The Impact of Traditional and Modern Fairy Tales on Society and Its Individuals

Abstract

The genre of fairy tales lacks a concrete confinement, allowing its stories to span across age, asserting a variety of themes and captivating a wide range of audience members. The familiarity of such traditional stories, however, sets a precedent for the genre - an ability to assert a lesson and an element of escaped reality. Fairy tales exist even in modern times and reappear in existing and novel ways. Both traditional and modern fairy tales possess an extremely important role in societal expectations, disturbances in human desire, and the ideals/behaviors of individuals, regardless of age. With the use of both traditional and modern day texts, it becomes evident that fairy tales have an overwhelming impact on readers. Their themes, settings, characters, and plots promote relevant expectations and ideals society expects individuals to maintain throughout their life. More importantly, it reveals the innate attraction that readers have toward these works and what that says about humanity. Details from selected works demonstrate these prominent fairy-tale characteristics across mediums (text, film, and life-size attractions) and provide evidence affirming the assertion that fairy tales have an impactful power on the actions and thoughts of individuals and the important themes of society.