The Importance of Fairy Tales in its Original and Newer Versions

The Importance of Fairy Tales in its Original and Newer Versions
Ever since we were a kid, fairy tales and other stories of happy ever after where either the prince and the princes lived a fruitful life after a tragedy or that the main protagonist succeeded to defeat the villain and go on with his own fate. However, what most of us do not know is the fact that most of these fairy tales are not what they are today during the times when they were created. They were not full of themes where a prince charming goes on to save the day nor when the hero lived to see another day. Back then, the original fairy tales were characterized by gruesome details and violence that would surely scare anyone who is reading them. According to Greenspan, a writer at history.com, Grimm’s fairy tales were not even designed for children back in the day when they were writing it. The stories were full of annotations and footnotes as compared to what we would consider as ‘amusing’ and ‘child-friendly’ in today’s context. “Only later, as children became their main audience, did they take out some of the more adult content”.[Greenspan, Jesse. 2013. The Dark Side of the Grimm Fairy Tales. September 17. Accessed 04 24, 2017. /news/the-dark-side-of-the-grimm-fairy-tales.]
One of the main examples of this would be the story of sleeping beauty. In today’s popular media the sleeping beauty is portrayed based on its revised version where the princess was saved from a curse (where she would sleep forever) until a prince who bears the promise of “true love” would come to give her, her first kiss. However, in its original conception, the story was based from the Grimm brother’s Briar Rose which is apparently one of the least child-friendly versions out there, due to the fact that the princess was raped in her sleep, causing her to become pregnant. The children in the original story were then born and served to the king.[Acocella, Joan. 2012. Once Upon a Time: The Lure of the Fairy Tale. July 13. Accessed April 24, 2017. /magazine/2012/07/23/once-upon-a-time-3.]
Nevertheless, I believe that these changes reflect the needs that the society needed as a whole. These changes in the story, the theme, and the genre of fairy tales as a whole happened and provided for the “moral foundation” that the children would then have as they grow. In other words, I believe that as a historical material the original versions of these fairy tales are very important even today, but as a foundation with which the children could learn and develop as good members of the society, the newer versions are necessary while the older versions must be kept as an open secret.
Some of the most gruesome and disturbing stories from the original versions of children fairy tales could be accessed through this link.
Fairy Tale Music and its Importance in Delivering the message
In line with the importance of the original and newer versions of the fairy tales in today’s society, I believe that fairy tale music (and nursery rhymes) is also a significant element that should be discussed. Just as the transition that happened between the original and newer versions of the fairy tales, fairy tale music can also be sa...