Fairy Tale Motifs: Difference between revisions

Motifs using characters, creatures, and settings from classic [[Fairy Tale|Fairy Tales]]s to represent characters or ideas, for example, a love interest being equated with a [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. Modern day Cinderella stories commonly mine this fairy tale trope as well.

Many of them are, in fact, [[Dead Unicorn Trope|Dead Unicorn Tropes]]s. Dragons, unicorns, fairies, and knights are in fact exceedingly rare in fairy tales. For tropes actually found in fairy tales, see [[Fairy Tale Tropes]].

FairytaleFairy Tale Motifs are used to add romance to a story, especially one set mainly in the grim and gritty real world. The fact that most people have read the fairy tales means that the symbolism isn't likely to be lost.

FairytaleFairy Tale Motifs differ slightly from Mythological Motifs. While the former features specific fairy tale characters -- suchcharacters—such as Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty -- itBeauty—it also includes general, archetypal examples, usually a "species" rather than one particular person/animal. The latter tends to use specific characters belonging to a recognizable mythology. For example, most people recognize a unicorn when they see one, but the creature itself has a rather vague history and there is no named unicorn who was the "first of its kind." Therefore, it's a FairytaleFairy Tale Motif. Pegasus, the winged horse, on the other hand, is one specific character from Greek myths with a [[Canon]] history , making it a Mythological Motif.

== '''<big>Some fairytalefairy tale motifs include: ==</big>'''

* Fairies: The more popular versions of the fairy are carefree, innocent creatures, usually associated with little girls. May indicate a [[Cloudcuckoolander]], since "away with the fairies" is another way to say "constantly daydreaming" or "slightly crazy." The fairies taken from older traditions, such as [[Celtic Mythology]], aren't quite so cutesy -- incutesy—in fact they're [[The Fair Folk|downright malevolent]] at times. Modern literature increasingly employs this version of the fairy-folk, usually as [[Tricksters]].

** [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Princesses|Princess]]: Often the [[Alpha Bitch]], however, a wealthy or popular girl of any sort will often be equated to a princess (for an example of this comparison, look no farther than [[Fallen Princess|this]] [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!|site]]). A Queen will often refer to the same stereotype, especially if there is a corresponding?

* Wolves: While the wolf's image has been [[Big Badass Wolf|getting better]] in recent times, increasingly being seen as a "spirit of the wild," people can't quite get over "[[Little Red Riding Hood (Literature)|Little Red Riding Hood]]". While the wolf is an [[Animal Motifs|animal motif]] at the same time, the wolf as a threat to young girls/ sexual predator seems to have its roots in the fairy tale.

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' uses a FairytaleFairy Tale Motif in order to [[Deconstruction|deconstruct]] the romance fairytalefairy tale of the Prince as male love interest saving the Princess.

* ''[[Skip Beat (Manga)|Skip Beat!]]!'' 's Kyouko seems to believes that fairies are real, and very often acts following [[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|Cinderella]]-like [[Fairy Tale|Fairy Tales]]s tropes, seeing the (mostly villainous) characters she interprets as princesses under a curse. There is not [[Wrong Genre Savvy|Wrong Genre Savvyness]]ness, just a girl whose life has been so horrible she just prefer to believe she could be rescued and become a [[Princess Classic|Real Princess]], even if she ''knows'' it isn't. Pity nobody had informed her how [[The Fair Folk]] and the Old Fairy Tales truly are...

* ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' mixes [[Magical Girl]] tropes and fairy tale motifs with references to specific stories and ballets. The first season mostly plays the typical fairytalefairy tale structure straight (outside of the fact that the ''princess'' is saving the ''prince''), only to deconstruct it in the second season when {{spoiler|the characters rebel against their assigned fairy tale roles as the prince, princess, villain and knight and decide to (literally) [[Rewriting Reality|rewrite the story]]}}.

* ''[[Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade]]'' draws on (and quotes) the more traditional darker version of "[[Little Red Riding Hood (Literature)|Little Red Riding Hood]]" for its story of a relationship between a young terrorist girl, and a 'wolf' from the elite Kerberos Panzer police. The anime film makes the point that such relationships are always fated to end badly.

* ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'' uses a fairy tale (or several) to foreshadow the antagonist's modus operandi.

* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' uses the tale of [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Taro:Urashima Taro|Urashima Taro]] as a constant recurring motif and theme, with most of the characters having connections to it, most literally {{spoiler|Faye}}.

* ''[[Prétear]]'', plain and simple. Although, considering it's based on "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (Literaturenovel)|Snow White]]", maybe that's not really surprising.

* [[AragoARAGO]] uses a great many motifs from fairy tales and mythology in general, and it tends to go with the older versions of the stories.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' follows the theme/basic plot of "[[The Little Mermaid]]" {{spoiler|in Sayaka's arc}}, to tragic conclusion. The other motif is ''[[Faust]]'', but that's most definitely not a fairytalefairy tale.

* ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum (Anime)|Mawaru Penguindrum]]'' has had allusions to various fairytalesfairy tales involving apples, but so far the most prominent motif seems to be the resemblance of the siblings' lives to an in-universe fairytalefairy tale about a man named [[Gender Blender Name|Mary]] and his three little lambs offending a goddess.

* Alice from ''[[Mahou Tsukai no Yoru (Visual Novel)|Mahou Tsukai no Yoru]]'' possesses magic which revolves around fairy tales.

* Romantic comedies like ''Knocked Up'' typically use either the "[[Beauty and The Beast]]" trope or the "[[Cinderella (Literaturenovel)|Cinderella]]" [[Cinderella Circumstances|trope.]]

* The first ''[[Sex and Thethe City]]'' film had a general Cinderella theme to it.

* ''[[PansPan's Labyrinth]]''

* ''[[The Fall (Filmfilm)|The Fall]]''

* ''[[Labyrinth (Film)|Labyrinth]]''

* The second movie of ''[[Hellboy (Comic Bookcomics)|Hellboy]]'' has lots of fairy tale motifs, including fairies, elves and trolls.

* ''[[Coraline (Filmanimation)|Coraline]]''

* The ''[[Discworld]]'' revels in subverting and [[Deconstructing]] every [[Fairy Tale Motifs|Fairytale Motif]] it can get its hands on. For example, to paraphrase Granny Weatherwax, unicorns are just big angry horses that come to a point. It does play the [[Virgin Power]] part straight:

{{quote| '''Granny:''' I could hold it with a feather.<br />

* [[George MacDonald (Creator)|George MacDonald]], in nearly all his fantasy stories.

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