Dear Reader,
Society
has an influence on everything, whether it's the latest fashion trend
or which popular music genre to listen to. What is often overlooked,
however, is how far society's influence reaches. I chose to do my
project on society's influence on the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales. I
felt that this would be an interesting and unique topic. The tales I
mention in my project are well-known, so they should hit home with
most viewing my project. I can remember watching Disney's classics
like Cinderella
and Snow White
when I was younger, and hopefully my viewers will reminisce as I was
able to.
Before beginning my research, I knew of the Grimm Brothers, and that they had written tales for children. I knew that the tales they had written were more gruesome than Disney's innocent versions, though I didn't know just how different the tales were. Not only that, but I didn't know which specific tales they had written.
I wanted to learn who the Grimm Brothers were and how they came about writing their stories. I was guided with questions such as: where did their inspiration for writing their stories came from? Why were the stories were so gruesome? Why were their stories changed so much?
To research my questions, I used non-print sources, though I searched for print sources. These searches proved unsuccessful. However, in my non-print sources, I was able to find an online biography on the brothers that gave me a much deeper insight as to where their stories came from. I ran into a lot of blogs that proved unreliable. I did cite an article that had been in print at one time, but I couldn't find the original magazine that it was printed in.
My research has taught me so much about the Grimm Brothers, their stories, and how society has changed these stories. I learned that they weren't the original authors of the stories they published. They gathered these stories from villagers for another purpose: studying the German language. I also found that the original purpose of these stories was to scare children into doing the right thing, not to entertain them. Society didn't like that their children were becoming scared of their bedtime stories, so they began to change the tales.
I used to think that fairy tales were all about happy endings and good prevailing, however, I have found that this is not always the case. The tales collected by the brothers didn't always have happy endings, nor did good always prevail. These tales were to warn children about the dangers of growing older, and to guide them in the right direction. I would like my readers to hopefully learn more about where their childhood fairy-tales came from, and be inspired to read the Grimm Brothers' original tales.
The genres I have selected for my project include a research paper, a map, a found poem, and a magazine article. The research paper describes the origin of the Grimm Brothers' tales, then develops into the influences that society had on the tales over time. The map I have included visually represents the brothers' travels across Germany to gather their tales. Though there isn't a direct path of the brothers' journey, there are illustrations to indicate which area certain tales came from. Specific cities are named to also indicate which areas the tales came from. My third genre choice is a found poem. A found poem is an excerpt of text arranged in the form of a poem. The author of the found poem may choose to exclude certain parts of text, but may not add or rearrange the order of the text. I chose to take an excerpt from the Grimm Brothers' Aschenputtel, known today as Cinderella. The illustration with the poem represents an important aspect of the original tale. My final genre selection was a magazine article. I chose to use the article as a direct comparison of the original Grimm tales to the Disney version familiar to many today. I wanted to provide my readers with a compare and contrast of sorts, and I couldn't do so in my research paper. As you explore the genres I have provided, I hope that you are able to grow a new fascination for the tales that you grew up with.
Sincerely,
Christina
Before beginning my research, I knew of the Grimm Brothers, and that they had written tales for children. I knew that the tales they had written were more gruesome than Disney's innocent versions, though I didn't know just how different the tales were. Not only that, but I didn't know which specific tales they had written.
I wanted to learn who the Grimm Brothers were and how they came about writing their stories. I was guided with questions such as: where did their inspiration for writing their stories came from? Why were the stories were so gruesome? Why were their stories changed so much?
To research my questions, I used non-print sources, though I searched for print sources. These searches proved unsuccessful. However, in my non-print sources, I was able to find an online biography on the brothers that gave me a much deeper insight as to where their stories came from. I ran into a lot of blogs that proved unreliable. I did cite an article that had been in print at one time, but I couldn't find the original magazine that it was printed in.
My research has taught me so much about the Grimm Brothers, their stories, and how society has changed these stories. I learned that they weren't the original authors of the stories they published. They gathered these stories from villagers for another purpose: studying the German language. I also found that the original purpose of these stories was to scare children into doing the right thing, not to entertain them. Society didn't like that their children were becoming scared of their bedtime stories, so they began to change the tales.
I used to think that fairy tales were all about happy endings and good prevailing, however, I have found that this is not always the case. The tales collected by the brothers didn't always have happy endings, nor did good always prevail. These tales were to warn children about the dangers of growing older, and to guide them in the right direction. I would like my readers to hopefully learn more about where their childhood fairy-tales came from, and be inspired to read the Grimm Brothers' original tales.
The genres I have selected for my project include a research paper, a map, a found poem, and a magazine article. The research paper describes the origin of the Grimm Brothers' tales, then develops into the influences that society had on the tales over time. The map I have included visually represents the brothers' travels across Germany to gather their tales. Though there isn't a direct path of the brothers' journey, there are illustrations to indicate which area certain tales came from. Specific cities are named to also indicate which areas the tales came from. My third genre choice is a found poem. A found poem is an excerpt of text arranged in the form of a poem. The author of the found poem may choose to exclude certain parts of text, but may not add or rearrange the order of the text. I chose to take an excerpt from the Grimm Brothers' Aschenputtel, known today as Cinderella. The illustration with the poem represents an important aspect of the original tale. My final genre selection was a magazine article. I chose to use the article as a direct comparison of the original Grimm tales to the Disney version familiar to many today. I wanted to provide my readers with a compare and contrast of sorts, and I couldn't do so in my research paper. As you explore the genres I have provided, I hope that you are able to grow a new fascination for the tales that you grew up with.
Sincerely,
Christina
_
"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist,
but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
– G.K. Chesterton
but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
– G.K. Chesterton