I strongly believe that fairytales are an integral part of of our culture, and convey ideas about reality to children, express messages through simple storytelling, and can also manipulate people.
I believe that fairy tales incorporate themes based on reality, and through metaphors, parents show their children what the “real world” is like. Jack Zipes supports this idea and illustrates how through it, we are able to identify and deal with the harsh truths of our world – “Fairy tales, since the beginning of recorded time, and perhaps earlier, have been ‘a means to conquer the terrors of mankind through metaphor.”
Fairy tales also include morals, which is particularly seen in Beauty and the Beast. As Belle falls in love with the Beast, children are also taught how to not ‘judge a book by it’s cover.’ Gilbert Keith also expands on this idea of morals, saying that “There is the great lesson of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ that a thing must be loved before it is loveable.”
Although I strongly believe that fairy tales are an important part of our culture, these simple stories are often conveyed in a stereotypical manner, manipulating people to look at life in a certain way. For example, many fairy tales often include a princess being saved by the prince, and end up living ‘happily ever after.’ However, this is very unrealistic, as love doesn’t work out all the time, and further portrays that women are reliant on men.