Fairy tales are a type of storytelling, usually about fictional stories meant for children. The great fairy tales are usually myths. Myths that usually conform with a older form of story telling that was based on the ideals of a patriarchal society. Where the men did all the fighting, governed politics, and the women were relegated to homemaking and child baring. An example of this is in the 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, where the two main characters are relegated to being stereotypes to their genders. (1) Many of the fairy tales were originally told orally. This is important to note because while it is the same story it can very easily, when put on paper be expanded upon. Also the difference between a fairy tale told orally is that when spoken, it usually has a formula to it whereas a novel for example, usually has a more original ending. All very important differences because when translated to different mediums the message can be altered or even if not the padding around it can make it hard to see what the original message was. Which is usually the argument made against many of the movie adaptations. Said adaptations tend to expand the story even further, depending on the size of the book. A short story can't always be directly translated because it may not be long enough, and on the other hand a long book may not be able to fit in one movie. Interestingly, fairy tales were originally meant for adults not children. Fairy tales were meant for adults to use their imaginations to understand the fictional world they were reading about. Even later on when fairy tales were more meant for children, there are certain more adult connotations. For example in Sleeping Beauty it is about aside from male and female stereotypes, also the fear of death we all have, and our wish for immortality as Jack Zipes put it in the Brothers Grimm book (2). In that passage he was also talking about his criticisms of Walt Disney. How he made the main characters gender stereotypes. But in the film it still captured the main story we all know of her finger getting pricked and she falls asleep to then be brought back to life by true loves kiss. Which brings me to the point of what is a progressive fairy tale. It is one that is anti-mythical. Meaning it does not go with the usual style of the classical fairy tales. One thing I have noticed fairy tale movies doing recently is trying to stray away from the old method of the male saving the female by kissing her. In two films they basically do that, they just don't have it be a man, and it is not love in the "in love", sense but rather the love one has for a friend or sibling. The first is Frozen (2013), where the day is saved by having the main character kiss her sister. Obviously this love is different then the normal. Another is a film that came out a year later. The Sleeping Beauty remake, called the name of the first films protagonist Maleficent (2014), where Angelina Jolie plays the title character. Admittedly the film is more about going for a villain portyal more like Wicked. However it does end a very similar way with Maleficent kissing beauty, and then she comes back to life. 







1. Chapter 9, The Brothers Grimm by Jack Zipes





















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By F. Mason Hertrich

Obviously since magic does not exist someone can't use that, but with marriage yes. Also important to remember that the story of Cinderella takes place at a time when women had virtually no rights. People nowadays also live in places and work jobs they don't like, because they do not have any other options. However that is usually when people don't have money and can't change it because of that. In Cinderella's case the house is very big and they have money, the stepmother thinks of her as a leftover from getting the house. Even though the father is still alive he does not run the house, and even when someone asks if Cinderella is his daughter he says it is his dead wife's child. As if he wasn't the father. Therefore even though the father is still alive he may as well be dead. Nonetheless she could leave, but even if she could she would probably have not really any other options that were different. So naturally she thinks of being married and thus being se...
Read more

Mason Hertrich Blog

August 26, 2019 By F. Mason Hertrich The reason why I choose the class, is because I am very interested in many different forms of storytelling. I wish to one day become a filmmaker, and as I have been told if someone is to become a master of something, they must first become a student. My favorite fairytale is The Hunchback of Notre Dame, (1831) by Victor Hugo. Both the book and its many adaptations they all incorporate a similar tale told in many French stories. Which is the monstrous, or gruesome looking person usually a man, living a tragic life of hatred among other people who hate him because of how he looks. Other examples of this include Victor Hugo's other novel "The Man Who Laughs", where the main character is maimed in childhood leaving his face in a endless smile. Quasimodo is not only a Hunchback, but half blinded, and deaf. So he wonders around the bell-tower and occasionally used as a pawn in the affairs of others. It is I belief quite a powerful story...
Read more

Final Blog Entry

The first blog was about why I choose the class. The reason is that I wanted to take the class so that I could learn about various aspects of storytelling, also to learn about the Brothers Grimm. Which was the subject of my next blog entry. In that I compared it to the movie " Brothers Grimm " (2005). The differences were for the most part minor, however they still existed. For instance there was the change they made in it, that is the popular belief they would go into various towns and write down the stories they were told by the locals. Which is different then what they did in real life where they would have the people come to their house. Also the brothers themselves in the movie and their portrayals. Where they took Will who in real life was the one that got married and had a family. In the movie he is not, but he is shown to be drinking and womanizing, which was completely different from real life, where they were both hard core Lutherans. Also the movie turned Jacob Gri...
Read more