Honors Theses
Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Natalie Schroeder
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis investigates the influence fairytales have on society, how they dichotomously reflect cultural worldviews yet set standards for appropriate behavior and prescribe hegemonic ideologies. It specifically explores the fairytales told in America over the last couple of centuries, examining how those stories have evolved in correlation with the shifting values of the country. Each chapter lays a foundation for how certain characters are normally portrayed in fairytale tradition - the hero, the beauty, and the villain - and then evaluates how our culture has Americanized those figures, consequently making each of them less idealistic or archetypal and evolution of fairytale storytelling from oral tradition to literary narrative to film, observing the influence of each medium on the tales and the shifting relationship between naiTator and audience and concluding that fairytales should not be dismissed as vapid children’s literature but understood to be the voice of society that reveals what that society is and what it wants to be.
Recommended Citation
Buchanan, Chany Fehr, "Into the Magic Mirror: The Narratives that Reflect Our Lives and Dictate How We Should Live" (2012). Honors Theses. 1960.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1960
Accessibility Status
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