*Students were also given permission to create entirely fictional protagonists.

*Students were also given permission to create entirely fictional protagonists.

*Students were also given permission to create entirely fictional protagonists.

*Students were also given permission to create entirely fictional protagonists.

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Things got a bit out of order around here, as they are wont to do at midterms, and we had a Rapunzel Re-telling before our actual Rapunzel Archetypes episode. Here to save the day and set things right are Group 8, with their discussion of “Rapunzel.”

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In today’s episode, Group 7 discusses “King Thrushbeard.”

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Anarchy Episode 6: Rapunzel

Introductions: Austin, Alex, Michael

Overview:

Michael: Barbie animated dvd : 2002

I chose to analyze the retelling of Rapunzel called Barbie as Rapunzel because my daughters told me I had to. This is a direct to dvd computer animated fairytale made in 2002 by Mainframe and Mattel entertainment. It is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm Fairy tale Rapunzel. It starts out with Barbie telling her sister Chelsea the story of Rapunzel to inspire Chelsea to be a better painter. In the story Rapunzel is trapped in the tower of a mansion behind a magical barrier created by the sorceress Gothel. Rapunzel has a friend talking rabbit named Hobie with her as well as a friend talking dragon named Sophie. Sophie’s dad is a huge talking dragon named Hugo who Gothel rides around and puts to work protecting her Mansion. One day Rapunzel and her two friends happen to find a magical hairbrush that had been given to Rapunzel as a gift when she was one year old. Rapunzel figures out that Gothel has been lying to her by saying that her parents abandoned her when she was a newborn. After finding the brush Rapunzel wanders into the nearby village where she saves a princess and meets the princess’s Brother Prince Stefan but never gets around to asking his name. Gothel has a pet Otter named Otto who tells Gothel where Rapunzel went and Gothel confronts Rapunzel calling her a liar when Rapunzel can’t remember Stefan’s name. Stefan looks everywhere for Rapunzel but can’t find her. Then the magic hairbrush turns into a paintbrush which can transport Rapunzel to the place she paints with it. Rapunzel meets Stefan again and they try to find her parents but there is a feud between Stefan’s family and the family of the neighboring king Wilhelm which gets in the way. Just then Sophie asks Rapunzel to return to Gothel or Gothel will kill her dad Hugo. When Rapunzel returns Gothel puts a spell on the tower preventing anyone with a lying heart from leaving. She also takes Rapunzel’s hair as a disguise to get at Stefan’s family. Rapunzel escapes with the help of Hugo and Sophie to confront Gothel. That’s when we learn that Gothel stole Rapunzel from King Wilhelm in order to start the feud between the two kingdoms as revenge for king Wilhelm breaking her heart a looooong time ago. So Rapunzel tricks Gothel into going back to the tower where Gothel is trapped in her own spell for lying to Rapunzel. Rapunzel marries Stefan thus breaking the feud and saving both kingdoms. This story helps Chelsea to find inspiration to start painting again.

Alex: Disney’s Tangled – 2010

For my retelling I decided to do the Disney movie Tangled. The movie was released in 2010 and is about a magic flower that was used to keep Mother Gothel young. In the retelling, the flower is stolen from Mother Gothel in order to heal a queen who is about to give birth in a nearby kingdom. While trying to retrieve the flower, Gothel comes to find that there are traces of the flower left in the queen’s newborn daughter’s hair and if the hair were to be cut, it would lose the power of the flower. Gothel steals the baby, who is named Rapunzel, and raises her in an isolated tower so she can use the Rapunzel’s hair to stay young. On the night of Rapunzel’s 18th birthday, she requests to leave the tower and explore but Gothel refuses, telling Rapunzel that outside the tower is not safe. Meanwhile, a man named Flynn Rider steals Rapunzel’s meant-to-be crown from the kingdom and comes across Rapunzel’s tower when trying to get away. Rapunzel captures Flynn and finds out that he has the crown but she doesn’t realize its significance because she has been locked away since she can remember. Rapunzel has to hide Flynn so she tells Gothel to get her paint that would take three days to retrieve and Gothel accepts. Rapunzel tells Flynn that if he gets her out of the tower she will give him back the crown. Throughout the story Rapunzel uses her hair to get her and Flynn out of trouble and soon they start to fall in love. Flynn tells Rapunzel that his real name is Eugene and they both return to the kingdom where Eugene gets captured for stealing the crown but Rapunzel arranges a truce in honor of her 18th birthday. Next, Gothel comes and steal Rapunzel back and returns her to the tower. Rapunzel begins to realize that she is the long-lost princess and confront Gothel about it. Meanwhile, Eugene is being sentenced to death but is then saved by his friends he knows from a pub he is a regular at. Eugene then goes to try to save Rapunzel from the tower. Eugene climbs up the tower using Rapunzel’s hair just to find that she is tied up. Gothel stabs Eugene and attempts to run away with Rapunzel, but Rapunzel comes up with a plan to save Eugene. She agrees to lifelong captivity if she is allowed to heal Eugene with her hair. As Eugene is dying, he slices off a piece of Rapunzel’s hair which made Gothel start to age rapidly causing her to fall out the window of the tower to her death. As Rapunzel cries over dying Eugene, one of her tears which still contains the power of the flower, lands on Eugene’s cheek and heals him. The two return to the kingdom and Rapunzel is reunited with her parents and Eugene is pardoned for his crimes.

Austin: Anne Sexton’s poem, Rapunzel – 1971

My Retelling is a poem called “Rapunzel” by Anne Sexton, which was published in the year 1971. This poem starts off with two women who are in love with each other and she goes into great detail of how the two women are intimate with one another, they do not hide their feelings for one another, and convince each other to lock themselves away from all boys and to play with each other. When the Rapunzel retelling actually begins halfway through the poem, Rapunzel’s parents are in desperate need of healing the mother from illness when they stumble across an enchanted garden cursed and locked away by the evil sorceress, Gothel. When the father sees the flower, he hops the fence to retrieve the medicine for the mother to eat, when the mother finishes eating the flower, the witch confronts them and demands a trade for her newborn daughter to spare their lives. Gothel named the daughter Rapunzel and locks her way in a stone cold tower to keep away from boys and people that could take Rapunzel away from her. Rapuzel’s hair is very strong and long and golden that can stretch all the way from the top to the bottom of the tower. Gothel would yell Rapunzel, “hold me my young dear, hold me,” as Rapunzel would use her hair to carry Gothel to the top of the tower to play “mother-me-doo”. One day, a prince from the nearby village hears Rapunzel’s beautiful singing and calls for her to bring down her hair. Rapunzel listens to the prince and her and the prince now see each other every night, every time the prince is underneath the tower. One day, Gothel finds out that Rapunzel has been seeing this prince and banishes her from the tower and is to wander in the woods for the rest of her life to repent for her sins against Gothel who pretends to be her mother. Gothel cuts off Rapuzel’s hair to the ears and not only ruins the garden but ruins the health of Gothel allowing her to age. The prince comes to the tower the next day only to meet Gothel and hear the news of her banishment. As he jumps out of the tower he lands in a pile of thorns and is pricked in the eyes eternally blinding him from eyesight for the rest of his life. He wanders in the woods blind for years and ultimately runs into Rapunzel from hearing her sing. They are reunited and live happily ever after, while Gothel is aging back in the garden and her heart has shrunk to the size of a pin.

Discussion of source story archetypes:

Brothers Grimm: Rapunzel- 1857

Michael:

The source Rapunzel story is tale-type 310 in the Aarne-Thompson index and has recurring themes of purity and chastity as represented by the high tower that Rapunzel is always locked away in. This is also represented by the golden color of Rapunzel’s hair and light color of her skin. Every Rapunzel story has to involve Rapunzel’s really long hair which sometimes can weigh her down while at other times can be used as a tool like when she uses it to bring guests into the high tower. Her story also always involves an evil croon or sorceress. Gothel is the one that puts Rapunzel up in the tower after stealing her from her parents. This represents a disconnect from the people around Rapunzel. Then the Gothel character passes judgement on Rapunzel for losing her purity. Another recurring character is the prince that breaks through Rapunzel’s isolation but also comes to remove her from her puritan state of being. The story also has some magic use usually by Gothel since she is after all a sorceress but also by Rapunzel because in the end she heals the prince with her tears in the original version. A smaller symbol would be the flowers that give Rapunzel her name but also probably give her the magic for healing since in the original Grimm Version they come from Gothel’s magical garden. The prince getting hurt and wandering around a lot is also an important theme since only the love from Rapunzel and her tears can heal him, but until she does he has a lot of pain and suffering.

Individual Analyses:

Alex:  

In both of the Rapunzel stories I read, there are many archetypes that are passed from the original Brothers Grimm version of Rapunzel to Disney’s Tangled version. I think the most important being the tower. In both of the stories the tower is used as a barrier; blocking Rapunzel from the outside world. In the retelling Tangled, the tower is also used as a place where Gothel can hide her most valuable possession: the hair that makes her stay young. Disney started changing the retelling by first making the mother of Rapunzel into the Princess of a kingdom not far from Gothel’s. I think this adds more of a plot and also helps the movie appeal to children watching. Disney also cleaned up the story by having Rapunzel stolen from the parents instead of traded. Although they did keep the part about Rapunzel’s mother being sick. Disney gave purpose to the flower. They made it a magical flower that made Rapunzel’s hair heal people who touch it. Another thing Disney changed to help the plot is they turned the Prince from the Brother’s Grimm version into Flynn Rider, a mischievous guy who just happens to stumble upon her tower. Disney adds emotion to the story by having Rapunzel and Flynn, or Eugene, fall in love at the end and have Rapunzel ultimately save his life using the powers she got from the flower. I think Flynn rider stealing the crown from Rapunzel is a way Disney could portray the part about the knight taking Rapunzel’s purity in a cleaner way and less racy. Disney also added floating lanterns in the sky that Rapunzel would view from her tower every year on her birthday. The lanterns represented her dreams and aspirations of leaving the tower and having a normal life.

Austin:

Anne Sexton’s Poem, Rapunzel, is very similar to the final form of the Brother’s Grimm, Rapunzel. Although the retelling between the two poems are very similar in terms of the story, there are major differences that separate the meanings of both fairytale stories. Both authors of these fairytales have darker styles of writing causing one type of audience to fine their stories fascinating, and others to be in complete shock and in an uncomfortable state. Anne Sexton starts off her poem with two woman sharing their love and sexualities with one another, ultimately incorporating her style of writing into the retelling of the Brother’s Grimm, Rapunzel. Anne Sexton is well known for retelling and mocking famous fairytales from authors such as the Brothers Grimm. She uses the style of writing a dark and twisted fairytale and made her version of Rapunzel darker than the original Brothers Grimm Rapunzel released in 1857. Some similarities in both stories is that the flower is involved which exemplifies life and youth for Gothel. The flowers keep the garden that Gothel lives in enchanted and beautiful, that is an irony to the type of person Gothel really is because she is evil and is only looking for a child to take care of and not feel lonely. The flower is also a symbol for healing for Rapunzel’s mother, who is ill and carrying a child ready to be born. Another similarity is how the prince shows up for the first time to be with Rapunzel. In both stories, he cries the same thing in both stories for Rapuzel to bring down her hair so that he could be with her. In this scene, Rapunzel’s hair is what causes her to be with the prince and ultimately lose her purity, which is what Gothel did not want to happen. This is ironic because Gothel locks Rapunzel away from anyone to contact her, but with her long hair, that is able to reach the bottom of the tower, there is no stopping anyone from entering the tower by traveling on Rapunzel’s strong, golden hair. The tower is supposed to be a barrier or a wall separating Rapuzel from the real world, love, companionship, and adulthood. Gothel wanted Rapunzel to stay with her forever and feel like the mother she never was to Rapunzel for the rest of her life. Some major differences in the two stories are certain parts that depict and change the outcome of the story. One example is that in the Brothers Grimm version, Rapunzel is open and tells Gothel that she has been seeing the prince and is most likely pregnant with him. This shows a sense of independence and that Rapunzel isn’t afraid of her “mother”. She wants to leave and spend the rest of her life with the husband and is done being locked in a tower. In Sexton’s poem, Gothel finds out about the affair and Rapunzel has been hiding her relationship with the prince the entire time. Both of these stories express a different character trait found in Rapunzel and how she is described. She is strong and independent and not afraid in the Brothers Grimm version, and is soft spoken and closer to Gothel in Sexton’s poem.   Another example, in the Brothers Grimm version, when the prince finds Rapunzel, he is cured by her tears and could see again after getting blinded by the thorns in the garden. He later finds out that she gave birth to twins and she is living a hard, sufferable life in the woods with her two newborns. In Anne Sexton’s poem, he is reunited with her and lives happily ever after, but is still blind. The tears from Rapunzel that she sheds for the prince symbolizes joy of being reunited, represents love, and compassion towards the father of their family. It is a situation that involves two lovers that can still love and be with each other no matter what obstacle or circumstances are thrown at them, whether it’s a witch, tower, or a cursed garden. Both of these versions of Rapunzel have differences that ultimately draw back to the main idea that you can’t hide your children or adopted children from the real world and adulthood. They will eventually find their way into the real world and figure out their own identity that not even a sorceress can stop. Loneliness will eventually turn into happiness and love once encountering another human being that brings joy into your life.

Michael:

Barbie as Rapunzel gets rid of the Rapunzel flowers narrative of Rapunzel’s origins and replaces it with the origin story of Rapunzel being a princess who is taken from King Wilhelm as a toddler. I think this gives the story more purpose and much needed elaboration. Barbie however keeps the purity theme going and turns it into a righteous heart aspect when Gothel keeps Asking Rapunzel for Stefan’s name. Rapunzel tells her the truth even though Gothel doesn’t buy it. Because Rapunzel escapes Gothel’s final spell by continuing to be truthful Rapunzel seems to still be pure of heart. This whole story smells of a “the Truth Will Set You Free” theme. Barbie as Rapunzel also lets Rapunzel take down the evil sorceress and save the kingdoms. This is how many of the Barbie fairy tale movies seem to empower the female characters and reinforce the strong woman point of view. Barbie herself has had over 100 occupations and is always the heroine in her movies which sends out a message to young ladies which says “you can do anything you set your heart to do.” This is really the message that Barbie is trying to give to Chelsea from the story.  One interesting change is that In this version Rapunzel’s hair is not used to bring people into her tower except in a dream after she meets Stefan. Her hair becomes more connected with Rapunzel’s identity especially, when Stefan invites Rapunzel to a masked ball and says that he will be able to recognize Rapunzel by her extremely long hair. This backfires though when Gothel cuts Rapunzel’s hair and uses it to steal her identity at the ball. All of the emphasis of Rapunzel’s long hair goes into it being a major part of how Rapunzel is identified instead of her being identified by her character. The lesson is to not judge a person without speaking with them which is echoed in the feud angle of this story. King Wilhelm and Stefan’s family feud for 17 years because they don’t talk to each other about their differences. As it turns out Gothel was the one that started it and kept it going by attacking both sides for years. A new theme is introduced in the form of the magical brush which Rapunzel uses to travel to and from her tower. This brush represents the love of Rapunzel’s parents even though they are separated. This gives a nicer feeling to the story of Rapunzel being ripped away from the family that loves her. Finally this version of Rapunzel gives the modern happy ending that children nowadays have come to expect from our fairy tale retellings. Rapunzel marries the prince and makes everything good. This is a much more child friendly version than when Rapunzel gets pregnant by the prince lets him get pushed out a window. Barbie as Rapunzel gives a modern feeling to the classic story be throwing in a few new lessons while maintaining the theme of Rapunzel being a young woman who is locked away with a heart of gold. It emphasizes that if you stay honest and true to your heart everything will work out in the end.

Closing:

This concludes our Anarchy podcast, Im Michael, Im Alex, and I’m Austin. Thank you for watching.

Script

Introductions

Overview of retellings

• Mackenzie: 1001 Rabbit Tales
• Michael: Alladin
• Shannon: Sinbad
• Julia: Aladdin and The King of Thieves

Discussion of archetypes

Mackenzie’s analysis

Michael’s analysis

Shannon’s analysis:

Archetypes

Mackenzie:

In the story of 1001 nights, Shahrazad is definitely a hero archetype. She realizes all the horrible things that are happening to all the women around her and she knows someone needs to put an end to it. Shahrazad comes up with a plan that her sister, Dunyazad, is also in on. The plan is that before Shahrazad lies with the king she will ask to see her sister and then her sister will stay in the room while the king does what he want with Shaharzad. Usually it is a cycle that the king will have his way with a woman and then kill her after. However, since Shaharazad and her sister have developed a plan, her sister asks if Shaharazad can tell her a story. Thankfully the king allows this and Shahrazad goes on to tell 1001 stories over 1001 nights. Every night the king is so intrigued in the story and can’t wait to hear the next part of it so he continues to spare her life. Shahrazad is insanely brave! She has risked her life in order to help women all around. Even though her dad begged her to not do this she refused because she knew it needed to be done 1 .

Michael:

I chose to analyze the jinni in 1001 Nights. In Jane Garry’s “Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature a Handbook,” jinni are described1“shape-shifters, thought as supernatural creatures with bodies of flame, often traveling about as whirlwinds” The jinn acts as a villain archetype through capturing the woman and forcing her to sleep with the men. This archetype blends weaponizing sexuality for evil.

Archetype Citation:

1: Garry, Jane, and Hasan M El-Shamy. Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: a Handbook, Routledge, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uoregon/detail.action?docID=302402.

Shannon:

1001 Arabian nights displays a trickster archetype. More specifically, a protagonist within the story, Shaharazad is displayed as the trickster. This is because she is cunning and uses her intelligence to get what she wants and achieve her own motivations. For this reasoning, Shaharazad reminds me of puss in boots. However, Shaharazad has more of a moral conscience and plays more upon the hero archetype, which mackenzie touched on earlier. The trickster archetype is something I find interesting because it can vary greatly depending on the morality and conscience of the trickster. Therefore, that’s why I see a difference between the Puss in Boots trickster and the 1001 Arabian Nights trickster.

“The trickster is an alchemist, a magician, creating realities in the duality of time and illusion. In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior.”

In “The Story of Sinbad the Sailor,” the main protagonist, Sinbad, portrays a variety of archetypes. For instance, the rags to riches archetype. Although Sinbad came from a wealthy family, he foolishly spent his riches in his youth. Therefore, he sets sail as a merchant sailor to reclaim his wealth and rise from an underdog status, another archetype he portrays. Yet, in addition to the rags to riches and underdog archetypes that Sinbad portrays, he also portrays a hero archetype because in his voyages and adventures he also maintains a sense of morality by helping other along the way. Therefore, the story of Sinbad also adheres to a hero archetype. Sinbad is also a very wise and cunning entrepreneur in a way. Therefore, I found myself relating his character to Puss in Boots, although Sinbad is a much more moral protagonist, he does find a way to achieve wealth in a cunning way. I like to call Sinbad’s actions to achieve wealth entrepreneurial in spirit because he’s using his wits and his intelligence to rise in wealth. Sinbad does this through trading items and belongings for items and belongings of more value.

Nights, Arabian. “The Story of Sindbad the Sailor.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, 5AD, americanliterature.com/author/arabian-nights/short-story/the-story-of-sindbad-the-sailor.

Julia’s analysis

Julia:

• The story 1001 Nights contains a hero archetype and a journey archetype.  
• There is also a lot of symbolism about women in the overall frame story of Shahrazad.  
• This book was written in a time where women didn’t have any rights, especially in a culture where women were not deemed important
• Yet the main protagonist and hero of the story is a woman who is tasked with saving the kingdom and lives of other woman
• Poem about how women use sex as a way to power and getting what they want
• Symbolizes the position women were in and still are today
• Importance of storytelling is shown in which Shahrazad literally uses storytelling to save her life

Individual Analyses:

Mackenzie:

The retelling story I am analyzing is Bug’s Bunny 1001 Rabbit Tales. This is a movie that includes all of the Bug’s Bunny characters in a way to create a sattire movie of the Arabian Nights collection. In this retelling, Daffy Duck and Bug’s Bunny both are assigned to sell books in different areas. I compared this part of the movie to the two brothers that ruled different kingdoms. Throughout Bug’s and Daffy’s encounters they both end up back together and fall into a kingdom of Arabian culture, just like how the brothers come back together. Bug’s Bunny goes to the kingdom and asks the king, who is Yosemite Sam wearing a turban, if he would like to buy this book that has 1001 children’s stories. Yosemite Sam is ecstatic because he needs someone to read to his son, the prince of the kingdom. Bug’s initially refuses and is then threatened to be thrown into boiling oil if he does not read these stories. Bug’s is playing the role of Shaharzad since he is reading the stories but he definitely is not a hero like she is. He is only reading these stories to the prince because the only other option is death. This is similar to Shaharzad but she was clever enough to think of a plan to put an end to all of the deaths the king was causing. Bug’s only motive to do this is to save his own life which makes him just like any other human being.

The movies continues and Bug’s reads a handful of classic fairytales to the prince. These fairytales include: Jack and the beanstock, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and Goldilocks. Similar to Arabian nights, the stories that are being told are folktales. However, the difference in the stories in the Rabit tales compared to the Arabian Nights is that the stories all have an end and then the next one begins. In Arabian Nights, Shaharzad has to make sure each story ends on a cliffhanger to make sure the king wants to keep her around in order to hear the rest of the story.

Thankfully, since this is a children’s movie, there is no acknowledgement of rape or murder. I do think that these two components of Arabian Nights are what make it such famous collection because there is lots, in a sense, drama. Instead, the Bug’s Bunny version has them just try to sell books and then they are roped into a bad situation but Shaharzad puts herself in this bad situation in order to help the women being killed. There definitely is a big gap between these two stories because there is no rape and murder which I think is a key component to the Arabian nights collection. Without these two components there really wouldn’t be a story2.

Michael:

My retelling of a story from 1001 Night was the story of Aladdin. The original story of Aladdin, which is called Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,  is actually not included in the original version of the collection of stories. It is said that the story was added to the 18th century French translation by Antoine Galland, who heard it from a Syrian in an Aleppo.1

For our generation, Aladdin is one of the most well known retellings of 1001 Nights. The story focuses on Aladdin, a street boy from the fictional town of Agrabah who falls in love with the beautiful princess Jasmine. As a princess, Jasmine is supposed to marry a Royal Prince, but she is charmed by Aladdin. Here’s the synopsis from IMDB.2

The movie Aladdin starts with a street peddler telling us the tale of Jafar, the Sultan’s vizier meeting with a mysterious thief figure named Kassim. The two combine their parts of a golden beetle. When they put their pieces together, a cave called the “Cave of Wonders” emerges. Jafar orders Kassim to enter, and the cave closes on Kassim, leaving Jaffar to realize that he needs “the diamond in the rough” to enter.

The next day, we are introduced to Aladdin a street boy who is just trying to get by using his wits to steal from others. Aladdin is accompanied by his sidekick monkey Abu. Princess Jasmine, the daughter of the Sultan, escapes from her palace after rejecting an advance from the Royal Prince and eventually crosses paths with Aladdin. The royal guards eventually find Aladdin and kidnap him under Jafar’s orders. When she goes looking for Aladdin, Jafar tells her that he has been killed because he kidnapped her. The truth is that Aladdin has not been killed, he was imprisoned by Jafar. Abu helps Aladdin to escape, and they encounter another prisoner who needs help to locate the Cave of Wonders. The prisoner is actually Jafar.

Aladdin, Abu and Jafar get to the cave and only Aladdin and Abu can enter. They are told that they can’t touch anything but the lamp. They are guided to the location of the lamp by a magic carpet, but Aladdin steals a ruby and the cave collapses.

Aladdin rubs the lamp and is told that he has three wishes, but he can’t do the following things: he can’t wish for more wishes, he can’t kill anyone, he can’t make anyone fall in love with someone else and he can’t bring people back from the dead. Aladdin tricks the genie into letting him escape the cave without using a wish. After escaping, Aladdin asks the genie what else he should wish for. The genie tells him that his only wish is to be free, and Aladdin makes the promise to free him for the lamp after he uses two wishes. Aladdin uses one of his wishes to become a prince because Jasmine is a princess.

Back in the city, Jafar, who desperately wants to gain power,  tries to convince the Sultan that he can marry the princess if she is not married by a certain time. Jafar is basically really good at manipulation and tries to manipulate the king with different techniques like hypnosis.

Aladdin returns to the city, and the Sultan, Jasmine and Jafar are unaware that it is Aladdin. Jasmine is unimpressed by the prince, and Aladdin eventually reveals his identity and charms her with a magic carpet ride.

Aladdin returns to the palace with Jasmine and then he is seized by guards. The guards throw him in a lake and Aladdin accidentally rubs the lamp, which causes the genie to emerge. The genie convinces Aladdin to save his own life and he returns to the palace. He finds Jafar manipulating the Sultan through hypnosis using his staff and then Aladdin destroys the staff and Jafar escapes. The Sultan sees that Jasmine wants to marry Aladdin. Now that Aladdin has used two wishes, the Genie is ready to be freed. The genie tries to convince Aladdin to free him but he’s not ready.

Jaffar, who somehow stole the lamp from Aladdin, summons the genie and makes him carry out his orders. Jaffar takes the palace to a remote mountain and uses his first wish to become a powerful wizard. He reveals to everyone that Aladdin is a poor boy and then uses his second wish to become sultan, he imprisons the sultan and Jasmine until she agrees to marry him.

Aladdin somehow finds the magic carpet again and sneaks into the palace. Aladdin again uses his wits and convinces Jafar to use his third wish to turn into the genie, due to how powerful the genie is. However, the genie is bound to obey whoever is in possession of the lamp (Jafar doesn’t know this). So then Jafar turns himself into the genie and is trapped by the lamp.

Genie and Aladdin get rid of the lamp and the genie reminds Aladdin that he still has his third wish. Genie tells Aladdin he can become a prince, but he uses his wish to free the Genie like he promised. Aladdin goes back to the city and the sultan allows him to marry his daughter and he becomes an heir to the kingdom.

While the film appears to be a fun, child friendly story, some have criticized it for portraying Orientalist stereotypes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary3, orientalism is defined as “The representation of the Orient (esp. the Middle East) in Western academic writing, art, or literature; spec. this representation perceived as stereotyped or exoticizing and therefore embodying a colonialistic attitude.” One critic, Jack Shaheen who was a professor of mass communication at the time, said in 1992 that Aladdin was “a painful reminder to 3 million Americans of Arab heritage, as well as 300 million Arabs and others, that the abhorrent Arab stereotype is as ubiquitous as Aladdin’s lamp.”4

The American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee5 criticized the movie for its portrayal of Jasmine and Aladdin with lighter skin colors and that the villains/common people have darker skin. There were also issues with the first song of Aladdin, in which the first verse6 said:

“From a faraway place

Where the caravan camels roam.

Where they cut off your ear

If they don’t like your face

It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.”

I think it is also important to note that Jasmine is different from many other Disney characters. Her outfits are much more revealing than other princesses and I think that this was a deliberate decision by the creators of the film.

Although I enjoyed the film as a kid, I realize that there are mainly problematic elements with its themes. As consumers of media, we need to be vigilant about what types of media we’re watching.

Close reading/analysis citations:

1: https://ajammc.com/2017/08/10/who-was-the-real-aladdin/

2: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103639/plotsummary#synopsis

3: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/132531?redirectedFrom=orientalism#eid

4: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170714-the-aladdin-controversy-disney-cant-escape

5: https://web.archive.org/web/20070405005650/http:/www.adc.org/index.php?id=283

6: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-07-10/entertainment/ca-11747_1_altered-lyric

Shannon:

In “The Story of Sinbad the Sailor,” the main protagonist, Sinbad, portrays a variety of archetypes. For instance, the rags to riches archetype. Although Sinbad came from a wealthy family, he foolishly spent his riches in his youth. Therefore, he sets sail as a merchant sailor to reclaim his wealth and rise from an underdog status, another archetype he portrays. Yet, in addition to the rags to riches and underdog archetypes that Sinbad portrays, he also portrays a hero archetype because in his voyages and adventures he also maintains a sense of morality by helping other along the way. Therefore, the story of Sinbad also adheres to a hero archetype. Sinbad is also a very wise and cunning entrepreneur in a way. Therefore, I found myself relating his character to Puss in Boots, although Sinbad is a much more moral protagonist, he does find a way to achieve wealth in a cunning way. I like to call Sinbad’s actions to achieve wealth entrepreneurial in spirit because he’s using his wits and his intelligence to rise in wealth. Sinbad does this through trading items and belongings for items and belongings of more value.

For my retelling, I chose “The Story of Sinbad the Sailor.” This story follows the protagonist of Sinbad. Sinbad comes from a wealthy family, although due to poor financial choices, he loses his wealth and must fend for himself. Therefore, he becomes a merchant sailor and sets out to sea to fulfill his motives of gaining wealth. While at sea, his ship becomes shipwrecked on an island. The island turns out to be a whale, and Sinbad must float to a nearby island. While on the island, his hero side comes to lights when he helps a horse groom save a mare from drowning. This man turns out to be a servant of the King of the island.

Sinbad soon meets the King, who graciously thanks him for helping his servant. The King then awards Sinbad with a treasure chest of valuables. Sinbad then trades the items in the chest for more valuable items, thus greatly increasing his wealth. This was Sinbad’s first voyage. Sinbad soon goes on another voyage. While reading the story of Sinbad, it becomes evident that Sinbad’s voyages and the plot of “The Story of Sinbad the Sailor” have a very repetitive plot. For instance, after Sinbad’s second voyage, he increases his wealth with the same actions as he did on his last voyage. Therefore, he again trades valuable items for items that are of more value, hence increasing his wealth in an entrepreneurial like way.

Sinbad goes on many voyages. Throughout Sinbad’s voyages, the consistently story portrays many staples that are common in fairytales. For instance, there’s the existence of a monster or vicious animal (i.e., a sea monster, a huge snake, etc.), a hero that saves someone in need (i.e., the mare and the horse groom), a hero being rewarded by an authority figure (i.e., the King).

Nights, Arabian. “The Story of Sindbad the Sailor.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, 5AD, americanliterature.com/author/arabian-nights/short-story/the-story-of-sindbad-the-sailor.

Footnotes

1. “10 Common Character Archetypes.” n.d. The Writer’s Spot. Accessed May 8, 2018. http://thewriterspot.weebly.com/13/post/2014/08/common-character-archetypes.html.

1.  Dunn, John W. ,Detiege, David, Bug’s Bunny 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, Movie, directed/performed by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng (1982).

1. Nights, Arabian. “The Story of Sindbad the Sailor.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, 5AD, americanliterature.com/author/arabian-nights/short-story/the-story-of-sindbad-the-sailor.

Julia’s Analysis:

I decided to analyze a modern day reteling of ali baba and the forty thieves

Ali baba and the forty theives is one of the most popular stories from arbian nights and is most commonly used as a childrens story today.

The film Aladdin and the King of Thieves is a sequel to the disney movie aladdin and a modern retelling of the story ali baba and the forty thieves

In the original story archtypes include a hero, ali baba, a mentor, morgiana, a villian, the theives and the leader and a storyline of maturtity

An overview of the story: 2 brothers, one greedier than the other marries a rich woman and the other works hard to support himself and his wife. One day he sees a band of thieves open a MAGIC cave full of treasure with a secret phrase.  Once they leave he carefully and discretely takes gold out of it only telling his wife of the cave. Ali baba asks his sister in law for a scale to weigh their new gold but she secretly put wax on the scale to find out what they were using it for. She realizes they have all this new gold and ali babas brother pressures him to telling him his secret which he does.  Cassim as greedy as he is goes to the cave takes as much as he can but forgets the phrase that unlocks the cave, gets trapped in side and gets killed by the theives. Ali baba goes back to find his brother and finds cassims body chopped up. Ali baba takes his body in order to have mogiana, cassims slave, find a way to sew the body up which she finds a tailor for. Once the theives realize the body is gone, they also realize someone else knows about the cave and devise plans to capture the invidicidual. Morgiana thwarts these plans over and over

In the movie cassim, alibabas greedy father is replaced by the character of aladdins father who acts in the same sense, a character that is greedy, in the movie the object of his desire is the hand that can turn anything into gold

but in the end he decides his true treasure in life is his son

Much child friendlier than the original

In the original its hard to tell if ali baba is really a good guy , in this movie ali baba is aladdin a familiar and loved character.

The most common retellings we see are ones that are “G” rated versions of the original

Morgiana’s role is the most interesting one to examine in this story. Socially, Morgiana is effectively invisible – she is not only a slave but also a woman. Women in these stories often cause messes through their foolishness; Morgiana, however, is the stark opposite. In fact, she is story’s true hero, not only because of her cleverness but also because of her loyalty. She is strong, resourceful, and calm in the face of danger, performing all the clever feats we would expect a male hero to.

Much like many fairy tales weve read so far, ali baba and the forty thieves offers a great example  whereby a poor man rises to riches by means of a lucky break

Ali Baba is in the right place at the right time to learn the thieves’ secret, this supports the idea that even the poorest of men can come across good fortune. Of course, the story then suggests that one must capitalize on that good fortune through vigilance and cleverness.

Ali Baba is rewarded with prosperity and happiness for doing exactly what made the captain and the forty thieves reprehensible in the first place: stealing. Ali Baba consistently steals from the cave, and allows the greed of others to threaten his safety. At first, the story suggests he will suffer because of greed – but then cleverness saves the day.

An interesting parallel can be drawn between Ali Baba and the robber captain; are they really that different? In this story, the line between hero and villain can become blurred if you look closely enough, or unless you realize you ought to be looking not at the male namesake but at the slave girl in the background.

This is strange to see especially at this time.  

Footnotes:

1. “Aladdin and the King of Thieves.” Disney Wiki. Accessed May 11, 2018. http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Aladdin_and_the_King_of_Thieves.
2. Nights, Arabian. “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” Short Stories and Classic Literature. Accessed May 11, 2018. https://americanliterature.com/author/arabian-nights/short-story/ali-baba-and-the-forty-thieves.

Music citations:

Freesound.org: arab-group-1.wav – xserra

In this episode, group 4 discusses “The Tale of the Fisherman” from One Thousand and One Nights.

[embeddoc url=”https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRzybWClL0Gry1D1rmg-qJ5qJN1IGpyW27gwc_ykDAdSsLOkrTphYNzsS7oE-kgr_wAxwpL5c2kmHza/pub” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

In this archetypes episode, group 3 talks the One Thousand and One Nights frame tale.

[embeddoc url=”https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRzQhmfDqbGE5yQS7eokzlndkoCsqfArqlQ65N3JIo8kuxWrzlNEFULYqb5vVg1dwsOR050MPmpB4D7/pub” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

In this anarchy episode, Group 2 chats about retellings of “The Little Mermaid.”

[embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/archetypesanarchy/files/2018/05/group-2-r3xqjc.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

In this anarchy episode, Group 1 discusses re-tellings of The Little Mermaid

[embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/archetypesanarchy/files/2018/05/Anarchy-Episode-Shownotes-2072nig.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

THE LITTLE MERMAID, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

(no tale type because, as we discussed in class, this isn’t technically a fairy tale)

Hi, I’m Shay, I’m Maddy, and I’m Danny. This is group 10 and we are performing our Archetype episode on “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen. “The Little Mermaid” was published in 1837 in a danish fairy tale collection.

STORY INFO

Publication info: “The Little Mermaid” was first published 7 April 1837.

Further information: Digterens danske Værker 1822-1875 number 304.

The work was published as a part of Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Tredie Hefte. 1837[Danish title].

Archetypes:

-Grandmother, also like the fairy godmother. In this story, the grandmother is a source of knowledge about the world above the sea, and is a loving figure.

-Youngest Child: often the most beautiful and gifted. Often the subject of fairy tales

-Witch: lives in woods (and yet somehow underwater).  The witch isn’t as evil as other witches common to fairy tales. She makes the little mermaid really think about her decisions. Archetype of the old crone. In this case, she is both helping and hindering the main character in the story. She helps the little mermaid get to the land, but also makes her journey difficult by imposing various drawbacks.

– Sisters: The little mermaid has many sisters. Sisters are common characters in fairy tales. These sisters are loving, although they have some trouble understanding the little mermaid’s desires.

-Dead mother

-Clueless king/father: he doesn’t play a large role in this tale.

-Prince as the guileless fool: he is not a very dynamic character. Because we read the story from the mermaid’s perspective, we are frustrated at how blind the prince is to her love. Everything turns out well for the prince in the end, he gets his happily ever after without putting in any effort, but the mermaid suffers.

Symbols:

– Numbers (age 15): coming of age

-Cutting off tongue/voicelessness: metaphor for femininity

-Hair as a symbol of feminine beauty: sister’s have to sacrifice their hair in order to try and save the little mermaid.

-Sea foam as a symbol for the essence of life: tying in with protoplasmic theory that was popular at the time the story was written

-Marble statue: symbol of personhood, image of beauty, immortal soul

-Pain/blood:  symbolizing menstruation.

HISTORICAL & CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Hans Christian Andersen wrote “The Little Mermaid” while living in Denmark in the eighteen-hundreds. While growing up, Andersen was raised by a poor family and had depression issues. He had heard many fairy tales from his grandmother throughout the years, which probably sparked his interest in this genre[1]. The combination of childhood sadness and hearing tales may have been an influence for incorporating darkness into his tale “The Little Mermaid”.

Because this fairy tale was written in the pre-darwin era, it shows how ideas about life and death were different then from how they are now. Women weren’t necessarily seen as people; they had to gain their status through men. Much of what determined status for women back then was marriage.

In class, we related this idea to the tale. In “The Little Mermaid,” mermaids do not have souls. Although they live much longer than humans, when they die they turn into foam. The tale explained that a mermaid can obtain an immortal soul if she marries a human man. This is likely related to the views of women at the time. Status for women was gained either through her father or through her husband. She was passed from one to the other like property, with marriage acting as a transfer of ownership[2].

The foam that the tale mentioned also relates to the time which Andersen wrote this story. Protoplasmic theory was popular at the time. The idea behind this theory is that protoplasm is the essential substance that brings life. Life in all forms is tied to protoplasm. This was an early incarnation of cell biology[3]. Protoplasm can be correlated to foam, in the case of “The Little Mermaid.” When a mermaid dies in this story, they become nature again in the form of sea foam. The foam is a metaphor for the essence of life.

CLOSE READINGS

Maddy:

-implications for women: women were seen as less than people.

They were viewed as property. This view is displayed by how the prince acts towards the mermaid. He completely takes her for granted. He knows that she is devoted to him, but what does he ever do for her? She is merely a source of affection. She serves his needs, but he does not reciprocate at all. He does not value her as a person, and repeatedly refers to her as “dumb.” He treats her no better than a pet.

-validation through marriage: women cannot be validated as individuals

Instead, they must gain status through marriage. If their efforts to find a suitable husband prove futile, then there is not much else that they can do to be successful in society. This really reflects the beliefs of women at the time.

-silencing of women, and metaphors of womanhood

The mermaid has to cut off her tongue in order to pursue her prince. Because she has to learn how to attract with her body rather than voice, this story can be viewed as a metaphor for womanhood. Not only this, but it indicates a woman’s lack of power in society. She, quite literally, is unable to voice her opinions or say anything at all about who she is. Just like women are powerless to the injustices against them in society. This is a coming of age story, meant to portray how women have to adjust to society’s view of them once they reach maturity. Furthermore, the fact that every step she takes feels like knives, and that “the blood must flow” this brings to mind images of menstruation, adding to the metaphor of womanhood.

(All the historical facts I refer to here were pulled from our historical context section, or in-class discussions. I did not use any additional sources)

Shay:

-In my close reading I found that this story was written with a masculine essence, which i interpreted in a dominating way. This relates to the historical connections in this story. It shows how men were somewhat more meaningful than women at the time. One way this was expressed was how Andersen described the community under the sea. He described this by describing the underwater community as “sea king and his subjects”. This story also uses this manner when explaining a women’s choices and desires. Throughout the story, I found it interesting how the little mermaid is always choosing to do dangerous acts to attempt to get what she wants. This is shown when she reaches the age of five-teen, and is able to go to the surface of the ocean. There, she finds the prince. The remainder of the story consists of her fighting to be with him. It is all about The Little Mermaid enduring losses and sacrifices have him as her own. She does this to become mortal and live as a human with the prince. This is shocking to me because this story is not how fairy tales usually play out. She sacrificed her voice and tongue to be with him, even though she would not be able to remind him of the first time he saw her due to her loss of voice. She endured sharp pains with every step she took, to be able to have human feet. She put her life on the line, only to be turned to foam. The prince ended up choosing to not have her, making the little mermaid suffer the consequence of death. Each time she got denied of something, she kept fighting and working towards what she wanted. However, it all ended when the male in this tale decided he wanted another woman. She lost everything she had, including her life, because of his decision. She knew she would be forever immortal and die if the prince did not choose her, and she continued to take those risks. This shows how conflict and frustration are strong trends in this tale and how it is perceived. I think that Andersen was trying to tell the audience through the story that life doesn’t always have to end in happy endings, even if it is sacrificed for.

Danny:

–      In my close-reading of “The Little Mermaid”, I argue that the story is a female coming-of-age tale as reflected in its imagery and that the little mermaids’ physical transformation is symbolic of a female’s transition from adolescence into womanhood. The idea that the little mermaid begins having sexual desires at the age of 15, and must go through a physical transformation to fulfill those desires, is a clear allusion to puberty. It is of note that the little mermaid’s only prerequisite to become human is through the acquisition of legs, an analogy to the physical requirements necessary to engage with a man sexually. Analogous to the little mermaid’s physical transformation is physical pain – a clear reference to the physical pain of a woman’s menstruation. The little mermaid feels physical pain at the beginning of her pubescent transformation when she is adorned with oysters by her grandmother, and again after drinking the witch’s draught – for which the witch says that the “blood must flow”. The cutting off of the little mermaid’s tongue as well as the blood requirement of the draught are also clear references to the physical turmoil of a woman’s puberty. One thing that I thought was interesting was that the little mermaid must sacrifice her voice in order to undergo her transformation. In literature, the voice of a mermaid or a siren is so beautiful that traveling sailors cannot escape its coercive beauty[4]. As a mermaid, by sacrificing her voice, the little mermaid is literally sacrificing her means of attracting men. In many traditional cultures, a woman’s virginity goes hand-in-hand with her social value and her ability to attract a man. Thus, the little mermaid’s loss of voice is symbolic of a loss of virginity or innocence – which makes sense in context of the story – as the little mermaid seeks the help of a witch to engage in her sexual desires involving the prince. Another interesting allusion to puberty and a girl’s transition into womanhood is the reason for the little mermaid needing physical legs. In the story, tails are considered “ugly” to human and the little mermaid won’t be considered beautiful until she has her “legs” – a metaphor that a woman’s physical beauty is developed during her transition into womanhood, and that the little mermaid won’t become beautiful until she’s gone from girl to woman. In puberty, we find transformation – a theme within the story that is clearly reflected in the story’s imagery. A common image used in the story is the flower, especially common in its use to describe the little mermaid and her sisters. The flower undergoes a physical transformation from bud to flower, and its use in conjunction with the mermaids in the story is a clear reference to themes of puberty and maturation explored in the story. Another image of physical transformation I thought was notable was the mermaids’ transition from ocean to the surface world on their 15th birthdays. The imagery of the mermaids going from underwater to the surface above water plays on the idea of rebirth and, thus, physical transformation. Finally, the repeated imagery of the sun & moon is symbolic of the entrance of masculine energy into the little mermaid’s world. In literature, the moon is often associated with the feminine energy and the ocean[5][6], while the sun is often associated with masculine energy & land[7] the two having a kind of yin and yang relationship. Up until her 15th birthday, the little mermaid is confined to the ocean – the feminine – and knows nothing of the sun. On her 15th birthday, she is able to go above-water and experience the sun & the surface world for the first time, symbolic of the entrance of masculine energy into the little mermaid’s world as she begins her pubescent transformation.

[1]“Hans Christian Andersen – Biography.” Fairy Tales Collection: A Collection of the World’s      Fairy Tales. Accessed April 27, 2018.

(http://www.fairytalescollection.com/HansChristianAndersen/HansChristianAndersenBiography.aspx)

[2]Wojtczak, Helena. “WOMEN’S STATUS IN MID 19TH-CENTURY ENGLAND A BRIEF    OVERVIEW.” English Women’s History. Accessed April 27, 2018.        (http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/overview.html)

[3]Geison, Gerald L. “The Protoplasmic Theory of Life and the Vitalist-Mechanist Debate.” Isis   60, no. 3 (1969): 273-92.

[4]“History of Sirens.” Real Mermaids. Accessed May 01, 2018. http://www.realmermaids.net/mermaid-history/siren-history/.

[5]“Connection between Woman and the Moon.” Freedom Technology. Accessed May 01, 2018. https://www.freedomtek.org/en/moon/the_woman_and_the_moon.php.

[6]Protas, Allison. “Moon.” Moon. Accessed May 01, 2018. http://umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/M/moon.html.

[7]Protas, Allison. “Sun.” Sun. Accessed May 01, 2018. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/S/sun.html.

Primary Tasks:

• Oral and Publishing History- Spencer Green
• Cultural and Historical Contexts- Reid Dolyniuk
• Major Archetypes- Zach Schrage

Introductions:

• Zach Schrage
• Reid Dolyniuk
• Spencer Green

Story Info:

• Publishing and Oral History:
  • “The Lady of Gollerus” is an Irish tale from Thomas Crofton Croker book, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, vol. 2. We found this tale on D.L. Ashliman website, pitt.edu, undertale type 4080 which is categorized as “Water Spirit Legends: Stories about mermaids, nixies, and other supernatural creatures who live in the water.” This particular version was published in 1834 in London, England by John Murray, however the original book was published in 1825.

• • There is not too much information regarding the oral history of this collection of tales, although according to Google Books, the tales were gathered from Irish peasants and storytellers. With this information we are led to believe that there was a strong oral history in Ireland well into the nineteenth century.
• Story Summary: This is a story about a lonely fisherman named Dick who one day, while out fishing for work, encounters a merrow, a specific type of mermaid, out at sea. He thinks she is very beautiful and her voice is a contributing factor. When he approaches her, he snatches her magical cap that allows her to traverse under water, before she can dive back in and escape. Dick soon offers her an invitation to live with him as his wife which she accepts, starting a new life with Dick. These two have a happy life but this is only after Dick convinced the priest to break his code with a little bit of gold. The merrow and Dick eventually have three children together, two boys and a girl. One day Dick leaves to go on a long term fishing trip which entices the merrow to snoop around the house. She comes across her magical cap and is rushed with memories regarding her past and more importantly, her family. With the opportunity to make her own choice, she weighs the options between staying with her family on land or returning to her family in the sea.

Major Archetypes:

• Characters
  • Charming Price (in a sense): Dick takes the role as the charming prince in this mermaid tale, but rather than the mermaid coming to him, Dick goes to her and charms her into being his wife.
  • The Beautiful Damsel: The merrow is the damsel of the story, but she is not a damsel in distress; she assumes the important female role of the tale while being independent.
• The Calm Before the Storm: Everything in the world is calm at the beginning of the story. The ocean is smooth, and Dick is just smoking and fishing before the plot begins when he sees and steals from the merrow.
• The Number Three: The number three is popular in fairy tales. It is usually used in fairy tales to make a comparison among certain aspects in the story, such as characters, as seen with the three bears in the Goldilocks tale or the pigs in “The Three Little Pigs.” In this tale, three is displayed in the number of kids that the merrow and Dick have as well as the amount of adult characters that have dialog. Whether there is a significance to this or not, the use of the number three is very prominent. This may lead us to conclude that there is a comparison between the kids and, similarly, the adults.

• Setting
  • Kingdom
    • The story does not explicitly depict a kingdom, however it alludes to a kingdom being the home of the merrow, since she is the daughter of the sea king.
  • Ocean vs Land
    • Typical of mermaid fairy tales, there is the setting of the ocean in contrast to the land. This tale focuses more on the life on land than the life in the sea.
• Family Bond: This tale displays a love for family members by the merrow when she speaks to the ocean to tell her family goodbye and later when she finds her Cohuleen Druith causing her to return to her family, not without experiencing sorrow for leaving her husband and children. The missing of family members alters the story heavily as in other tales.

• Women’s Choices and Desires (or lack thereof)
  • The story revolves around a man who manipulates a young woman, though for semi-good intentions.
    • Dick “abducts” the merrow from her home, the ocean, when he takes away her power to return to the sea, forcing her to marry him and live with him on land. In mermaid tales it is normal for a man to steal or force the mermaid to give up its magical essence, whether it be skin for selkies or a hat for merrows, binding them to land.

• The Maturation of Women: Within the story the merrow goes from being a young girl to a strong wife and mother with her own brood of children. The story plays as a timeline for the life of the merrow.

• Marriage: There is the marriage of the damsel to the “prince”. This seals the damsel’s fate with the prince and locks her into the story. Dick marries the merrow, even though he is not a prince, following the template of two important opposite sex characters getting married.

• The Happy Family: The family that Dick and the merrow have together follow this archetype that is seen in other fairy tales, like “The Twelve Brothers.”

Cultural and Historical Background:

• Location Information
  • Smerwick Harbor is at the tip of the Dingle Peninsula in southwest Ireland.
  • Gallerous is a small village on the eastern side of the harbor.
• Time Period
  • The time period this story was written in is the early nineteenth century (1825).

• Religion (http://www.irishhistorian.com/IrishHistoryTimeline.html)
  • The Catholic Association was established in Dublin in 1823.
    • There are strict views on marriage represented with the priest’s unwillingness to marry Dick to the merrow.
    • There is an explicit mention of Christianity.

• Fishermen (http://www.angelfire.com/mn/marion/fishing.html)
  • Nineteenth century Irish fisheries were underfunded which led to a decline in work for fishermen and therefore a decline in fish. This coupled with the potato famine that was occuring at the time resulted in a diminishing population and financial struggle for those who survived.
• Famine (http://www.irishhistorian.com/IrishHistoryTimeline.html)
  • The 1816 potato crop failure caused famine and tough times for all, especially those with little money/wealth.
    • This explains Dick’s fascination with the merrow’s status and money as well as the priest’s change of heart in marrying Dick to the merrow once he was offered money. Neither of these men were necessarily greedy, they were just struggling to feed themselves and live comfortably during the time of the famine.

• Class System (http://www.libraryireland.com/Brehon-Laws/Classification-Society.php)
  • There were six distinct classes in nineteenth-century Ireland, beginning with royalty and ending with those who were non-free.
    • We think Dick would be considered part of the fourth class as he was a free, property owner who had little possessions.
    • The merrow may not technically fit into a social class since she is not fully human, however if she were assigned a class distinction, she would be in the first class as she the daughter of the sea king.

• Marriage and Gender Roles
  • Marriage prior to the 1850s was important for women, because it declared their personhood.
    • Women’s roles were to be wives, mothers, and domestic workers while men’s roles were to work in order to provide for their family.
      • This story is interesting in that it focuses more on the man’s need for the woman, rather than the typical reverse situation as seen when Dick regards himself as useless without a wife. Also, though Dick works, he does not make much money as a fisherman, yet the merrow has lots of money, so she almost takes the role as the provider as well.

Perform the Story:

• “The Lady of Gollerus” (https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type4080.html#mermaid wife)

Prominent Archetypes Not Included:

• No prize or reward at the end of the story: There is no golden goose in this story, because all the two main characters want is to be happy.
• No quest: The story has no plan; things just happen. There is no quest to marry the merrow since she willingly agreed to Dick’s proposal.
• No important king or queen: The only king mentioned is the father of the merrow but he has no significance besides having wealth and representing family.
• No real hero: There is no daring hero in the story, making this tale more dramatic than full of action.
• No helpers to the main characters: There are no active animal helpers seen in the story like in “Snow White.” There is reference of fish that help the merrow, but it’s never seen in the story.
• No real sacrifice: The merrow gives up being with her family, but that isn’t stressed as a huge sacrifice. She didn’t have to give up her voice or her hair or be in pain just to be human; maybe she sacrificed her power to live both on land and in the ocean?
• Voicelessness: Unlike most mermaid tales, the merrow in this story speaks and is actually the main reason why Dick loves her so much; he loves her before she reveals that she is the king of the waves’ daughter.

Symbols:

• Cohuleen Druith: This represents the merrow’s freedom as well as who she truly is. It’s the representation of her past.
• The Child Echo: The reference of a child’s echo of Dick’s own voice refers to how childless Dick is. This ties together his speech on the need for a women with the idea of children to follow.
• The Land and the Ocean: These both represent a different state of mind for the merrow. The life on land represents a false life that she was convinced to be apart of. She is hiding the fact that she is a merrow. The ocean is her true world and her true self. Thus why she returns at the end of the story, because she can’t escape who she really is. She cannot stand being away from her home and is even willing to abandon her family to get there.
• Priest: The priest represents logic and the natural state of things. But like any natural thing, it can be influenced by money. This means throwing logic out the window whenever money is involved.
• The Strand: The strand is the beach, it represents the border between the two worlds, land and sea.
• Colors:
  • Green hair- The pigment hair of the merrow must be the first physical trait recognized when finding a merrow, or any other human like sea creature. This is associated with growth, renewal, harmony, and fertility, illustrating the merrow and Dick’s new life with a new family.
• Numbers: There were three kids (two boys and one girl) and three adults (the merrow, the priest, and Dick).
• Male Expectation: This speech at the beginning of the story is a symbol of what’s expected of a man at the time which is to find a wife. It also foreshadows the rest of the story.

Morals:

• The moral of a man picking a good wife: The man has the freedom to pick any wife he wants and Dick picks a merrow. Could the moral of the story be to pick a good and loyal woman? With the consequences being that you’ll live a lonely miserable life for the rest of existence. Or is the moral more religious, dont marry demons if you don’t want bad luck. This comes from the denial of the priest at the first attempt to marry the merrow.
• A lesson for women being loyal to men: The merrow abandons the family and never comes back, thus she receives shame from it. Is the moral of the story for young girls saying that when you take on the duties of being a caring wife and mother you need to carry out your duties, or your “family” will suffer.
• The consequence of dealings with the unholy: Could this story be a simple moral of continue to go to church and do not deal with demons. Such as the merrow. That dealings with anything inhuman will result in bad luck.
• Don’t disagree with the reverend: The moral being never to disagree and fight the reverend. Because going against the reverends word= bad luck. The reverend is the moral high ground in this story.  He represents what is good and right in the world and how things should be done.
• The corruption of sins: The reverend as mentioned above is supposed to be the moral high ground and a guiding light to those that are lost. In the beginning he tries to advise Dick clearly, rejecting all  justifications of why it is a good idea. It isn’t until Dick offers the priest or reverend money does he change his mind. He has been corrupted by not only need but a desire to make himself better with the funds. When the reverend accepts and does the sinful deed of marrying the two,things start to go downhill.

Close Readings With Guiding Questions:

• Do I like the work?
  • Zach: I really like The Lady of Gollerus, its a happy and a sad story that ends simply.
  • Spencer: Yes, I like the work, because it is different than typical mermaid stories.
  • Reid: I like the story too, it was well written in the fact that it made me feel both happy and sad when the characters were. I personally think that that is a sign of a compelling story. When it pulls the reader into it and makes them emphasize with the characters.
• What words stand out?
  • Zach: Merrow- This word has not been mentioned in our discussions of mermaids. It’s a cross between a Mermaid and a Selkie.
  • Spencer: cohuleen druith→ allows the merrow to change form from human to mermaid/selkie; wife/darling/man→ marriage; speak→ the merrow is able to talk and uses her voice; fish→ the merrow is sometimes referred to as a fish, pointing out her differences to humans
  • Reid: Merrow- we have learned about mermaids and selkies, but these are new. They are somewhere in between.
• What feelings does it give me?
  • Zach: This story gives me a feeling of satisfaction because the story ends with a draw between the two main characters.
  • Spencer: The story makes me feel indifferent about whether the merrow has a good relationship with her husband or not. They enjoy each other’s company, and even though she willingly agrees to marry Dick, she was almost forced to marry him since he stole her means of returning to her family in the ocean. She clearly loved her family that created with Dick, but that was not enough to keep her from going back home to the sea. Perhaps if Dick had not stolen her cap, she would not have settled for marrying him?
  • Reid: In these types of stories I always feel conflicted. Like yes, Dick was a good man and loved her righteously but she was only there because she had nowhere else to go once he stole her cap. I honestly don’t think she would have stayed there unless for that.
• Do I identify with any of the people represented?
  • Zach: I identify with the man because I too will never understand women.
  • Spencer: I identify with the merrow in terms of her sibling bond and missing her family while she was away from them.
  • Reid; I identify with the merrow because she struggles with her life even when nothing is really wrong. It shows that you don’t have to be perfectly content all the time.
• Is there anything about how it’s written that stands out?
  • Zach: The story is written more simply than the other mermaid tales we have written. The story ends not in tragedy or happiness but in contempt.
  • Spencer: Other than the existence of merrows and magical caps, the story seems realistic compared to most fairy tales. Even the priest points out that humans should not marry fish, which I think in any other fairy tale would not be questioned.
  • Reid: I think it’s interesting how the priest changes his mind once money is brought up. That choice plays a direct role in the following events of the story. It brings in the what if game, something that always brings different ideas and situations to light.

• What is the work about?

• • Zach: The work is about a man who marries a merrow off of the sea. They become wed but she eventually abandons her land family to return to the sea leaving the man behind.
  • Spencer: The work is about a lonely man who finds a beautiful merrow who he steals her cap from (the source of her power to switch from land to sea). These two end up getting married and having children, and even though they are contempt with their marriage and lives, the merrow returns to the sea to be with her family once she found her cap, leaving Dick to care for their three children.
  • Reid: The story is about a man who sees a merrow and steals her cap so that she will become his wife. They are happy for a while until she finds her hat and after a moral dilemma leaves her children and husband on land for her family of the sea.
• What else is the work about?
  • Zach: The work is also about the taking of a mermaid from her home and converting her on land. Also about how you can’t take the sea out of the merrow.
  • Spencer: There is a slight social commentary on women’s choices and desires, but without many unfortunate sacrifices. For better or for worse the merrow was able to make her own choice in the end.
  • Reid: This story in the end is all about women reclaiming their agency in all situations not only bad ones. It is the fact that life comes at you and you can’t control it you just gotta roll with it and claim it.

In this episode, Group 8 chats Little Red Riding Hood retellings in TV and film.

Little Red Riding Hood

Oxford Dictionary

Doted

A combination of…

• To be silly, deranged, or out of one’s wits; to act or talk foolishly or stupidly.
• To be weak-minded from old age; to have the intellect impaired by reason of age.

Bobbin

• A rounded piece of wood attached to a string, which passes through a door, and is fastened to the latch, so as to raise it.

Hoarse

• Rough and deep-sounding, as the voice when affected with a cold, or the voice of a raven or frog; harsh and low in pitch; not clear and smooth like a pure musical note; husky, croaking, raucous.

Archetypal Characters

• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Mother
• The Grandmother
• The Wolf

Images

• Cake and a little pot of butter:
  • Representation of poverty
  • Innocence
• Red Hood
  • “19th century many young daughters of wealthy families were painted wearing red caps or hoods”
  • Menstruation and the approaching of puberty
• Wolf
  • Become a popular image in fairy tales
  • Common predator in a forest
  • Often a metaphor for a sexually predatory man
• Forest
  • Endless source of inspiration
  • Represents unknown and very serious danger
  • Many heros get lost in a forest and come back as a more developed person

Questions

• Why did the Wolf say, “Come get into bed with me.”?
  • Sexual connotation
• Why Red?
  • Scarlet or red is a sexually vibrant and suggestive color
  • At one time, it was not worn by morally upright women thanks to its sinful symbolism
  • It’s also the color of blood with all of its connotations
• Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t always die. Should this fairy tale have a happy ending or remain sad specifically the Charles Perrault version?

The Script

Introductions

Megan: Hi this is group 8 doing our anarchy episode. I’m Megan, a sophomore at the University of Oregon

Katelyn: Katelyn, I’m a sophomore at UofO

Sarah: Sarah, a sophmore at UofO.

Overview Retellings

Katelyn: Today, we will be talking about ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ a fairytale first published in the late 17th Century written by Charles Perrault. We are going to be linking modern retellings such as Hoodwinked the movie, Once Upon a Time the Red-Handed episode, and the Grimm pilot episode to this classic tale. These modern retellings have been evolving with time, and definitely encompassing different meanings for each generation and culture.

Discussion of Source Story Archetypes

Megan: The archetypal characters we are identifying in this story are Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, The Grandmother, and The Mother. Little Red represents the fool and she is easily manipulated. I think this is because of her young age and innocence, which leads to her death. I think her innocence draws from a lack of a father figure in her life, but also the fact that she literally lives in the middle of the forest. Like what is there to learn there, when you’re so secluded. Also an interesting thing done by the author is the choice of language used to identify who she is, the author referred to her as the “prettiest creature” which dehumanizes her to be merely prey.

Sarah: Going off of what you said Megan, it is evident that predators catch prey. The Wolf, is seen a predator both animalistically and sexually. For example, the Wolf says, “Come get into bed with me” which refers as a sexual connotation. Males are also sometimes referred to as dogs which ties back into the character of The Wolf. Moreover, The Wolf can be seen as dominant and an alpha male prying on the innocence of a little girl. I mean, who wouldn’t think that an old man trying to get with a little girl is creepy.

Megan: Unlike most fairy tales, the grandmother and the mother are not seen as prominent figures. The grandmother should represent a wise crone but instead she’s a senile old lady. The grandmother’s illness also makes her innocent and vulnerable like Little Red Riding Hood. For instance the story reads that, “The good grandmother, who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill, cried out, ‘Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up.’.” This reiterates what is previously mentioned. The grandmother’s innocence and naivety ultimately leads to her death.

Katelyn: What also stood out to me is that the mother directed her daughter to visit her grandmother maybe because she doesn’t get to see her very often and it was important to care for her grandmother and give her sweets while she was ill. In my own family, it’s extremely important to visit my grandparents when they are ill because I’m unable to see them frequently.

Katelyn: Another character that I found interesting was the mother. She wasn’t a present figure in her daughter’s life whatsoever. I can’t imagine trying to grow up without a motherly role model or even a fatherly role model in this aspect. I think she should’ve had a sense of security for her only child and lacked the parental figure she needed to be. Considering she’s quote on quote “excessively fond of her…” Little Red Riding Hood was sent off by her mother to deliver cake and a pot of butter to her ill ridden grandmother into a dark forest unsupervised. I believe that the cake and pot of butter represented a lack of wealth because these two food items are in other words a fatty food.

Megan: We are unsure why the author chose a cake rather than a piece of bread because during that time desserts in general represented wealth. Another controversial image is the red hood. The most prominent image of the red hood is that is portrayed menstruation and coming of age yet during the 17th century red was a sinful color.

Sarah: A well known book The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, really shows the significance of how the color red is seen as a sinful color. During the 19th century, well after the publication of Little Red Riding Hood, women who committed adultery were marked with a scarlet A. Only women with bad reputations wore red dresses and Perrault could have suggested to this as part of Little Red Riding Hood’s coming of age. I find it interesting that in time period the color red can have multiple meanings. This furthermore supports our argument of evolving times and different perceptions in each generation.

Katelyn: Another interesting archetypal image I noticed in multiple fairytales, is the forest. It seems as if the forest is a place for heroic characters to get lost in, however, they do seem to return as a more responsible and developed person. This fairytale definitely contradicts that assumption. The forest more importantly represents an unknown place and a dangerous environment. I also find it interesting that this forest is considered a dangerous place because in most modern retellings nowadays, forests have happy and nice animals that help these characters progress and find their way home or find their way to their destinations.

Megan: talk about Snow White

Sarah: Overall, through our modern retellings, we’ve found that the new story lines of these fairytales are attracting everyone because of the constant change and differences in this tale.

katelyn: Okay I think it’s a good time for us to now talk a little bit more about our individual retellings, and how these archetypes have changed and are challenged in the stories we watched and ill pass it on to megan

Individual Analysis

Katelyn: There are various retellings and modern adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood and one that I watched is the intriguing and well-known TV series, Once Upon a Time. “Red-Handed” is the fifteenth episode on season one of Once Upon a Time. This American fantasy drama television series is written by Jane Espenson and directed by Ron Underwood. It premiered on March 11, 2012.

This episode is a modern retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. It focuses on Red Riding Hood, her Grandmother, and the Wolf. In the fairytale land, Red Riding Hood and her fellow townspeople are virtual prisoners when a bloodthirsty wolf continues its ruthless killing. This village is planning to go after this wolf that had been killing their cattle. Red Riding Hood was eager to go on this hunt, however, Granny commanded her to stay inside with her red cloak on.

Little Red Riding Hood and Red-Handed might be one and the same with subtle hints that allude to the original tale. The key archetypal characters in both fairy tales are Little Red Riding Hood and Red, the Grandmother and Granny and the Wolf.

The main archetypal character, Red Riding Hood is an important creature and a popular image in tales. The difference in these two fairy tales is that Little Red Riding Hood is a little country girl while Red is a human and a werewolf.

Wolfs are common predators and bloodthirsty creatures. Both tales use this wild animal as a powerful creature who has already won, just by existing in this world and harming individuals. However, the main difference of the Wolf is that the original uses this character as a metaphor for a sexually predatory man while the modern retelling uses a human who can transform into a werewolf. This occurs if is she isn’t wearing her iconic red cloak.

The symbolism of this red cloak and hood are different from each other. The enchanted cloak is used to repel a shift during the full moon in the retelling tale. Red’s grandmother paid a wizard for that cloak to keep her from turning. While Little Red Riding Hood was given a red hood from a good woman. It suited the girl so extremely well and gave her the name, Little Red Riding Hood. In the 19th century this red hood portrayed the idea that young daughters of wealthy families were painted wearing red caps or hoods.

Red is an important color because it can symbolize a sexually vibrant and suggestive color while also symbolizing the approach of puberty and blood. These two ideas link together to create an important image in this fairy tale.

There are important lessons to be learned in both tales. Well-bred young ladies should never talk to strangers or they will be dinner for a wolf. Also, listen to your family and be careful when you disobey them because it may backfire to harm you and your people. The truth may arise at the most dangerous time of all so be prepared.

Sarah: For my individual analysis, I will discuss and compare the archetypes and archetypal characters found in Little Red Riding Hood and the television series Grimm, specifically the Pilot episode. Grimm’s pilot episode first aired on October 28, 2011 and was filmed in Portland, Oregon.

The show opens up with a young women wearing a red hoodie and she is about to go on a run. She goes for a run through some nature trails and stops when she finds a peculiar figurine on the ground. Once she stopped, she picked up the figurine and was suddenly attacked by a wolf-like creature. The lead protagonist Jack, is a Portland police officer who responds to the crime scene. The only trace to the suspect was a large shoe print, that resembled a boot. On the other hand, Jack also finds out from his dying Aunt that he is part of a long family line of Grimms who can see the beast-like creatures the Brothers Grimm originally thought up. These beast-like creatures lurk among everyone else and appear as regular people, however the Grimms can see them for who they really are. Continuing, another little girl wearing a red jacket was set to walk a mile to visit her grandfather who lives just on the other side of her neighborhood. The little girl cut through the woods as a shortcut. The original suspect who killed the first girl in red happens to be the mailman. The mailman shifts into a wolf and kidnaps the little girl. When the wolf returned to his home deep in the woods, he opened a latch on the floor that leads to a basement. The basement was set up like a little girls room and had a stocked closet of red jackets. The wolf opens the bag and releases the little girl on the bed. The wolf then shuts the latch and traps the girl. A news crew interviews the little girl’s distraught parents which gave Jack more information to find the suspect. Jack goes to the house in the woods and eventually kills the wolf and frees the girl from the basement. There are many things that I found interesting and that stood out to me in this episode compared to the traditional story. First off, Portland!!!there a multiple little red riding hoods. Both girls are of different ages, one in college and the other in elementary school. In the Grimm version of little red riding hood, the protagonist Jack closely resembles the Huntsman who evidently saves little red riding hood. Where in Perrault version, she gets eaten by the wolf. Not to mention that the little girl has both her mother and her father shown. Whereas in the story, she only has her mother. The parents were very passive and not as protective of their child similar to the story. Also, the girl was to visit her grandfather and not her grandmother like in the story. In the episode male figures are highlighted more than in the story. The wolf, for example, still holds the same archetypal traits as in the story. The wolf is predatorial in both ways whether deliberately shown or not. He kidnapped a little girl and held her hostage.

Megan:

Little Red Riding Hood has been retold in numerous styles from TV series, to comic books. Through these retellings we hear different versions, but we also hear many similarities. In the retelling, I watched I found and heard hidden meanings from the original version of Little Red Riding Hood. The modern retelling, I watched is “Hoodwinked” directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech. Produced by Kanbar Entertainment, and Blue Yonder Films. Released January 13th, 2006. “Hoodwinked” is the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but they put a twist on it, and turn it into a crime investigation. Someone is stealing receipts from all the goodie shops, and Granny’s shop is next. It’s up to Red to keep Granny’s receipts safe from the bandit. When Red gets to Granny’s house she is taken back to find the wolf dressed as Granny Which leads to a full-blown investigation on who is stealing the receipts, and each of them are a suspect.

        “Hoodwinked” retells Little Red Riding Hood in an interesting way. Why do they do that? Well that’s a question I hope to uncover through my own analysis. In the beginning, Red uses lines that come straight out of the original story. She says, “Grandma what big arms you have” and does that continuous back and forth conversation with the wolf. That’s not the only thing “Hoodwinked” touches on in their version of Little Red Riding Hood. During an interaction between the wolf and Red, Red brings up not supposed to be talking to strangers. This is the meaning behind why Little Red Riding Hood was created. Both versions of the story take place in the woods, but what makes “Hoodwinked” different is that the woods is mostly filled with talking and singing animals while Little Red Riding Hood is majority human. Like we touched on in the beginning the forest is supposed be a dark forbidden place, but in recent telling of most fairy tales they turn it into a happy place, filled with happy animals.

        Where they differ is interesting too. In the original story, the wolf is an antagonist in the story, and in “Hoodwinked” the wolf is an innocent man seen as a bad guy because the stereotype of a wolf is directly related to evil. When Red was first created she was seen has lovable, innocent, pretty, and naive. In “Hoodwinked” they decide to make her someone who is strong, witty and seeking independence and or adventure. As for the grandmother, she originally is seen as senile, but in “Hoodwinked” she is courageous, and very independent.

        In my opinion, the writers of “Hoodwinked” strayed away from the archetypes in the original Little Red Riding Hood because they wanted to make women look strong and independent rather than weak and little minded. The writers of “Hoodwinked” did this through Red and Granny. They didn’t feed into the stereotypes, and gave each character the opposite of how the original story portrays them.

Episode 1: Group 7
By: Whit, Whitney and Michael
Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault and was first published in the late 17th century. 


Information about author: French poet and writer Charles Perrault was born on January 12, 1628, in Paris, France. played a prominent role in a literary controversy known as the dispute between the Ancients and Moderns. Perrault is perhaps best known for his Mother Goose fairy stories, including Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots, which he wrote for his children. Perrault was very well-known in writing these fairytales that we’ve all come to know and love.

Overview of the story
Her mother tells Little Red Riding Hood that she must take food to her grandmother because she’s sick. Although the young girl plans to obey her mother by taking cake and butter to her sick grandmother, she’s tricked by a wolf into telling him where her grandmother lives. When she finally goes to the house the wolf has already eaten the grandmother and is pretending to be little red riding hood’s grandmother and tricks her to come to bed where she ultimately is eaten.

The next portion of our episode will be attributed to unwrapping this fairytale and comparing it to typical elements that fairytales primarily consist of. These elements are defined as archetypes which is a very typical example of a certain person or thing. When looking for examples it is important to analyze what a typical fairytale normally consists of. As defined in our week two notes from class by professor Courtney Floyd a couple things that were mentioned is the short narrative, familiar stories (usually passed down by generations), usually arise from the common people, the scope of a fairytale is made by the language. Also important factors are character types and a story that follows a typical narrative: a problem arises, a journey for the protagonist to solve the problem, and a happily ever after (normally).

Something that followed the very typical format was the “once upon a time” introduction. This lets the reader know that what they are about to read is going to be fiction and it is going to be probably light hearted and lets the reader know it is a fairytale. Right away the story is set up with the mother, grandmother, young girl, and a talking animal which is the wolf. The setup of the story is set in place right out the gate and we are given the quest that this little girl will have to take on. Something that stood out was that the mother does not tell red riding hood to be careful and to follow any sort of path. This seemed to be very intentional for Perrault for the overall meaning he wants to get across. To really emphasize that young children should never talk to strangers no matter how charming or nice these strangers may be. This part of the little to no mention of the mother is very interesting to me I guess primarily because it seems like an important factor from the story of Little Red Riding Hood that we all remember. The fact that her mother says to stay on a certain path and not to talk to strangers, almost forcing us as readers to understand what the moral of the story will be right from the beginning. After her mother tells her to go straight to her grandmother’s and she defies it is when she starts getting herself into trouble. Whether or not this aspect is included the message is still able to be prevalent we found it interesting and different that other versions of this story in which the archetype is challenges by Perrault.

Another archetype that emphasizes the meaning we mentioned before, was that Perrault might be challenging in a sense is the idea that there was not a happy ending to the story. The wolf unfortunately did eat not only the grandmother, but the protagonist of this fairytale. This part is really interesting because when we read fairytales as kids and now, no matter what age really, we root for this main character to overcome the problem that was set up. Normally there is a final couple sentences where the fairytale ties up all the loose ends and makes sure that the protagonist defies everything and comes up on top, whereas anyone who is an antagonist type character “gets what they deserve” or at least what we think they deserve. 

Last point when comparing this story to archetypes of fairytale is the back and forth suspenseful conversation that occurs right before the wolf eats red riding hood. Everyone who knows the general plot of this story can recognize this part of the story. This rhyming scheme is not normally in most fairytale, almost like a rhyme going on between the wolf and red riding hood. It all seems fun and games until the reader realizes he is actually going to eat her. This part is what makes Little Red Riding Hood so popular and memorable from when we all were kids. This is an interesting take on a set up for the climax of the story. This creates no room in this specific version for a falling action. It goes straight into the resolution that she was eaten and that is that. 


Modern Retellings

Whitney:
For the modern retelling of the fairytale to analyze and compare I chose Riding Hood, Revisited: The Wolf’s Perspective by By F. Forrester Church.

The reason I chose this story because this gives the original story depth and show that very story can be seen from multiple perspectives and challenge the idea of the antagonist being wicked or evil. Before the story the author, Forrester Church explains, the meaning of a story and even details change according to the teller`s perspective. Because life is filled with stories, this is a useful thing to remember. Another person`s version of the truth may seem false, but in fact just be true in a different way. I think this version almost begins to take on a different meaning than just the fact to not talk to strangers, but now takes on this one as well.

The story begins with ‘once upon a time’ and explains how there was good wolf who was very helpful and noticed a girl dressed in red in the woods. Although he was frightened at first, because he explains that humans have a history of cruelty to wolves, but he overcame his fear and talked to the little girl. She explained she was going to see her ill grandmother and bring her treats. After she left he realize she was naïve and that he should walk her home because the woods can be scary and as explained are life and death. So, the wolf raced to the little girl’s grandmother’s house and knocked on the door unknowing if she was already there. He walked in and found the grandmother dead from being so ill. He heard the little girl approaching the house and acted quickly by eating the grandmother and putting on her clothes in order to protect the little girl from the shock of seeing her grandmother dead. When the little girl entered and noticed the differences in her grandmother she realized it was the wolf and ran screaming. The wolf ran after her to explain, but before he had the chance, a hunter leapt from the underbrush and shot him dead. Forrester Church ends the tale with including 
“Even though the good wolf was killed, in a way, he died for all wolves, for through the example of his life, generations of wolves have been inspired to perform self-regarding deeds of kindness.
There is a second moral as well: Wolves tend to remember events in ways flattering to themselves.
But surely we can forgive them for this. After all, it’s only human.”

Whit:
For the modern retelling of the fairytale to analyze and compare I chose the song Through Wolf’s Eyes by Elvenking.
The reason I chose this song was because, like my group-mates, I found the wolf’s perspective very intriguing. What I also found interesting is the song perspective, by that I mean, like fairytales there is so much to read between the lines, and make your own opinions about and that can make analyzing it easier, but also challenging because I could never be sure if my interpretations were on the right track or not.
The song was about the Wolf’s love for Little Red and how he attempted to show that love by killing the grandma. In the end Little Red was, unsurprisingly, not impressed, and the Wolf died from a broken heart. In my analyzation I appreciated the love at first sight concept which is just like fairy tales, but unlike fairytales there was not a happy ending. Actually, nobody received a happy ending, because the Wolf dies, the Grandma dies, which means Little Red lost her Grandma. I can see Wolf’s side though, he might have killed the Grandma as an offering to Little Red; he knew Little Red was going to be there later so he could have seen that as a good time to offer her his version of food. This food idea is also interesting because in the Grimm version, Wolf also offers Little Red her Grandma’s flesh and blood, which she eats.
In the end the main ideal I gathered from this retelling is that love does not conquer all, love can be one sided, and one sided love is nothing but heartbreaking.

Michael:
The modern retelling that I chose was the portrayal of little red riding hood and the big bad wolf and their appearance in the movie Shrek the Third. I chose this because I thought it was really unique because its not a normal retelling. Instead of “retelling” the story we get to see characteristics of the characters that we don’t see in the original story. Several times in Shrek the third we see red riding hood acting mean and selfish. She is even seen stealing out of someone’s pocket at one point. The wolf is portrayed as more of a scared character who isn’t very tough or brave. Now that we have seen another side to the characters that we didn’t originally see it can make our minds do a retelling on their own.
Guiding Questions

Do I like the work?
Whitney: In the story little red riding hood I think the work stands apart from the anarchy’s of other normal fairytales, which is intriguing. I like this type of work.
Whit: I cannot say it is my favorite fairytale, I have always enjoyed the classic “and they lived happily ever after” but I also understand that those are from Disney’s retellings and not usually the original versions.
Michael:

What words stand out?
Whitney: Words thats stand out in this specific story is the “fond” and “doted” when comparing the love little red’s grandmother and mother had for her. I think this gives the sense of how much she meant to them, yet her mother neglected to warn her of the danger of strangers and the woods.
Whit: When Red’s mother says to bring her grandmother “cake” and “butter” I thought this was interesting because she was bring the grandmother food to make her feel better, and this really says a lot of the time about how they knew so little of health needs. The last thing a sick person needs is milk to make one more congested, and sugar which is never actually good for you at all. Cake also speaks of the wealth Red’s family had since the ingredients are more frivolous and not in the average pantry at the time.
Michael:

What feelings does it give me?
Whitney: This story gives the sense of innocence and almost tense towards the end. We as the readers know what might happen, but this little girl has no idea what she is getting herself in to.
Whit: The story gives me reminiscent feelings of my childhood and how things were so black and white. Things were so clear and obvious in the story, even if it was not so clear to little red.
Michael:

Do I identify with any of the people represented?
Whitney: I think everyone, including myself, can identify with little red riding hood because the sense of being ignorant and naive to the unknown happens to most everyone.
Whit: I like to think I identify with the mom, she really is not in the story, which means she does not make obviously bad decisions. I have just always been too self aware to mistake an animal for a person, let alone someone related to me who I have known my entire life.
Michael: Definitely red riding hood because we can all remember being ignorant and young.

Is there anything about how it’s written that stands out?
Whitney: I think an interesting part of the story that is almost written like a rhyme. Example:
“Grandmother, what big arms you have!”
“All the better to hug you with, my dear.”
“Grandmother, what big legs you have!”
This part of little red riding hood is placed in every version and helps us identify what story this is apart from other fairy tales.
Whit: Exactly what Whitney said, those are the most standout lines in every Little Red Riding Hood. That is the part everyone remembers.
Michael: Those lines are what stands out most to me. It is the moment that really shows little reds youth. She is being deceived by the wolf because she’s a child.

What is the work about?
Whitney: In the story little red riding hood’s mother tells her that she must take food to her grandmother because she’s sick. Although the young girl plans to obey her mother by taking cake and butter to her sick grandmother, she’s tricked by a wolf into telling him where her grandmother lives. When she finally goes to the house the wolf has already eaten the grandmother and is pretending to be little red riding hood’s grandmother and tricks her to come to bed where she ultimately is eaten.
Whit: The story is about a little girl who takes food to her sick grandmother. Her grandmother gets tricked by wolf who says he is her granddaughter, and then the wolf tricks Little Red by saying he is her grandmother. In the end Little Red gets eaten.
Michael:The story is about a mother who sends her daughter to bring her grandma food. Along the way she meets a wolf who deceives her and eats her grandma before impersonating her.
What else is the work about?
Whitney: I think this story has the meaning of the danger of talking to strangers.
Whit: The moral is to not talk to strangers, and as Perrault would put it, specifically young pretty girls should not talk to strangers.
Michael: The ignorance of the youth and dont talk to strangers.

In this episode, Group 6 talks about the archetypes in “The Golden Bird.”

Introduction:

“Hi I’m Alex, I’m Michael, and my name is Austin and we are going to talk about the fairy tale, The Golden Bird.

Episode Type:

“The Golden Bird” collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812,

“The Golden Bird” is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, number 57, about the pursuit of a golden bird by a king’s three sons.

It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 550, “The Golden Bird”, a Supernatural Helper.

“The Golden Bird.” The Golden Bird | Open Access Articles | Open Access Journals | Conference Proceedings | Editors | Authors | Reviewers | Scientific Events. Accessed April 22, 2018. http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/The_Golden_Bird.

Story Info:

1. Consists of 3 brothers that are in search of the Golden Bird, which their father (the King) wants to expand his power and kingdom. The two older brothers ignore advice from a fox in the woods and live in a tavern full of fun and pleasure for months while the youngest son is good natured and listens to the advice of the fox. Ultimately, after disobeying the fox a couple of times the son ends up with the fastest horse, the most beautiful woman in the land, and the golden bird to give to his father. He buys his brothers from treason but is tricked and plotted to be killed by his brothers with a well. The youngest son sneaks into his father’s kingdom and explains the situation. Everything returns normal again, the two older brothers are sentenced to death, and the fox , the princess’s brother, is released from his spell and is human again. The youngest son is now in line to become the next king.
2. Every night a golden apple is robbed off the king’s apple tree. The king has his sons keep watch of the apple tree to see who the thief is. The youngest son sees the golden bird stealing the apple and tries to shoot it but only knocks one feather off. The feather is so valuable that the king decides that he wants the bird for himself. He sends his three sons after the bird one after another. The sons each meet the talking fox who gives them advice for their quest. The first two sons don’t obey the fox’s advice but the third son follows the fox’s advice. The fox takes the third son to the wooden cage and tells him to put the bird in it instead of the golden cage next to it. The son disobeys and the bird gets captured. The son was sent after the golden horse and the fox advises him to use the wood and leather saddle but the son uses the golden saddle instead. The son is sent after the princess and the fox advises him not to let her say fair well to her parents but the son disobeys again. The father orders the son to remove a large hill as the price of his life. The son works for while until the fox comes and removes it for him. When the son is free he comes to find that his brothers are to be hanged for their sins unless they buy their liberty. The other brother buys the brothers back and the fox tells the brother not to sit by a well and not to purchase gallows flesh. The brothers were so tired that they decide to rest by the well. Then the brothers pushed the youngest brother into the well.

Cultural and Historical Background:

The Golden Bird is a story from Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm. It was tale number 57 in the original publishing of the book. It is tale type 550 in the Aarne-Thompson index which is supernatural helpers. The brothers Grimm collected the tales from people in Germany while working as librarians at a university and studying law. Household Tales was published in 1812 which was at the end of Napoleon’s time. Many of these tales give a glimpse into life during the Holy Roman Empire which existed in and around Germany from 800 ad to 1806 ad.

Translated into English by Margaret Hunt in 1884. Country of origin was Germany.

History of German monarchies:

The office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. The German prince-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire, usually elected one of their peers as “King of the Romans”, and he would later be crowned emperor by the Pope; the tradition of papal coronations was discontinued in the 16th century. The empire never achieved the extent of political unification formed in France, evolving instead into a decentralized, limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of sub-units: kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial Cities, and other domains.[9][18] The power of the emperor was limited, and while the various princes, lords, bishops, and cities of the empire were vassals who owed the emperor their allegiance, they also possessed an extent of privileges that gave them de facto independence within their territories. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon.

“Holy Roman Empire.” Wikipedia. April 22, 2018. Accessed April 22, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire.

Perform The Story:

We took turns reading the Golden Bird.

Close Readings:

Alex) I liked the story about the golden bird, by the Brothers Grimm. I thought some of it was confusing but after reading it a couple times it all made sense. I think this story has a lot of hidden advice in it but the one that I chose to focus on was the advice from the Fox.

I would argue that the Fox represented someone who is older and wiser like a father or mentor of some sort. The three sons all failed to obey the Fox’s advise and that obviously backfired on them. When I read through this story, I noticed a patterns of advise that the fox gives that is never respected. Just like the Fox, typically, elders know more about things than younger people but rarely do the younger people listen. I remember always getting advice from my parents but not always obeying them. In return I would find myself getting into some sort of trouble. The Fox seems to know everything about everything but the sons still don’t seem to catch on. Even after the youngest son doesn’t obey the fox and gets into trouble three times, the son still doesn’t listen when the Fox says not to sit by the well. Just like my dad, the fox would always continue to give the sons advice even when they wouldn’t listen. The Fox would also give then rides places and let them sit on his tail.

Michael) Analyses; I liked the story because it was not only an entertaining story but,  I can identify with the King and the Fox when I give my kids advice or instructions and they don’t listen or follow me. I would argue that the Golden Bird is a story which is really about following your parents or elders instructions to become well rounded adults handsomely rewarded with good paying jobs and wholesome families. Golden things are often used as the rewards in this story such as the golden apples and bird. Even the princess came from a golden Castle. The common theme is what happens when the youth listens to Fox. Either the youth listens and is rewarded or ignores the fox and is imprisoned. Since the youth is called a youth and the fox is his guide it would appear that this story is about following the advice of your elders. In Germany at this time the father was considered absolute ruler of the household and the children were expected to follow his instructions as law. Families were expected to be conservative minded with attention paid to religion and old fashioned family values. I think this fairy tale really helps to enforce those values and traditions so they can be passed down through a legacy. I also think that this story carried a message about wanting rich and showy belongings when they weren’t necessary. In the early 1800’s there was a lot of people who would surround themselves with decadence even when they didn’t really have the means to pay for it just because they wanted to feel like a lord or lady.

Austin) This story exemplifies that a path one takes to achieve his/her goal could be an unpopular and an undesirable one. For the youngest son, he goes through trials of near death experiences, not using golden things to make majestic creatures stand out, and disobeying the fox on multiple occasions to finally realize how he has to separate himself from his brothers if he wants to find the golden bird. He chooses the old, shabby, non-livable tavern to stay in instead of the nice clean enjoyable inn because he is good natured, and doesn’t seek only pleasure and riches in life. He cares about his brothers, his future with the kingdom, and ultimately, to not let his father down. The main motive for he youngest son in this fairy tale is to live a happy life not under his brothers’ cruelty, and to gain the trust from his father. He shows attributes and characteristics of becoming a great next king and is rewarded just that. He also cares about the fox and doesn’t want to kill the beast but eventually does and frees a man from his magical spell. The youngest son portrays a lost, but hopeful human being that is trying to find his place in the world and is one adventure away from securing a royal future.

In this episode, group 5 discusses Charles Perrault’s take on “Puss in Boots.”

History of publishing and Oral History: By Mackenzie

The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots, is a fairytale by Charles Perrault and was published in 1697. Charles was a member of the  Académie Française. Through his upcoming as an intellectual in this organization he was able to produce a piece called, Parallels between the Ancients. This piece helped with the age of Enlightenment in Europe and allowed Europe to be open to fairytales. Perrault published very well known pieces in a book titles Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose. However, he published the book under his son’s name, Pierre 1.  Even though the version of Puss in Boots that is most familiar today was written by Perrault, the orginal Puss in Boots story was a fable written by Giovanni Straparola 2.Perrault’s version is very similar to the original in a sense that he is still trying to help the youngest son. However, this version is the first version to feature the boots and an ogre. Also, Perrault’s version has the cat be a very sneaky and clever character which is then a common theme for many other stories such as, Jogeshwar’s Marriage3.

Footnotes

1. Ashliman, D.L., “Charles Perrault’s Mother Goose Tales,” Pitt.edu, June 8, 2013. https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault.html.
2. Vocelle, LA, “Orgins of the Story Puss in Boots,” The Great Cat. September 27, 2013. http://www.thegreatcat.org/origins-story-puss-boots/
3. “Puss in Boots,” Pook Press, 2017. http://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/puss-in-boots/

Archetypes in Puss and Boots: By Michael Tobin

Several of the classic archetypes discussed in Jack Heckel’s analysis “Fairytale’s Most Wanted: The Five Most Common Character Types” are present in Charles Perrault’s Puss in Boots. While Heckel’s article presents us with a few of the most common archetypes, Jane Garry’s book “Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook” gives us a thorough analysis of important archetypes that Heckel’s analysis doesn’t cover.

The main characters in the fairy tale, the miller’s son (The Marquis of Carabas), the cat, the king and the king’s daughter, all fit archetypes that are brought up in the texts.

The cat in Puss and Boots is a classic example of a trickster archetype. According to Garry, trickster characters often take the form of animals, with some classic examples being coyotes, hares, ravens and spiders1. In their paper “Expert witness and Jungian archetypes”, Juan Antonio LaLlave and Thomas Gordon Gutheil say that the trickster takes the form as a hero or savior, victim or perpetrator, or as joker or fool in folklore2. In Puss and Boots, it is clear that the cat takes the role of the savior for the Marquis. Through establishing a rapport with the king, the cat is able to build credibility and make the rest of his explanations seems legitimate. The cat isn’t known for just tricking the king; he also outsmarts the ogre when he asks him to prove that he can turn into a mouse and then eats him.

The cat’s owner, the so called Marquis of Carabas, is unknowingly the charming prince. Heckel describes the charming prince archetype as “inevitably dashing and handsome,” and that young women will want to marry them shortly after meeting them3. In Puss and Boots, this is exactly what happened. Perrault describes the prince as “very handsome and well proportioned.” Once, he is dressed in the king’s robes, Perrault writes that the king’s daughter took interest in him and fell in love with him quite quickly. At the end of the story, the Marquis ends up marrying the king’s daughter.

The princess is a classic example of who Heckel describes as the “beautiful damsel.” Heckel says that all princesses are described as beautiful in fairytales, but few stories hyperbolically exaggerate their beauty3. Some stories, such as Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty choose to exaggerate the details. Puss in Boots gives the same description of the princess as those fairytales, as the king’s daughter is described as “the most beautiful princess in the world.”

The king is a great example of who Heckel calls the “guileless fool” archetype (OED:

guileless: devoid of guile. Guile: Insidious cunning, deceit, treachery4). Heckel says that this character is “marked by an uncommon lack of common sense, an honesty of spirit, and an almost preternatural luck.”3 The king is easily tricked into believing that the Marquis actually does own all of the land. Furthermore, it is expected that king’s should know what other rulers own land and that he would be able to see through the lies.

Citations

1. Garry, Jane. Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature: A Handbook. Routledge, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/lib/uoregon/detail.action?docID=302402.
2. Lallave, Juan Antonio, and Thomas Gordon Gutheil. “Expert Witness and Jungian Archetypes.” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 35, no. 5-6 (2012): 456-63. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2012.09.012.
3. Heckel, Jack. “Fairytale’s Most Wanted: The Five Most Well-Known Character Types.” Tor.com. March 24, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2018. https://www.tor.com/2014/08/22/fairytales-most-wanted-the-five-most-well-known-character-types/.
4. “University of Oregon Libraries.” Login for Library Electronic Resources & Services – UO Libraries. Accessed April 20, 2018. http://www.oed.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/view/Entry/82339?rskey=K8kWae&result=1#eid.

CULTURAL CONTEXT: By Julia

The story was written in 1600

In the story, the gifts the cat gives to the king were rabbits and partridges, taking presents in intervals for the king on behalf of his master.  Animals like rabbits and birds were considered high class food at the time of the story

Throughout the story, the cat tricks the king into thinking Lord Marquis of Carabas had lots of land, something that was also of great importance during this time and showed nobility

The cat tricks the King into buying Lord the Marquis of Carabas new suits, this shows the importance that fine clothing had during the time of this story.

At the end of the story, there are two poems that seem to present two morals of the story, “Be the advantage never so great, of owning a superb estate,” . At the time of this story, owning land, dressing nice, and having good manners were what one needed to achieve nobility or be seen as wealthy.  

Our society and culture today in a sense are similar.  Rather than bringing someone rabbits or partridges, if you take someone out to a nice dinner, that could be a sign of wealth and is used today as a way to form relationships.

In terms of being nobility or being someone of importance, I would say that dressing nicely and owning land are still the primary ways people see wealthy people.

It is hard to find a “good” moral for this story as the protagonist lies, cheats, and tricks people into getting what he wants.  Our primary use for fairy tales like Puss in Boots today is to convey morals to young children which is why the story has been adapted to have a clear “good” moral.

1. “Puss in Boots.” Wikipedia. April 19, 2018. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puss_in_Boots.
2. Tolovaj Publishing House. “Puss in Boots: A Story With a Questionable Moral.” Owlcation. February 17, 2017. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://owlcation.com/humanities/puss_in_boots.
3. Acheson, Katherine O. Writing Essays about Literature: A Brief Guide for University and College Students. Peterborough: Broadview, 2011

Historical Background: By Shannon

Puss in Boots was first published by Perrault in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passe in 1697. Puss in Boots was originally published as The Master Cat. A different version of the story appears in Straparola’s Piacevole notti in the sixteenth century. The story was titled Constantino Fortunato. Scholars believe that Straparola’s story was derived from oral foklore. However, there is no evidence to validate this theory. Another author, Giambattista Basile created a similar trickster cat story in the seventeenth century. This story was titled Gagliuso. This tale was translated into Caglioso. This fairytale and trickster cat archetype has been circulating parts of Europe. More specifically, it has been circulating across Siberia, onward to India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The further the stories travel from Europe, the more variations the story takes on.

Citation:

Heiner, Heidi. “History of Puss in Boots.” SurLaLune Fairy Tales: History of Puss in Boots, 7 July 2007, www.surlalunefairytales.com/pussboots/history.html.

Closed Readings

Mackenzie:

Do I like this story?

No I do not like this fairytale because at first the youngest son is given the worst inheritence from his father. The other two sons received things that will be able to help them thrive in the world and lead good lives while the young son describes his future as, “When I have eaten my cat and made a muff of his skin, I must die of hunger.” In the youngest son’s mind, the cat is good for nothing besides food but obviously one cat is not enough for the boy to stay full for forever. The cat decides to prove him wrong and through sneaky tricks is able to make the youngest son a prince. However, the cat does this without being asked and is never thanked. The only reward the cat receives is to eventually be a lord. I believe this story leads people to believe that great things can happen even if you do nothing for them. The cat did all of the work to make the son a prince and the son received all of the glory. I thought it was interesting that the son, who is now my Lord the Marquis of Carabas, did not question how he was somehow a Lord and that the peasents and reapers all say that they are upkeeping his property. He completely knows that this is not his property but without a blink of an eye he says, “As you say sire, for it is a meadow which yields an abundant crop every year.” Throughout the entire story the cat does everything while the son does nothing and I do not think that is a good message.

What words stood out to me?

A word that stood out to me was “Master.” Once custody of the cat was transferred to the son the cat automatically calls him master. Even though this story takes in a place that is not in your time or mine, I would not expect a normal cat to accept that someone is his master. Cats have a sense of entitlement and that they are above everyone else. However, in this story the cat will do anything for his master. As a dog person, I think this is something my dogs would be willing to do for me but never a cat. I think a cat would want to keep the animals it has captured for himself instead of bringing them to a king to help his master.

A phrase that stood out to me was “you shall all be cut into pieces as small as minced meat.” I believe this phrase is used because the people the cat is speaking to when this phrase is used against is people of a poor status. The first group that the cat says this to is peasents and the second group is reapers, which are people who harvest crops. I believe he uses the word meat because these people are worth nothing but they flesh and muscle their bodies have. Not only are they just meat, they are MINCED meat. I think the word minced was used to show that these people are too small to have any say in what is happening. The cat uses these words to belittle the peasents and reapers to make him do as his wants.

Also the number three stood out. This number is referenced three times. The first time is that there are three sons, the second time is when the cat brought animals to the king for two or three months, and the third time is when the son glances at the princess two or three times. Not only is three referenced it is referenced three times! In chinese culture it is believed that groups of 3 that contain the number three are extremely lucky! I believe this relates to the story because even though the cat is cleaver, lots of luck was required for him to pull everything off4.

What feelings does this fairytale give me?

I felt confused for most of the story. I do not understand why a king would want dead animals from a cat. As Michael described before, the king is a guileless fool. He lacks common sense and is willing to go with the flow. I can’t imagine a king would be so fond of a cat that brought him dead animals. He liked the cat so much that just because the cat said something he believed it to be true. This plays into the cats ability to trick him to believe the son is a Lord because he is able to sneak away to plan things so the son can look like he is a lord of great wealth. If the king had even a little common sense he would have most likely realized that something was strange.

I also felt upset because the cat has done so much for the son or, my lord Marquis of Carabas, and does not receive a thank you like I said earlier. Even though the cat probably only did these things so he would not be eaten, the cat went through a tremendous amount of work to make the son a prince. Thankfully, the son did provide the cat with supplies he needed in order to work his magic. However, I am rooting for the cat to accomplish everything he sets out to do. I think the cat is a very kind hearted character and just wants the best for his master, except when it comes to wanting to chop up people into minced meat, then he is not a very nice character but he is doing it out of the love for his master. The cat is even willing to go up to an ogre! The ogre scares him and for a second I thought the cat was going to be eaten when he turned into a lion. Thankfully, the cat was smart enough to play into the ogre’s ego and challenge him to turn into a mouse. The ogre accepted the challenge and the cat casually ate the mouse shaped ogre. Once the ogre was gone, the castle became his master’s. Even though the cat is not thanked, I am rooting for him throughout the whole story! I definitely would like him to be my cat.

Do I identify with any of the people represented?

I identify with the cat in a sense of wanting to help out others. I do like to help others even if I do not receive anything in return. I especially want to help those in their time of need. As an aspiring physical therapist, I want to help others and problem solve in order to think of a solution to help them in the best possible way. The cat is faced with multiple obstacles and with his sneaky personality is able to avoid the situation and continue on the path of making his master a prince. Even though I will help people more ethically than the cat, I do like that the cat is willing to put those he loves before himself. I may not do this all of the time but it is definitely something to strive for.

Is there anything about how it’s written that stands out?

I thought that it was interesting how clothes played such an important role in the story. Nothing of good fortune happened until the cat and his master were in desirable clothes.

What is the work about?

I think it is about putting others before yourself. Even though it is not betrayed in the best possible way because the cat does evil things to help his master.

What else is the work about?

According to the moral at the end of the story it is also about how you look. I do think that according to the story this moral is true but I do not agree with it.

1. “Lucky Number Three, Meaning of the Number 3 in Chinese Culture,” Travel China Guide, 2018. https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/lucky-number3.htm.

Michael:

Do I like this story?

I hate to disagree too much with Mackenzie, but I did enjoy this story. I thought that it was about making the most of the circumstances you had and it’s saying that “I didn’t get the same thing as my siblings got, but I ended up in a better situation at the end.”  I thought the character development in the story was pretty good too because the cat is acting as the character who brings game to the king to build up credibility with him and he’s able to make something out of it. Doing something like that may be unethical by today’s standards, but I think it is an interesting story because it talks about how impressing people and appearing credible makes people believe anything. That’s pretty evident by the king.

Words that stood out to me:

The word that stood out to me was “poor.” We see it referenced in the beginning when the miller’s son, the Lord of Marquis, is referred to as a “poor fellow.” We could interpret this in a number of ways, such as material wealth or being in an unfavorable situation. Those terms collide and overlap. Like we were talking about in class, fairytales were for the working class and this may be a story about a poor person which just makes it more relatable to the origin of fairtyales.

What feelings does the story give me?

The story gives me the feeling of “fake it till you make it,” because that’s ultimately what the cat did. He was able to lie and lead the king on for the entire story and as a result the Marquis married into royalty and the cat became a lord. Like I said, it’s all dependent on the fact that the king was an idiot, but it still happened. The story gives me a sense that “confidence is key” because the cat was able to do this because the king was an idiot and manipulatable.

Do I identify with any of the people in this story?

I don’t identify with any of the characters in the story. I don’t lie to people to get ahead, like the cat did, and I also don’t think I am a bumbling idiot. I’m not like the king, the cat, the prince charming, and ertainly I’m not like the princess. Maybe I’m like the peasants who were mowing the lawns?

What is this work about?

I think this story is about using your wits and circumstances to outsmart people who are in power. As we see in this story, just because having a position of authority doesn’t inherently make someone smart. That idea is proven in this story because the king doesn’t even know that an ogre owns the land around him. A very contemporary example of that is just because you may be in the highest office of the land, does not make you an inherently smart person. This story is also using your wits to outsmart people. The cat is able to establish credibility with the king in order to say “If you believe me now you can believe me in the most absurd of circumstances” and that’s establishing credibility.

Julia:

After reading Puss in Boots, I believe there isn’t a positive moral, rather that the story argues in favor of lying and deceit in order to get what you want. The cat tricks the King and Princess into believing his master is a Lord, tricks peasants into lying to the King, tricks the Ogre in order to eat him, and in the end has no repercussions for his actions. The cat carries out all these actions for which in the end he is not reprimanded for, instead he “became a great lord, and never again ran after mice, except for his amusement”.

Do I like the reading?

I enjoyed reading the story and thought it had all the makings of the stereotypical fairytale. There was a princess, magic, an animal helper that acts “fairy godmother”, and a protagonist.

I don’t think there is a clear positive moral present which is my only issue with the story, it seems to be a more negative message that promotes lying.

What words stand out?

The story was written in the 1600 so the language and the way it was written it has an old english style to it and uses phrases that aren’t common today.  Phrases like “muff”, “with a sedate and serious air”, and “little versed in the wiles of the world” were the phrases that stuck out most to me. ‘Muff’ is what we would call gloves today. After the cat overhears his masters discontent with getting stuck with just a cat, the cat tries to ease his masters worries and speaks with a ‘sedate and serious air’, perhaps to try and act confident and as if he has something to prove to his master. And when describing how the cat was waiting for a rabbit, Perrault says ‘little versed in the wiles of the world,’ a fancy way of saying innocent.  

What feelings does it give me?

This story gave me a sense of familiarity after I read it, the idea of a character getting a “bad” gift and then it actually turns out to be the best gift of them all. If the story had been released in today’s society, the ending would have been different and I think the cat and his master would have gotten in trouble for all the lying and deception they conducted. I was mad that this wasn’t the original outcome because I believe in hard work in order to get what you want and the master didn’t do anything and yet he still got the princess and all the things of a noble.  

Do I identify with any of the people represented?

In a way, I feel like I most identify with the cat.  Not in a lying and cheating life sort of way, but one could argue that the cat is just trying to prove himself worthy for his master and is trying to find a way to a better life than his current one.  In that sense, the need to prove myself and aspiring to put myself in a better position I relate. The cat goes to so many lengths to lie and trick people in order to prove himself as a “good” gift. I feel like i’m trying to do well in school and succeed academically to prove something to my friends and family.

What is the work about?

After reading this story, there are multiple things I think this story could be about.  It could be about someone, in this instance a cat, wanting to prove themself to the world, or it could be about the lengths people will go to for the people they love, or maybe just their master.  The cat is willing to lie, trick, and even eat people in order to make his master happy. This could either be a good thing, showing how loyalty is an important thing, or it could mock loyalty and show that someone can be loyal to a fault.

Shannon:  

As we all know, Puss in Boots can be simplified as the story of a cat who uses trickery in order to gain power and wealth. Therefore, Puss in Boots can easily be tied to the classic “rags to riches” archetype. Another similar archetype is the “underdog” archetype. This archetype has always been popular in the United States. If anything, that’s the archetype that the us and our society really gravitate towards. Which is why the united states has its fair share of puss in boots adaptations. For instance, the adaptations of puss in boots that are present in shred 2 and shrek the third are most similar to the “underdog” archetype.

Returning to the “rags to riches” archetype, this archetype stood out while analyzing specific passages within Puss in Boots. It becomes evident that power and wealth are mentioned all throughout the fairytale. More specifically, I wanted to point out one quote in particular. The quote goes, “I have been told,” said the cat, “that you have the power of changing yourself into all kinds of animals; that you could, for instance, transform yourself into a lion or an elephant.” Looking more closely at the types of animals they chose to mention, the lion and the elephant demonstrates the riches aspect of rags to riches. For instance, the lion as an animal symbolizes strength, courage and leadership, while an elephant also symbolizes strength, in addition to power. These two animals demonstrate the type of person character’s within these archetypes strive to become.

Credits for sound effects and music:

All music and sounds were from freesound.org

Medieval Introduction – Tristan Lohengrin

Wagon arrives – dulcimerguy

Riviere-River – Glaneur de sons

Horses – vincentmalstaf

In this Anarchy episode of the podcast is a discussion of the fairy tale Brother and Sister. Several archetypes, such as the wicked stepmother, found in the original tale will be examined. Several modern retellings, the movies Princess: A Modern Fairytale, Frozen, a novel, A Tale Dark And Grimm, and the fairy tale, The Brother and Sister, will also be discussed, comparing and contrasting them with the original fairy tale.

• Mark Rosman, director, Princess: A Modern Fairytale, Freeform, 2008

• Lee, Jennifer and Chris Buck, directors. Frozen. Disney/Pixar, 2014
• Gidwitz, Adam. A Tale Dark and Grimm. Andersen, 2011
• Forty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales: The Brother and Sister, www.sacred-texts.com/asia/ftft/ftft04.htm

In this anarchy episode, Group 3 of English 104 discusses tale number 327 by the Grimm Brothers, Hansel and Gretel. Group 3 – Atlas, Sean, Isabel, and Joie – discuss the original archetypes found within this story and then go on to analyze various modern retellings of this classic fairytale. This episode begins with each member introducing themselves and then discussing the particular retelling that was chosen by each member. Atlas begins by discussing the film Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters, Sean discusses “Hansel and Gretel: A Modern Adaptation” by Shweta Sen, Joie discusses a modern adaptation by Rachel Lynch, and Isabel discusses a three-part story by Daniel B. Cursi. The group then goes into discussing the various archetypes found within the original Grimm’s Brothers edition of Hansel and Gretel. We further discussed the different character types within the story that were referenced from the article, Fairy Tales Most Wanted: The Five Most Well-Known Character Types. After this, each member of the group then deeply analyzes their particular retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Finally, the group concludes the podcast with the major themes and references found within the original as well as the various modern retellings by each member.

Links to retellings:

Sean: https://sites.psu.edu/rclsen/2013/09/26/hansel-and-gretel-a-modern-adaptation/

Joie: https://www.wattpad.com/599318-short-stories-hansel-and-gretel-present-day-remix

Isabel: https://www.wattpad.com/265558741-hansel-and-gretel-a-modern-retelling-part-5

In this episode, the second group of podcasters to record (The Fairytalers) talks about “Hansel and Gretel.”

SHOW NOTES

INTRODUCTIONS

Hi I’m Tate

I’m Ashley

And I’m Kylie

EPISODE TYPE

Today, we are talking about ‘Hansel and Gretel’, a popular German fairytale which was recorded and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812. In this podcast we will be focused on different archetypes within the fairytale

STORY INFO

The Grimm’s heard Hansel and Gretel from a woman named Dortchen Wild who eventually became Wilhelm’s wife.

The Grimm brothers published this fairy tale in their collection of children’s and household tales which is also known as Grimm’s’ fairy tales. Hansel and Gretel is 15^th in the publication which has a total of 201 fairytales.

The first archetype in this fairytale is the witch who represents a devil figure. She lures innocent kids into her house made out of candy. She seems, to the kids, like hope and promise but her intentions are, in reality, selfish and hurtful.

The father is an archetype for inner conflict because even though he loved his kids and did not want to leave them alone in the woods, he still went through with it. This shows the struggle humans face between doing what is morally appropriate and doing what selfishly benefits them.

One last archetype we found in Hansel and Gretel was the trail. The trail represents a quest that the kids must go through as well as their loss of innocence. This trail helps the children to mature and learn more about the world around them. You notice that in the end it was Gretel who saved Hansel whereas at the beginning of the story Hansel was the one who protected Gretel. This signifies the maturation of Gretel while also symbolizing the loss of her innocence.

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Grimm brothers first heard this fairytale in 1812, however some historians suspect that the fairytale originated around 1315 which was the same time Europe was going through the Great Famine.

The Great Famine occurred in Europe and was the first large scale crisis that affected the majority of Europe. It is the ninth deadliest disaster in the history of Great Brittan, therefore, historians believe that the tale of Hansel and Gretel was based off the great famine because so many families and people, especially children, were desperate for food.

There, however, are other folklorists who believe that Hansel and Gretel was told to represent children outwitting ogres, which were large monsters. One of the last speculations from folklorists is that Hansel And Gretel represents a rite of passage because the children have to go on a journey to be viewed differently.

Breadcrumbs is a word used throughout the story that is culturally significant because it is now a navigational term that means users use a series of documents to create a trail so they can keep track of their previous locations. Hansel and Gretel was also made in to an opera which is now considered to be one of the most important operas in German history.

PERFORMANCE OF THE STORY

CLOSE READINGS

CITATIONS

“Hansel and Gretel Story History and Origins.” Pook Press. Accessed April 16, 2018. http://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/hansel-and-gretel-history/.

“Hansel and Gretel.” Grimm 015: Hansel and Gretel. Accessed April 16, 2018. https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm015.html.

In this episode, the first group of English 104 students discusses “Little Brother, Little Sister.”

[embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/archetypesanarchy/files/2018/04/Group-2-1otjvbj.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

This episode introduces the Archetypes & Anarchy hosts you’ll be hearing from all term and includes a performative reading of Joseph Jacobs’s “The Cinder Maid.”

Shownotes: As a Literature PhD candidate, I KNOW the humanities matter. Part of what makes them matter, what makes fiction matter, is that it provides a way for us to see the patterns (or archetypes) we follow as humans and also to fight against those patterns, to see the world anew. It helps us understand, empathize, even sympathize with others who we’d otherwise have little or no contact with. But that requires us to reach back out to the world with our newfound understanding. That act of learning and reaching out, for me, is the essence of Public Humanities. And that’s something we don’t do enough in literature classes in academia. So I wanted a way to build a public humanities approach in from the get go.

This term, my students will be researching and creating two main types of episodes:

ARCHETYPES

ANARCHY 

We’ll cap off the term by reading Seanan McGuire’s Indexing and students will write themselves into modern fairy tales in their final, creative, episodes.