In this video, created as a promotional accompaniment to Oxford University Press’s Fairy Tale: A Very Short Introduction, its author, the scholar Marina Warner gives an overview of what she sees as constituting a fairy tale.
Are any of these points at odds with your experience with fairy tales? Was anything something you hadn’t considered before?
I had no idea that Shakespeare’s Summer Night was a fairy tale, but when you think of it, a plot about lovers, magical fairies, a fairy king and queen, and a woman of great beauty does sound “fairy tale-like”. I never really considered that the fairy tales I grew up seeing were actually variations of stories from the past that were told by previous storytellers.
I mostly agree with number 10, on how the characters usually overcome their challenges or fates but I think there can be exceptions like most of the Brother’s Grimms fairytales. For example, in some versions of Little Red Riding Hood, she is still eaten by the wolf at the end of the story. Something I hadn’t considered before is number 4, where Marina Warner talks about a “shared language of symbol and images.” These symbols are so familiar, and they show how common the fairy tale repertoire is throughout different cultures.
Based on my knowledge of fairytales I pretty much agree with everything the speaker said. How usually there is an obstacle that a person must overcome and the involvement of magic and magical beings. I would love to learn where our most known fairytales original stories come from.
After watching this video, I believe that the historical context she provides adds layers of understanding to familiar tales. For example, the story like “Cinderella” have evolved over centuries and carry embedded commentaries on societal structure.
You are correct in saying that the “Cinderella” fairy tale have evolved over the years and reflect many of the norms we see in society today, like gender roles and class structure and the how society depicts beauty and the role it plays.
I am familiar with most of the points mentioned. I did not know that a fairytale is always a short story – but when you think about it, most of them made into long films actually have a short plot of events.
Hi Kajol. I too had no idea that fairy tales are always short stories. But I guess it depends on what is considered to be a short story. I read that a short story is usually between 1,000 to approximately 8,000 words, has a single plot, a small amount of characters, and can be read in one sitting.
I agree with these points mentioned, but one thing that I had not considered was the fact that films have played a huge role in fairytales. Thinking back, I never read the book cinderella, but instead, I am familiar with this fairytale because of the film. Another point that was mentioned was that fairytales give hope and we know that although it is a fantasy world, it still doesn’t mean that we have to believe it in its entirety.
Cindy, I too think that I am familiar with a lot of fairy tales because I have probably watched more films as a child than the original stories / most books.
From the video many of the points she said I was already familiar with. However, I did not think about Midsummer night dream as being a fairytale, for some reason I didn’t think of fairytales as long plays but when I think about it now Cinderealla when I think of it is a Disney movie but it origionated from somewhere else before film.
I agree! Fairy tales usually always have happy endings, but the characters go through many challenges first. They face obstacles like evil witches, tricky riddles, or long journeys before they reach their happy ending. If something in the points made me think differently, it might be a new way of looking at those struggles, maybe seeing them as more complicated than just “good vs. bad.” Sometimes, fairy tales make it seem like everything works out perfectly.
One thing I hadn’t previously considered was how we can go back and reflect on fairy tales during times of hardship in our lives. Oftentimes we consider fairy tales as mystical stories that are so unrealistic that they’re too simple to relate back to our own lives. She points out that many fairy tales feature dark topics, like death and abuse. I had never considered that these fictional stories can hold so much significance to our own lives and be used as a tool to teach us how to cope.
I agree! Fairytales are full of unexpected twist, magic, mysteries. It seems like each story has a hero in a supernatural world with endless possibilities. While they are often joyful they also have dark moments such as loss, separation or betrayal.
I feel that none of the points brought up in the video were at odds with my fairytale experience. I agree with everything that was talked about but Something that I hadn’t considered before was why do fairytale’s enter very dark places. When I sit back and think about it, a lot of the fairytales we watched growing up all entered dark places: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the seven dwarfs. We never noticed it as a child because we weren’t looking for those types of things but now that we are older it’s gonna make us think. Why did the authors do that?
I never thought about fairy tales having to be short stories. I read the brothers grimm fairytales which was a collection of short stories but because of movies, I never put two and two together.
While listening to the aspects of the fairy tales it seemed like everything I noticed and that we spoke about in our class activity, just worded differently and spot on. The aspects of enchantment, heroism, being shown in books/media, symbolism and images. What stood out to me was the concept that as we enter the readings it is often taken place with something dark and we have that hope that there is a happy ending. Despite all the bad things and horror described we will be looking forward to ways we can cope with them in our enchanted stories.
I feel like all the points brought up were familiar to me. I’ve read about it or had a conversation about it when I was in lower grades
I feel that I completely agree with all of the points identified but there were two that stood out to me that I may not have considered before. Firstly, there is common knowledge amongst most everyone of what a fairytale is; however, we never explicitly say what makes us think it is a fairytale. Warner illuminated this by stating how there are certain features of a shared language of symbols and images that let us know “we’re in fairytale territory.” Warner sums this up as a “repertory of picture motifs.” Additionally, an aspect I completely agreed with about fairytales was that they often harbor really heavy and serious contents and issues, but through fairytales we may learn ways to cope with these issues.
I never really thought about how fairy tales can help us through tough times. I always saw them as just stories, but it makes sense that they start with struggles before leading to something better, kind of like real life. I grew up watching them more than reading the original stories, so I wonder how much was changed along the way.
I mostly agree with the point the speaker in this video made of fairy tales, especially the point regarding overcoming a challenge. Usually I associate fairy tales with a ‘Happily ever after’ type of ending.
Something I found interesting is that I never thought about fairytales being sad and negative sometimes. When the word fairytale comes to my head I always thought of something happy and positive.
Something that I found interesting was the fact how these fairytales usually start with a bad beginning but end in a good note or lesson. An example this is when she mentions how the “mother” always dies in the start of the story or the parent. And the family relationship with the main character.
We read A Midsummer Night’s Dream in my Shakespeare class, but I didn’t recognize it as a fairytale. After watching this video, I see how it is. It had “other-worldly” elements like fairies, magic, a forest with enchanted creatures, etc. The setting never changes, but the characters’ world is altered, thanks to the fairies in the play. I want to reread it now that I know it’s a fairy tale. I wonder if that will change the experience.
I was surprised by Warner’s point about the ambiguity of fairy tales, as I had always viewed them as simple, moral stories for children. I hadn’t considered that many fairy tales contain darker themes or can be interpreted in multiple ways depending on the context. This challenged my assumptions and made me see them as more complex cultural narratives.
Yeah, a few points actually surprised me. I always thought of fairy tales as mainly being happy stories for kids, but Marina Warner pointed out how a lot of fairy tales actually have really dark, serious roots and were used to deal with real-life fears and challenges. I hadn’t really considered before how much fairy tales are about survival, transformation, and even power struggles. It made me realize that they’re way deeper than just magical stories — they were ways for people to work through real issues in a world that could be pretty scary.
None of these points are odds with my experience with fairy tales. I somehow always assumed that fairytales were short stories. I think this because of the assumption that fairytales are targeted towards younger children.
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