Blog Entry #2

What is a fairy tale?

It is a question that many people may have to stop to ponder before answering, especially if you are fishing for a precise response. It is a rare child, indeed, who did not grow up listening to these stories over and over again. Although they may be, at times, considered simple "children's stories", they must be more than "nursery tales" if the accounts are so captivating as to stay with us our entire lives.

So what then, have analysts found about fairy tales? What makes a story a fairy tale? What have they found is true all of fairy stories?

Fairy tales are stories without authors. They are passed down by word of mouth and, as such, allowed alteration by the listener who goes on to tell the tales themselves to others. Someone who had been told a folk tale may tweak certain details that they may not like or cannot make sense of. Cultural differences and translation errors also made for various countries to have their own rendition of a popular story.

They are simple tales. They are often repetitive and predictable. The hero or heroine will complete a task "just in time". Good triumphs over evil, and the day is saved. The characters are one-dimensional. The plot drives the story forward, rather than the characters that are, in turn, never complex. They fall completely into their stereotypes. There are the bad and the good. There are never characters that could fall in both categories. Characters are in the plot for the functions they perform and nothing about them is known unless it is absolutely essential to the story.

For the sake of the plot, characters will also do things that do not make sense. In Sleeping Beauty for instance, why would a father who loves his daughter not tell her about her enchantment, but rather, in the name of protecting her, destroys all of the objects in the kingdom that may present her harm, so that she grows up without knowing what a spindle is?

With such elements, how is it that they are stories that seem to affect nearly everyone who hears them? Why are they told and retold throughout the generations? Why do we love them so much, if they are tales that seem void of substance?

For as simplistic as they are, they are not without their charms. They don't always make perfect sense, but they are created in another world. It is relatable, but certainly not the same place where we are living. Fantastical things happen that have the power to intrigue and captivate us as we become entranced in the wonderful world that is so very different from our own where anything seems to be possible. They may be stories in there rawest forms, but they are very believable to children, who can often find at least one story to which they relate. They are powerful works, having been used by psychologists to help heal their patients and help them move on or deal with a situation.

Fairy tales, although extremely uncomplicated and straight forward works should not be taken at face value. For all of their far from elaborate structures, they make up for it. They may not be descriptive or graphically depicted, but it allows for the listener to create the world with their imagination. A fairy tale is a story that is as much yours as it is anyone else's and you have the power to make it so.