Zipes on Frogs

Although I found Jack Zipes' argument in his essay "What Makes a Repulsive Frog So Appealing: Memetics and Fairytales" a bit of a stretch, I thought the parallels he drew between how memes are transmitted and the passing of genes was very interesting. Zipes argues that a meme becomes so memorable and relevant that we store it and pass it onto others and the reason stories akin to The Frog King became so popular is because we remember them because they give people advice essentially on mating and relationships. Zipes further argues that the "power of such a tale depends on the human agent's receptivity to it and use of it in understanding the environment (social-cultural context) and translation it in other situations". He goes on to say that "Tales of all kinds enable us to comprehend our strategies and to learn how to court and mate. They also help us to adapt and use strategies as cultural and environmental conditions change". However, although he may have a point in how we relate to relationships as children, I am not aware of anyone who, in times of dating desperation seek advice from a fairy tale. I understand that his argument is that adults may select these tales to read to their children because they reflect cultural values, and I do agree that sometimes when discussing relationships people may reflect back on the 'fairytale princess and prince' love story as optimal, but I think he goes a bit too far in saying that these stories have been perpetuated and have become popular because they instruct us on how to mate and date.

Zipes cites Geoffrey Milller from his book "The Mating Mind" in Miller's argument that humans developed a "strange new game of reproduction. They started selecting one another for their brains...The intellectual and technical advancements of our species in the last few thousand years depend on mental capacities and motivations originally shaped by sexual selection". Though I can get on board with Miller's argument, Zipes goes a bit beyond by arguing that Miller's analysis is evidence of how men and women competing for each other "fostered great and diverse innovations in the arts, sciences, and technology" which may have "contributed to biological adaptations and affected the way we transmit cultural artifacts with our brains". Although Zipes does provide some intriguing evidence, I don't believe that our sexual choices over the past generations motivated us or made us more able to recall fairytales and perpetuate them today. Although I do believe fairytales are representative of their respective cultures, I don't think we continue to tell them because we need dating advice.