Why We Love Fairy Tales

There is something irresistibly endearing about fairy tales, as if an invisible string draws our culture back to their magic again and again. There is something about them that makes us spend billions of dollars in tinsel fairy wings and billions of hours watching Disney movies. And there is a transcendent generational quality about them, something that makes every age love them.

But why? Why do we love fairy tales so much? What is the invisible string that draws us? I believe it's because fairy tales echo a longing for Eden.

Jerram Barrs, in his book, Echoes of Eden, helps us here. He explains the following:

"All great art will echo these three elements of Eden: (1) Eden in its original glory, (2) Eden that is lost to us, and (3) the promise that Eden will be restored to us."

Fairy tales richly and loudly echo these elements of Eden. First, there's Eden in its original glory. Fairy tales teach us about how we were created to be in ways so simple that a child could understand. These stories exemplify the greatest virtues - courage, beauty, strength, selflessness, love, hope, faith, perseverance, goodness. All of these hearken back to the way that God created humanity to be, and these all flow from the character of God Himself. There is a magnificent beauty and simplicity that fairy tales all seem to sing of and that shouts directly back to Eden as it was created to be.

But fairy tales also illustrate the Eden that is lost to us. Fairy tales do not shy away from displaying failure, brokenness, and terrible messes. The effects of sin stain even the purest of stories. There is always a villain. Evil always attempts to snuff out the light of goodness. And usually, evil almost wins. Snow White appears to be dead. Hansel is just about to be stuffed in the oven. The wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood. Hope is gone.

Yet if there is one thing we learn from fairy tales, it is that hope is never gone. The prince wakes Snow White. Gretel pushes the witch into the oven. The huntsman saves Little Red and her grandmother and destroys the wolf. Hope is very much alive. There is promise that Eden will be restored to us. Good always wins. The only phrase in literature more familiar than "once upon a time" is "they lived happily ever after." And for the heroes in fairy tales, this is true. Despite the great prices they've paid, their redemption is secure and they can be reconciled and renewed.

Fairy tales show us glimpses of God's glory through the prism of princes and princesses. They show us how we were made to be - and we all long for Eden. We long to be as courageous as Prince Philip, who fought through a forest of thorns and a terrifyingly powerful dragon to rescue his Sleeping Beauty. We long to be as kind as Cinderella, as selfless as Aslan, as strong as Aragorn, as pure as Snow White.

We love fairy tales because they show us who we were made to be and they awake in us a deep desire for the New Eden.