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 Grimm into more of a comic relief. These changes were mostly done to take a somewhat dull, but interesting story. Because It may not have actually have been all that exciting it still was interesting as well as important for the sake of preservation. Which is a big part of the Brothers Grimm. These tales were originally told orally, and as a result they were a slightly different format then stories that were written down. Because people can only remember so much, so the stories were usually more formulaic. So they would when writing these tales down change it a bit, but also increase the length of it. The example I used in the blog entry was "The Boy who went forth to learn what fear is" originally it was much shorter, but they made it longer. The next blog entry was a definition of what a fairytale is. In that I talked about how a lot of times the stories were greatly influenced by real life, but also the societal costoms and traditions. Most notable was the idea of the patriarch, where the man was strong and capable, whereas in a lot of fairytales it often is the case that the men usually the fathers are the cause of bad things happening to usually their children because of them. In Cinderella the father is still alive, but may as well be dead because he does nothing to stop what the stepmother does to his child. Also when asked whether Cinderella is his child he says the she is his dead wife's child. Another example is in Hansel and Gretel, where the main conflict comes from the father letting the wife take the children to be left for dead in the woods, except the white dove that is always there never lets them die. The implication being if these men were more capable then the bad things that happen to their children wouldn't happen. Also in it I talked about a recent trend in many fairytale movies where they try to stray away from the usual tale of the man saving the day. The example was "Frozen" (2015) where instead of the old having the day saved by a man, her sister just kissed her, and the day was saved. They also did a similar thing in "Maleficent", where Sleeping Beauty is saved by Maleficent kissing her. Also that movie using a idea for the villain which is a lot closer to "Wicked" more then anything else. In the next blog I wrote about the "rise tales", and whether the idea of someone achieving love and riches, through marriage and magic is really realistic. The implication is that it is through marriage, but also important to keep in mind is that back then women had virtually no rights so marriage was basically the only way they could do much of anything. Because the alternative for the most part was to sell their bodies for money. So to some extent it is true, but not necessarily realistic to expect to find both love and riches through marriage. Because either they love them but their poor, or they have money, but don't love them in most cases. In the next blog I made the comparison of "Snow White", and the movie adaption in 1937. The differences in between the two were significant, because they just used the character of Snow White and altered her to fit their own goals. Which is often the argument whether books should be made into movies. One example is "The Shining" (1980), where the story is similar, but the look and style were changed significantly to fit the idea of director Stanley Kubrick. In that case the changes were more ascetic. In the case of Snow White in the movie they made her much less capable. Which was fitting with how women were usually portrayed in films especially at the time. Not to say women behind the camera didn't clearly show that wasn't the case. An example is "Triumph of the Will" (1935), directed by Leni Riefenstahl. This film was propaganda for the Nazi's to make Hitler look like a great leader. Which of course he wasn't, but no matter who watches the film they still are left in awe at the sheer power of what is being shown on screen. The next blog I wrote was a comparison about "Cupid and Psyche", and "The Frog King". The two are fairly similar, with some time period differences, but still essentially a very similar story. Both having to do with a women being forced to be with someone who they do not find to be good looking. In the "The Frog King" the king forces her to keep her promise to the Frog, and in "Cupid and Psyche" Venus out of jealousy makes her live with the man in the mountains. They both have the main character learn to like the person they are with, eventually although in the case of the "The Frog King" it is much faster as that night she kisses the Frog, and he turns into a prince. In the next blog I wrote I talked about the three versions of Bluebeard. They are all very similar as far as the plot goes. Where there is always a forbidden room and eventually they go in, and are killed. Except, in the case of my favorite of the three. Which was the "Fitcher's Bird". This was due to the uniqueness of the tale. Because the main character was not killed, but in fact survived by not having any blood on the egg which passes the Sorcerers test. She in fact makes him carry her sisters bodies in a basket to her parents house. During the walk he is never left alone because every time he stops she says to him in his head to keep going, so he really is tortured both physically and mentally. It is also my favorite because in this case the person who is usually the victim is now the hero. The next blog entry was a comparison of the Hansel and Gretel story with the movie that came out in 1987. Which it did have some differences that were more made to fit the tone the movie was going for. In addition also changing it from being their step mother to their actual mother, resulting in her being more loving to an extent, also not make her intend to leave her children to die. Which is why she only sends them out once in the movie as opposed to three times in the Grimm's version with the same intent to leave them for dead. This was changed because you can't have the actual mother be evil. Because no one, no matter what their mother is like can really see her as evil. The next blog was about a Rapunzel cartoon, or rather a online cartoon with a Rapuzel motif to it. I picked  "The Story of Rapunzel" (1951), by Ray Harryhausen. It was a stop motion animated film, but it did follow the story pretty closely. With some things being cut for time, like the story before the prince discovers the castle, which was not replaced, but simply not included. Because of how long it takes to do stop motion. Also it was only a short, not a feature length, so it more served to tell the spirit of the original tale as opposed to all the details. Which it did, for the most part. Although it doesn't end with Rapunzel having twins, and the reason was probably similar to not having it be thorns that made the Prince blind. Which is it would have be more graphic, but also more depressing. Especially considering in the tale the Prince travels for years blind, having lost the love of his life.