The Value of Fairy Tales Part 3
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My research has persuaded me - fairy tales do continue to serve a purpose in the 21st century.
Besides being entertaining (upholding the argument that humans learn better when their attention is engaged) and offering moral lessons (not by scaring children into good behavior but rather by showing them the consequences of making good vs. bad decisions), the use of them today sustains the legacy of storytelling begun thousands of years ago – the tradition that binds humans together across continents, cultures, languages, and generations.
In her book Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale, Marina Warner states it this way:
“Fairy tales are stories that try to find the truth and give us glimpses of greater things.”
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While the actual stories may be shocking or troubling, the messages fairy tales impart have always been allegorical. There wasn’t a literal wolf in grandma’s nightgown and the sky wasn’t really falling. The stories are grounded in innuendo and have always required inference:
Be careful. Be smart. Treat others the way you would have them treat you. Don’t talk to strangers. Be a good friend. Bravery wins the day. Don’t believe everything you hear. Listen to your heart. Tell the truth.
But there’s more!
Studies show that the value of fairy tales and their continued use goes deeper than merely imparting guidelines for life. Some of fairy tales’ most important benefits include:
Igniting imagination, creativity, and wonderment
Observing how characters handle adversity, find solutions, and overcome baddies, which in turn, aids in developing emotional resilience
Exposing children to different value systems and cultures
Contributing to cognitive development by expanding vocabulary, fostering critical thinking skills, and improving comprehension
Speaking for myself, I never really liked fairy tales, and my parents never read them to me because I was prone to having bad dreams. Hmm! Big surprise. Even when Walt Disney started adapting fairy tales into movies, I had a hard time falling in love with them. As I recall them through my inner child’s eyes, I remember them being dark and uninviting - Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty - despite their happy endings. And I definitely did not like Snow White in that glass casket! Even temporarily.
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It wasn’t until I had children of my own and the art of animation became crisper and modernized that I started to enjoy the Disney studios’ adaptations – The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Tangled. Paired with uplifting music and bright palettes, these fairy tales were my idea of entertainment. Forget the moral lessons and pass the popcorn!
Joking aside, I have quite humbly learned that the subject of fairy tales falls into the realm of anthropology - possessing depth and breadth, its layers do not lend themselves to immediate understanding, like the proverbial onion (but since I’m currently watching the Great British Bakeoff, I’ll change that to laminated pastry). I suspect a true understanding of their importance and value can only be achieved with years of study.
If you’re interested in reading more about this subject, here is the link to a thoughtful argument supporting fairy tales’ contribution to a child’s development:
https://www.learningthroughliterature.com/5-reasons-fairy-tales-are-good-for-children/
