There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of agreement on the subject of what a fairy tale is, just that it doesn’t actually need fairies. So I started thinking, what does make a fairy tale?
· Moral
Should there be a moral to the story? Does the hero or perhaps even villain need to learn a lesson or certain wisdom before he can gain the prize?
· Magic
Most fairy tales that I can think of have some sort of inherent magic involved in them, whether it’s a witch casting a spell on a young prince or talking animals…magic of some form is involved. But does the story need magic to make it a fairy tale?
· Myth
Are fairy tales based on some form of truth, whether it’s a tradition, legend, fable, or just an old wives tale?
· Happy ending
Does every fairy tale have to have a happy ending?
I would certainly not say that a fairy tale needs all of these components to be a fairy tale, but I still can’t quite put my finger on what does make a fairy tale. Perhaps my problem is that I’m analysing it too much, and what defines a fairytale is more about the way the story makes you feel or what you think, rather than its content and structure.
What’s your opinion - what makes a story a fairy tale?
2 comments:
Ooh err.. this brings back memories a little. I seem to remember we did about "what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale" in year 8 and even went off and wrote our own using a particular thing to keep it a fairy tale but I cannot remember what that was. I want to say fairy tales need a bit of whimsy, but what about dark fairy tales? They're not too whimsical and are no less fairy tales. It's basically the same deal as fantasy, good overcoming evil, with a loose moral behind it (usually: don't be naughty). It's hard to define when you haven't stupid English Literature in about 4 years!
I wish I had had an English lesson like that! That would be such a fun class!
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