Blog Entry #8

Cinderella is one of the so called “rise tales”, which features a narrative arc of “rags to riches through magic and marriage” (Ruth Bottigheimer). Write a reflection on this motif.

"Rags to Riches" is a story motif that has come to be known as giving a story that "Cinderellaistic" feel. The protagonist's life (although it doesn't always have to have been this way) is a hard one and at the end, they ascend into a place of comfort and wealth.

This is a very popular motif which finds itself in not only the tales about the poor girl (or boy) who is tormented by his step-mother, but also in many other fairy tales. If the hero or heroine is not already of noble blood, it is rare that they do not achieve a higher rank or a world of greater comforts than when they began.

It is, I feel, the author's sense of justice. The characters have gone through an especially displeasing circumstance and yet they remain humble and exemplary, even though their lives are the furthest thing from enviable. It seems only right that they should have a better life ahead of them. Stories like these give their viewers hope and anyone who is going through a particularly hard time, may just be able to hold on in hopes of those better times that must be ahead.

The rags to riches motif is used in many films and books that are not categorized as "fairy tales", stories such as Sense & Sensibility, Annie, and My Fair Lady.

Blog Entry #7

As I was listening to the presentation given by Dr. Rust and Dr. Rose, I thought about how much ASL storytelling is like folk tales that have been passed down orally. In our modern traditions, as a speaking community, we don't tell stories like we used to. We read books aloud to our children or retell them, but there isn't the creativity that used to be there. Stories are not taken and made our own. In fact, when we try to do that, we will receive odd looks and the "that's not the way it goes" response.

ASL story telling, as a hearing viewing, is more like a performance because it is so visual. ASL is really a wonderful language -- because it is dependent upon pure visuals, it can communicate so much in an instant. I feel that ASL forces you, too, to get more involved in the story you are telling. The grammar is in the facial expressions and because you can't change the "tone" of your voice, you use expressions of the character -- or "voice" -- you are trying to convey.

I feel that, more than any other foreign language, sign language will be able to draw you in -- especially when stories are being told in it. It's always fascinating to watch and, even if you don't know the language, you can understand much, much more than if you are simply listening into another spoken language with which you are unfamiliar.

Blog Entry #6

The German rock band, Rammstein's music video for their song "Sonne" is a retelling of the story of Snow White. The villain in this version, however, is not the Wicked Stepmother, but rather Snow White herself, which I found very interesting, especially considering the theories we've talked about that suggest that Snow White is the wicked stepmother or, at the least, will become her.

The band members "or the dwarves" are working in the gold mines for Snow White, who is addicted to riches they unearth. They, in turn, are sexually attracted to her and consequently let her continue her hold over them.

G o l d: Gold is a motif common in fairy tales, but it tends not to play such a large role in Snow White as it does in other stories. The dwarves are miners, but I'm not sure that they ever specify as to what it is they are miming for. Most consider it to be jewels based on purely the Disney film. In the music video, Snow White snuffs the gold like it is cocaine and appears to die of an overdoes. This seems to suggest an extreme obsession -- to the point of death.

A p p l e: The apple that plays a so crucial part in the story as the object that finally killed Snow White, is what brings Snow White back to life in the music video.

I enjoyed the music video by Rammstein -- or at least I did the second time I viewed it. At first, I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, but upon further reflection, it seems to tell the story of abusing the power one holds over another person and the inescapable position their victims are in, even if they want to be free. In a way, it is not unlike the struggle that Snow White has within herself, if the unending cycle of her becoming her stepmother is, in fact, true.

Blog Entry #5

Beauty and the Beast and Cupid and Psyche have a very similar plot outline: the youngest of three sisters goes to marry/live with a man who is said to be anything but human in punishment for a crime that was committed that, although out of her control, she has been selected to pay for it (whether it be that she is too beautiful or that her father has stolen a rose in her name). The heroine is treated kindly, but soon becomes homesick. She returns home only to be tempted by her sisters into breaking a promise she made to her husband/master. Because of her sisters' influence, she soon seems as though she is in risk of loosing her beloved forever, but in the end, they live happily ever after.

While there are several similarities and difference between the two versions, there are two which strike me as particularly interesting. In C&P, Cupid is the farthest thing from a beast. He hides himself from his wife not because he is afraid that she will be afraid, but rather that she will not look upon him in wonder and awe. He wanted them to be equals.

Both tales present heroines who appear to be the image of perfection next to the hidden image of their opposites, but both are quite far from it.

In B&B, Beauty returns home to her sisters and is detained longer than a week due to the attention and love her sisters have finally shown her. It is, perhaps, understandable that she should neglect her Beast due to the mended relationships she believes she has finally formed with her sisters. For as intelligent as Beauty seems to otherwise be, it is strange that she would not see through her sisters' charades, regardless of the fact that she should so desperately want to.

Beauty also continuous denies the Beast's requests to marry him and on the grounds that are solely, as far as we can tell, based on his looks.

Psyche's curiosity continues to get the better of her. She gives in when she can no longer bare not to look upon the face of her husband and then again when she looks into the box which Venus has told her not to open. Psyche seems also unmotivated to even attempt the seemingly impossible tasks which Venus has given her and only returns back to her husband because others have aided her and persuaded her not to give up so easily.

In the end, she is returned to her husband because of what he does and not her own actions. Quite the contrary, her actions would have led herself to her doom, had he not interfered.

Both stories highlight that the Beauty needs the Beast and not the other way around.