Saturday, November 28, 2015

Reflection


            The best way to reflect about what I wrote is to talk about it!
             In the first blog, which I felt like I just wrote, I mentioned goals I had for the class and why I picked this class. I only picked this class because it had Disney in the title. Initially I had second thoughts about this FYS but I really enjoyed it. Before this class, I never read or saw Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tangled, HoodWinked, or Silence of the Lambs. While I only hated, with the strongest use of the word one of these movies, and wish I didn’t see that certain one, I at least somewhat liked the others. It was fun to read the original tale that takes 15 minutes if it’s a longer one, then see how Disney appropriated, or as I said in my first blog “Disneyified”. I never would have guessed that the 7 Dwarves were just functions of the plot based on what Disney did to Snow White. At family gatherings, I ask others what they think about the tale. After they mention a Disney exclusive topic, I explain that its wrong. It’s always a fun time.

            In the second blog, I had to write a working definition for a fairytale, and I wrote “A fairytale has fantastical forces and beings, but it also has, imagination, curiosity, excitement, simplistic symbolism a way of bringing you back to your childhood and most of all, it has magic. I hope this is a worthy definition of the term fairytale.” After seeing at least 7 movies adapted from fairytales, I know this definition IS worthy.

            The third blog was comparing the original tale of Hansel and Gretel with the MGM version starring Cloris Leachman. I knew Hansel and Gretel as 2 kids that got lost in a forest, if that much. Now I know that the kids were forced out of the house and had to fight for their lives from a cannibalistic queen.

            The fourth blog was explaining the reality of the “Rags to Riches” motif found it Cinderella. I don’t know why, but Cinderella’s character just annoyed me. Therefore, this blog was a tougher one to write, but I got to incorporate my soap opera into it! The point is, the “Rags to Riches” motif does exist out of the entertainment world. Also, Cinderella started the se*ualization of simple things. I rememeber that Cinderella’s glass slipper symbolized a vagina and her leg represented the “shooter”, but I don’t recall the reasoning behind it.

            The fifth blog was similar to the third blog, but with Snow White. I was shocked that Disney felt like it was ok to mangle the original Snow White. He left out to murder attempts, gave the 7 Dwarves personalities and made Snow White have to get true loves kiss to wake her up. This reminds me how much I hated Snow White’s singing and how my dislike of Disney started,

            The sixth blog was comparing The Frog Prince, or Iron Henry and Cupid and Psyche. I liked Iron Henry’s character. That was the only enjoyable thing about this blog because the princess was very bratty and I could imagine her and the story of Cupid and Psyche was very hard to follow.

            The seventh blog was finding a cartoon about Little Red Riding Hood, and dissecting it. I thought Little Red Riding Hood was eaten by the wolf and that was the end of that. But I was very wrong. This continued upon the se*ualization of simple things. The Red Riding Hood is supposed to represent menstrual blood. Initially that seems crazy, but if menstruation is looked as maturing, and the hood pushes Little Red to do something mature, the link is seen, barely, but seen.

            The eighth blog was about Fitchers Bird, Robbers Bridegroom, and BlueBeard. I hated all 3 of these tales. This only showed me that fairytales can be dark and not have a happy ending.

            The ninth blog was like the third and fifth blog but with Rapunzel. I knew Rapunzel had long hair and was stuck in a tower. The fairytale expanded on this idea. This blog let me have the opportunity to watch Tangled!!! I loved Tangled, but not for the Rapunzel aspects …

            The tenth and final blog is this blog about reflecting upon past blogs and the class. Each class was a different experience because Dr. Esa is an interesting individual with differing attitudes at differing things. But the 3 things I will always remember from this class are A) Zeitgeist is a German word meaning spirit of the time and the different approaches at one tale can most likely be attributed somewhat to zeitgeist and B) Magic is at the heart of all fairytales and C) to SHOW something NOT tell it.

            This class has inspired me to read other fairytales with movie adaptations, watch the corresponding movie, and analyze it based off analysis’ done in class. All in all, this class was a journey worth taking.

 



This blog made me think of a certain episode of my soap. On its 52nd anniversary, it flashbacked to the first episode by having current actors, fill the shoes of the original actors.

 

Sources: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/573646071263090528/

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Rapunzel VS Tangled


            Rapunzel is a classic Grimm fairytale that is about a little girl that was given up by her parents in desperation and grew up in near isolation. In 2010, Disney Animation Studios, released Tangled, which was intended to be a retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Rapunzel. Even though these 2 sources of entertainment have some similarities, they are different stories with the same character.

            In both Rapunzel and Tangled, a mystical creature, named Mother Gothel, took Rapunzel when she was a baby. The timing was similar but not the same: In Rapunzel, she was taken by the consequences of a deal and in Tangled, she was kidnapped. But the long golden hair is important in both, but for different reasons: In Rapunzel, it was used as a ladder / pulley to get to gain access to the tower in Tangled, it was also used as a ladder / pulley, but it was also used to keep the witch / adoptive mother physically young and seemingly immortal. The story takes place at important ages in a woman’s life: 12, the average age for a woman’s first period, and 18, the age of adulthood in Rapunzel.

            In both stories, Rapunzel disobeyed her adoptive mother by spending time with a man. In Rapunzel, she let a man up into her tower and later had hanky – panky, which was implied when Rapunzel told the only mother she knew that her clothes were too tight. In Tangled, after Flynn Rider enters the tower by climbing it, he and Rapunzel escaped the tower together. After both of these betrayals, Mother Gothel was very upset. Also, near the very end of the fairytale, Rapunzel shed a tear that had healing effects for the man in the story: In Rapunzel, she shed a tear that hit the prince in his blind eyes and he magically regained his eyesight and in Tangled, she shed a tear on a seemingly dead Flynn Rider and he came back to life.

Other than the differences in similarities between the stories, the major difference is the storyline. Disney appropriated the living daylights out of Tangled, so there are to many differences to pick from, but a few I can think of. First, they made Rapunzel a princess, to go along with all of the other Disney “Grimm” Princesses. Second, why did the witch want to be immortal? Just to get Rapunzel? That could have been done better … Maybe use the original Rapunzel lettuce idea? The king and queen are later seen in the movie, so an introduction would make more sense. Third, the disobedience from Rapunzel was taken to the extreme in Tangled when she broke out of the tower, and had a mental break when she initially disobeyed her mother. But Rapunzel didn’t get pregnant in Tangled

I loved the movie, Tangled, but because of the purely Disney created love story, not because of its lacking similarities to the Grimm Brothers Rapunzel.
 
This is Rapunzel letting her long golden hair down to allow someone entrance into her tower.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Fitchers Bird VS Robbers Bridegroom VS BlueBeard


Fitchers Bird and Robbers Bridegroom are both variations of BlueBeard. These 3 tales are similar in 3 aspects: The woman married a “nightmare”, the way the man was killed and the way to show distrust. The tales are also unique with their ending.

 In each of the tales, the woman married a “nightmare”. In Fitchers Bird, the woman married a sorcerer like man that used his magic to deceive others. In Robbers Bridegroom, the woman married a robber who instilled horror in his bride’s heart. In BlueBeard, the woman married an ugly man who lured women to be with him.

            The man was killed at the end of each tale in a different way. In Fitchers Bird, the man and his followers were burned alive. In Robbers Bridegroom, the man and his cohorts were all killed when it was revealed they were thieves. In BlueBeard, the man was stabbed with swords by the woman’s brothers.

            An item was used to show the distrust between the man and woman. In Fitchers Bird, a key to a room full of corpses and an egg were used to show distrust between the woman and the sorcerer. In Robbers Bridegroom, the woman’s grandmother’s severed finger with a golden ring was shown to legitimize the claims the woman made. In BlueBeard, a key was used to show the mistrust between the woman and the man.

            These 3 tales are very similar and unique. Not many of the Grimm Tales and other fairytales we analyzed have gruesome endings. The Disney adaptations of tales such as Briar Rose, Aschenputtel, and Little Snow White, all had happy endings with a “happily ever after.” So if we only stayed strictly to Grimm history and Disney adaptations, we would never get to stories that broke “the norm.” With these gruesome endings, these tales also showed that “nightmarish” side of marriage and it isn’t always “happily ever after” like in Disney adapted films.
 
Honestly, I didn’t like any of these stories because I couldn’t get attached to the characters. By that I mean I barely got to know them, and root for or against them. On my soap opera, a character named Levi was on the show for about 5 months, and I got to hate him as much as a fictional character can be hated. When he was murdered, I was so elated that he got what he deserved. I didn’t get that feeling of satisfaction when the men in the 3 stories were killed/murdered/executed.