Storytelling offers us a variety of benefits. To this day, we still rewrite old tales and communicate with one another through ghost stories and gossip. It is our natural human instinct to connect via words and tales.
Folklore is vital to understand cultural narratives, an article written by The Conversation explains that within the modern Ukrainian-Russian war, researchers examined the fairytales being told to children on either side of the conflict.
Ukrainian children are told stories such as “Kotygoroshko”, which portrays unassuming characters persevering against insurmountable odds. The character arc takes them through challenges, testing their will and transforming them from vulnerable to triumphant.
While Russian children are being told stories such as “Princess Frog”, where the main character does not win via their own virtues, but by the involvement of a magical being.
Modern adults most likely do not live their day-to-day life with these fairy tales on their mind. However they shape our understanding of the world around us, teaching us to recognize good vs evil, how to be a hero and how to overcome adversity.
Garawyn McGill, an English lecturer at Boise State University says, “Stories are meant to protect you within society … we need these stories to make us human.”
Even the stories told to children in modern day all have hidden messages. The tales subconsciously teach us something. “The Little Red Riding Hood” teaches children to “stay on the path” and to recognize metaphorical “wolves” or dangers hidden in plain sight. “Alice in Wonderland” urges children to embrace themselves with no fear, or to “follow the white rabbit” and experience new things.
Within the 21st century these age old tales are constantly reworked and shaped into something different, catering to the rapidly evolving culture we live in today. The movie, “Hard Candy”, released in 2005, is a twisted retelling of “The Little Red Riding Hood”, where instead of a wolf, it’s an online predator, and instead, Little Red saves herself and exacts her own revenge.
Stories have accompanied humans as long as we have had the ability to speak. Using magical tales to protect children from the realities of the world around them. “La Llorona”, a story of a ghost woman who haunts lakes, offers a strategic way to keep children from wandering into lakes alone. Though, this is the westernized version of this traditional Latino tale.
Ruth Salter, mythology lecturer at Boise State says, “Mythologies are much more than just something entertaining or something we tell children. It’s definitely not just something fake or not realistic … Most of these myths that we have nowadays were originally connected to a religion, some still are.”
“La llorona” is just one example of a cultural tale that extends beyond territories and cultures, and is shared between all walks of life. When all is said and done, all humans have a natural desire to share tales, just as we have had since the beginning of time.
“Ancient people in many ways are not as different from us as we think,” says Salter. “Stories can sustain people through really challenging, horrible times”
All throughout time and varying cultures, humans resort to sharing stories. Whether it pacifies the age-old question of “what happens next?” or “what are we here for?”, tall tales or myths are our way of making sense of the unknown. To this day, we still create our own stories and share them with one another.
Sharing folktales and learning about varying myths and legends allows us to examine another way of life, and is something that encourages empathy and a deeper understanding to those around us. These stories have stood the test of time for a specific reason, they force readers to learn something new, even if it is difficult.
“That uncomfortable feeling means there is room for growth,” says McGill. “It teaches empathy which we need globally.”
Storytelling expands beyond the basic entertainment reason. It fosters connection, empathy and safety within those willing to listen. Examine the stories being told to you and question why they are still around today, chances are they have provided insight for generations.
This Post Has 3 Comments
Loved the article. Storytelling is so important to our culture and all cultures. It can bring us together if we will just listen and empathize.
W I had to use this for my English summative about why myths and folktales are still important today
Thank you, I enjoyed your article and value a lot of what you share here.
I have a different understanding of The Frog Princess story that I would like to share, which is common to a lot of similar such stories. Whilst on the more literal surface of this story it can appear as though Prince Ivan is helped by ‘others’ that are external to him, there are two, deeper, perspectives that differ from this. The first is that Ivan does not start out particularly virtuous and he makes a grave error out of fear. His fear is based in his following of traditions that his new situation place him seemingly at odds with. He didn’t ask but was forced into this strange situation. Over the course of the story he develops more mature virtues, through help (because not one of us developes in isolation and without role models), and it is through this that he grows and is successful in winning back the hand of Vasilisa the Wise. Secondly is the perspective that all the characters in the story (and many similar stories) are aspects of each of us; aspects of the psyche. The King represents our internalised traditions and Vasilisa the Wise / The Frog represents the vitality that the civilised world needs and can only find in the wild, Koschei the Deathless represents the wrestle with our mortality that we must all go through as we leave the seeming immortality of childhood and take up less protected / riskier roles in the community. And so on. In this way the story is a map; an allegory for maturing (or for Individuation as Carl Jung put it), and every single character, scene, dynamic in the story is a metaphor.
I truly hope this helps you and other students derive a deeper understanding of the possibilities that lie within this particular story, others like it and the value of fairy stories / folk tales in general.
With this kind of understanding of this story I do not personally see it as an example of a way that Russian children are being taught something concerning, but rather, if they are actually being taught this story at all, something that supports the growth of their moral imagination. And to be clear, this has nothing to do with my perspectives on the current war, which as with all wars, I am certainly against.