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