Forever young: Childhoods, fairy tales and philosophy

Abstract

Fairy tales play a substantial role in the shaping of childhoods. Developed into stories and played out in picture books, films and tales, they are powerful instruments that influence conceptions and treatments of the child and childhoods. This article argues that traditional fairy tales and contemporary stories derived from them use complex means to mould the ways that children live and experience their childhoods. This argument is illustrated through representations of childhoods and children in a selection of stories and an analysis of the ways they act on and produce the child subjects and childhoods they convey. The selected stories are examined through different philosophical lenses, utilizing Foucault, Lyotard and Rousseau. By problematizing these selected stories, the article analyses what lies beneath the surface of the obvious meanings of the text and enticing pictures in stories, as published or performed. Finally, this article argues for a careful recognition of the complexities of stories used in early childhood settings and their powerful and multifaceted influences on children and childhoods.

Integrating Fairy Tales into Reading Class: Do They Catch Young Learners’ Reading Interest?

“…The finding is commensurate with the research conducted by Tesar et al (2016) revealing that fairy tales arouse strong attraction of young learners as well as their cultural understanding (Mantra & Kumara, 2018). Such attraction is also entertainment for kids during their learning (Pulimeno et al, 2020).…”

“…The middle and higher achievers love the fairy tales as they agree that the stories are fascinating and full of imagination. As underlined earlier, fairy tales provides captivating content (Nodelman & Reimer, 1996;Pulimeno et al, 2020;Tesar et al, 2016;Violetta-Eirini, 2016). Such magnetic story content could be motivating for them to read.…”

“…Fairy tales are excitement for young learners. They are claimed to have a function in mesmerizing young learners' world (Tesar et al, 2016). Moreover, they provide colorful imagination (Zepke, Nugent & Leach, 2003).…”

“…Fairy tales as a part of narrative genre are commonly believed to be beneficial in reading. They even are said to give significant function in childhood (Tesar et al, 2016). This is due to childhood content written in tales.…”

Searching for a happily ever after: using fairy tales in primary classrooms to explore gender, subjectivity and the life-worlds of young people

“…In the 1800s, fairy tale stories came into common use and were made into child friendly versions (Young, 2004). There is a great deal of literature on interpretations of fairy tales (Bottigheimer, 2014;Tatar, 2019;Von Franz, 2017) and their power and influence on readers (Gladding & Drake Wallace, 2010;Tesar et al, 2016). For this review, the term traditional fairy tales will be used to indicate the child-friendly stories of the twentieth century and not the original source material, which was often violent and horrific.…”