Blog 11- Final Blog

After reading over my blogs I have noticed that I have learned about my writing and the concept behind fairy tales. When entering into this class I knew we would be learning about the true meaning of fairy tales and the origin of them. I never would have thought that we would read articles by  Bruno Bettelheim about "sexual meaning of fairy tales". I learned that the Grimm tales are totally different then the Disney films we see today. I never really read the Grimm versions of these tales until I got to this class. I always thought that the original tales was the books and films by Walt Disney. Disney makes the tales seem more positive and child friendly, while the Grimm tales can be shown as harsh and brutal. Max Luthi believes that such things teaches children about the bad things that happen in life. He believed that taking these scenes completely from the story would slow down a childs development process; because children have to know about the good and bad things in life in order to learn and grow from them. FYS: Grimm to Disney was a class I wasn't expecting to be as deep as it as. I thought that we would just watch Disney films and talk about the differences, but we actually talked about the feminism aspects of the tales. We analyzed the tales as though they were real life stories with real life people. I really enjoyed my time in this class and hope my SIS is as exciting as this class was.

The Brother's Grimm; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Walt Disney

Blog 10

The video below is a bed time story version of the Grimm Brothers Rapunzel. The bed time story was very similar to the Brothers Grimm tale. Both tales start off with a man and a woman wanting to have a child. There was a garden in the back of their house that was full of lettuce. The wife had a craving for them and asked he husband if he could get some for her. The husband obeyed because he loved his wife. The husband was then caught by the witch/sorceress around the 3rd or 4th time he went (in the bedtime story it was only once). The husband pleaded for forgiveness and explained to the witch/sorceress that his wife craved the wonderful lettuce and he had no choice but to take them. The witch/sorceress told he husband that the wife could have as many lettuce as she wants but they would have to give her their first born in return. The child was born and the parents had no choice but to give her away and the witch named her Rapunzel. In the Brothers Grimm version Rapunzel was put in the tower when she was 12 years old but in the bed time story she was in the tower the whole time; she grew into a beautiful young woman. The witch would come to visit Rapunzel and would say the magic words, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down you hair for me." A prince shows up in both version and heard Rapunzel singing, but in the Brother Grimm version he knew she was located in the tower and wanted to climb up to her but there was no door. In the bed time story the prince was clueless to where she was at, and even wondered why she didn't answer his call. In both versions the prince seen the witch approach the castle and waited to see what she would do. The witch called up to Rapunzel like she always did and the prince knew just how to get up to her. The prince said the magic words and Rapunzel let him up and he fell in love with her beauty. In the Grimm version he must bring a skein of silk every time he came in order to make into a ladder. In the bed time story she warns the prince that the witch keeps her locked up and she he must run away before she catches him. But he agreed to still continue to come visit her every night. In the Brother Grimm version the witch found out about the prince because she accidentally asked her, "how is it that you are so much heavier then the prince". In the bed time story the witch actually sees the prince climb down from Rapunzel's hair. As a punishment she cut off Rapunzel's hair and sent her away to the desert. The prince goes to visit her at the tower but ends up seeing the witch and fell from the tower blinding himself. He wandered around searching for Rapunzel and finally came across her by the sound of her voice. The tears from her eyes returned his sight. In the Brother's Grimm version he found her with two twins, a boy and a girl, and then took her off to his kingdom. In the bed time story he took her off to his kingdom where they married and later on had a beautiful girl that looked just like Rapunzel. 

They all lived happily ever after, The End!

Rapunzel- Bedtime Story Animation/Best Children Classics 

URL: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-DJaZNzvTc

The Psychology of Happiness-Extra Credit

This lecture focused on the methods and things people can do to actually become happier. This was interesting because I was always told that you couldn't measure a person's happiness. She talked about various things that people could do to become happy like writing gratitude journals to themselves, doing community work for others, being tour guides for people, and taking pictures and posing them online to allow other people to see the beautiful things you see. These methods were scientifically proven to promote happiness among people. The way I see that this lecture connects to our class is the happily ever after in fairy tales. I don't know of any fairy tales that end in deaths or any negative aspects. Disney films focus on happiness since the purpose of his films was to promote hope for people during the Great Depression. In the films no matter what they are going through they always find ways to be positive and happy. In Cinderella she sang songs to animals and danced around in the forest. She always kept a positive attitude and smile on her face. This caused good things to happen to her in the end. In most fairy tales there is some since of evil, but in the end the evil person always gets punished and the person who was good the whole tale is rewarded for their positive attitude. In the end happiness pays off in fairy tales and in real life.

Blog 9

The Robber Bridegroom, Fitcher's Bird and Blue Beard are all similar and different in a variety of ways. All three stories involved the male figure in some way of form trying to kill the wife. In Fitcher's wife he actually killed two sisters before the third sister caught on to his plan and put the egg in a safe place before she actually went into the room. In each story the woman were told by the male figure that they would be leaving and leaving them keys to certain things. In all stories the woman searched in the forbidden room even though the husband asked them not too. The sense of curiosity is in each story which leads the woman to die horrible deaths. In Fitcher's Bird the third sister was so smart that when she went in the room and saw that her two other sister's were in the room she put their bodies together and they came back alive. They did not die but were reborn; which is the central theme of fairy tales. The key was replaced as a egg in Fitcher's Bird. The tale also kept the #3 fairy tale rule in having three daughters and three different flavors of wine (the robber bridegroom). The only time this rule broke was in Blue Beard when there was two daughter to choose from and of course it was the youngest daughter who won that spot (typical in fairy tales). The hero in each story is also different. In The Robber Bridegroom she was saved by a woman who knew that the man did not want to marry her but chop her up into pieces and eat her. She woman told her to hide behind a pop and stay there until the men have left and they would escape the place together. In Fitcher's Bird the third daughter was actually the protector. She was smart enough to trick the man in carrying her sisters in a basket without him ever knowing that the sisters were inside. When the sisters got back to the house the family came to rescue the girl. In Blue Beard she was rescued by her brothers. She fooled the man into giving her some time to pray and while he thought she was doing that she was yelling out the window to get Anne to signal her brothers to come to her immediately. When Blue Beard got tired of waiting for his wife; she finally came down to witness her fate but her brothers came and killed Blue Beard and she gained all his riches. The stories are unique in how they make the woman look so weak until it gets to the third sister in Fitchr's Bird who is smart and independent like a woman should be portrayed. I liked Fitcher's Bird the most because it seemed more realistic to me that one of the woman would catch on to this situation. Why would he keep coming to the same family getting these woman? What ever happen to the other sisters? The third sister must have had these questions in the back of her head when the man then came to ask in her hand in marriage. Her curiosity was the same as the other but she also knew that something bad must have been in that room if he gave her the key and then told her not to look. She also knew that something must have been significant about the egg so that's why she put the egg before she went and snooped around in and looked at the room. As a feminist I appeal more to Fitcher's Bird because the end of the story ended with a female using her brains to rescue herself and her family.

Blue Beard

The Robber Bridegroom

Fitcher's Bird 

Blog 8

Season 12 episode 10 of Family Guy was entitled Grimm Job. This episode included different versions of the Grimm tales how the believed it should have happened. The creators of family guy's interpretation of family guy was very realistic. They included some very realistic things like while little red riding hoods mother was telling her about taking the basket of goodies to the grandmother's house she looked through and noticed the wine and asked if grandmother would be entertaining any guest. After her mother told her about not straying off the path, she said "You know grandmother lived 60 mines away; you know your sending your child out there to die." This scene is realistic but also comical to the audience. A normal mother wouldn't send there child off into the woods alone with dangerous animals, so this scene shows what a child might be thinking when their parent tells them that or what we might have thought when we first read that scene. As she walks into the forest she runs into a talking tree that tells her,"If you were my son I would kill you." (because the character in the show is actually a little boy) She runs into the wolf but she is not afraid by him and actually starts walking with him and having a conversation. They start talking about why he wanted to eat the three little pigs so much; he started telling little red riding hood that one of the pigs was his ex girlfriend. The grandmother is married to the man who own owned the "big shoe", so while he goes out to check on his property the wolf knocks on the grandmothers door posing as little red riding hood. The wolf then gets into bed posing as the grandmother. Little red riding hood began to play along with the wolf being her grandmother when she knows how the story goes. She then goes on complaining that she can't finish the scene because she can't understand how this can be a real scene when it's obvious that her grandmother is a human and not a furry beast. The wolf then jumps out of bed saying he's the wolf and he should be the one upset because hes about to get killed by the woodcutter. The woodcutter ends up coming in and killing the wolf with the chainsaw but little red riding hood believed that the woodcutter was actually just a crazy person that liked to kill people. He then goes over to the next house and kill someone else. This cartoon is a social cartoon because social cartoons usually poke fun at situations. This cartoon uses humor and comedy to poke fun at how the Brother's Grimm made their little red cap story and gave a more realistic interpretation of the story. I like this version of little red riding hood because it's funny and shows another side of little red riding hood that adults today could relate to after reading and understanding how little red riding hood actually happened. 

Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy Season 12 Episode 10.

Blog 7

In both the tales Cupid and Psyche and The Frog King, the princess is the youngest of the family and also the most beautiful. In Cupid and Psyche cupid is to make Psyche fall in love with someone is less attractive; a ugly monster of some sorts. This is because the mother (Venus) is jealous that all the men around her are starting to think that Psyche is more beautiful; when in fact she is suppose to be the goddess of love and beauty. In The Frog King there is no vicious acts of jealously, the prince was turned into a frog by a wicked witch but it does not say anything about the witch being jealous of the prince in any king of way. Both stories involve a parents being kind of a authority figure. In The Frog King the father convinced the princess to remain true to her promises that she made to the frog. She obeyed this and won a lovely prince in return. In Cupid and Psyche the mother is a authority figure and she convinces cupid to use his arrow (of true love) to make psyche fall in love with a ugly person. He does obey his mother's orders until he gets so distracted by Psyche beauty that he actually pricks himself with his own arrow and began to fall in love with her. In The Frog King there is no real aspect of true love of any king; the frog just gets turned into a prince because he and her father convinced the princess to do the things possible to get him back human. The tales are so similar in the fact that neither princess is aloud to actually see the prince they are to marry. In The Frog King she didn't know that the prince she met near the well would actually become a handsome man right in her front of her eyes. In Cupid and Psyche she wasn't allowed to see his true identity; she was told she was marrying a monster by her sisters and left at the top of the mountain by her parents. When her sisters convinced her to stand over Cupid with a knife and lamp to see if he really was a monster, and she did. He woke up and saw his wife standing over top of him and flew away and said she would never see him again. In Cupid and Psyche the princess was given task to be worthy of being Cupid's wife while in The Frog King was similar with the task but in this case she didn't know that he would turn into a prince so it was pure luck. Both tales end up with the two couples ending up together and Cupid and Psyche even have a daughter together named Voluptas.

The Frog Prince; The screen where the frog helps her get her golden ball

Cupid and Psyche wedding banquet

Extra Credit: The Buried Child

The Buried Child's main connection to fairy tales is the oedipal complex. The oedipal complex is describes as the boy's feelings of desire for his mother and jealously towards his father. In the Buried Child Tilldon (the son) had a baby with Hailey (the mother). The child was not accepted into the family because the father knew that that was not his child. The child wanted to protect his family so bad that he didn't want the child pretending to be apart of the family; so he drowned the child and buried him in the back yard. The son Tilldon grew angrier and angrier towards the father, he didn't like the father and would talk to the father any time of way because of the anger. According to the oedipal complex the boy wants to possess his mother and replace the father, who the child views as a rival for the mother's affection. Buried Child shows the oedipal complex all around with the mother sleeping with the son and having a baby with him.

Blog Entry 6

Looking at my classmates blogs I have noticed that they use a lot of facts and paragraphs, while my blogs is solely based on opinion and a few things we talk about in class. I keep my blogs about my opinion because I feel like that's what a blog is in general; how you feel about a specific topic. I like how M.Q adds videos to her blogs and keep them nice and simple. I also likes how she puts her own spin on the blogs and answers the question in a way she would like it. I do think she should use a little but of her own opinions in the blog instead of analyzing the blogs. I like how T.S's blog has alot of color in the pictures, it make you want to read her blog just because of the pictures. I also like how one of the pictures i used for my blog is the same she used for hers. It tells that we were kind of on the same page of thinking. I don't believe her blog has any real improvements. I like how B.V blog is very simple and to the point but I also think he should add a little bit of liveliness to it. I understand that boys don't care about details as much as girls do, but i think that a little picture, video or graphic related to the blog would draw readers into wanting to read the blog. It was interesting to see how everybody has there own way of answering the same question in there blogs. It's good to look at other people's ideas and looking at your own to see the similarities and differences related to the style of writing.

Blog Entry 5

Snow white and the seven dwarfs in the movie and the tale have a lot of similarities and differences. In the snow white film the step mother asked for the heart and in the fairy tale she asked for the lungs and liver. The jealous nature is in both the film and movie as the queen asked the huntsman to kill snow white. The huntsman was still let snow white go because she was so beautiful and innocent. Snow white runs into the dwarfs in both the movie and the tale but the difference between that is that in the movie the animals guide her to the house and it was dirty and messed up. In the tale the dwarfs house wasn't dirty at all but they allowed her to stay so they could keep her out of harms way. A big difference between the movie and the tale is that singing and animal helpers is a main focus in the films while in the tales they don't mention anything about snow white singing to the animals and the prince. The way snow white dies in the film and in the story are same but different. In the tale it took the queen three attempts to kill snow white first she used a lace to tie around her neck, then she used a poison comb for her hair and lastly she used the apple which finally did the trick. The prince also rescued snow white in the end and she lived happily ever after but he did it two different ways. In the film he kissed her and she awoke by true loves first kiss. In the tale she was awaken because the people who were carrying her body got stuck on a hedge of some sort and the piece of the apple fell out of her mouth and she woke up. The queen also dies in both tales but in very different ways. In the tale she was invited to the wedding of snow white and the prince; she was given hot slippers and dance until she fell to her death. In the tale she was trying to kill the dwarfs but lightning struck the rock she was standing on and she fell off the cliff. Disney diverted from the original version of the film to make the movie there own. Disney films are all about happily ever afters and appealing to the wants and needs of children. The Grimm stories have some harsh methods of punishment in them sometimes that people wouldn't want there children to see. Disney also diverted from the original film because it wouldn't have been interesting as a movie. The stories plot was too long to be a movie so a change had to be made to make it more entertaining for viewers. 

Blog Entry 4

Can someone reach success or riches with magic or marriage? How realistic is that?

I believe a person can reach success and riches through marriage, not magic because this is real life. For example Kate Middleton became famous and gained success and riches through marriage. Kate Middleton married Prince Williams, the Duke of Cambridge. In England this is how they succeed on keeping their family on the royal throne. They marry, and marry and marry, this is a tradition that has been in England many years now. The kings and queens, duchess and dukes have no real power like a president of the united states would but they have money and success. People know who they are and look up to them to be just like them. Another example of somebody gaining success through marriage is a "normal" person marrying a reality TV star, an actor, actress or anybody in the entertainment business. Tammy Rivera has become famous for being the wife of a known rapper; Waka Flocka Flame. Joseline Hernandez has become famous from being in a relationship with a well known music producer and getting on a reality show with him. The same thing worked for Cinderella also. The prince was in a high rank in status he could get her out of those rags and into a beautiful ball gown. Now she had help with trapping him through the marriage of her god mother but the idea was to get the prince to fall in love with her. All along Cinderella knew that true love was the only way she was going to get out of the nightmare she was living. So when she saw the prince it might have been love at first sight or a way for a better life. Nobody will ever know the true meaning but the Brother's Grimm, we will only know what everybody interprets. Not in all cases a person can gain success through marrying someone, but it is very possible.

The story below is similar to Cinderella and this woman too went from "rags to riches".

Catherine I

The life of Empress Catherine I of Russia could easily be confused with something out of a fairy tale. The future queen was born in 1684 into a family of Lithuanian peasants, and was orphaned at the age of 3 after both her parents died from the plague. Taken in by a pastor, she spent her youth as a housemaid in Marienburg in modern day Latvia. After Russia conquered the city in 1702, 18-year-old Catherine was captured and taken to Moscow. She became a servant in the home of a high-ranking government official, and it was there that she met the Russian Emperor Peter the Great. Despite being uneducated and illiterate, Catherine charmed the emperor with her beauty and wit, and the two soon began a passionate affair.
The couple married in 1712, and Catherine went on to become Peter’s closest confidante during a period of sweeping political and social reforms. She was named Russia’s first female empress upon his death in 1725, cementing her astonishing rise from orphaned peasant to monarch. Catherine died after only 16-months on the throne, but during her short reign she consolidated her power and reduced the size of the empire’s bloated military. Not forgetting her own humble origins, she also won the love of the people by dispensing generous gifts to the poor.

Blog Entry 3

The Brothers Grimm tale is very different from the actual fairy tale. In the tale the step mother is evil and leaves Hansel and Gretel in the woods. In the movie the mother is loving and kind and wants to have food for her family. A neighbor comes and brings them some milk and eggs and she make them some custered i believe she called it. When Hansel went to feed the donkey he forgot to close the gate and the donkey ate all the food and milk. The mother was so angry she sent the kids into the woods to get berries and not to come back until they had enough for everyone. One thing the movie kept the same is that Hansel did leave a trail to try to find their way back home but it was cookie crumbs instead of bread crumbs. Another similarity is that the birds ate the crumbs and they were not able to find their way back home. The kids also found the house with the evil witch and ate away at the house just like in the Brothers Grimm story. The witch is nice to them, she even sings to them to convince her that its okay to come inside and she will feed them delicious treats. She gave them all the food they wanted and even offered them her gingerbread door. A difference though is that she read the kids a bed time story and allowed them to stay the night at her house. Gretel woke up in the middle of the night and seen that the nice old lady wasn't really a nice old lady at all but an witch. She then cast a spell on Hansel and Gretel so she can have complete control over them. Gretel kept her role and the one who cooks everything that Hansel ate; she made all the food while the witch fed it to him through a cage. The witch actually had an eye glass and Gretel made her break it by banging it with the nut hammer. (I think that's what it's called) One unique difference I think the movie directors did great with was that the previous kids that she had kidnapped were actually the gingerbread statues that stood outside of her house leading you to her door. It was like she was using kids to lore kids.....very interesting. Hansel and Gretel stayed true to the ending but instead of forcing the witch into the oven, Gretel stole her magic stick and said a spell that made her take the place of Hansel. In the end the pearls and jewels remained the same except in the movie there where in the form of coins. The movie and the tale captured the happily ever after ending. I believe the movie directors made these changes to get the watchers more involved into the story. (I know I was) Telling the story this way makes the people watching think the story more positive. As when you read the tale it's so much darkness and evil in the story that the movie makes it more likable and enjoyable. The whole purpose of movies is to entertain and the movie made these changes to better entertain the audience and capture a more positive version that kids and their families would better enjoy.

Blog Entry 2

A fairy tale is a story that has a way deeper meaning than you think it does. Fairy tales usually have a meaning about true love and happiness behind them. Sleeping beauty's meaning was that love conquers all. No matter what Maleficent did with her curse and evil plans it still didn't stop the prince and princess from falling in love. That's what fairy tales are all about. It's about love and hope and happily ever afters. A fairy tale is a story of meaning that can be passed on from generation to generation. A fairy tale will never get old, it will never fade away, it will be in the memories of your children, their children and their children children's.

Blog Entry 1

I chose Disney To Grimm as my FYS because I grew up on fairy tales. I loved the stories and messages the fairy tales told. They were not only enjoyable but they tought you imporant lessons about love, kindness and how to treat others. Fairy tales helped me better understand the things my mother would teach me. I could visually see the life lessons and enjoy them better because they were cartoons. I am hoping to accomplish alot in this seminar. I want to know how fairy tales were created. I want to know where they came from. I want to know what was the first fairy tale ever made. I want to know the history behind fairy tales and the process it took to make them. I want to know anything and everything that I dont already know about fairy tales while being in this class. My favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast. I love it because belle was able to see past the breast (ugliness) and see who he was inside. This meant alot to me because i feel like people should never judge a book by its cover. The beast wasnt what he looked like. He was actually a lovng and caring person who thought people would judge him by his looks. This is going to always be my favorite because it teaches you to treat people how you want to be treated. You should never make a person feel worthless in any way shape or form. I cant wait to experience this class and all the wonderful things about disney it has to offer.