Mapping the origin of fairy tales

Many of the fairy tales that people have come to love throughout multiple generations were not the family-friendly versions that we recognize today, especially in the United States. Most were altered from their original dark plots to accommodate differing perceptions of what “fairy tales” meant.  

But why alter a story to cater to a different audience? And why turn it into a film?

Sara Lee, an associate teaching professor in the School of International Letters and Cultures, created a class to answer those questions. Fairy Tales to Disney Movies takes a look at the original German and French fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm at the beginning of the 19th century and their current perception.

“I wanted to create a course that enables students to explore the cultural impact on literature. I enjoy the cultural aha moments so much, where the change in perspective allows me to understand another person’s perspective. I wanted to create a course that encourages students to do the same,” said Lee. “Fairy tales are an ideal example of how culture and history influence the way they are written and presented.”

Lee grew up in Germany where she was surrounded by these tales. She lived next to the Black Forest, often associated in the Brothers Grimm’s stories, and read those stories with her mother. It wasn’t until she came to the U.S. that she became more intrigued by how culture impacts literature.

The origin of these “grim” stories was spoken. They were told for entertainment by the women who worked in the kitchens — and they were passed down to each new generation. The Brothers Grimm put these stories on paper and distributed them. It was the choice of characters, often animals or fantastic creatures, that had made the impression the stories were made for children.

Soon, the tales found themselves across the Atlantic where Disney picked up on the storylines but changed them due to the different target groups and cultural understanding of children’s stories. The earliest adaptation recorded was Little Red Riding Hood in 1922, originally from Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

Duncan Lien, an instructor in the School of International Letters and Cultures, has a background in German literature and also teaches the course. He has previously taught courses ranging from mythology and literature.

“I found that in these kinds of courses, especially in the fairy tales where you're dealing with stories that students tend to be more familiar with typical literary texts, that it's a good way to think about fairy tales as its own genre,” Lien said. “It develops skills in reading literature and watching movies in a critical way, offering a sort of simplified basis to what is normally discussed.”

Within the course, Lien makes sure students are deriving their analyses from textual evidence in the fairy tales, noting that despite fairy tales being simpler forms of literature to dive into, their familiarity with the stories can make it difficult to comb through everything.

“Familiarity makes you think that you don't need to reread it again, but aside from that is situating it in the social and historical context where it's been remade, realizing that these stories have been told and retold over again.

“There are Cinderella-type stories in ancient Greece and ancient Egypt that are put in these trajectories, so they've been circulating orally for at the very minimum hundreds of years before they were written down," Lien said. “Making students aware of that continual process of transformation in the way that they now have to attend to the particular social and historical context is also really important.”

Recently, Disney returned to their fairy tale roots and released a live-action remake of Snow White. With plans to tie movies like this into the course, Lee questions whether or not stories from so long ago can be tied into today’s society.

“(Snow White) tries to take an old story with its characters, storyline and sociocultural norms from over 200 years ago and make it fit our current sociocultural norms. Is that possible? Or are there some stories that simply should not, or cannot, be modernized?,” said Lee. “I am intrigued to see how studios like Disney react to their recent live-action movies and if they will reconsider whether modernizing old stories will be a successful strategy for the future.”

Learn more about the Brothers Grimm’s stories in the fall session of Fairy Tales to Disney Movies.