Bluebeard Discussion Day 1

Today's class was all about Bluebeard, and with all guys but me and Andrew absent, the boys really had to watch out what they added to this discussion. All the childishness aside however, it seemed that although today's discussion was all improvisation we really got a good sense of the tale and really managed to go into detail on some of the aspects of the tale, like its overall moral, the general audience and the reasons why this tale is so unknown to most people. 

The long list of discussion questions really helped all the groups pick out some of the most interesting key elements to the tale. Selecting the discussion questions was quite competitive, and I was definitely hated on for keeping the whiteboard marker to myself for too long... silly me. We started off trying to figure out whether Bluebeard really could be considered a fairy tale, which left us a bit baffled and we decided that while the story might not fit into the classical fairy tale image we have become accustomed with, it was still a verbal tale of the time and so in some sense can be considered a fairy tale. We then moved on to figuring out who this tale really addressed, as it really seemed to complex in its moral and characterizations to be considered for a children audience. Indeed the tale does bring up mixed emotions in the reader, with Perrault's version especially, the reader is left feeling sympathetic towards Bluebeard for being so unaccepted by society, and later on taken advantage of by neighbors and friends. Of course the reader generally feels as though Bluebeard is the dark killer and thus much of the tale seems to portray how evil serial killers can be through the misery each of his wives suffered from their curiosity. 

The question whether this tales purpose was to portray a different, extreme image to marriage for its child audience seemed to leave us in doubt too, as it really portrays an outcome that is far too extreme to be considered a normal occurrence in a marriage. undeniably the whole idea of trying to make a sensible statement on the dangers curiosity can bare to a child through such a horrific tale filled with gory imagery and death seems odd and out of place. It seems a tale that was to teach a child would be written on something entirely different, with fewer characters to distract from the moral and a more rigid plot without complicating elements like marriage. 

As a class we seemed to conclude from all this that the tale was probably meant for women, teaching them on the dangers of curiosity in marriage and asking women to be obedient in following their husbands wishes. This is perhaps the main reason this tale seems to have slipped between the cracks in the assortment of tales that people are most commonly familiar with today. The morals one takes from the story just seem to vague and unjustifiable when trying to either teach a child or further educate a women. The great amount of gore that even the Grimm brothers choose to leave very much intact in their interpretation was certainly another element to this story disappearing from modern fairy tale collections.  Bluebeard was an interesting tale for me, and I was very surprised that I had never heard of it, as I thought I was familiar with a lot of the Grimm brothers work. while the tale was an interesting read and great fun to discuss so far, it's obvious why this tale hasn’t reached as great of an audience as some of the other tales by Perrault or the Grimm Brothers. I'll end today's post with a classic image of "Blau Bart."

Blue Beard

Today’s fairy tale was that of Blue Beard, who in Charles Perrault’s version of the tale was a hugely rich man who had only the finest horses along with many other riches. He was however cursed with a Blue Beard that left him feared and isolated, unable to find a wife.

This tale was another classical moral based fairy tale by Charles Perrault, specifically targeted at women. The main moral at play does seem quite universal this time, applying much the same way today as it did in the 17th century when Perrault’s tale first came about. He once again leaves us with his details on the moral at the end of the tale, explaining that curiosity can lead to serious regrets, and then leaves us with yet another moral saying that from a sensible point of view a story like this would no longer happen and that the original tale took place many years ago. While his tale was quite gory and brutal at times, and can seem exaggerated in its cruelty, I feel as though a story similar to this could very well take place today. Especially in today’s overly materialistic world, an unsuspecting or naive woman could be lured into terrible things through a keen rich man’s cunning.

The Grimm Version of the story seems again based heavily on the Original by Charles Perrault. While the moral of the tale seems much in line with that of Perrault’s tale. The Grimm brothers once again change the tale, and eliminate certain details to suit the story to their liking. The portrayed Bluebeard as a sorcerer who would disguise himself as a poor man to capture his "girls" as they were called in the story. While they weren’t his wives in the Grimm version of the tale, the sorcerer still killed his women in equally terrifying ways, and the Grimm brothers don’t fail to emphasize on the gory aspect to this, painting a gruesomely bloody picture with chopped up bodies and blood filled basins.

While many elements of the tale were once again tweaked by the Grimm Brothers to create there version of Charles Perrault’s tale, they follow a very similar framework of events that leads the much related moral of these tales. Perrault’s version does seem to come across as more moral oriented and appears more specific in its flow of events, with the Grimm version seeming a bit dull and underdeveloped, using very basic magic to bring two of the girls back to life. Overall I found the Perrault version of the tale better to read and more clear in its vision.

thursdays class and first draft essay

Alot of us came to class on thursday and had to realize that class was cancelled for the day, most of us hadn't checked our e-mail before class and didnt know about this. We were going to have a peer review session of our papers, i was a "number 2" and my first draft was roughly 6 pages. I choose to write my paper on Little Red Riding Hood, in particular the Perrault and Grimm versions of the tale. It would have been nice to have my paper reviewed by the class to see some of the things other people have come up with, and the paper really isnt that great yet so it would have helped... I hope we get the chance for some peer review before we have to hand in the final draft, but I'm keen on reworking many of the aspects of my paper over the weekend, hopefully improving on its quality.

Cinderella in Disney's Eyes - Class Discussion

Today's class was all about the Disney version of the story, and how the many characters, themes and events were reshaped to reflect Walt Disney's vision of the tale. The discussion once again brought up many ideas and concepts, and seemed very successful overall. I'll try and outline some of the key points we discussed in today blog, many of the concepts were touched on in great detail and left us discussing till we had to be stopped for lack of time. 

It's obvious that the original story of Cinderella needed to be adjusted in order to be viewable for children. Walt Disney needed to change many formalities to make this a Disney movie, often these changes can be subtle and go about unmentioned throughout the story. An example of this would be the birds that would wash Cinderella in the morning, and how they had to all be female so the story would not seem perverted or false in its moral. Other changes Disney made to the tale do stand out however, and all reflect the classic image we've come to know Disney movies for. These are things like the visual presentation of the characters, and how imagery could be used to really sketch out their individual personalities. Like the many harsh angles and penetrating looks of the evil stepmother, or the gentle, soft and harmonious Cinderella, so beautifully in touch with nature. He really did do a good job that way, creating the right image for each character, and tastefully displaying the innocence he wants us to see in Cinderella without coming across too sexual.

Then came the characters that are classic to Disney movies however, and that really does require a whole separate paragraph as there are always many repetitive details unique to Disney stories. In a way these characters create a sort of familiarity with Disney movies as a whole, although a child might not perceive these, they are recognizable. Examples of this would include the typical Fat/Skinny duo found in so many other Disney movies, in the story of Cinderella we found these characters in Guss and Jack, one being the calm and collected skinny fellow, often bailing out chubby Guss from his outbursts so typical to the overweight character. In a way these stereotypes can be seen as harmful to a child's perspective of people in real life, and might lead them to believe that all overweight people might behave in such a manner. This is a stereotype that is often found in entertainment though, not just in Disney movies. The king and his portrayal in this story is a bit different, today a fat person is not necessarily associated with wealth so much as with unhealthy eating habits and high triglyceride levels. Back in the sixteen and seventeen-hundreds however, an obese man could be seen as wealthy, able to feed himself and others as much as he desires, and in turn being a good provider for a family too. So the kings obesity really is supposed to portray his wealth and not his size.

We then asked the question why Walt Disney chose to portray the moral of Cinderella's story? How a good hearted hardworking being will have good things happen to them eventually. We argued that this message really doesn't fit well with today's society, and that women in similar positions should stand up for themselves and take initiative to control their own lives. So why then did he choose to tell Cinderella's story knowing that he could possibly give many young girls a wrong idea of how to succeed in life. We argued that this movie, being from a large corporation like Disney really can try to set the ideals they would like the end consumer to perceive. With the large audience they reach and the influence they have especially on children, perhaps portraying a moral like that really can benefit corporations in being able to market their products, and attracting the consumer towards what's beneficial to the corporation. Humans however also like to be able to visualize what the past might have been like and how things used to be, otherwise we would not have so many Historians, and so in a way I feel as though these fairy tales are just part of society and the long history 
and progress humans have documented so far.

Another interesting topic in our discussion was how Cinderella supposedly had a velvet shoe in the untranslated version of the story, whereas in the English version, it's a glass shoe. It seemed as though that translation had some meaning to it, as though we were suppose to perceive the shoe as Cinderella's innocence and purity, effectively her virginity. Using a glass shoe seems to make a more clear notion towards a girls virginity and how a glass shoe, when broken could never be perfectly restored no matter how hard one tries. Furthermore, when she dances with her Prince at the ball, it is he who guides her so gracefully and protectively through her first dance, also giving us the image of how a woman needs a prince charming to truly give her safety and stability in life.

In conclusion one can really see just how deep these stories can be when analyzed in their full detail, our discussion could have carried on for several more hours, and once again left me appreciating just how useful and educated discussion is when trying to understand the grand scheme of things, especially a story so complex and reworked as Cinderella.

The many Cinderellas...

Our Thursday discussion was all about Cinderella and the many different versions that our book covers. While the tale has many different endings, versions like the one written by the Grimm Brothers show just how dark fairy tales back then were, especially the ones coming out of Germany.

The story is quite different with each version, the tale by the Grimm Brothers has Cinderella appearing somewhat weak and as though she was too accepting of her mistreatment. It left me feeling as though the moral of the story was that good things will come to people even if they don't necessarily fight for it, a message I don't really agree with. Cinderella did seem very much in touch with nature in this tale, with trees and birds that helped her overcome the many hardships she was facing, as though she was naturally deserving.

The story by Charles Perrault was a little different, it started out with the mighty king losing his wife, which cunningly talked him into a deal that would certainly insure he would never remarry again, at least in her mind. As our class presenters pointed out, this tale really is based on the cunningness of women, and the many deceptions they play on the king. Even the fairy in the tale resorted almost entirely to deception instead of magic, apart from the chest she gave Donkey skin.

I generally enjoyed the version of the Grimm brothers a little more, maybe because this is the tale I remember from when I was a child. Every version we read had its strange parts however, and left our class discussion a bit dazzled at times, as the story really does get vague with certain details. I remember it took us quite some time to figure out if Cinderella was really the child of the father in the story by the Grimm Brothers, and as we found out she wasn't.

It was exciting to revisit the tale of Cinderella, and I'm interested to see what kind of criticism the book will bring up, as I feel that the tale does sometimes leave the reader a bit confused, whether its small details in the story, or the general moral we should get from the tale. I'll finish today's blog with a picture of Cinderella the way i remember her from when I was little. This was the cover to the original version by the Grimm brothers "Aschenputtel," I recognized the picture right away, German google image search to thank here...

thursday post

After another interesting class discussion on the many versions of "little red riding hood," it has become clear to me just how different this tale can be interpreted. At one point we personified the bad wolf in the tale by the Grimm Brothers as a female character, symbolizing the many miscarriages of the time through the rocks little red riding hood left in his stomach, this wasn't relevant for the Charles Perrault version however, as LRRH does not escape in this version. At this point i really did see the power an educated discussion can have, leaving me with interpreting the story in ways i truly would not have been able to on my own.

It seems that even though these tales were written hundreds of years ago, the lessons one learns from the drastic outcome of little red riding hoods seemingly small mistakes are just as valid today as they were back then.

In today's world a predator such as the one seen in the wolf is very real, much more so today as back then one would assume, and often found in very calm and strategic people, just like our wolf in the tale. So teaching today's children how to behave around strangers and safely make it on their own is ever so important. In this sense these tales really can be timeless, often following a cycle of gaining and loosing relevance throughout the generations.

So with that we conclude our Little red riding hood discussions, and I'll leave you with two images of some of the many products we have in Germany named after the famous fairy tale by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The first one is a popular cheap Champagne, or as we call it "Sekt," and the second one is a delicious Camembert Cheese! Yumm

First Post Ever

Hey Everyone,

I never thought I'd have a blog, but here i am setting up an account on blogger.com
Granted, its for English class, but that doesn't mean it needs to be purely academical. When writing this blog, I'll try and include both the most interesting thoughts i have on our English class and the many fairy tales we will analyze throughout the 2009 fall semester as well as anything else in the world that may have a strong influence or possible impact on me.

Our first story was "Little red riding hood", a tale i was most familiar with as a child. The story i was read as a child was from a collection of stories from the Grimm Brothers, and reading this story now makes me realize that even though i had forgotten almost all major details to the plot, its the actual characters like the bad wolf that remain so vividly intact in my imagination.

For me this is one of the main reasons why stories and tales like this can really influence a child's mind and development. How we as people might learn a serious life lesson from such characters as the scary wolf or the innocent little red riding hood.

Whether we remember the plot of these stories in detail or not, being brought up with certain fairy tales can definitely be beneficial to a child's development, parents should choose which tales they want there kids to grow up with wisely, as this can be some of the most influential material they will come across.

In Conclusion i have to say that I'm very pleased with the way my English class functions, i can use some of my understanding on how i remember most of these tales, and at the same time get to improve my knowledge on the tale through the various different versions we touch on in this course.