Hanna Falvey- Final Blog Post

I believe that fairy tales shape us into the people we are. All of us have grown up hearing various kinds of fairy tales with so many different characteristics and components to each story. Fairy tales and fables teach us about society, class, relationships, emotions, values, vices, and so much more. As we grow up hearing these stories, they can almost represent the dreams we aspire to have, such as someone finding their true love, or being able to go on wonderful adventures and be the hero. So many characteristics go into what a “hero” is, and the definition of a hero can be different for everyone. After taking this course, I learned that many heroes found within fairy tales were usually male, which really demonstrates the patriarchal views society had when these stories were made and told. Of course, there were some fairy tales with a female heroine, however, it wasn’t as common as a male hero. I find it fascinating that with time, one can analyze how female heroines started to emerge more frequently, which I personally believe is wonderful and much needed! Also, Fairy tales are important because they spark the imagination. They give us an outlet for experiencing things in our minds before we experience them in the real world. In a fairy tale anything can happen and any kind of creature can exist, and when anything can happen, we can find solutions to things in our real lives. Lastly, I don’t believe our class didn’t really miss anything other than being able to read more stories! For the next class, I believe it would be really worthwhile watching a Disney movie and connecting it to the articles our class read by Zipes and have a discussion.