This applies not only to fairytales, but all communication in general. When communicating a message, people can try to word it to avoid as much misunderstanding as possible, but it is inevitable that some details may be lost. But communication with the intent to entertain is even more susceptible to changes, because one person may find a certain aspect more entertaining than the other, or find a detail suitable to add, and stories can naturally evolve following what each person finds to be an improvement on the story.

I think it's interesting he says "both to expose and conceal". When allegories use magic and animals as their subjects, it can often make a very severe and upsetting moral more palatable. It is easier to think of a talking wolf in a forest than real-life predator. But at the same time, a fantastical setting also makes harmful messages like victim-blaming and sexism easier to dismiss as "just a story".

This brings me back to that quote by C.S. Lewis: "Let villains be soundly killed in the end." Fairytales, when they end happily, are often full of themes of justice and good triumphing over evil, because humans have an innate desire to see things shake out fairly in the end, for good to be rewarded for being good. I don't think it's necessarily unethical to encourage people to do good and have hope.

After putting this in the context of shifting blame onto the rape victim, the memes propagated in popular media suddenly seem much more powerful, and potentially dangerous and disturbing.

the originals were really much darker, which I guess reflects the culture of the time and that fairytales weren't originally just written for children. Still shocking.

Through the stereotypical villians of the era, you can tell what aspects and what kinds of people were demonized.

I think its interesting that Zipes says these fairytales have become so ingrained in our minds that they become part of the human subconscious

Thinking about how fairytales evolve over time to fit the era in which they are told. I think it's really interesting how Zipes goes one step further and talks about how it reflects the values of the period.