Blog Entry #4

Little Red Riding Hood Cartoon: Click

This particular Little Red Riding Hood Cartoon appeared on the show "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" on their segment called "Fractured Fairy Tales." I'm not sure exactly when this episode aired, but the show ran from 1959 to 1964.

In this version Red is a grown women (as opposed to a little girl) who sells riding hoods in Hollywood, CA. She receives a request from a wealthy women for a riding hood made of wolf skin. The problem? Red does not have any to sell her and if she wants to complete the sale, she must obtain one by three o'clock the next day. Meanwhile, there is a young wolf named Walter who is being sent to his grandmother's house on a errand by his mother. To get to his grandmother's house, he must go through "The Holly Woods" (or Hollywood), where he is intercepted by Red who tries to get him to sell her his skin. Of course, Walter is completely opposed to the idea and is evades all of her attempts to trick him into it and makes his way safely to grandmother's house. Red, however, has gone on to his grandmother's house where she dresses herself in a bear skin rug she finds on the floor. On the way to his grandmother's, Walter has been considering just how much he could make by selling a wolf skin to the wealthy women. He's not inclined to sell his own fur, but someone else's? He suddenly considers the fact of selling his grandmother's fur. There is a brief scene between the wolf and Red (with the roles reversed) with the classic, "Oh grandmother! What big ... you have!" But it's quickly cut off when Walter scoops up "grandmother" and carries her off. In the end, Walter sells the bear skin (with Red inside) and passes it off as a wolf's skin, selling it to the women. He takes over Red's shop and sets up a shop for himself, making plans at the very end to obtain a few more valuable wolves' skins.

I enjoyed this rendition because it was first, a relatively modern retelling and with the roles reversed (Red as the "hunter" and the wolf as the "hunted), it's sure to stand out in my mind. This aired in our country fifteen to twenty (depending) years after the WWII had ended and women were, relatively speaking, new fixtures to the work place. It portrays Red as a well to do business owner who is willing to do anything in the name of her sale -- including hunting down and skinning a wolf (even going so far as to impersonate his grandmother in order to achieve her ends).

Although Red is the antagonist of the story, Walter the wolf is hardly a clear cut hero as we often see in fairy tales. Driven by the same motives as Red was (money), he was willing to sell out his own grandmother, which just may be even worse than Red's plot to kill him, and the end of the story shows him eager to continue this trend and trick what is suggested to be more friends and family so he can further his own business.

Blog Entry #3

What is the relationship between fairy tales and psychology? What psychological theories have been used to better understand fairy tales? How did psychologists use fairy tales in psychotherapy?

Psychologists have been interested in discovering the reasons behind the power and significance of fairy tales. Although they may have been disregarded as some as mere children’s tales, psychologists realize that there is more to them than might otherwise reach the untrained eye.

According to Freud, fairy tales give us access to the unconscious desires and inner struggles. Certain elements can be translated to have a deeper meaning. In Freud’s case they tend to have sexual undertones and double entendres. Freud believes that, like dreams, fairy tales can give glimpses into to unconscious.

Carl Jung, on the other hand, found and analyzed the different archetypes in fairy tales. There are reoccurring roles that are filled and preformed in fairy stories. Some of the many he pointed out were: the Mother Role, the Wise Old Man, the Trickster, the Maiden, the Anima and the Animas, and the Shadow. He also employs the theory of the collective unconscious as to why so many fairytales are almost identical. We all undergo similar experiences as humans, and it is not coincidence but rather our collective unconscious that allows for this.

Psychologists use fairy tales in their therapy because almost everyone has a fairy tale with which they identify – even if they don’t know as to why. When asking their patients which ones they like now or as a child, it very often helps them get to the root of the problem, by finding out why the child (or adult) was/is drawn to that story.

Blog Entry #2

What is a fairy tale?

It is a question that many people may have to stop to ponder before answering, especially if you are fishing for a precise response. It is a rare child, indeed, who did not grow up listening to these stories over and over again. Although they may be, at times, considered simple "children's stories", they must be more than "nursery tales" if the accounts are so captivating as to stay with us our entire lives.

So what then, have analysts found about fairy tales? What makes a story a fairy tale? What have they found is true all of fairy stories?

Fairy tales are stories without authors. They are passed down by word of mouth and, as such, allowed alteration by the listener who goes on to tell the tales themselves to others. Someone who had been told a folk tale may tweak certain details that they may not like or cannot make sense of. Cultural differences and translation errors also made for various countries to have their own rendition of a popular story.

They are simple tales. They are often repetitive and predictable. The hero or heroine will complete a task "just in time". Good triumphs over evil, and the day is saved. The characters are one-dimensional. The plot drives the story forward, rather than the characters that are, in turn, never complex. They fall completely into their stereotypes. There are the bad and the good. There are never characters that could fall in both categories. Characters are in the plot for the functions they perform and nothing about them is known unless it is absolutely essential to the story.

For the sake of the plot, characters will also do things that do not make sense. In Sleeping Beauty for instance, why would a father who loves his daughter not tell her about her enchantment, but rather, in the name of protecting her, destroys all of the objects in the kingdom that may present her harm, so that she grows up without knowing what a spindle is?

With such elements, how is it that they are stories that seem to affect nearly everyone who hears them? Why are they told and retold throughout the generations? Why do we love them so much, if they are tales that seem void of substance?

For as simplistic as they are, they are not without their charms. They don't always make perfect sense, but they are created in another world. It is relatable, but certainly not the same place where we are living. Fantastical things happen that have the power to intrigue and captivate us as we become entranced in the wonderful world that is so very different from our own where anything seems to be possible. They may be stories in there rawest forms, but they are very believable to children, who can often find at least one story to which they relate. They are powerful works, having been used by psychologists to help heal their patients and help them move on or deal with a situation.

Fairy tales, although extremely uncomplicated and straight forward works should not be taken at face value. For all of their far from elaborate structures, they make up for it. They may not be descriptive or graphically depicted, but it allows for the listener to create the world with their imagination. A fairy tale is a story that is as much yours as it is anyone else's and you have the power to make it so.

Blog Entry #1

Why did you choose this class? What are you hoping to accomplish in the seminar? What is your favorite folktale or fairy tale of all time and why?

Despite the many different classes to choose from to fulfill my SIS requirement, this class immediately caught my attention. As a child, I spent more time reading and being read to than anything else. My grandmother and mother would bring out the old books of fairytales and I could listen to them for hours. They were for me, as with many children, a substantial part of my childhood and, like most, I always took them at face value. They were what they were and, quite simply, nothing more.

I have never broken down and analyzed fairytales before. The task seemed to promise that it would leave me with a new perspective that not only changed the way I view them, but have the potential to leave me viewing them in a negative light. However, I felt the same way about venturing to take any literature class and have since found that it is not as bad as all that. In fact, the literature courses I've taken, tend to be my favorite outside of those in my major. I’m hoping to get the chance to think about what I’m reading when I go through these stories again and see what I otherwise never would. The undertaking of reading several different variations from various cultures is sounds intriguing and I would love to see where certain renditions have come from and perhaps why certain elements were changed, added, or removed based on the societies that adapted them.

As per my favorite fairy or folk tale of all time, that may be a harder question to answer. I generally went through phases as to which story I liked the most. I tended to obsess over one and then move on from it. I suppose the most consistent tended to be King Arthur and Robin Hood, which, depending on what version you read, could be classified as folk tales, though are generally seen to be legends due to the prospect that either could have been based in reality. Growing up surrounded by my cousins who were mostly boys, we tended to play whatever was they wanted. When we weren't caught up in a game of Star Wars or power rangers, we were climbing in the trees as members of Robin Hood's gang or sitting around in a circle by the stone wall at our grandmother's house, which curved inwards, making it seem to us to be the perfect place for King Arthur to hold his council. No matter what was going on with our families, school, etc. we found that throwing ourselves into the wonderful worlds of the heroic and adventurous Robin Hood and King Arthur (either by reading or playing), allowed for us to escape, if only briefly, into another world.

I also loved Peter Pan. My fascination with the story developed when I was eleven or so, and was determined that I was quite old enough and had little intention of getting any older.

Hello! Working on setting this up, learning the ins and outs of blogger.com, etc. Should (hopefully) be finished by this evening and shall have the first post written. In the meantime, enjoy the music???

As far as a brief introduction about myself goes: my name is Caroline. I'm nineteen and a junior here at McDaniel. This blog shall be used to post responses to the weekly questions I received from my Folk/Fairy Tale course.