Week 3 Psychology in Fairytales

Psychology and fairytales are much more related than people think.  Fairytales and their contents are often thought of as a “collective unconscious”, where people all over the world have similar unconscious thoughts or feelings and mold them into similar stories.  There are many psychological aspects in fairytales and thus it is vital to use psychology to better understand them.
Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages of development are one example of psychology in fairytales.  As Dr. Mazeroff explained, Hansel and Gretel focus on the “oral” stage.  The children are left in the woods because of a famine in the town.  They then find a house made of bread and other foods and fulfill their hunger.  The food in the story fits into Freud’s stage undeniable well.  Other connections can be made between the stages and Hansel and Gretel.  The chicken bone that Hansel had and the witch being shoved in the oven (a symbol of pregnancy) can be related to the “phallic” and the “genital” stages, respectively.
Dr. Mazeroff also discussed Carl Jung and how he might interpret Hansel and Gretel.  For example, Dr. Mazeroff said that Jung would probably view the witch being pushed in the oven differently than Freud.  Jung would see the oven as more of a transitive symbol than one of pregnancy.  A piece of dough goes into the oven and comes out a loaf of bread.  The witch being killed in the oven symbolized a transition in Hansel and Gretel’s lives.  They went from children to active, problem solving, and independent young adults.
Dr. Mazeroff also touched on fairytales being used in psychotherapy.  Therapists use fairytales to evoke an answer or a clue out of children.  Depending on how they react to the fairytale, therapists can make a more accurate assessment of the child’s problems.

Week 2 Definition of Fairytale

Its hard to come up with a definition for fairytales because they encompass so many different aspects.  There are protagonists, a quest, numerous motifs and functions to name a few.  A basic definition would be that fairytales are make-believe stories spoken to the community for the purpose of entertainment.  They are passed down from generation to generation and most tales have more than one version.  Every culture has their own fairytales and folklore, but most of them follow a similar structure with respect to the characters, functions, and motifs.  Vladimir Propp outlined these similarities by listing the thirty-one functions of fairytales and seven characters.  It is remarkable that although the tales come from all over the world, they share many common parts.  The characters consist of the hero, the villain, providers/donors, a helper, a false hero, a dispatcher, and a sought after person such as a princess.  I won’t include Propp’s thirty-one functions for sake of length, but it basically summarizes the chain of events that most fairytales abide by.
Another characteristic that sets fairytales apart from regular stories is how changeable it is.  Fairytales have more than one author, so different versions of the same tale are bound to happen.  Since no one owns the fairytale, it is ok to change the story a little.  Fairytales are also supposed to be a communal event.  I don’t think this is true anymore because of globalization, but it is worth mentioning when developing a definition for fairytales.   In summary, fairytales are spoken, make-believe stories that follow a basic format of events and characters.

David Bond

I chose this class because it seemed like an interesting concept.  I also liked the idea of analyzing fairy tales through all of the different view points.  The psychoanalytical approach looks the most interesting to me.  It will be interesting to compare stories from different cultures and to read the different variations.
I hope to gain a better understanding of some of the themes and lessons in the stories and to just learn about fairy tales in general.  It would be cool to learn the history of fairy tales too.  I don’t really remember many stories from when I was younger so it will be good to hear some of them again.
My favorite fairy tale of all time is Jack and the Beanstalk.  I like it because as a kid I used to climb trees a lot so it was cool to hear a fairy tale about climbing something that high and evading a giant.  Another one of my favorite tales is Beauty and the Beast.  I don’t know if I’ve ever read it but I watched the Disney movie a lot.  I like it cause of the castle and the showdown between the beast and the other guy.