Fairy Tales: A Psychoanalytic Review
摘要
Fairy tales, a foundational subject in folklore studies, gained global prominence through the extensive efforts of the Brothers Grimm, evolving into widely consumed mass-mediated products today. Authored by renowned figures like John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Clive Staples Lewis, and Joanne Rowling, alongside classics from Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen, these tales flooded bookshelves and were adapted in the movie industry, primarily targeting children and youth. They are often recommended by educators for their psychological benefits. However, the early twentieth century marked a critical shift in the analysis of fairy tales. Scholars from diverse disciplines used formalist, structuralist, historical, and ritualist theories in their analyses. The subsequent development in the interpretation of fairy tales involved recognizing them as a bridge between a mythological past and present realities, serving as archetypes of the unconscious. Cultural and political historians, Freudians, Jungians, Marxists, structuralists, and postmodernists found tales as objects to apply preferred theories. Proponents of psychoanalytic studies of fairy tales have used two primary methods: analyzing the psychological aspects of the fairy tale creator or investigating the psychological motivations underlying the narrative behavior of the fairy tale characters. This chapter aims to study fairy tales from a psychoanalytic perspective and to highlight their psychological impact. The discussion focuses on post-Freudian, post-Jungian, and feminist revisionist perspectives, offering a holistic understanding of fairy tales, examining contemporary psychoanalytic interpretations, and providing insights into their psychological significance.