The Final Blog

Over the course of the semester, we have learned a lot about fairytales and their different origins. To start, we learned about the Brothers Grimm themselves and about how they gathered and wrote the original fairy tales. The Brothers were poor and lived a life of hardships, but overcame their struggles by finding their niche for writing. The Brothers would gather the tales by inviting people, mostly women, into their home to tell their versions of the stories orally. From there the Brothers would embellish those tales to fit the “zeitgeist”, or what was in fashion at the time. This semester we also learned what distinguished a fairytale from a myth or a legend. A fairytale isn’t a fairytale without magic. For example, in the Disney classic, “Tangled”, Rapunzel’s hair magically keeps people young and can heal anyone that touches it when she sings. That doesn’t happen in real life, but nobody questions it because it's magical and whimsical. Fairy tales must also follow a certain sequence of events or include a pattern that most tales follow. Some other fairy tales we read about this semester include: Cinderella, Snow White, The Frog King, Little Red Cap, Hansel and Gretel, Bluebeard, The Robber Bridegroom, The Fitcher’s Bird, Rapunzel, and the Brave Little Tailor. With every fairy tale we learned about, we watched the Disney film adaption and learned what was changed or adopted to satisfy the audience Disney had built up. My favorite project we did was give a presentation to the elementary school about fairy tales. My group decided to do The Brave Little Tailor, and we had a blast. I am an elementary education major, and being able to make a lesson plan and work with the kids was eye opening to what I want to do later in life.

Rapunzel or Tangled?

I chose a cartoon drawn by the cartoonist, Claire Keane, to discuss the Rapunzel motif compared to the Disney film, “Tangled”, and the Brothers Grimm fairytale, “Rapunzel”. In this cartoon, Rapunzel is drawn kneeling against a wall painting a mural, with her long luscious blonde hair tied up and flowing behind her. This is similar to the scene in the Disney film where she is seen swinging through her tower and painting every inch of the walls of her prison with bright and colorful scenes. In the film, her main mural is a painting she did of the lanterns that are released on her birthday every year. The painting she is working on in the cartoon seems to be flowers and birds, in replacement of the lanterns. This cartoon captures how lonely and miserable she is being locked away in a tower, something that Rapunzel in “Tangled” did not seem to be. In the Disney film, Rapunzel had her friend, Pascal, to keep her company, and she seemed to have a good relationship with her “Mother”. However, in the Brothers Grimm version, her life is depicted of being boring and worthless until her prince charming arrives. In the Brothers Grimm version, there is no mention of Rapunzel having paints or painting the walls of her tower, like in the Disney fairytale. This cartoon, does have some similarities that occur in both versions of the fairytale, like how the princess is drawn with long blonde hair, but in this cartoon she seems to be wearing rags where in the Disney version, Rapunzel was always dressed in a beautiful purple dress. https://66.media.tumblr.com/6540769b4a9b8a6ac750566ee6de44c9/tumblr_niyc7e8uHf1rwyx9ko3_250.jpg

Bluebeard x 3

After reading both the “Robber Bridegroom” and the “Fitcher’s Bird”, and watching the movie, “Bluebeard”, I have come to the conclusion that the story of Bluebeard is very distrurbed. Things in all three versions that are similar are, how in each version the groom-to-be left on a trip and left a small key to a forbidden room to the bride-to-be. Another similarity is how in each version, the egg or key gets stained by blood and that’s how her fate is determined. In both versions, the groom-to-be dies at the end for his crimes, and in each version the bride-to-be gets curious and enters the forbidden room. 

The things in each version that are different are, in both book versions, the future groom gives the girls a key and an egg to watch, while in the film there is only a key. In the film, the groom is called Bluebeard and has a bluebeard, and in the “Robber Bridegroom”, he is a robber and there is a gang of them, while in “Fitcher’s Bird” he was a sorcerer. In the “Fitcher’s Bird”, the man murdered two out of the three daughters, and the third daughter was smarter and brought her sisters back to life, and killed the sorcerer. In the “Robber Bridegroom”, the young bride was saved by the old woman who helped her escape and outsmart the robber gang. In the film, “Bluebeard”, the bride is destined to die, but buys herself time by praying upstairs until the musketeers arrive and kill Bluebeard. Each of these versions has something unique about them. In the film, the musketeers arrive and behead Bluebeard, in the “Robber Bridegroom”, the bride produces the finger with the ring on it to prove that her husband is crazy, and in the “Fitcher’s Bird”, there are three daughters instead of just one girl like the other two versions. I liked the “Robber Bridegroom” version the most, because I found it comical when she outwitted her husband, and waited until her wedding day to expose him in front of all the guests.

The Original Tale of Hansel and Gretel vs. The MGM version of Hansel and Gretel

Comparing the original Hansel and Gretel tale with the MGM film version, there are lots of noticeable similarities and differences. To start with the similarities, the main characters, Hansel and Gretel, the father figure, and the witch are the same. In both versions, the children get lost in the woods and stumble upon a house that seemed friendly. Both versions, also, display Hansel being the first target of food for the witch and Gretel, not only saves both their lives, but kills the evil witch. Hansel also tricks the witch by giving her a chicken bone for her to feel. The evil witch also died in her own oven in both versions. Both tales also depict the families to be extremely poor. 

Now looking at the differences in both tales, the film version is remarkably different in comparison. To start with, the mother in the film version is actually a stepmother in the original who wants to abandon the children in the woods. In the original tale, the mother and father try to lose the kids twice in the woods and they find their way back the first time, compared to the only time they get lost hunting for berries in the MGM version. In the original version, the father is extremely guilty for what he has agreed to do, while in the film, the mother and father are equally worried for the wellbeing of their children. In the film, the witch’s house is made of gingerbread with children baked as cookies outside her house, while the original version, the house is just made of bread. In the original version, Gretel pushed the witch into her own oven to trick her and kill her, but in the film, Gretel uses the witch’s magic against her to switch places with Hansel before he got baked. Also, in the original version, the siblings find their way back home by riding a magical duck, while in the film, the children save all the kids and find their father out in the woods searching for them. 

Despite the drastic changes made, the true love of a sibling holds true in both versions. The movie directors made these challenges to make the tale more appealing to an audience. There is no sexual factor in the tale, just the story of parental abandonment for food and the sibling love for each other. The movie directors, also made the tale more whimsical and child friendly by making the house be made of candy. 

Little Red Riding Rabbit

After some searching, I found a social cartoon centered around the classic “Little Red Riding Hood”. This version is called “Little Red Riding Rabbit” directed by I. Freleng, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. This version is a Looney Tunes cartoon, featuring the classic Bugs Bunny. In this cartoon, Little Red Riding Hood is on her way to bring her grandma “a little bunny rabbit to have”. This rabbit is Bugs Bunny. While she is on her way, the wolf switches the shortcut sign around so the little girl takes the long path through the mountains, while he takes the actual shortcut to grandma's house. On her door, grandma left a sign saying she is out working, so the wolf takes this opportunity to go inside. He puts on grandma’s clothes and goes to hop in bed, but there are a bunch of other wolves dressed as grandma waiting for little red. The wolf kicks out the other wolves and waits for little red to come with the rabbit. When she arrives, the wolf is only interested in eating Bugs Bunny, despite Little Red trying to say her lines, just like in the original tale. Bugs Bunny and the wolf kept kicking her out of the house, until finally she annoys them one last time and they put hot coals under her while she holds lots of heavy things. Bugs Bunny and the wolf eventually share a carrot while watching the little girl struggle.

I loved this cartoon, because I love Looney Tunes. I thought this version was very comical and moved at a fast pace. It put a new spin on the original cartoon and gave it more life, in my opinion, compared to the original version. 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hv8dr

The Frog King vs. Cupid and Psyche

After reading both, “The Frog King” and “Cupid and Psyche”, in my opinion, they are vaguely similar to each other. “The Frog King”is all about a princess dropping her golden ball down a well and making a deal with a frog to get it. The princess promises the frog marriage and a chance to live in the castle, to eat at the table with her, and to share a bed at night. In return the talking frog retrieves the ball, but the princess, with no intentions of keeping her promises, laughs in his face and takes off back to the castle. Later on at the castle, the frog shows up at the door, demanding that he keep her promises. Luckily for him, her father scolded the princess for not keeping her promises and welcomes the frog in to their home for dinner. Disgusted at the frog’s appearance, the princess obeyed her father and brought him to her bed. The princess chucked the frog into the wall and he instantly turned turned into a charming prince. She was set to marry this prince immediately. The next morning Heinrich arrived in a carriage to escort them back to the castle, bursting with joy, the iron bands around his heart broke three times, for he was so happy his master was safe. 

“Cupid and Psyche”, are completely different in comparison. Psyche is a mortal who is beyond beautiful and makes Venus, a god, jealous of her beauty. Because of this, Venus sends her son Cupid to sabotage Psyche, and make her fall in love with an undeserving man. Cupid messes up and accidentally falls in love with Psyche. She consulted the oracle of Apollo and received her fate and married a man who only came around at night, but gave Psyche all the riches she could dream. One day, she listened to her sisters and devised a plan for her to see his face. Distraught, Psyche’s punishment was to never see Cupid again. Psyche goes to Venus for help and forgiveness, but eventually, Cupid can’t stand to be apart from his wife. Psyche then becomes immortal so they can be together.

These stories are extremely different from one another. “The Frog Prince” is about keeping your promises, while “Cupid and Psyche” is about not giving in to temptations and curiosity.

Snow White vs Snow White

“Over the seven jeweled hills, beyond the seventh wall, in the cottage of the seven dwarfs, dwells Snow White, fairest one of all.” Snow White is a classic fairytale, most known by the Walt Disney version in 1937. The original tale was actually organized by the Brothers Grimm. While both versions follow the same plot line and characters, the Grimm version is more dark, compared to the light-hearted Disney romantic, whimsical version. 

Brothers Grimm:

• Snow White is 7 years old
• The evil queen asked the huntsman to bring back her lungs and liver for her to eat
• The dwarves demand that she must keep house for them if she wanted to stay with them
• It took the queen three tries to kill Snow White
• The lace
• The comb
• The apple
• The prince comes and thinks shes beautiful and wants to take her back to the castle in the coffin
• Snow White comes back to life when the servants drop the coffin and the apple is dislodged from her throat
• The evil queen is invited to Snow Whites wedding, where she was made to dance in hot iron shoes until she fell dead

Disney:

• Snow White is 14 years old
• The evil queen asks the huntsman to bring back Snow White’s heart
• Snow White offers to keep house for the dwarves if they let her stay
• It took the queen one attempt to kill Snow White with an apple
• The prince kisses Snow White, which brings her back to life

Similarities between the two:

• The evil queen is Snow White’s stepmother
• The magic mirror plays a role in both versions
• Snow White takes care of the dwarve’s house
• There are 7 dwarves
• The huntsman is ordered to kill Snow White in both versions
• Snow White is poisoned by the apple
• Snow White marries the prince at the end

Disney diverted from the original version of the tale, because he wanted to make it less dark and gory, with a more romantic twist. Disney came out with Snow White during the Great Depression, so people needed hope and happiness in their life. This is why Disney added the romantic happy ending, instead of the sad story line. Disney also added more description and embellishment to his writings.

Rags to Riches Through Magic or Marriage: Realistic or Not?

In the fairytale, Cinderella, at the end of the story “They lived happily ever after”. This fairytale embodies the definition of a “rise tale”, meaning it follows the strict pattern of “rags to riches through magic and marriage”. Cinderella begins the tale poor and her life is full of hardships. Then, all of a sudden, she meets a prince and falls in love. They get married and live happily ever after with all the riches she could possibly imagine. Nobody questions this pattern, or deems it wrong, that a young maid can go from rags to riches because of a little magic and marriage. Nobody questions this logic because its a fairytale, but it's not very realistic.  

In real life, it's not normal for someone to go from rags to riches, but its not entirely untrue. Rags to riches stories were popular at the turn of the century, enticing people to strike out on their own in hopes of making it rich but none of those stories involved magic or marriage, simply hard work. You can marry into money, or you can invest your money smartly, you can gamble and strike it rich, you can create a business or own a company that does well, or you can inherit money. Some of these options include marriage or family ties that can result in riches, while the other options involve smart decisions or just plain luck. None of these suggestions, however, include magic. Unlike fairytales, magic doesn’t exist in the real world. It's also not very realistic to go from rags to riches very easily through marriage either. Yes, its possible, but it seldom occurs.

What is a Fairy Tale?

A Fairy Tale, is a narrative of magic and fantasy understood to be fictional. The most important part of a fairy tale, that separates it from a myth or a legend, is the magic. For example, in the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood, the fox impersonates the grandma. Nobody questions that part of the story, because it is magic. Animals don’t have the ability to talk or sing, and people don’t have the ability to “curse” someone. Yet its not questioned. Magic is very important in the makeup of a fairy tale. Fairy tales can either be mono-genesis, or poly-genesis. Mono-genesis means that the tale originated from a specific place and spread from there, while poly-genesis means different tales were created in different parts of the world all at the same time. Fairy tales must include a sequence, or a pattern that all tales must abide by. According to the definition, fairy tales must include magic, but also most tales parallel a miniature utopian world. Meaning that the good, or hero, must defeat the bad, or evil, in the end. In most fairy tales, especially Brothers Grimm, the hero must adventure out on a quest to “find himself”. This usually means the hero must get lost in a forest, dangerous encounters with animals or supernatural creatures. In Fairy tales, the hero must save the damsel in distress, or in original tales, will win the girl as a reward. Motifs of style, usually found in fairy tales, include the use of numbers, opening and closing lines, chante fables, and happy endings. These are again, included in the sequence of a common fairy tale. Another common trait in fairy tales, is the zeitgeist, meaning whatever is in fashion at the time. The Brothers Grimm used zeitgeist when including romanticism in their tales. The brothers wanted the bourgeois, or middle class, to enjoy their stories, so they added in more description and happier details, while taking out the sexual aspects of their tales. According to Sigmund Freud, Id is the pleasure principle, the ego is the self control principal, and the superego is the moral principle. In terms of a fairy tale, id is the helping or dangerous animals, the ego is the hero or heroine completing tasks, and superego is the parental authority.

Hollywood vs Jack Zippes

FACT
* The Brothers Grimm were poor after their father died suddenly from pneumonia in 1796.
* The Brothers were scholars who dedicated their lives to researching German laws, cultures, and oral tales.
* The Brothers were extremely passionate about Germany and disliked the French.

FICTION
* The Brothers Grimm had 4 other siblings, unlike the film, who only showed one sister.
* Jacob never received magical beans for payment in reality.
* The Brothers were not supernatural "bounty hunters" conning people into believing they could get rid of ghosts.
* The mysterious woods of Marbaden is not a real place in Germany.
* The Brothers did not collect their stories by taking down an evil queen, in fact, they invited middle aged women into their house and would listen to them while the brothers took notes.
* The film also consisted of many fairy tales as the brothers went about their journey, when in reality, they never took place.

First week of From Grimm to Disney Complete!

Welcome to my From Grimm to Disney blog! As my first blog entry, I would like to mention why I decided to choose this class as my first-year seminar. I chose From Grimm to Disney over other classes because I love everything Disney. Ever since I was a kid, I loved reading fairy tales and watching the classic movies, but more recently I have come to love drawing those classic characters for fun. Last year, as part of my AP English assignment, I chose to write about three classic Disney princess stories, and where they originated. Upon doing some research, I found that most of the classic fairy tales we know originated from the Brothers Grimm. I found that so interesting, and as I was choosing my first-year seminar classes when I saw the option for From Grimm to Disney, I just had to take this class. In taking this class, I hope to better my writing skills, as well as my presentation skills. I have a tendency to be shy when it comes to talking in front of the whole class. I hope this class will also help me become more comfortable working with different people I do not know well. My favorite fairy tale is Red Riding Hood. I have always found it funny how Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t tell the difference between her grandmother and a wolf. I also have also found it comical that her mother would let her wander the woods alone all the way to visit her grandmother, something that most parents wouldn’t think of doing.