Original artwork, not a still
Coraline · 2002
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Fairy tales are not comforting because their monsters are fake; they are comforting because the monsters lose. Gaiman keeps Chesterton's idea and polishes it into a line short enough to print on a poster, which is why it travels as a standalone quote and is so often pinned on Chesterton himself. For a book where a child outwits something that wears her mother's face, it works as a promise to the reader.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for CoralineShow the scene
The line stands in front of Coraline (2002), Neil Gaiman's novella about a girl who moves with her parents into an old flat and finds a door to a mirror-world ruled by a button-eyed Other Mother. It is Gaiman's own condensing of an argument by G. K. Chesterton. In Chesterton's 1909 collection Tremendous Trifles, the point is that fairy tales do not teach children that monsters exist; they give a child a St. George to kill the dragon. Gaiman's sentence turns that into a maxim, and the book then sends its young heroine to face the Other Mother. It is often wrongly credited to Chesterton word for word.
Sources (3)
- Wikiquote: Neil Gaimansection Coraline (2002)Reference checked
- Wikiquote: G. K. Chestertonsection Tremendous Trifles (1909)Reference checked
- Wikipedia: Coraline (novella)PlotReference checked
Context reviewed
