Tucker describes Bruno Bettelheim's take on Grimm's tales: "the horrors of wicked witches and candy houses allow children to process their darkest fears and greatest desires. Here, Freud's theories take center stage: Cinderella's shoe transforms into a symbol of female sexuality that, when lost, spells the end of virginity." Author Maria Tatar, meanwhile, has a feminist perspective on the fairy tale from the 16th century to the present. Tucker says,

She argues that the fairy-tale fear factor is less about cautioning children and more about the need to control the young adults that they become. Women in particular are meant to take notice. Gluttony, infidelity and arrogance are, she charges, all part of a "pantheon of female sins" that must be reined in at all costs. Fairy tales, according to Tatar, teach girls to accept their miserable fate so that they will become docile wives and mothers.

Jack Zipes, meanwhile, makes the hard-to-dispute claim "that fairy tales are above all products of specific cultural moments and have always been used to reinforce social norms as well as to subvert them." As these dueling analyses make clear, fairy tales have become something of an interpretive football in the past few decades, and remain so today — especially around Halloween. I've always been amused by the Freudian angle. The little mermaid's loss of her voice, for instance, is supposed to be a metaphor for castration, and when I lost my voice earlier this week, that felt pretty accurate (I also lost my keys, so I was doubly impotent). Of course, that very same tale is in a way a caution against female overreaching, since in the Hans Christian Andersen version she has to turn into a "spirit" while somebody else marries the prince. But neither Bettelheim's nor Tatar's interpretive lens quite jibes with my experience of fairy tales.

As a kid, I was obsessed with both Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre and Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. The former, for the unfamiliar, was a series of slightly wacked-out takes on popular Grimm and non-Grimm stories. One favorite of mine was "The Princess Who Never Laughed," which included a minor character named "Phlegmatic Jack." Another was the incredibly creepy "Rapunzel," starring Duvall herself, and, I'm pretty sure, a horrifying screaming radish. The Fairy Books, meanwhile, contained all the standard tales, but my favorites were somewhat off the beaten path. I remember trying to convince my dad that it was a Christmas "tradition" that he read me a story called "The Castle Kerglass," which was extremely long and involved (if memory serves) a mysterious gatekeeper holding a giant shot-put. Yelling vegetables and mystical shot-putters pretty much exemplify what fairy tales are about for me: how fucking weird the world is.

Yes, sometimes fairy tales reinforce social norms — but they almost always do it in a way that's bizarre. Outsized punishments are meted out for small sins. Fruits and vegetables are both weapons and vehicles. Lovers turn monsters and frogs into lovers. In their original versions, many fairy tales are downright terrifying, but I like them that way. Too often, contemporary children's books are meant to reassure or to teach kids an orderly view of the universe. But if there's anything I learned from Shelley Duvall and her demon-radishes, it's that the universe is disorderly and often batshit insane. No story can fully prepare you for life's disasters, heartbreaks, swine flu epidemics, and gradual pileup of family secrets and broken glassware, but fairy tales do a better job than most. So go ahead, scare your kids with the Grimms' Cinderella this Halloween. There's more where that came from.

Academic Studies Of Fairy Tales [Wall Street Journal]

Even when they have the buying power, women are damsels in distress! Clip below.

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Obviously I know what these fears are grounded on: societal pressures, subliminal messages, traditional gender expectations. And to this I say: Ms. Bierley, I see your concerns and raise you a Flora, a Fauna and a Meriweather. But in all seriousness, maybe I’m extra defensive because Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney movie, but also because nothing about this or films like it changed my ability to comprehend the choices offered to me in a modern world, to doubt my worth as a thinking person, or to confuse an animated movie with the realities of going to pre-K and getting into mud fights with little boys.

Are fairy tales antiquated? Yes, by definition. They’re ancient stories based on ancient archetypes which very often deal with good and evil in a stark way that appeals to children at least as much as do the princesses’ gowns and princes’ swords. If we’re talking about the actual Grimms’ stories, they are so bizarre and sinister and so often rooted in ancient folklore that seriously, marrying at 16 is the least of your problems. As to movies like this one? If a child lived in a room in which she watched nothing but these movies day and night, had no other influences, talked to no other children and saw no real women then, yes, she’d probably have a very warped view of the world. I’m guessing this is not the Fritzl-like case.

I would say though that if for no other reason that cultural literacy, a child should be familiar with these archetypes. Although I don’t expect to bring up my future children in a religious home, I have every intention of acquainting them with the Bible — as a symbolic text of incredible historical importance with some beautiful poetry and some fundamental lessons in it, around which we will not be completely basing our lives. I should think if they can appreciate the subtleties of that — as children can — they can understand that 16-year-old Aurora lives in a magical world populated with fairies and evil dragons which, for good and ill, is not real.

And, okay, pious generalities aside: Sleeping Beauty is a really good movie! Flora, Fauna, Meriwether and, hell, Maleficent! Are strong, independent female role models. Perhaps it should also be said that these were the characters who made the strongest impression on me as a small child, and on little girls whom I know now. Yes, Briar Rose/Aurora’s beautiful pink-blue gown was memorable, but the generic princess was far less interesting than the irascible fairies or the single most terrifying villain in all of Disney Fairytales.

So, here’s my advice to Ms. Bierley. Give yourself — and your niece — credit for intelligence and good sense. Thank the good lord we live in a time where, at least as little children, we can enjoy a fairy tale as a fairy tale at the same time as we can admire strong female role models and take our place in the world for granted. A feminist — even a little one — can still enjoy Sleeping Beauty while maintaining her cred, and while the trees might still be thorny, the forest is a much nicer place than it was. And this is a wonderful thing! There’s a lot of things to worry about out there – I don’t think you need lose sleep over this one.

How do you handle 'Sleeping Beauty' and other fairy tales with young girls? [Entertainment Weekly]