Position Paper

Research Question: How do the peaks in the evolution of Fairy Tales show their fairy tale interpretations to be a reflection of the social context in which they are created?
There are many sources out there dealing with fairy tales and the settings in which they were written. Since I’m coming into this topic wholly anew, the first source was a great starting source from which I could branch out:

“The Moral of the Story.” Current Social Issues| Moral Values | Health Care, Science, Environmental News | Vision Media. Web. 18 Sept. 2010. http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=153

The source offers insight into the major peaks of fairy tale evolution and offers support of my research question. For example, Charles Perrault in 18th century France had an interpretation of Cinderella where she drops the slipper on purpose and the source mentions how sexuality and social mobility into aristocracy was prevalent in those times (i.e. kings having relations with their servant girls). Consequently, it points to a possible claim that the French Cinderella does in fact represent the ambitious poor girl of the time. If we look at the Grimm Brothers in 19th century, their fairy tale interpretations run alongside the Romantic period of 19th century, where religion and Christian morality played a large role. It was most interesting, however, to read that 18th century England began to mass-produce fairy tales for children, paralleling a shift in society where literacy and “a budding children’s culture” was on the rise. It seems that 18th century France and England had radically different fairy tale interpretations, French being overtly sexual and the English being much more focused on communicating morals to children. So if more research is done about both cultures of this time the link between Fairy Tales and their social context can be established even more so.
In addition, if the claim that fairy tales, such as Cinderella, reflect the moral values of the society at the time, this claim could be extended to contemporary time. For example, 1997’s adaptation of Cinderella, where she is African American, reflecting the prevalent racial issues in American society, and perhaps their gradual resolution.
The second source is a more critical examination of fairy tales and how researchers perceive them:
Weber, Eugen. “Fairies and Hard Facts: The Reality of Folktales.” Journal of the History of Ideas 42.1 (1981): 93-113. JSTOR. University of Pennsylvania Press. Web. .

The source mentions the high mortality rates of women especially during childbirth in 19th century Germany, paralleling Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella, which deal with child neglect and a wicked stepmother, respectively. It was interesting to learn from the source that the Grimms’ opening lines to about half of their fairytales points to the tie between the stories and real life: “In days of yore when God Himself still walked the earth, the land was much more fruitful that it is now” (96) and “In days of old when wishing still did some good, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful…” (96). This contrasts to the conventional start “Once upon a time…” which suggests that the story is going to be wholly made-up. This could be an interesting piece of evidence to look into in support of my claim that the Grimms did want to include significant religious overtones in their fairy tales to reflect the time period.
What was interesting in this section was his mention of Hansel and Gretel, a fairy tale of German origin (Grimms), and his drawing a parallel between it and the occurrences of the time not only in Germany but in France. He gives an anecdotal example about Jean-Roch Coignet, a well-known French soldier, who wrote about Restif de la Bretonne’s father who widowed and then remarried. What followed was a story a lot like Hansel and Gretel where the stepmother took his children to the forest and left them there. The significance of this anecdotal case that it shows that perhaps Fairy Tales have components that are general enough to be applied to universal matters (orphans, mean stepmothers etc.). So the extent to which each major peaks’ fairy tale interpretations mirror the time period and culture isn’t clear-cut, so it would be more rewarding to look at the specific changes that took place from peak to peak and how those changes reflect the society.