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noun Sometimes fair·y sto·ry [fair-ee stawr-ee] .
- a story, usually for children, about elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, or other magical creatures.
- an incredible or misleading statement, account, or belief: His story of being a millionaire is just a fairy tale.
Okay, but a scholar of folk and fairy tales (which is a thing, and I almost did that as an academic side-career) will point out that fairy tales often are not for children, or weren't originally. (Grab yourself a copy of Off With Their Heads! by Maria Tatar, a lot of public libraries have it and it's fascinating stuff, especially if you have a background in literature.) Fairy tales usually started out as fantastical tales adults told to while away the time, or while working--the early-Modern equivalent of putting on a podcast while engaging in a craft or hobby--and only started to be associated with teaching children morals after what Tatar and other scholars who study culture call "the invention of childhood" in the 19th century. In the post-Recession landscape, I'd argue fairy tales have reverted to being a genre primarily for adults; note the popularity of short story anthologies of "modern fairy tales" written for adults, the ubiquitous adaptations and re-imaginings into new settings or reframings, the frequent use of fairy tales to explore sexuality or as a premise for porn...(if you're surprised...why??)
I'd further argue that this resurgence of fairy tales, and their use in media for adults, has happened because of what one theory posits the original purpose of fairy tales was.
Here's where I start fangirling a little.
Ruth Bottigheimer, in her 2009 book Fairy Tales: A New History, traces the origin of the fairy tale genre to Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries. She describes the Italian city-states at that time as locales that were experiencing a sharp uptick in urbanization--lots of working class farmers and so on leaving their rural homes and finding work in the cities. This meant a lot of newcomers, low on the social hierarchy, in full view of the more established city-dwellers, some of whom were fabulously wealthy, or at least who held noble titles. In other words, an influx of workers struggling to keep up with a rat race, and watching the then-equivalent of 1-percenters seemingly not having to lift a finger, enjoying luxury and security, and out of touch with the people whose labor they benefitted from.
Sound familiar?
Bottigheimer espouses the theory that fairy tales--simple tales told in a simple style, about low-born people who gained social status through magic or fantastical intervention--came about because of these circumstances, and I argue they're experiencing a resurgence because of a similar societal milieu in the world economy since 2008.
Fairy tales are essentially stories of hope. People look around them and feel overwhelmed, unable to get ahead or even keep up by following the rules laid out for success in their society, and think to themselves that the only way out would be some sort of divine intervention, a cheat code for reality. That lends itself to stories of people who, through hard work, perserverence, cleverness, or trickery, get a miraculous opportunity and run with it, achieving as their reward the stability and freedom from worry they desire. Because it is worth noting, as Tatar and other often do in their scholarly works on the subject, that so often "happiness" is not the goal; that is to say, being constantly over the moon with your own success is not meant to be the happily-ever-after of these stories: having enough to not have to worry is. Often someone ends up marrying a prince or winning a kingdom for themselves, but the prize is the magical object, ability, alliance, or knowledge that solves a problem, and when they draw the attention of the powers that be, they simply maximize their benefit from it.
Bottigheimer introduces, in her book, a formula that stories traditionally understood to be fairy tales are constructed off of. Not having the book in front of me, I'm quoting imperfectly from memory:
A poor boy or girl is suffering want OR a well-born person has a crisis ---> magical aid intervenes ----> trials and obstacles are navigated ---> the protagonist achieves a happy ending in being elevated from their prior state.
This is just filler text for now, all, I need to outline this more first and then I'll be able to fill it in later.