If the originals of the fairy tales were released today, they would not have the relevance of the versions we know now. Although they may garner a lot of attention and hate in the beginning, hate cycles on the internet last at most a few weeks. However, once something is "relevant", they can amass a fan base and stay relevant for longer, like the disney princess fairy tales have. The stories parents read to their children have to be deemed socially and politically correct. Thus, the only way for fairy tales to continue to spread is if they evolve to fit the current social context.

I agree with this statement and think every fairytale we encounter is ever changing. Many of the original fairytales we think about bear little resemblance to their original works, besides a few main characters. It makes me wonder what Cinderella or other beloved fairytales will become in the next century.

I think this is not unique to fairy tales but most stories in general. While I am sure it has contributed to the continued relevance and popularity of fairy tales, I don't think it helps explain why they are preserved and more popular than other stories. Much of the media we consume today like tv shows, books and movies have happy endings. It is usually a big deal when a story does not have a happy ending, like Avengers Endgame. Thus I think fairy tales having a happy ending does not make them unique and does not help explain their continued popularity.

Following Zipes timeline, I would think many fairy tales changed the most during this time period. Previously fairy tales for recited in courts for the upper class, performed as ballets for the upper class and part of costume balls thrown by the upper class. Films and comic strips are much more accessible to the general public and people of all classe. To make the stories more appealing to that audience, the fairy tales would have to evolve and have morals and language more accepted by lower classes.

I think Zipes has a very eurocentric view on what a fairy tale is and what he believes to be canonical. This is definitely nitpicky but with the printing press and paper being invented in China, I think many of the first fairy tales were printed in China, they might just not be well known to American culture. However, fairy tales do have an impact on global culture and many of the morals and themes we see in Western fairy tales are the same as the traditional Chinese tales.

The previous adaption includes a cat calling the girl a "slut" In Perrault's rendition, he alludes to "slut" without outright using the words. The little girl wearing red reminds me of how modern society often blame women who are raped for dressing promiscuously. It shows how Perrault's version is still relevant even if modern Little Red Riding Hood has strayed far from his moral.

Some people might only know a fairytale in the context of disney movies while others have only read a specific edition of the story which can change how they perceive the story. Further, this is not only relevant when it comes to fairy tales. There are so many mediums a story can be told and retold in now and everyone has their own perception based on which version of the story they were exposed to.

This is such an interesting analogy for how memes and pop culture spreads between people. I think it would be interesting to expand the analogy and how subcultures of the internet have specific memes and inside jokes, just like how some parasites only live in particular environments.

This text often mentions the patriarchal themes of fairy tales and it would make sense that fairy tales that had more pro femme or had less conservative themes were not preserved because they were not as popular