Summary: Gender Roles Indoctrinated Through Fairy Tales In Western Civilization

es II Swami Shreeji II i

Gender Roles Indoctrinated Through Fairy Tales in Western
Civilization

Henal Patel
Advisor: Professor Nancy Hewitt
Department of History

II Swami Shreeji II ii
Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………….3
Chapter 1: Defining Fairy Tales…………………………………………………..7
Chapter 2: Female Roles in Fairy Tales………………………………………….18
Chapter 3: Male Roles in Fairy Tales…………………………………………….37
Chapter 4: Fairy Tales in Contemporary Times………………………………….49
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..58
Another significant change starting in the latter part of the eighteenth century when the stories were sanitized for children. Indeed, most of the earlier tales were rather graphic and violent. Even the relatively censured Grimm Brothers’ versions included material that would be considered far too explicit for children in modern times. Disney sanitized them further. Although, often criticized for not creating any original stories, until arguably The Lion King, Disney managed to achieve something amazing: fairy tales, through children’s books and movies stayed embedded in our society. As a result, children in the kindergartens of Iowa can still recite, in some version, the very same stories the Grimm Brothers’ heard as they traveled around Germany. Marcia R.
Lieberman has noted that “the best-known stories…those that Disney has popularized, have affected masses of children in our culture. Cinderella, the Sleeping Beauty, and
Snow White are mythic figures who have replaced the old Greek and Norse gods, goddesses, and heroes for most children.”