Final Reflection – Victoria Johanson

Classic fairytales are the stories that have inspired many popular forms of media around us today. Fairytales are all around us, and are not going to disappear. These stories, new or old, are meant for people of any age group or from anywhere around the world. They are important due to the fact that everyone can relate to something in the tale. Fairytales matter because of the important lessons and values that circulate throughout them, most of which that are still relevant today. They have evolved from oral tales to bring groups of people together to written literature for the elite that was eventually spread and made available to everyone, then to the modern films and merchandise that we see today. Throughout this course, I have learned truly how much these tales have changed, yet have stayed the same with consistent morals and lessons. The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that most fairytales were not written for children, rather they were written for adults and had a much deeper and darker meaning than what was presented on the surface. I never really went into depth researching or learning about the history behind these entertaining tales before this course, and I usually focused on the tale itself. The Disney variations are the stories that we grew up with and we’re most familiar with, and it was very interesting to see how they have been altered over many years. I would love to read more of the original fairytales, and wish we had more time in class to do so. Also watching and comparing the movies to these tales would have provided a nice transition between the variations. It would be great to discuss the original story of The Little Mermaid and other tales that have a great presence in the Disney franchise. I cannot wait to continue reading our textbook, and discover new tales that I have never even heard of, with my new perspective on the classic fairytales.