Research Article

FAIRY TALE AS ONE OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF POLITICAL DIS-COURSE

Volume: 5 Number: 14 September 15, 2019
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IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences
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FAIRY TALE AS ONE OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF POLITICAL DIS-COURSE

Abstract

Political fiction has a long history, dating back as far as Aristophanes and Plato. Being concerned with the themes like criticism of the contemporary ruling power, their policies, unjustness and social problems, politi-cal fiction has been used by authors like Jonathan Swift, Thomas More, George Orwell and many others.

Fairy tales, at first glance intended for children, convey a wide range of implications including the social and political issues. For example, Brothers Grimm are said to have played a great role in forming a German na-tional identity. Fighting against the French occupation, the authors believed that spreading national con-sciousness through their fairy tales would encourage children, and not only, to strengthen the cultural identi-ty.  However, Brothers Grimm national propaganda later led to extremes and turned into popularizing the Nazi. Nevertheless, at the same time, it proved that fairy tales are quite capable of spreading prejudice among the persuadable audience. George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a fairy story, is an outstanding allegorical novel against the Soviet Union and Stalinism, whereas some of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales can be considered to be one of the best political tales of his time. 

This paper studies the political fiction of Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and George Orwell, as well as the Georgian and American modern writers’ political discourse manifested in tales and its implica-tions. Based on comparative and qualitative methodology of research, the tales are divided into expressly, subversively or accidentally political tales and discussed from the standpoint of  hidden or obvious political messages, their historical background and importance. As well as this, it discusses the reasons behind the increasing popularity of political fairy tales in the 21st century. Indeed, the study generates a clear image that the authors use the fairy tales to explore the socio-political state of the country and express their opinions. They have found a perfect way to get across their ideas and reshape the most important part of the society- the future generation.

Keywords

References

  1. Andersen, H. C. (Hans Christian), 1805-1875. (2006). The complete Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. New York :Gramercy Books, BBC News (2016, 20 January) Fairy tale origins thousands of years old, researchers say. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35358487 Bundo, M., Twiss, J., & Keller, E. G. (2018). A day in the life of Marlon Bundo. Blackburn, S. (2007, August 8). Plato’s ‘Republic’ Still Infliential. Author Says. Talk of the Nation. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12594668 Bloch, D.E. (2012). Animal Farm and Barack Obama. Lapeer County Tea. http://lapeerteaparty.ning.com/profiles/blogs/animal-farm-and-barack-obama Carr, Craig L. (2010). Orwell, Politics, and Power. Continuum International Publishing Group Garner, J. F. (April 1994). Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our \ Life and Times. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-02-542730-X. Griffin, J., & Orwell, G. (1989). Animal farm, George Orwell. Harlow: Longman. Grimm, J., Grimm, W., Zipes, J., & Gruelle, J. (1988). The complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Toronto: Bantam. Hall, A. (2010). Nazi fairy tales paint Hitler as Little Red Riding Hood's saviour. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/7594061/Nazi-\fairy-tales-paint-Hitler-as-Little- Red-Riding-Hoods-saviour.html Leach, M. (1949). Funk & Wagnalls standard dictionary of folklore, mythology and legend. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Meyers, J. (1978). Readers Guide to Orwell. Totowa, N.J: Littlefield, Adams. Murphy, Ronald G. (2000). The Owl, the Raven and the Dove. Oxford University Press. Prince, A. (1998). Hans Christian Andersen: The Fan Dancer. London: Allison & Busby Ltd. Propp, V. IA (Vladimir IAkovlevich), 1895-1970. (1968). Morphology of the folktale. Austin :University of Texas Press, Raphael. (2016, November 8). Fairy Tale and Social/Political Issues. [Blog post]. http://fairytalefanboy.blogspot.com/2016/11/fairy-tales-and-socialpolitical-issues.html Riley, P. (2001). Nazi Fairy Tales. https://peggyriley.com/2011/10/04/nazi-fairy-tales/ Senn, S. (2015). All Propaganda is Dangerous, but Some are More Dangerous than Others: George Orwell and the Use of Literature as Propaganda. Journal of Strategic Security. Number 5 Volume 8, No. 3, pp. 149- 161. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1483&context=jss Straughan, H. (2017). Fairytales can show us the horrors of Hitler’s Germany;The stories of Günter Grass bring Germany’s repressed trauma into the light. Cherwell. http://cherwell.org/2017/12/07/fairytales-can-show-us-the-horrors-of-hitlers-germany/ Tatar, M. (2004). The Annotated Brothers Grimm. W.W. Norton & Co. TRAMES, (2007). CHARLES PERRAULT’S PARADOX: HOW ARISTOCRATIC FAIRY TALES BECAME SYNONYMOUS WITH FOLKLORE CONSERVATION. Lydie Jean University of Paris IV Sorbonne Warner, M. (1995). From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers. London: Chatto & Windus. Zipes, J. (1997). Happily ever after: Fairy tales, children, and the culture industry.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Publication Date

September 15, 2019

Submission Date

July 16, 2019

Acceptance Date

September 5, 2019

Published in Issue

Year 2019 Volume: 5 Number: 14

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18769/ijasos.592597

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA67LP94YY

Cite

RIS / Bibtex
EndNote
Totibadze S (September 1, 2019) FAIRY TALE AS ONE OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF POLITICAL DIS-COURSE. IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences 5 14 915–921.

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