Fairy Tale Culture

Fairy tales are a large part of popular culture all over the world, yet some of then are also considered to be great literary classics. While most people can easily recall some childhood fairy tales and have some notion of what fairy tales are, very few of these people can picture fairy tales as the subject of literary criticism and scholarly commentary or analysis. The general perception is that if fairy tales are products of the literary imagination, they are simple narratives that do not require critical study. Scholars became interested in fairytale, because of apparent ties between those stories and myths and legends.

The Grimm Brothers are mostly famous for their collection of fairytales, but they can also be accredited with founding the study of fairytales as a scholarly field. Jacob and Wilhem Grimm began the study of fairy tales as descending from ancient sources, and therefore as providing information about the past of nations and peoples and as preserving remnants of culture treasures otherwise lost or unrecorded. Thus the study of fairy tales mostly concentrated on finding the place and time of the genre's origin. They focused on German folktales because they were German.

According to an article about the Grimm Brothers in National, the brothers did not intend to create a children's collection of fairy tales. Instead, they set out to safeguard Germany's oral tradition by collecting folklores that were told to them.

"Jacob and Wilhelm viewed themselves as patriotic folklorists, not as entertainers of children. They began their work at a time when Germany, a messy patchwork of fiefdoms and principalities, had been overrun by the French under Napoleon. The new rulers were intent on suppressing local culture. As young, workaholic scholars, single and sharing a cramped flat, the Brothers Grimm undertook the fairy-tale collection with the goal of saving the endangered oral tradition of Germany." (National Geographic)

After several editions of their collection were published the brothers realized that children were becoming a major audience to their collections. They then set out to refine and soften their tales in order to make them more socially acceptable for mothers and teachers. Cruel mothers became mean stepmothers, unmarried lovers were made chaste, and punishments for the stories' villains became less gruesome. The Grimm Brothers soon became recognized as the pioneers in the field of folklore research and collection.

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Most fairy tales share many common themes and motifs. A typical fairy tale would have a damsel in distress, a handsome and courageous prince or hero, and some sort of villain, usually a monster or witch. Fairy tales typically reinforces patriarchal ideals, where the vulnerable princess falls to misfortune and awaits her knight in shinning armor to come rescue her. The female protagonist is usually extremely kind hearted, gentle, and naпve, as women ideally should be in a patriarchal society. They do not fight back when harm is present and allow others to decide the course of their life. For example, in "Cinderalla" the evil stepmother and stepsisters repeatedly take advantage of Cinderella's gentle and good nature. They treat her like a slave and she never fights back. She fully obeys what other people say, including following the instructions of her fairy godmother carefully and without question. Female protagonists are often portrayed as not having a mind of their own and rely on a male or a magical figure to rescue her.

Very few Grimm's