Blog Entry 4: Little Red Riding Hood

This particular cartoon, it seems to be a social cartoon written more for fun then anything else. Usually Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as a helpless, naive, innocent, little girl. The Big Bad Wolf on the other hand generally proves to be a cunning predator that gobbles up Little Red Riding Hood. In this case the roles are completely flipped. The wolf thinks that he's going to fool Little Red Riding Hood. But of course what fun would it be if  the wolf actually got his way? Exactly, none, It wouldn't be a fairy tale if the bad guy won, it'd be reality. So now the wolf is the underdog as Little Red Riding Hood appears in the door looking like a demonized executioner. What I love about this comic is that Little Red Riding hood has a HUGE axe with her. I imagine she borrowed it from the Woodsman, if she didn't chop him up first. I honestly wasn't expecting that at all. Talk about Irony, Here both the wolf and I thought that Little Red Riding Hood was going to be looking well. . . ordinary. But clearly we were both wrong. Geez I love how there's an epic lightning bolt along with stormy winds behind Little Red Riding Hood. It makes her look more menacing. I actually feel sorry for the wolf. In the third sequence he looks like a docile little puppy about to get hacked. I hope Little Red is feeling merciful today.

http://www.cdn.actiontrip.com/images/comics/at_comic370.jpg

Blog Entry 3: "Fairy Tales and Psychology"

Psychology and Fairy Tales seem to go hand and hand. Psychology like Fairy Tales seem to be an art form; there are all kinds of ways to interperet a fairy tale, and in psychology our brains are always trying to make sense and interpret the enviroment around us. There's no "right way" to interpret them, just different. It's like when you stare at a painting in a museum, everyone will interpret the painting and it's meaning a different way. In our last classes discussion, Frued's theories (Ice Berge theory, of the Concious and Unconcious mind) were heavily emphasised, in interpreting fairy tales.

The Id (primal drive) Ego (intermediate/balancer) and the Super Ego (morals/ conscience) were heavily used in explaining Hansel and Gretel. For example, The Id appeared when Hansel and Gretel starting devouring the gingerbread house because they were so hungry. They didn't stop and think, "It's not polite to eat someone's house without asking." They just grabbed whatever they could and snarfed down any food possible, after bieng lost and frightened and hungry in the woods. Morality just flew out the window. The Super Ego seemed to take the form of  the witch because she was asking. "Who's that nibbling on my house?" seemingly refreshing the children's consciences, that bieng greedy can have dire consequences. The Ego decided to make an appearence when Hansel stuck out the chicken bone instead of his finger to postpone the witch from cooking as long aas possible.

The Oral stage was repetitive in Hansel and Gretel, for they were biting and nibbling at food (gingerbread house) and the theme of  repression and denial about bieng seperated from their mother,and having to cope with that, and the hunger that they felt was also used as well.

Psychotherapists have used fairy tales as a way to unlock and access repressed  unwanted, painful memories of patients, by asking them to chose their favorite fairy tales. By connecting or relating to a certain fairy tale character, say for example Hansel and Gretel, maybe a psychotherapist would be able to unlock a  repressed memory of how the patients parents abandoned them,or maybe how there was nothing to eat when they were growing up. And in gaining acess to that patient's memory they are then, hopefully, able to help the patient on the road to recovery.

Blog Entry 2 What is a Fairy Tale?

A fairy tale is a structured story often told by word of mouth, which allows it to be tweaked, or altered into different versions depending on the storyteller and the listeners of the story. A fairytale contains functions that depict a hero/heroine that is sent on some kind of journey or quest, with a specific goal to overcome some hardship or villain, and save something; a village, a person, princess, kingdom, etc. from some sort of curse or peril. In a fairy tale there is always a beginning “Once upon a time” and an ending “They all lived happily ever after”.

There is always a stark contrast to keep the story going; good vs. evil, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, peasant or prince, etc. Supernatural and magical elements are common in fairy tales; it's not unusual for the hero to encounter a dragon, or a witch, ogre, giant and so on.

 The fairy tale's not really meant to be long like a novel,  but more like a short "episode".Therefore, there's a high level of one-demensionalty, and severe lack of depth to the characters and plot in order to make this possible. Family relationships merely exist for the sake of keeping the plot going, and simply disappear by killing off the character. For instance, the wicked stepmother will just happened to have died for some unknown cause in the end of the story. There's rarely any depiction of emotion; for example, you never get to know if the hero was sad that he slew the dragon, all that matter's is that he slew the dragon. The hero is always presented with a helper, such as an enchanted sword, magic beans, or a frog. They appear just when they're needed the most.

Everything conveniently happens just in time for the hero.He's just in time to break the spell over the kingdom; He's just in time to kill the witch. And of course naturally, the villain, or evil curse MUST be vanquished, defeated. The villain is usually punished, or killed in the end. What fun would it be without a reward involved? If there's got to be a punishment involved then contrast rules that there must be a reward. The hero always gets riches, or marries their "true love" usually the prince/princess, which they've known for the long time of first site. In the end everything gets resolved. We are left hanging with some sort of moral lesson that is either revealed to us, or left to figure out on our own. And of course the story has proper closure when we hear the timeless ending of "They lived happily ever after."

If a fairy tale was questioned with "logic" as it was bieng told, it wouldn't be able to stand on it's own.  The story would never be finished by the storyteller. Infact the whole appeal of a  fairytale would lose all meaning. Magical elements, and "acceptance" that the story simply goes a certain way, is what allows a wolf to blow down a house of straw, or for a house to be made of candy and sweets in the middle of a forest. That's why it's so appealing to children; it's simple, they don't care about the lack of character depth, or the fact that the bad guys never win. In fact, they usually get mad when you don't tell it the way it's supposed to go.

Fairy tales have a trademark repetition with multiple ever-so-important motifs and symbols. A kiss of true love to break a spell, or a wicked stepmother are a few huge ones. But it's told in so many different versions, with villains ranging all over the supernatural map, that they never lose that magical appeal that begs you to hear it "just one more time".

Why I Chose Fairy Tales

I chose this class because it fit perfectly with my schedule. This class peaked my interest because I enjoy fairy tales, even though I rarely get a chance to enjoy them. I used to always ask questions when my parents read me the stories, which usually prevented them from finishing the story. For example in The Three Little Pigs, I used to ask, "Why didn't the wolf light a match and burn the straw house down? Why couldn't the wolf and the pigs just be friends? I thought the wolf was ate Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother,is he still hungry?" But since the story was told a certain way, I had to learn to stifle my questions, until the story was finished and just accept that the it was "just the way things are." But in class I like how there are different versions of a fairy tale, each for a particular reason. In this class I'd like to be able to examine stories and look at the characters point of views in mulitple angles. It'd be nice to think that in the class the questions I used to ask might not be so strange anymore.

When I was first asked about my favorite fairy tale of all time, I impulsivley said "Snow White". But I never really though about why. Now on further reflection I'm not really sure I can pinpoint my favoirte fairt tale of all time, because right now, I can't find a good reason why it's my favorite story, and I'd like too.