Waitakere Libraries Read Between The Rhymes Craig Robertson
—Tohea—
bertson
Craig Ro
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Pictures
Fairytales are age-old
stories we know and love. But is there more to fairytales than we realise? Craig Robertson takes
a look at these questions and aims to open up the world of fairytales to show you what’s really
hidden between the rhymes. Prepare for
some unhappy endings.
nce upon a
came a way for people to pass on les-
time, in a place
sons, he says. They were “living,
where tales liest known version of Cinderella came breathing documents” which changed
were told by from Greece in the 1st Century BC. with society and societal pressures. He
candlelight to Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow also notes that Little Red Riding
patrons in a bar, White and Little Red Riding Hood – Hood’s message of “stranger danger”
there emerged fairytales we know so well – have all as well as other moral messages have
the story of a been around for centuries. Their ability applied to all people in every century
girl. Beautiful and naive, the girl ate to survive the ages has been put down and made the stories timeless.
her own grandmother’s flesh and did a to their “timeless messages”, says Interestingly, fairytales are also cross-
striptease for a hungry wolf before get-
Robert Baigent, an employee for Wai-
cultural, with different versions to-
ting into bed with him. Once upon a takere Libraries in the children’s and day’s famous tales being found in Af-
time she had no name, this unfortunate teen’s department. He says that fairy-
rica, China, Japan and North America.
young girl, but today we know her as tales originated from a time where In an act of contradiction, both the
Little Red Riding Hood.
there was no other literature available simplicity of fairytales as well as the
The fairytales we know today are some
to the masses. The only books be-
deeper meanings they posses have also
of the oldest stories on Earth. The ear-
longed to the wealthy. Fairytales be-
been cited as reasons for their success.
of beauty and freedom. The tale also awakening. The strip-tease for the wolf
made comments on sexuality and has also made the story one about
S tudents from Ruther-
ford Primary’s room
15, who have been been interpreted as being a metaphor Mummy's little girl, well, becoming
studying fairytales and narra-
for a girl’s journey to sexual matura-
not Mummy's little girl anymore.
tives, identified magic, prin-
tion. Snow White’s mother was fearful Scholars have also interpreted the story
cesses and monsters as their of her daughter growing up and be-
to be one about prostitution, rape and
most memorable features of coming a sexually attractive woman so
even paedophilia.
fairytales. However, as she tried to kill her and, in another
teacher Mrs Garton notes, scandalous twist, eat Snow White’s
the students found fairytales flesh so that she could encompass
quite obscure and difficult to Snow White’s youth and beauty within
learn lessons from. “Fairytales herself. Snow White escaped this fate
don’t always have good morals,” and after meeting a charming prince
says Mrs Garton. She brought was, very suddenly, sexually awak-
up the story of Goldilocks and ened. Many mothers today have the
its conflicting ideas. “She’s same fears, although the farthest they
the hero of the story and eve-
generally go is locking their daughter
rybody wants to be like Goldi-
in her room until she agrees
locks but really she is quite to not sneak out with
naughty.”
boys.
Sex. Rape. Adultery. Polyg-
amy. Necrophilia. Murder. “The jealous wife
Incest. They are just a few
of the themes which come
of the baron...beat
through, if sometimes very
subtly, in the earliest fairytales. Snow White black
But then, this should not be sur-
prising. You may not know it,
and blue and she
but The Brothers Grimm, fa-
thers of the modern fairytale,
was driven to an
published their fairytales for
scholars and learned
attempted
people in the 1800’s.
Earlier, Charles Perrault
suicide”
had targeted his fairytales –
such as Snow White and Cin-
Cinderella was also,
derella – at the French upper
and still is, a story
classes in the late 1600’s
about social classes and
and early 1700’s.
women’s rights with little
And for this reason, fairy-
Cinderella fighting against the odds to
tales were scandalous and dirty. achieve the only salvation a woman
Oh so dirty.
500 years ago could hope to achieve:
An early version of Snow White finding a rich husband. Feminists to-
had the jealous wife of the baron –
day don’t like the tale because it por-
the man who fell in love with trays such a negative view of women’s
the sleeping Snow White – beat abilities.
A sinister tale: Neil Gaiman retells the story of
Snow White black and blue
Little Red Riding Hood in his comic The
and she was driven to an at-
Sandman. These images come from issue 14
tempted suicide. Another ver-
L ittle Red Riding Hood is per-
haps the most scandalous tale of
all. Charles Perrault's moral at
The Collectors. Artist: Mike Dringenburg
sion had the prince know-
the end of his version speaks for itself:
These themes
ingly fall in love with and “Now there are real wolves, with hair and occurrences are not so shocking
attempt to marry Snow White’s
pelts and enormous teeth,” he says, when you consider where these tales
corpse while yet another “but also wolves who seem perfectly evolved. Women and the poor were
version had the prince charming, sweet natured and obliging, often oppressed as were lower-class
marry Snow White while who pursue young girls in the street men in the 16th and 17th Centuries in
he was still with his first and pay them the most flattering atten-
Europe. Prostitution was common In
wife! All of these versions ex-
tion. Unfortunately, these smooth-
European cities in the 16th Century
isted during and before the tongued, smooth-pelted wolves are the and prostitutes often wore red.
1600’s and made clever com-
most dangerous of all.”
"Werewolf trials" were also common
ments on the social classes Early versions of the tale had Little in 15th and 17th Century France - that
which existed in Europe. The Red eating her grandmother's flesh as a
is, killing men accused of being hun-
queen or wife of the prince op-
symbol of the younger generation gry night-creatures. Parents abandon-
pressed Snow White as a symbol pushing out the old and of sexual ing or killing their children during the
l a t e
the tales became more and more tame. explicit sexuality, they increased
m i d -
The explicit sexual references were the violence of fairytales. For
d l e
removed and characters such as evil this reason, fairytales remain
a g e s
mothers - who were originally the ones
some of the most inexplicably
was also
who tried to kill their children in fairy-
violent and cruel tales present
not so
tales - were replaced with evil step-
today and many modern inter-
s h o c k i n g
mothers to make the tales less pretations show this. As
because it was
harsh. The evil stepmother, how-
School teacher Mrs Garton
a fact of survival
ever, is an historically accurate says, “Fairytales are not
in the face of dis-
device. Many women used to always the nicest stories…
ease, starvation and
die in childbirth and when some of them are quite horri-
war. For this reason,
fathers remarried, the chil-
ble.” Robert Baigent agrees,
child abandonment is
dren of the first marriage saying that some fairytales
found in Hansel and
often found they had to are quite scary and inappro-
Gretel, Rapunzel and
compete with the jeal-
priate but he also notes, “kids
Snow White amongst
ous step- mother
need to be scared…we
other tales. Little Red
for food and
love. shouldn’t shelter [them].”
Riding Hood was
“Kids can handle some pretty
penned by Perrault for
gruesome stuff,” he reasons, say-
the sexually excessive
ing that fairytales help children
court of King Louis
learn the realities of the
“Sex. Rape.
XIV in France, 1796,
world.
and because of that
Many modern writ-
Adultery. Po-
fact the tale is quite
ers and directors have
promiscuous.
recognised that fairy-
lygamy. Necro-
S le e p i n g
tales are very good to use
Beauty, like
as starting points for stories.
philia. Murder.
Snow White
For example, the Cinderella
and Little Red Rid-
theme of a girl working her
Incest. They are
ing Hood, was
way up from rags to riches has
also a tale about
widely been used in film and
just a few of the
s e x u a l
literature – an example of this
is the 1990 Julia Roberts film
themes...in the Pretty Woman – even though
Cinderella has not directly been
earliest fairytales” referenced. In this way, fairy-
Despite this cleaning tales have become the basis of
up of fairytales, more
learning and writing literature.
subtle references were left in Some fairytales plots have
t h e
tales or added. For those who become commonplace
didn't know, Little Red Riding Hood templates for creating sto-
m a t u r a -
never used to have a red hood. It was a ries, as the students of room
tion. In one
detail added by Charles Perrault in 15 at Rutherford Primary
early version of
1796. The red hood was a detail which found. Teacher Mrs Garton
the tale, when
slowly became a subtle replacement says, “If you give them a
Sleeping Beauty is
for the explicit references to prostitu-
problem they can write a
woken by the prince they
tion and sexuality. It came to symbol-
story around it.” She found
fall in love and have sex for
ise the onset of menstruation, accord-
that breaking down fairytales
forty days.
ing to modern scholars, her flamboy-
into their essential components
The sexual content of these tales was ancy (since red was an out-there colour
helped her students in writing
present because many of the original worn often by prostitutes) and even her
complete and cohesive narra-
tales were told as adult entertainment rebellion against the social classes be-
tives.
in both the lower and upper classes of cause she refused to wear the dress of a
Mr Baigent, in his interview,
Europe. They didn't have the internet peasant.
pointed me towards many
in those days so they resorted to their
examples of modern adap-
imaginations.
T he explicit sexuality was also
taken out of Sleeping Beauty tations of fairytales in film
The tales, however, were sanitized by
and replaced by the Grimms and in literature. Among the
the Grimms and other publishers who with a hedge which was ‘penetrated’, a examples he cited were Sin
were out to make money in the 18th maiden who was ‘pricked’ and a tower City and Sandman comics
and 19th centuries.
shaped suspiciously like a man’s which used Little Red Riding
They found that the stories, originally nether regions instead of a cottage or Hood in stories about murder
targeted at adults, could be popular castle.
and sexual deviance. Many
with children and each new revision of But while the Grimms toned down the other Fairytales have also be-
come the basis for murder stories, There were almost 10,000 divorces in
thrillers and stories of rape in the mod-
New Zealand last year. The children of
ern age.
those broken marriages would not find
D avid Slade’s Hard Candy the Grimm’s “less harsh” replacement
(2006) was a thriller adapta-
of evil mothers with evil stepmothers
tion of Little Red Riding helpful or reassuring. Such a portrayal
Hood which had Little Red as a confi-
is perhaps outdated in the 21st Century.
dent young teenager and the wolf as a As is the portrayal of women as being
30-year-old paedophile. Jeff Wadlow’s passive and helpless, a detail many
Cry Wolf (2005) adapted Little Bo scholars and feminists have picked up
Peep, Little Red Riding Hood and the on as being damaging and potentially
Boy Who Cried Wolf to create a mod-
negative for children. The emphasis on
ern psychological thriller based around marriage in Western fairytales – al-
a serial killer called “The Wolf”.
most every tale involves some sort of
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth courtship – is also concerning in a
(2005), a Spanish fairytale/historical modern age where there is a
n
drama, incorporated fairytales into the alarming push for girls to
plot. The concept of the film, as Del grow up faster than
Toro says, was the idea that “we invent
they should.
creatures that help us make sense of
the world.” The film’s main character
“That’s what I
Ofelia creates a world of fairytales to
explain the Spanish Civil War. “That’s
love about fairy-
what I love about fairytales,” says Del
Toro, “They tell the truth, not organ-
tales; they tell the
ized politics, religion or economics.
Those things destroy the soul. That is
truth, not organ-
the idea from Pan’s Labyrinth.”
These examples of fairytale adapta-
ized politics, relig-
tions show a full-circle change in how
fairytales have been viewed over the
ion or economics.
years.
But how relevant are fairytales to to-
Those things de-
day’s society? We live in a danger-
ous world, filled with harsh realities.
stroy the soul” —
The issues in the earliest fairytales
such as rape, murder and child
Guillermo Del
abuse are still issues today. The
modern adaptations of fairytales for
Toro
murder and thriller stories show that
fairytales have intellectual worth but
The concept of
how they are generally looked at must
teenage marriage,
be considered. When asked, the stu-
which
is often the type found in
dents from Rutherford Primary’s room fairytales, is a further example of how
15 said that they had not read or lis-
fairytales are out of touch with modern
tened to fairytales since they were society as is the emphasis on social
much younger, around the ages of 3 classes.
and 4. So what audiences are fairytales
actually reaching and what does this D espite this, the sanitized tales,
as well as their scandalous
tell us? Fairytales, it seems, are being
counterparts, had other mes-
read to children until they are only 4 or
sages and morals which make them
5 and, as teacher Mrs Garton acknowl-
timeless pieces. The messages of be-
edges, at these ages children are waring of strangers, having dreams and
unlikely to be able to grasp any mes-
using your wits to overcome problems
sages from the tales. This may mean applied to people in the 16th Century
that fairytales have lost their relevance and apply today. The messages have Mode
and importance in teaching children. run alongside the hidden meanings in
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—Craig Robertson, 20008
