that oral storytelling ended with the rise of the printing press, or that if it did not end, it has become insignificant in our lives.

Given the fact that storytelling can be profitable, many story-tellers in the Western societies make use of fairy tales because they know that children respond well to this genre.

CoP3 Proposal Feedback

I thought I would be getting this feedback around end of June time before I had anything planned so that I could get on with it earlier on in the holidays. But that was not the case, which explains for the lack of research up to this point since I was abroad and had no access to resources that I needed to start this. So now I'm having to do a little bit of a catch up. Although it looks as though I'm very behind with a blog that appears to be a little bit bare, I have done a little bit of reading (just not blogged about it). Just bare with me.. everything will be alright..

Feedback on proposal:

This direction seems fine, Aggie. This is an important and interesting area of study and would relate well to your practice. It’s suitably defined / not too broad. The problems you identify are workable and you will have time to respond to CoP effectively, despite these other commitments. Philip Pullman makes very incisive and interesting comment on fairy tales – have a look at his version of Grimm’s Tales for Young and Old (Penguin, 2013). Find some more key texts and ensure that all these are reliably sourced – search the college library journal database for published essays and articles. Reading books about child psychology generally may be too broad – stay within the identified research area which investigates the values / significance of the fairy tale for children / why the fairy tale remains an important form. There is rich potential to explore historical traditions of Illustration within fairy tales and compare them with contemporary examples – are we more risk averse to ‘scaring’ children now? What impact might this have on children today?

The key theoretical text on this matter (despite being recently exposed as plagiarized is Bruno Bettelheim’s ‘The Uses of Enchantment’, which I see you have already sourced. If you run a search on Fairy Tales and Ideology in Google Scholar, Academia.edu, and www.jstor.org, there is a wealth of material that pops up which should be of use.