Fairy tale in the 21st century: Comparison of classical fairy tales and anti-fairy tales in terms of content

Childhood is a critical period in which a person acquires their roles. In this period, all kinds of external stimuli that the child is exposed to have an important place in the learning of gender roles. One of the most important stimuli in the construction process of these roles is fairy tales. Through fairy tales read in early childhood, gender roles and inequalities between genders can be adopted. Through fairy tales, children learn which role they should adopt and that they will be punished if they step out of these roles. In classical fairy tales, female characters are presented as beautiful, kind-hearted, and passive role models, while male characters are portrayed as brave, saviors and leaders. These depictions are unequal in terms of gender roles. In addition, classical fairy tales contain many elements of violence. Children begin to develop their ideas about life in early childhood. Some writers, aware of the negative impact that fairy tales can have, deconstruct and rewrite classic fairy tales. The rewritten fairy tales take their place in the literature as anti-fairy tales. While "anti" means against, opposite, with the concept of anti-fairy tales, classical fairy tales are turned upside down, especially focusing on gender roles and aiming to reshape them. Anti-fairy tales emerging in the postmodern period bear the characteristics of this period. Unlike classical tales, anti-fairy tales aim to eliminate the inequality between genders. Since anti-fairy tales are a new type of fairy tale, research in this field is quite limited. Within the scope of this study, the fairy tales "Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White" belonging to the Grimm Fairy Tales and their rewrites as anti-fairy tales "Vegetarian Cinderella, Princesses Don't Behave, Another Little Red Riding Hood and Fairy Tales Without Othering (Snow White)" were compared in terms of content elements. While making the comparison, content elements such as subject, heroes, language and expression, messages, and illustrations were analyzed. The results of the study, in which document analysis and survey model, one of the qualitative research methods, were analyzed by content analysis. When the results were analyzed, it was determined that the characteristics of the heroes and the plot were completely deconstructed in anti-fairy tales. Contrary to classical fairy tales, female characters are depicted as intelligent, strong, and active individuals. The understanding of "the good are always good and the bad are always bad" in classical fairy tales was abandoned and the characters in these anti-fairy tales were structured in a multifaceted way. In addition, some deficiencies in anti-fairy tales, which are a new genre, have been observed and it is thought that these deficiencies can be overcome with original studies. The fact that anti-fable books have entered our literature through translation has been seen to bring some translation and spelling mistakes. It has been determined that the number of anti-fairy tale books written in our country and the studies conducted in this field are quite low. It is thought that it is important to inform parents and educators about this issue in order to introduce children to the anti-fairy tales. Keywords: Fairy tale, anti-fairy tale, children's literature, content elements