Sydney Kelley
How has the development of ecology changed the way animals are portrayed in fairy tales/media, and what consequences does this have in the real world? Historically, predatory animals have been portrayed in a negative light in classic storytelling. However, as the science of ecology has developed and human understanding of the natural world has increased, we have gradually seen animals being used as more benevolent symbols. This is important because it creates a more positive public perception of said animals, which in turn creates more incentive for people to support conservation. More specifically, the relationship between ecology and the representation of predators in fairy tales from villains, to forces of nature, to victims of human development has created a social awareness regarding the consequences of eliminating apex predators from our ecosystems.
Early renditions of the Little Red Riding Hood Fairy Tale consistently showcase wolves as antagonists. If they aren’t depicted as predators in the natural sense, they are used as stand-ins for their more insidious human counterparts, such as in Charles Perrault’s version of the fairy tale. Stories such as this are telling of the common attitude towards hostile wildlife in this time period-because they were dangerous to people, they were considered a scourge before anything else. However, more modern tellings of Little Red Riding Hood showcase a more sympathetic wolf, even if only comedically. Toby Forward and Izhar Cohen’s “What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood: The Wolf’s Story” takes the wolf’s side in the classic fairy tale. While this version of the story can be read as entirely comedic, it is also telling of more modern perceptions of predatory animals that a story like this was even written.
Early ecology and its relationship to fiction is especially prevalent in a time period such as the Victorian era. “Fairy Tales, Natural History and Victorian Culture.” discusses an era in which conservation was almost nonexistent. More importantly, it discusses the kind of literature which is produced in a world where animals are judged purely on their immediate use to mankind. This is even more important to notice in the case of wolves, because their attacks were so heavily documented at this time. The animals were viewed as nothing more than a danger, and as a result, hunting them was encouraged with no thought of their impacts on the ecosystem as a whole. This is an issue, especially in the case of wolves, because they are what is known as a keystone species. This means that the presence of wolves can create sweeping changes to a landscape, supporting entire ecosystems by filling their roles as predators. Despite this historical pattern, a more positive trend has emerged in modern and contemporary writings.
Literature has always been able to function as a litmus test for the world’s general stance on certain subjects. It should go without saying that this principle applies to animals. For example, “Literary Fiction Influences Attitudes Toward Animal Welfare” posits exactly what the title suggests. Simply put, human beings are proven to use media in order to communicate complex ideas-it has even been argued “that it has been an important factor behind the global decline of violence against various minorities in the last centuries”(Wojciech, et al.). This growing body of research may hold a key to the future of conservation. While many animal welfare activists resort to scarring imagery in order to make a point about their cause, Folklore may offer a cleaner and more sustainable way of campaigning.
In Harold A’s “Animals, Archetypes, and Popular Culture: Tales from the Tabloid Press.”, the thesis of the discussion is that modern stories. And media that is a part of the current popular canon in general, have seen a positive trend in the depictions of animals. This conclusion was drawn from a study in which four tabloids were selected, and then 100 issues from each of them was sampled. Mentions of animals were noted and sorted into different categories. At the end of this study, it was found across the board that the most common role for the animals in the tabloids was “Loved One”. This study compiles concrete support or the idea that animals have become overwhelmingly positive symbols in the eyes of the average person. This is a major contrast to older animal representations in literature, where one would be lucky to see any animal that wasn’t domesticated being portrayed as benevolent.
This third article, “Dragons in Twentieth-Century Fiction”, speaks less about real-world animals, and more about one of their mythical counterparts-dragons. The main point of this article is to examine how dragons are used as stand-ins or metaphors for social and political issues. However, this still relates to the discussion of how animals are portrayed throughout history because dragons do still represent the natural world, albeit a mythologized version of it. Traditionally, dragons have been thought of as an amalgamation of several animals that our primate ancestors would have instinctively feared, namely the “snake, eagle, and panther…” (Unerman 94). In early depictions of dragons, this imagery was meant to function entirely differently than in more modern takes on the mythological beasts.
Each of these sources and their conclusions support the idea that fairy tales have the potential to have major impacts on the ways people view our ecosystems. For as long as humans have been passing down stories, orally or otherwise, we have taken inspiration from our environments. It is true that, historically, animal characters have been used as negative symbols. However, this can be attributed to the human fear of the unknown. As societies have shifted from fear-based relationships with the natural world to promoting more curiosity about our surroundings, a shift in our popular culture has occurred as well. Folklore and pop culture have the power to impact people’s emotions, and to spread awareness of certain issues; this power can easily be extended into making people understand the importance of protecting predatory animals.
Works Cited
Herzog, Harold A., and Shelley L. Galvin. “Animals, Archetypes, and Popular Culture: Tales from the Tabloid Press.” Anthrozoös, vol. 5, no. 2, 1992, pp. 77–92., doi:10.2752/089279392787011494.
Małecki, Wojciech, et al. “Literary Fiction Influences Attitudes Toward Animal Welfare.” PLOS ONE, vol. 11, no. 12, 2016, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0168695.
Unerman, Sandra. William H. Hannon Library Proxy Server Authentication, Folklore Enterprises, Ltd., Apr. 2002, www-jstor-org.electra.lmu.edu/stable/1261010?seq=1.
Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence. “Fairy Tales, Natural History and Victorian Culture.” Google Books, Google, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5R-vAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=nature%2Band%2Bfairy%2Btales&ots=r-la0oD3ue&sig=k5E1NQHwJO_ymlHDD2mHPUWjvts#v=onepage&q=nature%20and%20fairy%20tales&f=false.
