What are the positive effects of fairytales and fantasy literature on children?

Question

Hello, all. I know this situation is *so* typical. I have a research paper to do on the positive effects of fairytales and fantasy literature on children. I've found a lot of great info at SurLaLune to get me started, and I'm not trying to use this board as an escape from doing the research myself, but the children's librarian at my library had no idea what I was talking about when I asked if they had "The Last Unicorn". Should I avoid citing Bruno Bettelheim completely? I don't want my professor to think I'm foolish for citing a source who's been famously discredited. I need advice about where else I can look for good reference materials.
Any advice at all would be much appreciated; it's been 10+ years since I've done a thesis paper, and I want this one to be good. It's 35% of my grade.

Small codicil here:
1. I HAVE to support the idea that fantsy is GOOD for children. That is my stated thesis and it's too late to change it.
2. I only get maybe 1 hour a week total of 'net time, I'm not great at finding what I'm looking for, and I can't cite more than 1 internet resource anyways. So as wonderful a research tool as it is...

Answer 1

They are no longer useful because they have been censored and Disneyfied to protect (so they say) young minds. People were better behaved when they were brought up with the originals, which are downright horrific, but a lot of fun, too. Go read the originals.

Answer 2

I personally feel that children need good, slightly scary fairy stories. It's only grown ups who are horrified by the darkness of some traditional tales!

The Gingerbread Man gets eaten, as does Chiken Likken, because they were vain or stupid or something. Witches die because they are evil, same goes for wolves. Kids aren't bothered about death in stories because
1) they don't really understand about death yet
2) only those who deserve a bad end die.

I think it does children good to be a bit scared by stories. It teaches them that the world isn't always nice and wrapped in cotton wool.

Dunno if this helps at all, coz it's not really literature, but when I was little I was terrified by the Daleks and Cybermen on Dr Who (UK sci-fi series). It didn't do me any harm, my son watches the new series now and doesn't have nightmares. Kids need heros and villains - it's all part of growing up!

Try the adult's library rather than the children's one, or google it, or get in touch with researchers at other universities.
Good luck with the thesis!

Answer 3

The only positive aspect about this subject I can think of is that direct your view towards why certain cultures have these particular fantasy figures and beleifs . Teaching children fantasy might enlarge there creativity and imagination, but in the long run one must teach them what the truth is rather then beleive that Zuess or mickey mouse are real. If they beleive that the lion king is a loving animal and someday they go to pet one, it might prove fatal.... like mom telling us not to put are hand on the stove, if you touch it you might get burned, so we find out sometimes a tough lesson... My thought " Keep the real world foremost in there mind and make sure they dont live in a fantasy world.

Answer 4

Fairytales and fantasy lit has been around forever in recorded human history, and perhaps even before the written word. It was most likely born out of the need of the adults in the human group to keep the children from straying out of the protective confines of their community into stray into predator territory.
Stories are easily remembered, they put a face and an identity to a moral story when a lesson has to be taught and learned.

Answer 5

Fairy Tales reflect universal themes and metaphors, and allow children to learn life-skills (social, economics, safety, logic, etc.) through entertaining stories and colorful characters. Sure, parents could just say, "Now Little Mary Sue -- don't talk to strangers," but a Fairy Tale that shows WHY she shouldn't talk to strangers is more entertaining and more likely to stick.

Literary references to classic fairy tails (e.g., Grimm) show up everywhere, and being able to understand the original reference is important. Sure, you can study these later in life in high school or college, but the real impact is the familiarity of having lived with the classic CHILDren's tales since CHILDhood.

Citing Bruno Bettelheim could actually benefit you if you also state that his OTHER work was discredited (or find a different viewpoint if you cite him). I think you'll find, however, that his being discredited was not from his fairy tale analyses but rather from his views on both autism and homosexuality, their causes, and their effects. His work on fairy tales still holds professional merit since his book (The Uses of Enchantment) recast fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychology and was awarded the U.S. Critic's Choice Prize for criticism in 1976 & the National Book Award in the category of Contemporary Thought in 1977.

See also:
- Fairy Tales and Society: Illusion, Allusion, and Paradigm by Ruth B. Bottigheimer
- The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World by Jack Zipes

Answer 6

Fairytales generally carry a strong moral lesson. That's why they have survived through the centuries.
How can you ask about research resources on the Internet? You are currently USING the greatest research tool ever devised by man! Just find a decent search engine and go for it.

Answer 7

"the_donut" above pretty much nailed it. Fairy tales and Fantasy stories are archetypal stories that go into molding behavior patterns and developing the psyche of children. Like many mythological stories fairy tales, at least on the surface, are mostly didactic in purpose and serve to provide children with example of cause and effect in behavior patterns. Through the fairy tales, children are taught to question what they see (Red Riding Hood), to follow direction (Hansel and Gretel). It is also thought that the problems the kids go through in fairy tales symbolically represent internal conflicts children have while growing up and help externalize those conflicts make them easier to deal with. There is also a whole school of thought, along the lines of Freud and Greek Myths, that the fairy tales are representative of childrens' sexual developement.

EX. Jack and the Bean Stalk. Jack has to go to the market after the cow stops giving milk. (Being weined from the mother's breast) he goes to market by himself and through his own decisions gets the magic beans. The beans are fertilized and the bean stalk grows (phallic imagery) Jack climbs the bean stalk (masturbation imagery) and defeats the Giant through his own cunning (usurping Father figure's role) and keeps the rewards for his self. Thus, some would say, that it tracks a boy's sexual developement in moving from the oral phase (mother's breast) to the phallic stage (becoming aware of individual self and power that realization gives)

Answer 8

The fanatasy world of children under age 5 is very real and very important in teaching them to think creatively.Often a child of that age can't distnguish between the real and the fantasy world.

This might help >

Answer 9

I want you to know that the Brothers Grimm fairy tales Like Hansel and Gretel really scared me and I don't think they are good for sensitive kids. The old woman wanted to eat those kids and that is not nice.

Answer 10

Of course fantasy is good for children! It's good for us too! The positive effect is that it helps children develop their imaginations.