Vegetational fatherhood almost reads as a story written in reverse, starting with a ludicrous ending, an then building a story to support it. The story is odd in how it refuses to either fully enter a magical realm, or try to justify the story in the real world as the seven brides of Bluebeard did. Instead it sits awkwardly between both my making frequent hints that stranger things have happened and the narrative could be within the realm of the possible. It seems like all of the standard fairy tale characters are present, the enchanting and silent bride, the worried parent and the curious spouse, but in this version the fantastical ends with the death of the bride, and instead crashes back into reality, causing a very un-fairytale ending of institutionalization.

I think the flower metaphor is used to show how differently flowers (and the properties and powers vested in it by Mynona) are seen by men and women. While a flower is something hypnotizing to the later mother-in-law, enough to put her in a dream daze, enough power to eventually get her pregnant, for the male, there is a different connotation. Dr. Rosenberger
(I am sure there is a pun on that name) is scared of the flower when he sees the flower bush on his bed. Enough so that he tosses it down to Emma. Men therefore are threatened by flowers and woman are infatuated by them.
A flower is something a woman wants and a male can never embody. Everything a flower stands for is emasculating and yet it is something hypnotizing to woman.

First, I would like to point out how this story resembles that of Jesus in the Bible. A young woman is impregnated "illegitimately" and given a child with near perfection - just like the Virgin Mary. I think this is very interesting because I feel like this theme is so common to us nowadays that no one give it much thought. 

Second, I really like the introduction about the will of the plants and how they can think for themselves. It is very thought provoking and offers a unique introduction to such a story.

Probably the most fascinating part of the story though, is its deviation from a normal fairytale type. I mean, the beginning seems like a normal story, with some weird event, a transformation, a young maiden, etc... However, not many fairytales end in mystery, the unwarranted death of the heroine, and the need of asylums for the other characters. It is very different from other German fairytales in this sense. 

May I say that, first off, a rose should not resort to date rape. The results aren't good. When I first read "The Vegetational Fatherhood" I thought that this story was a parody on the social injustices women face when they have a child out of wedlock during the late nineteenth century/ early twentieth century. The father, the rose, is completely held irresponsible for the young woman's condition, of which she had no say in the matter, and the woman is told that instead that she suffers from delusions when, in fact, the doctors think she is an unmarried-mother-to-be.

And then there is the pretty young maiden that is silent- similar to the silent maiden motif we have seen in Snow White and other fairy tales- and she, too, would have had to deal with the same sort of fate her mother did if she had not died. Because of nature, women have to be silent and deal with the consequences of being involved with men

Assignment: 7 April 2009

Please write an interpretation of/response to “The Vegetational Fatherhood.” Don't forget to post comments by Wednesday.

Music and poetic language are not the same. Poetic language, I think, is a part of music, but there is something about music that language can never have. You can have lyrics, but without the entire concept of music, it is not the same. You cannot talk about a melody or tune, or about the specific notes you hear. You have to hear it, making music a more emotional and passionate experience. Music has the ability to describe feelings and thoughts that could never be expressed with language, so therefore, language simply points to music. 

"A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint" has many elements of a fairy tale, such as its progress. It begins with a problem, has a transformation, and ends happily. Also, elements such as unspecified time make this story very fairy-tale like. Nevertheless, it has many elements of a kunstmarchen. It is very musical sounding (poetic language) and very artistic, with much description given. 

POST.

What is the relationship between music and poetic language? Is the power evoked by music also accessible to language? Or does language merely point to music?

There is an inextricable disconnect between music and language. Music is something heard. Language, something read. Music appeals to someone on an immediate level; One where immediate pleasures outweigh the critical analysis derived in language. Thus, disparity in immediacy and simplicity of thought and the requirement of analytics separates the two. While music and language both have the ability to sound the same, the process to arriving at the same sensation is inherently different. And it is in this difference that the two can never be seen as interchangeable, but rather different means to potentially equivalent ends.

Also, consider how Wackenroder’s story is a fairy tale. What elements are fairy-tale-like? And what makes it, more specifically, a Kunstmärchen?

Perhaps the most telling facets of this story that suggests it is a fairy tale is the suspended disbelief of the reader. That, and the mystic setting of the story. One where there is a mythical quality to its time and place.

The character being crazy most certainly suggests this fairy tale to be a Kunstmarchen. The literary freedom and stylistic qualities in the way the story was told also lends weight to this idea.

Keeping in Time

Music is structured from notes that fall in time to a rhythmic beat, and its parts can be dissected into chords and stylized notes that follow repetitive patterns. At the same time, however, when the parts are assembled as a whole entity, music can be so much more than a strand of notes. By listening to how the music uses space and time to convey an abstract illustration of emotion and creativity, listeners can transcend the boundaries of rigid music theory into the realm of intense emotional connections with the acoustical message of the artist.

Wackenroder's "A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint" is a literary explanation of the listener's experiences with music. The tale starts off with a man that was one of "the wondrous recipients of a higher genius" who suffered from what doctors would diagnose as schizophrenia and epileptic seizures. This naked saint desperately tried to listen to delusions of the "wheel of time roaring and turning in his ear," and his fixation on this particular sound was both a source of fascination and paranoia for him. His systematic reasoning in trying to comprehend the uncomprehensible "sound" of time reflects a listener's struggle with trying to understand every single nuance that comprises a piece of music. I think Wackenroder depicts the naked saint as a man trying to grapple with the "natural order" of time and sound just as an Enlightenment thinker would try to approach a piece of music in order to explain/ critique a piece of music. However, because a systematic approach using music theory cannot explain the full emotional spectrum music can create, Wackenroder illustrates the maddness that this naked saint suffers from as a result of his the limitations of his understanding of the roaring sound of time. Wackenroder therefore tries to use a rational explanation of the man's sufferings by describing him by almost diagnosing him with epilepsy and schizoprenia.

It is when the naked saint yearns to stop pursuing the rationality of the sound of time and approach the unknown peace of nature outside the realm of time that he is freed from his clinical afflictions and assumes a fantastical form. By abandoning reason, the naked saint is capable of fully understanding sound and time as the artform of the two lover's music. This transformation of the saint as a rationalized thinker into a ideal Romantic genius that fully comprehends the essence of music as an expression of love and the human soul is reflected in the release of the supernatural spirit from the physical body of the saint. It is also reflected in the literary sense by switching from prose to poetry within the story. Poetry is typically associated more as a musical form of literature, and Wackenroder's employment of poetry within his prose reflects his abandonment from the strict division between poetry and prose. Wackenroder's use of poetry within prose shows that music can be a spiritual/philosophical experience within the confines of musicality and music theory. The physical structure of music is not exclusive of the spiritual essence of music, and Wackenroder wants to show that understanding the emotional aspects of music has to come from a wholistic approach in understanding the structure and meaning behind the notes that compose music. Therefore, he incorporates the more melodious nature of poetry into the descriptive nature of prose.

As a result of Wackenroder's inclusion of a fantastical transformation of the naked saint, this tale becomes a sort of literary fairy tale, or a Kundstmarchen. The fascination with the ethereal elements of sound, time, and the human soul is reflected in the author's use of the Orient as an exotic setting. More so, the transformation of the saint occurs at night, a time which is usually more associated with magic and the unknown. Although this tale does not have the typical obvious heroic and evil figures like in more traditional folk fairy tales, the struggle to overcome the "evilness" of rationalization and transform into the herioc (and supernatural) figure of the Romantic musical genius is a fairy tale.

The Tale of a Naked Saint is a fairy tale from the point of the monster that becomes redeemed. We enter the magical realm at the start of the story, when similair to the phrase "once upon a time", the author asks us to suspend our disbelief and view the crazy hermit as a trapped soul. The story plays out almost as a distorted version of beauty and the beast, however, in this version the form of the beast is the hermit', only to be released by the lover's son. Further, the hermit is made out to be a sort of monster in his actions and residence, he forces travelers to adhere to his peculiar rules or he attacks and kills them. It is the mark of the Kunstmarchen that asks us to set aside our normal beliefs. If we at any time consider the story from our normal mindset, it simply becomes a story about a crazy man, but if we truly buy into the author's pact, we enter into that mindset of the wounderous. The end end truly fulfills the promise of the beginning as we are shown the hermit's transformation back into the genius of love and music.

Assignment: 31 March 2009

Please consider the Wackenroder text, “A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint.”

• What is the relationship between music and poetic language? Is the power evoked by music also accessible to language? Or does language merely point to music?
• Also, consider how Wackenroder’s story is a fairy tale. What elements are fairy-tale-like? And what makes it, more specifically, a Kunstmärchen?

Question 1

In Bluebeard's Ghost and the Seven Wives of Bluebeard both authors make an attempt to translate the fantastical of the fairy tale into reality. The horror in the Bluebeard's Ghost is that in the middle of dull exchanges of romance, the supernatural, having been explained away the hole time, rears its head again in the form of Bluebeard's ghost. The appearance of the specter throws the entire story off balance, which until then was obsessed mostly by the small interactions of the widow, to suddenly include the wider implications of her history with bluebeard. It is the resolution that settles the story again in reality as Blackbeard gets the girl and the the shy facade of frederick is shown to be just that. In this case the return to the normal is a relief, and the horror is the departure from this. However, in The Seven Wives of Bluebeard the horror of the plot comes from the unswerving reality of it. It instead becomes a tragedy of a good man constantly taken down at every turn. Had it at any point gone back to the fantastical, it would be welcome. It would mean that in the end the villain lost and the hero was rewarded. Instead, by sticking to the plausible world that the author created, we are presented with a man driven into ruin. The horror of the story comes from the last few lines, where bluebeard is disgraced, and the corrupt lovers achieve everything they dreamed of.

Question 2

Tatar offers two readings of the heroine’s character: either as a celebration of self-preservation and cleverness or as a disobedient female.

Woman in Anatole France's, "The Seven Wives of Bluebeard" at depicted as a disobediant female. This notion can be depicted in the final scene. The way they tricked Bluebeard is evidence enough. THey had to trick him. Tricking has the implications of deciept and betrayal. the "chavalier, whom Jeanne had hidden in the cupboard in the room, apeared alone." Later, after the initial attack, Jeanne "fled terror-stricken", as if she knew the disgust of her own actions. Later she turns to her brothers to kill Bluebeard, "Quick, quick, brothers, save my lover!". At that, her brothers stabbed Bluebeard ling after he was dead. This depiction suggests that the female was more someone conniving rather than a celebration of self-preservation.

Question 1

In both "the seven wives of Bluebeard" and "bluebeard's Ghost" there are elements of horror that generally are not associated with the fairy tale genre. Furthermore, such horror elements are also used differently from story to story, though they share a common trend. For example, this Bluebeard's Ghost focuses more on the ghost being the scary facet of the story, The Seven Wives of Bluebeard look to the wives as potential suspects though ghosts are still present, or at least part of the given world. Thus, While both use the ghost as an element of horror, violence is the common denominator that acts as the undercurrent for the genre.

Such violence functions to move the plot along while at the same time elevating suspence. This suspence is what creates the framework for the plot to progress. While moving the plot along, it also sets the tone and thus dictates the intended outcome and ideal moral for the story.

I will have my post in by 4pm.. sry, I forgot about it and am in class all day...so my stuff is to come..

Question 1

Question 2

In the Grimm's "Fitcher's Bird," the heroine is presented as a smart and clever woman. They make a clear comparison between this sister and the two "foolish" sisters. Clearly, a foolish girl doesn't think before she acts and ends up being punished with death. Nevertheless, when the evil beggar "went and captured the third sister, ... she was clever and sly." Clearly, cleverness and slyness are valued features, and if they can help someone survive (and bring that person's sisters back to life), they are heroines and save the day. The contrast between the death of the two foolish sister and the survival of the smart sister show this the best. 

Question 1

One of the main horror elements in most of the Bluebeard stories is the chamber filled with the chopped up body parts of Bluebeard's wives. This part functions as the climax and helps the story to move along because the heroine finally discovers the truth about her husband and the fate of his previous spouses. Also, this is the part of the story in which she finds herself making a mistake, so the rest of the story leads off of it as her punishment for this action. This part definitely startles the audience by showing them a terrible fate for a wife and sending a message to the young women who might be wives in the future - obey your husbands. 

The Women of Bluebeard: Airheads, Survivors, or Murderers?

Charles Perrault's version of Bluebeard stresses that the heroine's rendezvous with disaster was a result of her impertinence and curiosity, not because Bluebeard was a monster. Anatole France's "The Seven Wives of Bluebeard" also tries to disenchant the monstrosity of Bluebeard by blaming the seven wives' disreputable natures for wrongly labeling Bluebeard, or rather Monsieur de Montragoux, as murderer. France insists that Bluebeard's newest wife, Jeanne de Lespoisse, was instead the murderer, and her greed and immorality was the cause of Monsieur de Montragoux's murder. There was no closet with the hanging dismembered bodies of the other six wives- only the "fairy key" was retained from the myth, but it was the fact that "the criminal wife mistook... the reflection of the sky still enpurpled by the roses of dawn...for a bloodstain on iron" that disclosed the seventh wife's true nature. (Zipes, 581) Mdme de Montragoux's crime was her affair with the Chevalier de la Merlus, which eventually led to her scheme to murder Monsieur de Montragoux for his estate. The effect of portraying the seven Madames de Montagoux as women with absolutely atrocious merits and virtues, in particular the seventh wife, strengthens Perrault's claim that women's troubles arise from their indiscretions. These women weren't struggling against a grotesque murderer. Instead many of the wives took advantage of Monsieur de Montagoux's "kindness and tenderness... [that] would have softned the most savage hearts," especially the "execrable brood of Lespoisse." (Zipes, 580) From the untameable Colette Passage to Jeanne de La Cloche, who "loved wine and drank it to excess" and the foolish Angele de La Garadine, Monsieur de Montagoux suffered the most unfortunate marriages, and all their vices drove Bluebeard to make the worst decision to marry Jeanne de Lespoisse.

Anatole France spares no expense on berating all the vices of women. In order to save the reputation of Bluebeard, France also tries to pass this story as a true story. (But the inclusion of the "fairy key" quickly blows his cover.) The end effect is that the seven wives of Bluebeard appear as complete wretches (or bitches, for that matter) and Bluebeard ends up as a martyr for men's virtus and virility.

Fitcher's Bird- A Tale of Horror

Of all the tales we were supposed to read for this week, I thought the Grimm's "Fitcher's Bird" and "The Robber Bridegroom" were by far the most ghastly. I don't know about you, but the descriptions of girls being hacked to pieces were quite dreadful- especially the part in "The Robber Bridegroom" where the maiden's sobs and screams were unheeded as the robbers "tore off her fine clothes, put her on a table, chopped her beautiful body to pieces, and sprinkled them with salt." The scene of the basin of girls' severed and bloody body parts stewing in the dark was also not very appetizing, either. Granted I don't go out of my way to watch horror movies, but if these two stories were adapted to a movie screen, the would make a nice rated "R" movie. (Insert hint of sarcasm here.)

So what purpose does the sense of horror in these two stories serve? If you compare them to, say, Perrault's "Bluebeard" or Thackeray's "Bluebeard's Ghost," the two Bluebeard versions appear quaint, and they act as an admonition or slap on the wrist to young women who let their sensibilities get in the way of reason. Perrault and Thackeray attempt to criticize bad female conduct either in court or in high society, and try to show that a woman's curiosity can overwhelm her moral compass and logic. However, the truely graphic nature of the Grimm's tales shows that a woman's curiosity is well founded. If it weren't for her snooping around, the female character of "The Robber Bridegroom" would have fallen prey to the robbers the same way the other maiden had, and if the youngest daughter hadn't used her wits, she and her sisters would have shared the same bloody stew for a grave.

But besides proving that women do, indeed, have a brain for a purpose, the graphic nature of "The Robber Bridegroom" and "Fitcher's Bird" are meant to disgust the reader. In both stories, the murderers are men that beg and steal. They do not work for an honest living, and they prey upon those that do (especially maidens.) They lack the industriousness and God-fearing piety that a good German should have, and the Grimm Brothers portray their antagonists this way to stress that beggars and thieves should be feared for more than just their potential violence. They should also be feared for their lack of contribution to the economy and morality of Germans- and other peoples as well- because their lifestyles harm those that live around them. The Grimm Brothers portray the beggars' and theives' means of income as revolting by creating a dramatic scene in their stories that illustrates the grotesqueness of their ways of living.

Assignment: 24 March 2009

Since class had to be cut short today, there will be two posts for this evening.

Question 1: Compare the elements of horror in the various versions of Bluebeard that you read for today. Please name the elements you are comparing and discuss how they function in the story. Do they help move the plot along? Elaborate the story? Startle the audience? etc.

Question 2: Tatar offers two readings of the heroine’s character: either as a celebration of self-preservation and cleverness or as a disobedient female. Using a version other than the Perrault, consider how the heroine gets presented. Use quotes to support your reading.

Again, please post two separate entries by midnight tonight.

Although I saw many points of communist manipulation in the film, the presence of alcohol in the film was what drew my attention. In a movie intended for children it seems odd from U.S. cultural standards to have the consumption of alcohol be such a central point of the film. However, the film vilifies alcohol consumption as well as those that indulge in it. The king, who is spineless ruler, is defined mostly by his dependance on alcohol. During the letter swap we see the leader of the robber's berating his comrade's for being lazy and apathetic from wine, and finally the devil indulges in the end in a disgusting amount of wine as well. It is interesting that the final punishment to the over indulgent ruler is to strap him down into labor and deprive him of his flask. This focus on alcohol seems to be part of the producer's wider arching plan to warn their future workers against the evils of frivolity and the importance of hard work.

"The Devil's Three Golden Hairs" is an interesting movie that reflects the society in which it was produced. From the ornate costume of the devil to the silly humor used throughout the film, it is fairly obvious that the film was created for children. Nevertheless, the messages it send toward the children are quite blatantly political. It communist Germany, ideals such as equality are greatly emphasized. In this film, the character of the king is shown as malevolent and sly, undermining his legitimacy as a ruler. This portrayal emphasizes that the wealthy of the kingdom are no better than the commoners, like Jacob. All in all, the movie targets children and aims to instill Communist ideals in their minds. 

The Devil's Three Golden Hairs

Sry about the tardiness, but here it is...

In a communist society, there is no doubt a political agenda to this film. Given the simplicity of the story structure and the lack of character depth, this film no doubt is targeted at children. The lack of production quality however doesn't take away from the communist messages intended to brainwash the children watching it for entertainment. Thus, seeing as the dialogue and tone of the film wreaks of immaturity, the target audience, children, are the intended viewers to this powerful propaganda message.

The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs- The Socialist Version

Like the DEFA version of Schneewitchen, this rendition of The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs is an obvious attempt to indoctrinate children and teenagers with socialist values, especially a strong dislike for kings/the wealthy. The king in The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs is similar to the evil stepmother in Schneewitchen in that he is portrayed as a proud, bumbling fool that is completely inept at administering to the needs of his dominion and he is the root of all problems for his kingdom. The Devil is depicted in a similar manner in that the Devil is not the all-powerful, although the movie attempts to make him look demonic (unlike in the Grimm's version.)

One of the more interesting departures from the Grimm's story is that the boy/young man is not aided by the grandmother. Instead he takes on the guise of the Devil's wife, and he overcomes the Devil and eventually the king by learning how to master his clumsiness to fool the more powerful lords and return what they have taken from the hardworking townspeople. This movie is particularly aimed at older boys and young men to show that it is within their power to fight back against the lure of wealth in a capitalist society because hard work will eventually give them an honest and happy living.

Assignment: 17 March 2009

This week we are going by the normal schedule, so please post by Tuesday at midnight and leave two comments by Wednesday night.

Prompt: Respond to the film “The Devil’s Three Golden Hairs” (DEFA). You may wish to consider one (or more) of the following:

• Target audience
• How it uses the medium specifically in order to tell its version of the story
• Comparison to the DEFA version of “Snow White”

I found perhaps the most odd scene of the movie to be the swap of identities between the beast and the theif. In de Beaumont's story, Belle is a little off put by the transformation of the beast, at first not identifying the newly transformed prince. However, in the Cocteau's film, Belle has to not only struggle with this but also with seeing a confessed loved one's face on the beast. Cocteau's version heightens the confusion of the original story's transformation and by doing so emphasizes Belle's unconditional love of the beast. However, along with this comes this unnerving baggage of a lover who becomes a mish-mash of identities, as if Belle handpicked the qualities she liked from each love and combined them into an uber-mate. Looking over this detail though, the transformation helps cement the magic of the story and in a way is a rebirth of the flawed thief romance into the pure one of the beast.

One difference between Cocteau's film "La Belle et la Bete" and Beaumont's version of "Beauty and the Beast" that I found interesting is the evil stepsister's role in the final outcome of the tory. In Beaumont's version, the sister's jealousy makes them shower Beauty with flattery and love to entice her to stay longer than her promise, letting the Beast die in grief or eat her up. In this version, the sister's are already married, but they are still jealous of their younger sister. However, in the movie, the sister's take a much more active role in the destruction of the Beast by persuading their brother and his friend to find and kill the monster, stealing Belle's gift in order to do so.

Nevertheless, it seems that the sister's punishments in each story do not correlate with the severity of their actions. When they simply entice Beauty to stay home longer, a fairly harmless crime in comparison to the movie, they end up as statues for an ambiguous amount of time - perhaps forever. Nevertheless, in "Belle et la Bete" when they steal and manipulate others to physically kill Beast, their punishment is carrying the train of their sister's dress. 

In my opinion, it seems like their punishments are reversed in terms of severity. Not really an important aspect of the two versions, but I thought it was an interesting note. 

Beaty and the Beast

Perhaps the greatest contrast between the two versions, the De Beamont one and the movie, is the opening depicition of the Beast's mansion. I found the way they depicted the mansion in the movie to be far different in the movie. When the father stumbles into the inside of the mansion, instead of it being described as magnificiant as De Beamont would have it, the movie sets up a far different image. The mansion is creepy and far more mysterious in nature. The greatness of the hall, is flooded in darkness in the movie which lends for a different feel.

Apart from setting up a different setting for the father to scamper about, it also has its implications of the hidden 'evil' laden in the walls. This notion leaves the viewer in suspence while at the same time making the viewer form biased judgements on the plave within. Thus, the movie has made a more active attempt at forming and attributing negative connotations to this area. Without chandaliers and a fireplace, the place would ahve been dark. This suggests a certain primativeness to the area, as fire serves as the only guiding light. It is no surprise that the father in the movie falls asleep right next to the warm fire as undoubltedly was done in barbaric periods of the past. Thus, the darker, more mysterious setting of the mansion forces a negative, primative gut response from the viewer, rather than a more passive presentation of the place, as depicted by De Beamont.

Of Beasts and Men

Cocteau's portrayal of magic was quite intriguing in comparison to de Beaumont's bland version of fantasy, and I found that through his particular use of magic, Cocteau was able to characterize the human nature much more so than did de Beaumont. The majority of insight that he provided to examine humanness occurred at his conclusion of the story. After thinking about the question posed in class about where the border of distinction between humans and beasts exists, I thought this movie did a much better job at examining what makes us human and how our actions define whether or not we deserve our human essence.

Cocteau achieves this insight by manipulating some of de Beaumont's character and plot portrayals so that by the end, the goodness of the beast and the beastliness of Avontue (I forgot his name, but Belle's other "human" suiter) earn each character their just reward. Interestingly, Cocteau adds this other suiter to the storyline to contrast the nature of the beast. de Beaumont's version makes very vague references to prior suiters for Belle, and none of them hold any grudges against Belle- at least de Beaumont makes no mention of it- that would drive them to go hunt down the beast to kill him and take all his wealth. In reference to the Beast's wealth, Cocteau creates this "sacred domain" where the Beast's true wealth is stored where both the Beast and Belle are forbidden to enter. Inside is where the magical statue of Diana keeps guard of the Beast's treasure and protect's it from any intruders. This statue is also very interesting because it incorporates two of de Beaumont's story elements into one: the good fairy and turning the older sisters into statues for their cruelty. Instead of the statue symbolizing the punishment for ill will and greed, the statue is the dictator of punishments for the same characteristics and acts as the fairy to protect the happiness and virtue of the deserving characters.

The combination of these changes to the de Beaumont version acts in synchrony to show that to be human requires that a person be able not only to recognize his or her own faults, but also be able to convey the true worth of his character. Beast is fully aware of his shortcomings, and he patiently accepts his "beastliness" until some woman is able to recognize the true merit of his character. The human suiter, on the other hand, is lazy, gambles all day, and is way too confident in his good looks to realize that Belle needs more than just a handsome face. Not only that, but he also doesn't stop and consider what he is doing when he attempts to steal the beast's treasure. Because of the Beast's and the suitor's character (flaws), each character earns their true appearance.

Assignment: 10 March 2009

Since many of you still need to watch the Cocteau film, posts will be due at midnight on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.

Pick one scene or element from Cocteau's "La Belle et La Bête" and compare it or contrast it with de Beaumont's version. You might pick something that interests you, that seems odd, or something that you missed in one version or the other, for example.

Fair, Brown, and Trembling

Fair, Brown, and Trembling is a story from Ireland. It begins as a seemingly normal "Cinderella" tale, but has some strange deviations throughout in the text. One interesting aspect is that it concentrates on color throughout the story. Trembling (the Cinderella character) goes to mass (ball) three times, and each time, her attire is described in a full paragraph. Colors are included in every description, even insignificant parts. Not only are colors described in detail, but other small aspects o the story are intricately explained (for example, a specific mark of the belly of a whale...). Also, after the wedding of the prince and Trembling, the story is only half complete. There is an entire second story-line where the prince fights for the hand of Trembling and saves her from an enchanted whale. Yeah, I know. Weird. She is swallowed by the whale after her sister pushes her into the ocean (her sister is in love with her husband) and a little cowboy must alert the prince to rescue her. Finally, the story doesn't include a parental unit of any sort, which deviated from normal Cinderella stories, where the evil stepmother is a key player in the plot. This eliminates any oedipal ties that some Cinderella tales have and make it more about clear-cut good versus evil. 

Conkiajgharuna, the Little Rag Girl (A Georgian Tale)

This tale is quite a departure from Perrault and Grimm's versions of Cinderella, although it has the element of the cow as a guardian seen in many of the Asian versions of Cinderella we read in class for this week. First, it is interesting to note that the tales including the cow as the mother-like provider of food and comfort were from Asia and the Middle East because many of those cultures saw the cow as a symbol of wealth and, in the case of the Indian version, as a sacred animal. Second, the story is not a riches-to-rags-to-riches tale as the Cinderella figure is the daughter of a poor peasant, not a gentleman. Cinderella is also not emphasized as the "most beautiful creature ever seen" like in many of the other Cinderella versions- she is not the slender female of the courtly French Cinderella. Rather, she is described as plump because of her nourishment from the cow, and her virtues rest in her ability to cope with her stepmother's abuse, her cleverness to get the king to notice her (by pricking him with a needle through the basket in which she is trapped), and her kindness to the devil woman (who is by every means a horrifying creature.) This Cinderella's hardiness, not dantiness, is what earns her her freedom from her mother and her rise in rank as a queen.

The effect of all these element acting in concert is that this tale is about a girl learning how to earn her own way in life by appreciating the things in life that will earn her wealth in her culture. When the girl takes care of the cow it is hard work, but she learns that her efforts pay off in nourishment and protection. Therefore, the cow becomes a symbol of wealth that has to be protected. The girl's encounter with the old devil woman is where the girl learns to appreciate the older generation's wisdom. Despite some of its knowledge of horrific events in the course of a lifetime, the wisdom of old women and their knowledge of how to become a successful woman in their culture is worth more than its weight in gold to a girl who has to learn how to become a woman on her own. It is with the old woman's wisdom of the springs that the girl acquires her ability to distinguish herself and to earn her greater wealth through marriage. The girl's cleverness is what enables her to take advantage of her newly aquired appreciation of wealth (from the cow) and wisdom (from the hag) by escaping the wiles of her stepmother through pricking the seat of her eventual husband.

Cinderella Italy

I found this version to be particularly interesting as it takes the basic concept and framework of the Cinderella story and alters almost every relationship within the story. What intrigued me is how this version is able to alter Cinderella from being the victim into being the difficult one in the family. Cinderella is one of three daughters. She is the one who differentiates herself from the other two, rather than her oppression immediately being forced upon her by two stepsisters and a wicked step-mother. Cinderella in this case does not capture the same pity as one in the Grimms' version or even Parrault's version, but at the same time, she ends up going to the ball much like in the other two versions. Only in this one, she drops a snuffbox full of money. Here, some of the ambiguity of why he likes her is shown. The lost slipper when she runs away embarrased is still present, but the chase is tainted by his potential stilted motives. The story of love taking him to her is somewhat lost as their relationship is already tainted by the temptations of money and the superficialness of physical appearence. She is still given the oppertunity of trying on the slipper and elects to pardon the wrongs of her siblings and father. Yet, I can't help but look at how the family dynamics set up a different scenerio for the magic of the ball night to take place. That, and the notion that her relationship to the king remained in the superficials of looks and money.

Assignment: 24 February 2009

Look through the sites below and choose either an illustration(s) or a version of the Cinderella story which we have not read for class and respond to it.

• D. L. Ashliman’s folktale site
• Sur La Lune
• The Cinderella Project at the University of Mississippi

No posts this week

Good luck on your exams!

Sorry this is late! My computer was having issues!

The thesis of the Zipes article about "Breaking the Disney Spell" is to state that Disney more or less took classic fairytales, Americanized them, and therefore, ruined them in the process. All Disney wanted to do was sell these stories to a broader audience, and thus, took out the original meaning of these stories. I mean, he has a point - Disney did rearrange these stories, give them all happy endings, remove much of the horror from them, etc. But nevertheless, a fairytale always has more than one version and is always transitioning to fit the ideas of the time (ie. when they began to be written down, they were changed to please the upper classes, etc...) Therefore, Disney did not ruin these fairytales, he simply updated them for film to appeal to cartoons greatest audience - children. 

Jack Zipes identifies Disney as usurper of the fairy tale for his own mean after identifying a long list of others. The problem with Zipes' essay is that he builds a vilified Disney from a few facts, but mostly from his own imagination. Zipes throws around psychological terms haphazardly, seeming more interested in twisting details to support his own preconceived notion of the fairy tale. He describes the oral tradition of the fairy tale as one that is classless and free to everyone, calling the revisions into text and film and more elitist and manipulative. What he fails to note is that the revisions reached a much larger audience than the original obscure tales. Also, Zipes' view of the reinvention of the fairy tales as a sort of hijacking flies in the face of a large part of artistic expression of using a tried structure to express new things.

Primary Sources

I believe Jack Zipes' main argument was that Disney used the medium of animation to convey his own personal personal ambitions, and because Disney was meticulous in making sure that his productions did not have any other competitors, the American culture (and other Americanized cultures) accepted the elements of his fairy tales as being the primary source for fairy tales.

Zipes used two lines of supporting arguments that buttressed his claims well. First, his discussion of fairy tales evolving as concrete literary structures from the free-form story-telling strengthened his view that animated movies restricted the meaning of the fairy tale further than just written tales. Like Zipes says, the development of the literary fairy tale in the seventeenth century was aimed at the social elite that could afford books. The plot and symbols of the fairy tale were refined in such a manner that was appropriate for parlors of the court and the growing bourgeois class (in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.) In particular with the Grimms brothers, their attempts to clean up some of the fairy tales' illogical and/or inappropriate plots stripped the fairy tale of some of its fantastic elements. Just so, Disney's attempts to portray the fairy tales in animation demanded that he take even more of the fantastical elements out of the fairy tale. His artistic vision of the fantasy world became the audience's view: where once the power of the imagination had to draw the pictures of the obsurd, the artist's pen replaced the imagination. And because Disney was very good at making sure that he had no competitors, his artistic view dominated what audiences saw and captured their imaginations.

As Disney held his audience captive, Zipes argued that Disney was able to twist the plot of the fairy tale to show what he believed was a good story. The element of Disney's stories that I do not particularly care for, and that Zipes calls out, is that Disney believes that women should be domestic and that they should wait to be rescued by their prince on a white horse. Disney perpetuates the patriarchal stereotypes that many of the literary fairy tales' authors use, and it seems silly when the social norms of gender relations were changing dramatically during Disney's lifetime. He uses the patriarchal stereotypes to strengthen his ideal of the entrepreneurial young man (the prince) that can save the day as long as the princess sticks to the patriarchal plan.

I think Zipes thesis works well, but for a reason that he did not explicitly state. The art of animation was coming into full swing as Disney started his career in the field, and because of his predatory business skills, he was successfully able to dominate the animation business. This was important as American audiences started to fully embrace the technology of full length movies and the advent of technicolor television. Audiences accepted all of Disney's interpretations of the fairy tale as they were finally able to afford to watch the features at a movie theater (and because he was the main one producing the fairy tale features, Disney's movies were the ones audiences saw.) When the Grimms Brothers published their books, middle class people were finally able to afford the Kinder- und Hausmarchen that was (unintentionally) written for children. And because of their publishing success with the new technology of mass printing, the Grimms Brother's versions of the fairy tales became standard among many households. Disney's success happened for about the same reason: the rise (but not the beginning) of a new technology made that artform accessible to the masses for the first time, and because of its novelty, the popular culture quickly took that version to be the primary source of the fairy tale.

I took Jack Zipes thesis to be: The great "magic" of the Disney spell is that he animated the fairy tale only to transfix audiences and divert their potential Utopian dreams and hopes through false promises of the images he cast upon the screen.

Given the thesis above I am inclined to disagree with his statement. His thinking that Disney stripped the fairy tales of their values as they altered them is missing a few important things to consider. First, fairy tales, as they have been from the beginning, have been used as a tool to reflect the culture. Disney took the tales and did just that. Many other countries had done the same before, but only now, because it was portrayed on the screen, does he think to condemn Disney's attempt at making various fairy tales reflect the culture. Second, many of these fairy tales would never have been exposed if it weren't for the Disney versions. To this avail, I find it hard to see how Zipes completely overlooks the fact that Disney promoted awareness through making these fairy tales. Zipes should see that Disney took these fairy tales to reflect their culture and, while innately promoting awareness through the release of the movies, they on the simplest level were saying that there was a story to tell, that 'story' being the differnt versions prior to the release of the movie.

Disney was telling the fairy tale that Americans needed. It reflected American dreams, American values. Zipes focues on the fact that these dreams and values were different from the ones like in the Grimms version, but he never fully acknowledges that they were from a different culture. Thus, Disney is not altering these stories for their own self-interest, but rather, they are telling these wonderful fairy tales to the American people, for American people. Fairy tales that most likely would never see their way out of the attic otherwise.

Assignment: 3 February 2009

First, please identify the thesis of the Zipes article from this week’s reading. Then, respond to his thesis: do you agree or disagree, and why?

Don’t forget to post two comments by Wednesday at midnight.

Goldflower and the Bear

Chiang Mi's Goldflower and the bear, published in 1979, is a revision of the traditional structure of the red riding hood story, incorporating a more modern viewpoint. In this version, the age old gender roles of the protective brother and demure sister are reversed. In order to survive, Goldflower must utilize her wit, and in the end, physical violence. The audience is unmistakably that of modern children, had the story been published in the Grimm's time the role of the daughter would have seemed inappropriate. The fairy tale is clearly attempting to impart a sense of self-reliance, independence, and strength to the child. Removed are the connotations of the predator as a male presence, instead the bear comes to represent a general threat, unattached to any symbol. While Goldflower makes the mistake of letting in the bear in the first place, instead of being punished the narrative has her take responsibility and deal with the issue herself. Further, all adult authorities are absent from the story and place much more of an emphasis on Goldflower's ability to trust herself and remain calm and in control.

pardon the spelling below...

Raul

I think Raul Dahl's use of poetry does indeed appeal to a more audult adience who have already been exposed to the fairy tale in years past. While poetry might be harder for shildren to understand, per se, I think that the low of poetry has a certain rythm to it that most certainly is aimed at children. Thus the use of poetry for Little Red Riding Hood has a twofold purpose for Raul Dahl: both to appeal to kids hearing the poetry read before bedtime while at the same time serving a comedic purpose for the adults reading them. For example, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a movie exhibited the way about it where ti was targeted at drastically different audiences, working on some level for both of them.

More specifically to his version, as pointed out by Emily, Little Red Riding Hood doesn't hold the same innocence as what was once portrayed in the Grimm's version. However, I would interpret her putting on the wolf's fur less as a symbol of maturity and more of an alegorical symbol for her passage through adolecence. In all, Raul Daul looked to put his spin of the tale in an effort to bring certain alegories to the forefront while supressing others, all of which is presented in comical poetry.

Roald Dahl is famous for works such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda, but he also wrote his own version of many common fairytales, including "Little Red Riding Hood." Though he writes his version in rhyming poetic form, the mood is much darker than the Grimm's version. Dahl's audience is clearly not the same as the Grimms, aiming for a more adult crowd who can enjoy his quirky humor. This is shown by the use of a pistol by Little Red Riding Hood to destroy the wolf herself, an addition certainly not meant to entertain a bunch of children.  Also, Little Red wears the wolf's fur as a coat, making her a more mature girl, and therefore, aimed to entertain an older audience. Finally, the structure of the narrative, a poem, seeks to engage an older crowd, for poetry is often harder to understand. 

Dahl is a twentieth century author, and therefore, his target audience is more modern and older than those of previous versions of the fairytale. He uses irony and humor to twist the story around to appeal to this new generation, but why? By this time in history, classic fairytales like "Little Red Riding Hood" were common knowledge among children and adults. In order to make the story fresh and new to an adult crowd that grew up hearing these stories, Dahl adds new elements to create a contemporary and unconventional version.  In so doing, he gives new depth to these old stories and makes them interesting all over again.  

A little New Yorker humor

James Thurber was a favorite among fans of the New Yorker readers for his humor. From short stories like "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" to his own fairy tale "The 13 Clocks," Thurber was a master at creating the absurd to poke fun at the mundane world of daily life in the earlier part of the twentieth century. In particular, the curt tale of "The Little Girl and the Wolf" is a picture perfect example of Thurber's work- written like a short blurb found in a magazine, the story immediately grabs the reader's attention to the time period of the story's setting. The references to the Metro-Goldwyn lion and Calvin Coolidge date the short fairy tale to the 1930s, and indeed, "The Little Girl and the Wolf" was published in the New Yorker on Jan. 21, 1939. But more importantly, the moral at the end, "It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be" calls to mind the changing social structure of the United States during that time period. During the 1930s, many more women belonged to the work force than ever before. As a result, women no longer wanted to be known as the little red riding hoods that always had to be protected by the kind huntsman, and they were quite adamant in asserting their new-found independence from Victorian mores. On the other hand, men were not so comfortable in sharing their position as the bread-winners with women. Many men saw the modern woman as a threat to their idea of masculinity, for how were they supposed to prove their merit when women no longer needed them to take care of the family budget and security? Thurber's "The Little Girl and the Wolf" pokes fun at this fear by illustrating how "the little girl" no longer needs the huntsman to rescue her from the big, bad wolf. The male no longer can serve as the role of hero/rescuer, and the woman controls all the shots (...please pardon the bad pun.) Thurber probably wrote this version of Little Red Riding Hood partly as a warning to men to be on the lookout for predatory women, for the economic and social conditions of the time made it easier for them to upsurp all their power, and partly as a jest at men's fears of independent women. I mean, who doesn't like a little intrigue in their relationships? The old Little Red Riding Hood would have certainly been a bore with the half of a brain she had...

Assignment: 27 January 2009

Please respond to the following by midnight tonight. On Wednesday, read over the other posts in your sub-group and comment on at least two.

You have read Shavit's essay comparing the Perrault and Grimm versions of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Using Shavit's method, consider one of the other versions you read for this week (Dahl, Calvino, Thurber, Chiang Mi). With a little research (you may use Wikipedia, since this is not a research paper), outline who you think the audience is and what the fairy tale’s retelling says about the culture and time in which it was written.

If I were to make the story of Hansel and Gretel into a movie using the same style that Keene used for "The Juniper Tree," I would focus the most on the real-life aspects of the story and exploit them in the film. 

First, the family dynamic should be explored further. The movie should delve into the character of the stepmother and expose her evil and selfish intentions, both toward her lack of care for her children and her manipulation of her husband. This could be done by making her a tall, slender woman with sharp features and a constant scowl.  The depiction of the father should show his love for his children, but also his weak and complying nature, perhaps represented outwardly by an shorter, average-Joe looking man. 

Second, the idea of hunger should be the main theme of the film.  We should be able to see the country-wide famine throughout the movie; through the attitude of the characters, the bleakness of the scenery, and dialogue.  The music should be somber and slow, creating a feeling of despair, driving the parents to an extreme measure. 

Finally, the witch and her house would have to contrast the representation of the family, offering safety and relief of their hunger.  She would be a sweet elderly woman, whose evilness was seen through her actions. 

Basically, the movie version would remove most of the fairytale characteristics of the story, leaving only the real-life aspects to be explored and exaggerated. 

The story of Hansel and Gretal runs rich with themes of survival, of temptation, abandonment, and finally fufillment. Because of this I would place Hansel and Gretal's age just in the beginnings of puberty, a time when one can still remember the innocence of childhood but can feel an indescribable turmoil approaching. The home setting would be very sparse and firmly grounded in reality, it is something familiar and harsh, but excepted. The house should rest right on the border of the forest, which would be depicted as a great tangled and ancient mass, a forbidden place that externalizes the children's feelings. Moreso than the thought of being abandoned, it is the the thought of being left in the forest that scares Hansel and Gretel, the fear of having to face alone what they feel inside. Even returning to an unloving house is preferable to remaining out in the forest to fend for themselves in their mindest. The witches house would be depicted as a rich cottage of plenty rather than a confectionary construct, but still slightly otherworldly in its contrast to the starving household. However, the symbol of the house would become some weird representation of the pleasure that puberty brings with it and its danger.

After looking at the world created by Nietzchka Keene for the Juniper Tree, there are a few areas of Hansel and Gretel that I would look to exploit when thinking about the 'real life' origins of the fairy tale.

First, I think the family dynamic in and of itself encapsulates a real life dilemma that a family of the time might have encountered. While there are differing versions the the fairy tale, the movie should spend enough time to set up this dilemma, it is in this time that we would become acquainted with the children as well as the synamic between the two parents. This time would allow the viewer to develop and emotional attachment to the kids while lending a sympathetic eye to the father, pinned to the corner, thinking this as his only viable option. This would make both the decision and the ensuing ditch in the forest something far more emotional than what is presented in the fairy tale. Though this prolongs the set up of the story, it stresses Hansel and Gretel's disconnect even more so than what a shorter set up allows.

As far as once Hansel and Gretel reach the witches house, I think the story needs to be more grounded in the witches intentions, focused more on the surroundings in her home. This would allow for a deeper character, escalating a certain feeling of inevitability for the witch to eat Gretel while at the same time making Hansel's situation more dire. This is the case because as we get to know the witch more, her intensions ring truer, and as they do, we begin to believe her passion to execute those intentions.

On the whole, I would look to make this a more real life situation through creating depth in the characters through more intimate sets, indicative of their character. This all works to dynamify characters with the effort of deriving relatability of the story for viewers.

Assignment: 20 January 2009

Please respond to the prompt below by tonight (Tuesday) at midnight. You should place your response in a new post, rather than using the “comment” function. Later this week, you will be able to check back and see featured entries on our main page, The Philosopher’s Stone.

Keene imagines the world that created the fairy tales we read today in The Juniper Tree. Considering this Ur-world, full of poverty, fear, ignorance, and a need for storytelling, imagine what factors would lead to a story like Hansel and Gretel.

Pretend you want to pitch a movie that shows the world that produced Hansel and Gretel. How old would the main characters be? What would your supporting cast look like? And perhaps most importantly, what sorts of problems would feed into the Hansel and Gretel story? Use the week's readings to guide your thinking; consider the themes which appear in the various fairy tales from England, France, and Germany.

sorry about the late addition, I was figuring out the blog. Anyway, this is my response the prompt below:

When looking at both critics, while they both offer stronger points than the other in various facets of what a fairy tale offers, Bettelhelm seems to offer a truer read on the function of fairy tales. He offers logical reasoning behind, first, what a fairly tale includes, and then, how the fairy tale functions. In looking at how a fairy tale functions, Bettelhelm examines the positive effects they have on children, while Darnton focuses on critically analysing the progression of the fairy tale. For Darnton, this doesn't allow him to look at the fairy tale and its actual function of today, but rather just that a fairly tale is not what it once was. Thus, Bettelhelm's approach of looking at a fairy tale as a tool for children's education lended a better understanding of what a fairy tale is.

thoughts

I thought that Bettelheim's article was much easier to understand and believe when compared with Darnton's.  Bettelheim argues that fairytales are not just fun stories, but an integral part of moral and social development in children. Fairytales delve into the conscious and the subconscious to mold a person's beliefs, allowing a child to learn about right and wrong and the consequences of their actions. Although his point is clear and possible, it does not explain the reason for the creation of fairytales (especially since they have become less graphic and unhappy throughout time). Darnton explains that the purpose might have been for mere entertainment and to convey important societal concepts to an older audience. This seems much more plausible, because the change that has occurred over generations would dampen the effects of the stories for children. 

Raconteurs, not Psychoanalysists, Please

I find it hard to believe that fairy tales have come to existence as accumulations of subconscious expressions of the ego and id. Fairy tales serve more than just the purpose to entertain the younger generation with the freedom of fantasy to explore their inner selves; instead, fairy tales represent cultural icons and ageless traditions for children and adults alike. Although Bettelheim has a point in delving into the meanings of the fairy tale and the relevance it holds for society, I find it a mistake to try and label the fairy tale's stereotypes to match Freudian archetypes. Part of the artform of fairy tales is the fluidity of the storyline. To try and make something concrete out of the abstract setting and characters detracts from the purpose of the storyteller's goal of achieving the fantastical. The unrealistic tale is the medium in which storytellers have the freedom to incorporate their own views of creativity.

Although morality is often woven into the story line, the fairy tale does more than just instruct the younger generation. Therefore, I think Darnton's "The Meaning of Mother Goose" was more apt at showing that the fairy tale as more than just entertainment for children. As Darnton mentioned, many fairy tales have been exchanged and altered between ethnicities, and many have been embellished with additional characters and settings as a result of the storyteller employings his own creativity. To try and generalize that every fairy tale has sexual connotations behind each of the general characters is a stretch. In addition, as we mentioned in class, many of the fairy tale's characters are dimensionless. Their inability to change throughout the story is not a good example for young children, as Bettelheim was trying to argue. Instead, their static characteristics were useful for the storyteller in his endeavors to create a fantastic story.

Assignment: 13 January 2009

Please respond to the question below by midnight tonight.

Which of the following essays do you find more productive in helping you to think about fairy tales as more than children's entertainment? Why?

• Robert Darnton's “Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose”
• Bruno Bettelheim “The Struggle for Meaning,”

(both in Tatar, The Classic Fairy Tales)