Why Do I Feel Like Cinderella & Where Is Prince Charming?

Hidden Messages in Fairy Tales & Writing Your Story as a Hero/Heroine of a Fairy Tale

What you’ll learn
Learn how fairy tales communicate hidden messages about marriage, power, agency, breaking rules, and good vs. evil in beloved fairy tales
Learn about the specific messages about women and men that are communicated in many beloved tales
Learn how fairy tales may affect one long after childhood ends
Rewrite your own life story into a fairy tale where you are the hero or heroine
Requirements
Just have a love of fairy tales
Description
Fairytales are some of the first stories we hear as children, and they have a profound effect on us. These beloved stories, however, have many hidden messages about marriage, agency, power, suffering, good versus evil, who breaks the rules, and who is punished. Author and researcher, Anne Beall, analyzed hundreds of fairy tales and her investigation revealed significant findings such as:· Male characters have more agency and are more powerful than female characters.· Men marry up based on their acts of bravery, whereas women marry up based on their appearance.· Powerful male characters are good whereas powerful females are often evil.· Male characters are often rewarded for breaking the rules, whereas females are harshly punished.She also found many significant parallels in modern life. Powerful women are often disparaged, modern day princesses have little power and are often sad (e.g., Meghan Markle), and we all know who holds the most power in our society. But most interesting, women are punished more than men for the exact same behaviors in the workplace.The result is that women may feel powerless, may have unrealistic expectations of romantic relationships, may worry about breaking the rules, and may be overly sensitive to the judgements of others. Many of these mindsets set women up to focus on being “perfect” and to feel like imposters. We will discuss how people can look at their lives differently by writing a new fairy tale where they are the hero/heroine of their story.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction and the Importance of Fairy Tales

Lecture 1 Introduction to the Course

Lecture 2 The Importance of Fairy Tales

Section 2: Hidden Messages about Agency, Power, Good/Evil & Breaking Rules in Fairy Tales

Lecture 3 Who Has Agency and Who Has Power in Fairy Tales

Lecture 4 How are Power and Good/Evil Related and Who Vanquishes Evil?

Lecture 5 Marrying Royalty

Lecture 6 Who Breaks the Rules in Fairy Tales and What Are the Consequences?

Section 3: How Fairy Tales May Affect Us & Some Fabulous Heroines

Lecture 7 The Grimm’s Cinderella Story

Lecture 8 How Do Fairy Tales Affect Us?

Lecture 9 Some Fairy Tales with Fabulous Female Heroines

Section 4: Write A Story of Your Life as a Fairy Tale

Lecture 10 Write Your Story: Basic Plotline and Characters

Lecture 11 Write Your Story: Heroic Actions and Rewards

Lecture 12 Write Your Story: Putting It All Together

This course is for anyone who looks at their life, longs for the Cinderella tale, and feels disappointed,This course is for the person who wishes their life was like a fairy tale and would like to be the star in their own story,This course is for anyone who wants to look at their life differently