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Author
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Comment
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princessterribel
Registered
User
(12/17/05 2:33 pm)
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Fairy Tales - Who were they for?
I have read a lot on this topic, including the genneral statements made by various critics that Fairytales were not originally for children. This topic has vast amounts of coverage with reference to the French. Although there does not seem to be much on the intended audience for fairytales other than the idea that french, aristocratic women used to tell tales to eachother in salons to amuse themselves and comment on their masculine dominated society.
Any other ideas about this?
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Writerpatrick
Registered
User
(12/17/05 5:24 pm)
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Re: Fairy Tales - Who were they for?
Many fairy tales weren't for children, but they didn't originate with society women. Fairy tales are folk tales, and they originated from the common people. It's sort of like today's entertainment industry.
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theShamanatrix
Unregistered User
(12/18/05 10:50 pm)
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Fairy tales -who were they for?
well, the tradition predates french women in nail salons.
Once upon a time, before the singer sewing machine, women would create thread on spinning wheels- a long, labourious and boring job, keeping the tension adjusted just so (sew?)to made the threads an even thickness. They would tell stories- or "spin their yarns".
The allegorical life lessons found in the oral tradition were guideposts for adults dealing with the harshness & beauty of survival on this journey.
Anthropologically speaking, "childhood" as we know it today is a rather "recent" concept :)
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princessterribel
Registered
User
(12/19/05 3:31 am)
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hmmmm....
"Anthropologically speaking, "childhood" as we know it today is a rather "recent" concept."
Thats a good point.
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered
User
(12/19/05 10:40 am)
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childhood
Well, the key phrase is "as we know it today." The Philip Aries claim that childhood as a concept
didn't exist
until fairly recently is dodgy at best, and there's a whole slew of evidence against it.
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AliceCEB
Registered
User
(12/19/05 10:42 am)
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Re: hmmmm....
"[F]rench women in nail salons" made me laugh!
More seriously, there are different sources for fairy tales: there are oral tellings, and literary fairy tales. The first came out of folklore. The second from authors who consciously decided to create a "fairy tale". Cinderella fits under the first category, whereas Beauty and the Beast fits under the second. A neat summary of this can be found here
.
Best,
Alice
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