Funny how fairy tales have changed over the years but the core story remains. Academics explain them as a sociological method of keeping children safe in an unsafe world (don't eat some old witches house or she will try to eat you) or to dissuade people from unsocial behaviours. The violence level tends to be high, the potential for failure high, and yet-- it all comes out in the wash.
Why does the love story fairy tale persist? Is it a sociological creation? Given the medieval time frame of most fairy tales oral creation, it seems to me that this does not make sense. People did not choose for themselves based on love or longing. Families chose based on finances and alliances. Could it be that the tales were expressions of pent up longing? However unrealistic it may be?
I would like to believe that fairy tale love stories are like presents beautifully wrapped and glossy. The love story in the fairy tale is like the thought behind the present. So many of us just don't stop and think about the thought behind gifts and the whys. Heck, so many people just buy instead of realizing that whether $1 or $1 million the thought behind it can make it precious. Perhaps this is why so many long for the fairy tale. They want the wrapping and glossy gift. Daring to look beyond that and into the meaning is done by few. Maybe those of us who truly want that fairy tale are searching for the deepest of meaning and connection. Maybe the reason for not finding it is that we have to wade through a sea of people enraptured with the wrapping and glossy gifts to find the few cherishing the smallest item of no value beyond emotion. Makes me think of the children's book "Something From Nothing" by Phoebe Gilman.