Returning to Once Upon a Time: The Importance of Letting Yourself Believe in Happily Ever After

“If I’m honest, I have to tell you: I still read fairytales, and I like them best of all.”

~ Audrey Hepburn

The fairytale has been a part of our media enjoyment since Walt Disney’s first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, back in 1937. Over the years, Disney became a staple of childhood, providing us with tales of happily ever after, love at first sight, beautiful princesses and dashing heroes riding off together into the glorious sunset. Yes, classic Disney makes for a bit of good-natured fun with some of the cliches the older films tended to use, but I’d like to think that, for most people, there is a warm sense of nostalgia for what Disney fairytales used to bring us.

But, of course, what Disney provided were adaptations. The original source material is…a bit different.

Most if not all cultures around the world have fairytales imbedded into their folktales -  from Vasilissa the Beautiful in Russian folklore, a classic tale of a beautiful young girl tormented by her step-family who finds herself face-to-face with the cannibalistic Baba Yaga, to the tale of Rhodopis from Egyptian mythology, to the plethoroa of stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and the writings of Danish author Hans Christian Anderson. But while Disney adaptations arguably focused more on the beauty of happily-ever-after and gave us some memorably climatic battles of good versus evil to make that ride off into the sunset all the more rewarding, the original fairytales didn’t always have such bombastic and stunning climaxes. 

Now, this isn’t to say the stories are wanting for brutality - the original Cinderella and Snow White are proof enough of that - but the way in which these tales utilized harsh imagery, often to depressing levels, served a different purpose than just a happy ending. Not unlike the original purpose of boogeyman tales, these stories were meant to teach lessons to children. Of course, there were traditional lessons, such as stranger danger (Little Red Riding Cap and The Wolf and the Seven Kids), a warning against vanity (Snow White), and the value of being clever and using your resources wisely (Rumpelstilskin and Puss in Boots). Most prominently, however, you will find a plethora of tales wherein kindness is rewarded and wickedness punished - Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, The Juniper Tree, Katie Crackernuts, Snow-White and Rose-Red, to name a few.

So, is that why we should still read fairytales - why we should still write fairytales? To learn simple lessons?

Well, we certainly could benefit from a refresher course in how to be kind, how to be clever and resourceful, and how to keep our vanity in check, but I would argue the fairytale serves an even greater purpose in this crazy world we now live in:

To believe in happily-ever-after again.

“Everything you look at can become a fairytale and you can get a story from everything you touch.”

~ Hans Christian Anderson

Now, let’s be perfectly clear: I am not advising anyone to live their lives like it’s a Disney movie. One of the greatest enjoyments from the classic Disney stories is the chance to suspend disbelief for an hour or so and let yourself fall into a world where small woodland animals make splendid housecleaners, fish break into harmonious love ballads, and a great golden eagle will soar you to the heavens. But outside of that little bubble of imaginative disassociation, I can’t recommend attempting to fly on the back of a large bird of prey in real life.

What I am encouraging you to do, fabulous WolfPack of writers that you are, is to return to Once upon a time. The world we live in today is a madhouse. It’s not always kind, it can be dark and cold and suffocating, and there will be times you would love to live anywhere else. So let yourself go back. Return to the foamy shores of the sea, gazing out to see if you can glimpse the little mermaid’s devoted spirit ascending to heaven at last. Admire Snow-White and Rose-Red’s kindly treatment to an unlikely house guest and rejoice at the reward they reap in the end. Follow Bearskin’s weary travels and cheer his triumphant return to his bride-to-be, a girl mercilessly tormented for her compassion to a hideous stranger and now rewarded with a handsome bridegroom. Reflect on Katie Crackernuts’ devotion to her sister and her diligence with caring for the sick prince, two selfless deeds that bring her to royal rewards. For all the blood, sweat, and tears that have been shed, they have reached their happy ending. Let yourself reach it with them. Let yourself believe in happily ever after once again, with all the childlike delight and wonder that you felt the first time.

We all deserve a little break.

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

~ G.K. Chesterton

If you’re looking for a new read this holiday season, or as we move into the new year, I highly recommend The Use of Enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairytales by Bruno Bettelheim. It’s a fascinating discussion of using fantasy narrative to guide children through psychological growth as they move towards adulthood. A fairly easy read with decent pacing and not too heavily bogged-down by technical terms, I highly recommend this to keep you company on your flight home for the holidays, or as some light bedtime reading while you digest that pumpkin pie.