Linguists such as the Claude Levi Strauss have thought that the hidden purpose of fairy tales is to subconsciously program the minds of children to understand adult concepts of death, love, sex, evil and power; a software download for the developing brain. The replacement of classic fairy tales with manufactured modern drivel has has had a negative impact on our children.
Thank you for sharing this perspective. I grew up with copies of Grimm’s fairy tales in both my German grandmother’s home and my own. They were part of the fabric of my childhood—strange, haunting, and often far more honest than the sanitized stories that came later. Before dementia began to take its toll, one of the last Christmas gifts my mother gave me was the Jack Zipes translation. She knew I valued the darker, older truths those stories carried. Now, reading them feels like reconnecting with her, with my grandmother, and with something ancient in myself that still understands the world through story.
This is a really great and important read and a wonderful way of describing why stories matter and why and how we can think about telling, sharing and preserving them. Thanks!
This advice jumped out at me: "family stories don’t just live in the memories of our closest relatives. They exist in the people who knew them—their friends, their co-workers, their fellow church members, their neighbors. If you want to learn more about your ancestors, reach out to those who once shared space with them. You never know who might hold a story that has never been told." I wish I'd thought of talking to my grandparents' surviving friends and neighbors when they were still with us. They would have had some interesting perspectives on my family and their world.
Linguists such as the Claude Levi Strauss have thought that the hidden purpose of fairy tales is to subconsciously program the minds of children to understand adult concepts of death, love, sex, evil and power; a software download for the developing brain. The replacement of classic fairy tales with manufactured modern drivel has has had a negative impact on our children.
Thank you for sharing this perspective. I grew up with copies of Grimm’s fairy tales in both my German grandmother’s home and my own. They were part of the fabric of my childhood—strange, haunting, and often far more honest than the sanitized stories that came later. Before dementia began to take its toll, one of the last Christmas gifts my mother gave me was the Jack Zipes translation. She knew I valued the darker, older truths those stories carried. Now, reading them feels like reconnecting with her, with my grandmother, and with something ancient in myself that still understands the world through story.
This is a really great and important read and a wonderful way of describing why stories matter and why and how we can think about telling, sharing and preserving them. Thanks!
This advice jumped out at me: "family stories don’t just live in the memories of our closest relatives. They exist in the people who knew them—their friends, their co-workers, their fellow church members, their neighbors. If you want to learn more about your ancestors, reach out to those who once shared space with them. You never know who might hold a story that has never been told." I wish I'd thought of talking to my grandparents' surviving friends and neighbors when they were still with us. They would have had some interesting perspectives on my family and their world.