Lately I've been wondering about the so-called negative impact of fairy tales on children. I watched Disney movies and C.H. Andersen movies when I was young (also read lots of fairy tales), but I never really bought into "finding my own prince" or "living happily ever after". Maybe one reason is because they're all foreign stories, lived by foreign people with blonde hair or blue eyes etc., so I feel a "gap" between myself and the stories. For me, they were just stories, figment of imagination. They were just fun to watch/read, except for the original Little Mermaid which ended with her death - I cried buckets after watching the cartoon and I think that was the beginning of my dislike towards sad endings. I don't like all movies with sad endings, but I don't like sad endings which I think are rather "useless" - I mean, after all that she has sacrificed for the prince, in the end she can't win his love (and he doesn't know what she has sacrificed for her) he he he...I'm a romantic at heart, what else can I say? :-D
Besides, as I grew older, I heard plenty of stories about "troubles in paradise" (read: in marriage relationships), so I knew from a young age that relationships doesn't equal "living happily ever after". I know I'm not a parent so I can't really know what the impact these kinds of stories have on children, but I just wanna share my POV as a child at one point in time.
How about you? Do you think fairy tales have impacted you in a negative way?
P.S. The same thing goes for Santa stories. It's funny when some people here asked me if I believed in Santa when I was young, but I always feel a "gap" 'coz Santa is portrayed as a foreign guy with white, long beard, so for me Santa only exists in stories.
In my last post, I forgot to say that I had ordered a new pair of boots. They were on a sale in one Finnish website. I also ordered a pair of sports shoes for Arttu's birthday. Even though his birthday is in March, but still I thought that it'd be cheaper for me to buy them in one package so that I'd only pay one shipping fee he he he he...
I decided to buy a new pair of boots since my two boots are a bit too tight if I need to wear two pairs of thicker socks. I found the boots online and they cost only €20 (compared to the ones in the stores in Sodankylä which are still WAY costlier than that even after they're on sale!!!).
I also asked Arttu to try on his shoes just in case they didn't fit. After all, we could return them if they didn't fit. I haven't paid for them yet since I can opt to pay it next month HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...^_________________________^ Oh, and yeah, fortunately they DO fit.
OK, now let's talk about my second topic: The Little Mermaid.
When I was small, I remembered watching the original version of The Little Mermaid (not the Disney version with a happy ending). I still remember it clearly as if it was yesterday. I was hoping that the mermaid could end up with the prince, yet the prince didn't recognize her as she had lost her voice in order to be a human. I was crying profusely at the end of the movie as I thought it was SO unfair. She had lost her beautiful voice just to be with the prince, yet the prince didn't know that it was her and he ended up marrying someone else!!!
Come to think of it, I think it was the first time I started hating sad endings. I no longer hate sad endings that much now, except for some sad endings in which I think the hero or the heroine dies for nothing.
How about you? Do you dislike sad endings, too? Or do you think they're important as they reveal that real life isn't "they live happily ever after"?
I grew up watching Pinocchio, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and all those wonderful cartoons. I also grew up reading lots of fairy tales, including Hans Christian Andersen's stories. I remember having two THICK volumes of fairy tales with WONDERFUL illustrated works of art. I LOVED being immersed in a different world, a world where reality didn't reign. A world where imagination runs amok. What a free-spirited world!!!
How about you? What did you grow up with? ;-D
