We discussed the Amazons in classical mythology. We also discussed how warrior women are found in many cultures and even the archaeological record. This got us talking about gender roles and we quickly got to why they scared the ancient Greeks so much, and the patriarchy in general.

Drs. Charlotte Trinquet & Beni Balak with guest Salvio Illiano and Jesse Valez at the controls.

“Fallen Princesses” photo by Dina Goldstein

Check out more wonderfully dark “Fallen Princesses” by Dina Goldstein here: http://secretofthefairies.org/2013/08/09/fallen-princesses-photos-by-dina-goldstein-brilliant/

Right click and select “Save link as…” to download the MP3 file: Secretsofthefairies2013-8-14

Botticelli’s “La Nascita di Venere = Birth of Venus”

Our special guest was Dr. Anthony Crisafi who teaches Classics and Philosophy at the University of Central Florida.

As the title suggests, we discussed how Classical Mythology influenced the fairy tale tradition in Italy, France, and beyond, from the middle-ages and into modernity.

Right click and select “Save link as…” to download the MP3 file: Secretsofthefairies2013-8-7

Little Red Riding Hood by Maisy May Bee

Sadly, the 1st 15min of the show were not recorded for some obscure reason grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! 

… luckily the best parts came after so we added our theme song (1/2 before and 1/2 at the end) which is Emilíana Torrini‘s cover of Jefferson Airplane‘s “White Rabbit” from the movie Sucker Punch (2011)

Check out  a super-cool version of this non-fairytale by the brilliant Tex Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) MGM

Illustration by Mia Dutton

Right click and select “Save link as…” to download the MP3 file: secretsofthefairies2013-7-31-final.mp3

(sorry for all the glitches. I worked hard with audio software to try to fix things and this is a s good as I could get it–beni)

Our guests were Jaqui Meyers (and her daughter Olivia), and Mia Dutton who did this amazing drawing live on the show!

We presented some background on L. Frank Baum and examined the novel on 2 levels:

(1) as an allegory about the political-economic upheavals of the late 19th century from a populist (left-wing American) perspective. This turns out to be extremely relevant today!

(2) as the first American fairytale, and quite a brilliant one too!

Right click and select “Save link as…” to download the MP3 file: secretsofthefairies2013-7-24.mp3

Joining Kristin, Thalia, Charlotte, and me (beni) was Thalia’s buddy Jean.

We discussed the original story by Hans Christian Anderson and compared it with the very popular Disney movie.

Note: the photo is of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbor (Denmark). As we discussed in the show, Hans Christian Anderson is a national here in Denmark and the Danish Lutheran church.3

The beginning of the show was exterminated by the Dalek but we added an orchestral version of the Doctor Who theme music instead–sorry ;)

In the studio with us were a bunch of g33kettes:

Jean, Sophia, and Thalia (our child expert on all things fairytales)

+ Felix (our expert at large).

We learned about all this fandom culture that is very much like the literary salons of the 17th century that Charlotte researches.

Thalia and Her friend Kenzie (daughter of former guest Jaqui Meyers) read us a scene for Peter Pan.

<– The image is the scene they read in the studio from The Master Class Academy production of Peter Pan 2012 with Thalia as Tinker Bell.

We had our habitual chaotic discussion about the story and several of it’s versions over the years, the psychology of Peter Pan, and, of course, a bit of feminism (see beni’s post)

Note: sorry for the music fading in and out in at the last few minutes :(

Puss in Boots (aka The Booted Cat):

From Straparola (fairy she-cat), Basile (Baroque-funny), and Perrault (petty-bourgeois meh)…
to Shrek (feministico-hilarious).

Jacqui Myers came to tell us about the Uncle Remus children’s stories and their fascinating origins from the Gullah and Geechee dialects formed from a combination of languages when African slaves came to America.

We had the entire family in the studio (+Kristin Eaves at the controls): Charlotte Trinquet du Lys, Thalia, Felix, and beni Balak