Transcript Fairy Tales: Origins and Background

Genre Study: Fairy Tales
Unit Standards:
RL.8.5, RL.8.7, RL.8.9
W.8.3, W.8.6
What do you know about fairy tales?
Examples?
We will learn…
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What are fairy tales?
Elements of fairy tales
Origins of fairy tales
Oral stories
The writing down of fairy tales
The Brothers Grimm & Hans Christian Andersen
Disney and modern versions
What are Fairy Tales?
Fairy tales are short stories that usually include
some form of magic or enchantment and
fantastical creatures such as fairies, elves,
dwarves, or talking animals.
Even though they are called fairy tales, they
don’t always have to have fairies in them;
many don’t.
Common Elements of Fairy Tales
• Do not have to include fairies.
• Are set in the past, usually long ago (“Once upon
a time…”)
• Include fantasy, supernatural, magical, or makebelieve aspects (not all realistic)
• Usually have characters that are totally good and
totally evil.
• Objects, people, or events in threes.
• Conflict that resolves in a happy ending
• Usually has a very obvious lesson or moral
Origins of Fairy Tales
Fairy tales and folktales exist in every culture across
the world. Many of the fairy tales that you are
familiar with have ancient or very old origins and
have different versions across the world.
For example: Have you ever heard the story of
Cinderella? There are various versions of the
story of Cinderella – story changes some
throughout different cultures, but they probably
have a similar origin from very old times.
Origins of Fairy Tales
• Just how old are fairy tales??
• If there are different versions across the
world of the most famous fairy tales, where
did they begin in the first place?
Origins of Fairy Tales
1. Some fairy tales that have been attributed to
different places in the world may not have
originated there after all.
2. Fairy tales are difficult to trace.
3. It is not exactly clear when fairy tales began to
be told. As far as we can tell, they have been
told before language and stories were written
down…
Oral Tradition of Fairy Tales
For a long time throughout history, stories were not
written down. In ancient days, there may not
have been a written language system, and when
these did develop, only the richest or most
educated people had access to writing tools and
spelling/reading education.
So, for a great stretch of history, stories were not
written down, but told and retold through word
of mouth. Stories like these are called oral stories.
Oral Tradition of Fairy Tales
• Because these stories are retold again and
again without any written record, stories often
changed from one storyteller to the next.
• This is why the earliest forms of fairy tales may
not be very similar to the ones that we know
now, and why they are so different across
different places.
When were fairy tales written down?
• It is unclear when fairy tales were first written
down.
• However, when they were, it became obvious
that there were many different versions of the
same tale across the world.
• When these stories that had been traditionally
told and retold through speech were finally
written, it slowed the stories from changing so
much and helped people tell the same
versions of these stories.
The Brothers Grimm & Hans Christian
Andersen
• The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) and
Hans Christian Andersen were both influential
to the genre of fairy tales because they wrote
them down. The writing of fairy tales and their
popularity led to a more standardized version
of each tale than previously, when the stories
were only told orally.
The Brothers Grimm
• Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were brothers and
German academics and researchers. Together,
they collected popular folk stories and wrote
them down. They invited storytellers into their
home and transcribed the stories that they were
told. They sometimes cleaned up the violence of
some stories.
• Together, they produced a large collection of fairy
tales called Children’s and Household Tales.
Theirs became the most popular version of each
fairy tale.
Stories You May Know from The
Brothers Grimm
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Rapunzel
Cinderella
Rumpelstiltskin
Snow White
Sleeping Beauty
Hans Christian Andersen
• Andersen was a Danish author of novels,
plays, and poetry, although he is most famous
for his fairy tales. Unlike The Brothers Grimm,
many of Andersen’s fairy tales were original,
not retellings of fairy tales that already
existed. Many of Andersen’s fairy tales sought
to teach a moral or show how to overcome
difficulties in life.
Stories You Many Know from Hans
Christian Andersen
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The Little Mermaid
The Princess and the Pea
Thumbelina
The Emperor’s New Clothes
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Modern Versions of Fairy Tales
As we have seen, fairy tales have been told to
children and adults for centuries and
centuries. Now, you might hear them from a
parent or read them in a fairy tale collection
book. Or, you might be familiar with fairy tales
through more modern forms of entertainment
as they have made their way into movies and
television shows.
Disney
The Walt Disney Company has been responsible
for turning various fairy tales into animated
films. This tradition began with Walt Disney
himself producing Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves in 1937 and has continued through
Frozen in 2013 (Frozen is loosely based on
Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Snow Queen”).
Disney’s versions of the tales are often
cleaned up and given more details.
Fairy Tales in Disney Movies
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves
Pinocchio
Alice in Wonderland
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
Mulan
Princess and the Frog
Tangled
Frozen
*In 2016, Disney will put
out a new movie based
on the story of Jack and
the Beanstalk
Fairy Tales on Television
• A number of
recent television
shows have also
been based on
fairy tales.
• Beauty and the Beast
• Grimm
• Once Upon a Time
• Once Upon a Time in
Wonderland
• Shelley Duvall’s Faerie
Tale Theatre
Fairy Tales’ Importance
• The persistence of fairy tales throughout time
from ancient beginnings to modern
adaptations shows just how valuable they are
to our culture and storytelling traditions.
• Fairy tales continue to be popular because
their morals continue to be valuable to whole
cultures and they link different cultures
together in their shared/similar stories.