Blog 11: Arabic Folk Tales

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This lecture was truly interesting, Mainly because I think there are so many parallels with the art of storytelling. It's true; stories were meant to be vocalized outloud to an audience rather than read. There is so much more meaning when a story teller speaks. When we read a folk tale the voices in our head carry a flat tone making it difficult to really understand the meaning of the folktale. I really enjoyed seeing the dance and music that went along with the stories. Much like the Kenyan Folktales we heard. I also liked how everyone somehow contributed to the tale whether it be a song, poem, prayer or phrase. In France nobles would "Slum it", by entering the houses of peasants and listening to the folktales they told. It's no coincidence that countries that had never seen eachother "somehow" derived very similar ideas, dreams, and cultural values.

I also enjoyed the story of how Shaharazad tricked the king into letting her live another night by telling stories and leaving him with a cliffhanger. Funnily enough, I actually had heard of this story before. When I was little the T.V. Show "Wishbone" did their interpretation of this story. It was nice to be able to go back and revisit my child hood again. This lecture was a treat. It reminded me that now and again it's nice to be able to fly away on my magic carpet once in a while. I just have to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Blog 10: Kenyan folk tales

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I loved the lecture by Dr. Ochieng K'Olewe on Kenyan folk tales and story telling tradtions. It was truly a treat to actually hear stories being told instead of having to read and discuss them. There was audience participation, and singing. It was wonderful; you didn't have to think, but to listen, and let your imagination do the work. I loved the balance of logic with the magical element.

Realistically, hares and tortoses do not speak to each other or walk and talk as we do. Nor do they fly into heaven with feathers. (not that I know of atleast.) That's the magical part. But the things they do require logic and wit to solve things, not a magic wand.

In the European fairy tales, it's difficult to appreciate and apply the moral (even if it's blatanly stated) to everyday life. Reality runs on logic. In life we have to use our brains to solve problems.There's no logic in fairy tales because it's not needed. Why should the prince even worry? Sure there's an evil spell cast over the land but, at the right time, he'll just get an enchanted axe, or some magic potion from some magic toad, that will cure everything just in the nick of time. If real life was like that, why would we ever bother trying to do anything for ourselves? We can just have a magic wand whisk our problems away. It's certainly enjoyable to read now and then, but the lack of logic can be too much.

In the Kenyan folk tales I loved the wit that the hare applied, like when he was swinging from the trap in the tree, he thought of a brilliant way to get out of it. He pretended like it was the best thing in the world, because he knew that the chicken wouldn't be able to resist something so fun, and switched places. In European folk tales, like Snow White, the heroine is nauseatingly sweet and good hearted, which  "wins" the heart of everyone. Unfortunalty in life, no one's amazingly sweet and good all the time, and sometimes no matter how pretty you are, or sweet and gentle, you'll never get yourself out of a jam  if you rely on those tactics alone.

Snow White needed the seven dwarves to help her, because she clearly couldn't rely on her own logic to save her.

The hare could have been nauseatinly adorable and sweet. But that wouldn't have gotten him out of the trap by a long shot. Those farmer's would have been chowing down on rabbit stew if he tried to pull that. For those farmer's the only thing that's going to make their food grow is hard work and labor. No magic bean or spell is going to help them there, So they've got to protect that food at all cost because it's their life force.

So the hare did the only thing he could, which was trick the poor stupid chicken. Not nice at all. Did I feel sorry for the chicken. . . absolutley, probably because I would have been like the chicken going "My turn to swing."
Such an act in the Brother's Grimm book would surely cause the hare to be severly punished in the end. Not in the Kenyan version. The hare gets away. The hare pulled what surely any human bieng would pull in that instance. No real person would beg "Oh please kind farmer spare me." as they are swinging around in a trap that they stupidly walked into. Their adrenaline would be pumping like lightning, trying to get away as unscathed as possible. Self preservation is just too strong.

It's like now a days when a child breaks a vase, and risks getting punished by their parents. Their first inital thought would be "how to get out of it." Later they may or may not feel the guilt about lying to their parents. But if they see their sibling walking by, they'll jump at that opportunity and point fingers. It's one less spanking for them. Betthengheim pointed out that parents emphasize bieng "good" all the time, which causes the child to feel horrible when they make mistakes, because children would naturally like to misbehave. That's why it's so enjoyable to hear such a tale from Kenya where the hare sometimes does get away because of quick wit.

I really hope that there are more tales like this in the future.

Blog 9: Bluebeard

Bluebeard was certainly an interesting if not grizzly fairy tale. I mean it had serial killer, bloody bodies, bloody key, plus an arranged marriage between a girl that couldn't have been older than 13 or 14, to a man (Bluebeard) who I swear had to be  over half a century years old. but My favorite tale that we read was probably the first one "BlueBeard" by Charles Perrault.
 Yes this tale was grizzly, but I ended up laughing throughout the story, I definitey shouldn't have been; there was gore and attempted murder, but I couldn't help it. The first quote that got me was "The two girls couldn't bring themselves to marry a man with a bluebeard." I know blue beards weren't in style back then but, still I couldn't help but laugh thinking; rockstars, anime fans and other people nowadays dye their hair blue, why not their beards? Also what truly truly made me laugh the hardest was when Bluebeard gave her the keys particularly the key to the forbidden room and said, "You are strictly forbidden from ever going into that room."

Moron, Why in heavens name would you give her the key to a room you don't want her to go in? It's exactly like in those cartoons where the evil genius has a big, red "self destruct" button on the killer robot, that says "don't press." It always fails because people are going to press it. Just like the wife was going to go into that room. One thing I want to know is , was Bluebeard truly upset about that room bieng seen, or did he truly want her to go into that room?

Did he even want a "living" wife?  What about the first wife that was finished off? There were no bodies before her (hopefully) did he just have a fight with her, kill her and then fail to properly dispose of the body? And from there possibly have the second or third wife accidently stumble into the room, only to kill them off? What wife did he actually give the key to? Did he plan to kill all his wives from the start? Or did it just become easiest to kill them after a while rather than explaining to them. I almost feel sorry for the old creeper, maybe he killed them because he knew they'd never accept him. I mean they didn't want to marry him soley due to his blue beard. I highly doubt they'd be willing to overlook a couple of dead bodies if they can't handle a blue beard. But at the same time couldn't he have just, shaved the beard off? Was it an enchanted beard? Killing was just cruel, he gave them the key to the room, that's like putting a sword into an executioner's hand and punishing him for chopping someone's head off. I guess only Bluebeard himself will know.

Blog 8 Cinderella

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Can someone reach success or riches through magic or marriage? That's an interesting question. It really depends on what you classify "Magic" as. By "Magic" I could see it being defined as being in the right place at the right time, where you meet the right person who gives you the right opportunity to succeed. Like take a musician for example that makes it big in the music record business. Before they may have been in "Rags" or selling almost no albums. But maybe by, well ,not nessecarily "magic" but more like a stroke of luck, they happened to be in the right place, at the right time, and met a record dealer who liked what they heard, and helped make them big. For that musician, I guess the stroke of luck might seem like "magic". So it could wourk in that context, I guess.

Marriage yes, could definitley help someone reach success, riches and or fame. Look at all those famous celebrities, who get married several times. Those spouses, for however long they stayed married to the celebrity, certainly became "successful" if not rich, just by marrying the celebrities alone.

I would certainly hope that that's not the only method people use to become rich or successful. I would also certainly hope becoming rich and succesful is not the only goal poeple have in life. While yes "marriage" would be realistic method to "rising up" I would certainly hope that people don't pin their future on that rare concept. In other cultures and countries around the world , arranged marriages to people with greater income, are one of the few ways anyone reaches success. But . . . for this question, assuming that we aren't looking at other cultures, but at America. I'd say no it's not realistic. In America, when I see in the news about how some celebrity got married again. . . or read about a 20-something year-old trophy wife just got married to a 65 year old billionare; my skin begins to crawl. All I can think of is, how shallow can you get? I mean, maybe they do truly love each other, but assuming that they married for money, I . . .lose respect for them.In other countries, especially third world countries, it's different; their culture's teach children to work very hard, early on in childhood. They don't always have all the wonderful freedom, and material objects we do, third world countries have people dying from starvation. Marrying "rich" for them is a way of survival. In other cultures and countries, you are disowned, stoned to death, etc. if you do not marry who is arranged for you. They don't always get to marry for love.

When I look at people that marry celebrities, or bilionaires, I get disgusted because I don't see the marriage as a way of survival, or due to lack of freedom in choosing a spouse, I see it as just another shallow, selfish way for them to indulge themselves in material wealth and finery to be "happy." We get the choice to marry for love, we are very very fortunate for that. We have material wealth, and we have people dying from too much food. and then to suddenly see how someone married a billionare or socialite, or celebrity, makes me so mad.

There are plently of ways to get successful and rich, Their are plenty of "cinderella's" that make their success through sheer work alone, and are perfectly content with very little money. I think bieng a "cinderella" and doing grunt work is needed. Now, I will admit, I've had my fair share of complaining when mom and dad used to have me do chores. But realistically, any chores I've done are cakewalks, compared to little children who walk for miles to a stream with a bucket to get water, or do laundry. I'm so lucky. But sometimes I can't help but wonder if they are the luckier ones. In having little material wise, I imagine they place value and sucess in their relationships with others. Their hard work teaches them not to take anything or anyone for granted, and to truly appreciate the life that they are given. I can only imagine how much character they've built. Something I can only admire and imagine. That strength and gratefulness they get to me from that hard work is far more valuable than material wealth, or success that "marriage" might get you. That strength they display to me is magic.

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Blog 7: ASL Story Telling

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I was excited for this presentation. Although I don't take sign language, I have several friends that do, and I find it a very fascinating language to see, and learn. I've always been amazed at how fast signers are able to sign and finger spell, and convey a message faster than a person can vocalize. In seeing Dr. Rose sign, I couldn't translate much of what he said on my own, But Dr. Rose had wonderful expressive, powerful facial expressions, which I've been told by a friend who takes ASL, is a very important part of the grammer of ASL. These expressions kept me engaged as he told his stories about the Football player catching the baby, and the ABC heart surgery etc. His facial expressions weren't the only visually appealing part; he used his whole body to guesture and move in some parts. By doing so he seemed very enthusiastic about the story he was telling making me want to hear more. I think that's part of the beauty of telling folk and fairy tale stories; whether you are changing your voice to be a different character, or signing and using facial expression, and body movement, putting emotion and essentially becoming the character of the story, is what will keep the audience captivated. My friend told me there is nothing worse than a signer who uses no facial expressions, because then there is no way to understand exactly what is being conveyed. She said it's like a hearing person erasing all emotion out of their voice and speak like a robot.
 
No good Fairy Tale storyteller would ever keep their audience if they talked like a robot. You'd have the audience asleep out of sheer boredom! The same probably applies for ASL. Another thing I found interesting, was the grammer structure, and how you cannot speak as you sign because then you're grammer will be turning into "English" spoken gramatical structure and not the grammer of ASL. Also, When Dr. Rose and Dr. Rust explained that music for a deaf person is more appealing when the song is not signed word for word, I thought it was neat. They prefer it if you put your own interperetation of the words as you sign, it keeps them more engaged. It parallels to the notion that A storyteller of folk tales will tweak the story however they see fit to keep the audience more engaged. Then the audience can pass down the story in their own terms as they see fit. Just as how the Coda Brothers interpereted "Every Rose" in their own way, which was fantastic.

Also I like how ASL Fairy Tales aim to poke fun at hearing people; it puts a new twist on things when you think about how hearing people have looked down upon the deaf. Like Folk Tales for the hearing people, there are morals for us to learn.

I was sad when they had to leave because it truly was a great learning experience, to a world that shows you the language visually rather than speaking it. It makes me think back to the quote "Actions Speak Louder than words". I wonder if it's really a coincidence that the Acronym of "Action's Speak Louder, also forms A.S.L as well.  We should  really look and pay attention at what the deaf have to say, and be more open to learning to look at things from their perspective. Their signs convey their messages loud and clear; and not a single word needs to be spoken to know that they're clearly important.

Lecture by Vivien Deitz

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This Lecture was certainly interesting as I had never been to one quite like it before. I was definitley pleased and amazed by how genuinely Dr. Deitz believed in self-healing. I'd never thought of an "Inner Magical Shamanic Child" before and it was certainly different to try and find mine. I'm not exactly sure what mine looked like to be honest. I guess it was like a happy ball of light. It was  fun to imagine up my own magic carpet, (I think I changed the carpet colors in the end). It was a trip back to my childhood. Not so much for Aladdin; I was more familiar with the Disney version, but I definitely time-traveled back to my childhood with the Velveteen Rabbit. I heard that story growing up. I liked it alot because, it had a happy sense of closure in the end for the little rabbit.

I think one of my favorite parts in that story was when the real rabbits say to the Velveteen Rabbit, "you haven't got any hind legs." To which the Velveteen Rabbit says "I have hind legs. . . I'm sitting on them!"

 I think it's important that we have lectures like this again. While it certainly was a little strange at first to unlock my "Inner Magical Shamanic Child", I think it was needed. I think too often we focus on work and bieng adults and overthink things, as we try to make a living. Children keep things simple and innocent; and sometimes simplicity and innocence are just what we need.

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Blog 6: Snow White vs. Rammstein's "Sonne"



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This video fascinated me to no ends. Each time I viewed this video I noticed something new, actually, I’m still noticing new things each time. I thought it was ingenious how they used the dwarves’ perspective. I think often it’s easy to focus on just Snow White and The Queen instead of the dwarves.

What I liked was how this video contrasted the presentation in class “The Queen’s Looking Glass.” In the presentation, it was suggested that males were dominant. For example; while the dwarves gave Snow White a new life, they turned her into a dwarf servant/domestic housewife that cleaned and cooked for them. However Rammstein completely flipped the role playing; the dwarves were portrayed as servants trying to please Snow White.

But there were certainly parallels as well.  In class it was suggested that Snow White, her mother and the Queen were all the same person, and that they were more or less the “stages” of women’s personality. In “Sonne” Snow White’s personality mirrored the Queen’s; she was shown to be cruel in throwing the diamond back at the dwarf in disgust when it wasn’t to her satisfaction. Also towards the end it showed the dwarves clinging and groveling at Snow White, like lost children wanting their mother. Meanwhile, Snow White passively patted their heads in response, without much care to their feelings. In that particular scene there’s a window of light around Snow White’s head making her seem, almost holy. Or like a shining star or sun.

Speaking of sun, I should also mention that the lyrics were fascinating. I loved the lyrics. I kept finding new meaning in each line.

                                  Everyone waits for the Sun,

                                    It will not set tonight.

         I got the symbol of how everyone waits to become beautiful, and how we’ll do anything to make sure that it won’t leave; it will not set tonight.

                                                     Here Comes the Sun,

                                             It is the brightest star of all  

         I’m pretty sure these two lines above were directed towards Snow White; fairest of them all. Actually in the video, her yellow dress was what first connected me with her being the sun.

                                                The sun shines out of my hands

                                                 It can burn, can blind you all

                                               When it breaks out of the fists

These lines above reminded me of the Queen’s obsession for beauty and while it’s glorious and nice, it is also poisonous; if you obsess over it, it’ll destroy you, just as how the sun will shine though your fingers, and blind you and burn you when you try to hold onto it.

            Fairy Tales especially the Grimm Brothers versions, have a trademark element of Contrast. In Rammstein what really hooked me was the heavy contrast between the dwarves and Snow White. It was like yin and yang. The dwarves were small, and weak compared to Snow White who seemed to be majestic like the Queen, and was much bigger and more powerful than the dwarves. She knocked down a dwarf with a diamond!

            But what really got to me was the disheveled, filthy, grimy image of these dwarves in Sonne that were clearly busting their butts off to mine. . . I guess it was gold in the video. While Snow White looked absolutely immaculate and clean.

In the YouTube video of making “Sonne”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Kb0h9_RvQ&feature=related

One Rammstein band member mentioned that they had about 38 ideas for “Here comes the sun” One of them said, 

“In seeing Snow White, we saw that somehow Snow White is like the sun for the dwarves, and how the dwarves, how we worship Snow White, how we serve Snow White, and that this is our fulfillment, but also our pain and suffering.”

I was reminded of the symbolism of glass, while watching the dwarves mine in the beginning. It was ironic; the deeper they dug into the mines with the picks, the more it seemed were trying to break out of the mines. Kind of like the Queen liking through the mirror; the deeper she looked into herself, the more obsessed she became of trying to break free of the inevitable aging.

            I never really considered what Snow White actually did while with the dwarves. Disney branded the image of a nauseatingly cheerful Snow White gleefully doing housework while with the dwarves. I definitely didn’t think about her shooting up gold dust, and then overdosing on it. Nor did I really think that she might have ever forced the dwarves to do it for her. Again, Disney branded the image of the dwarves cheerfully mining for diamonds. In fact back when I was five I swear that they were doing it for fun. I think I take those branded images for granted when I read the fairy tale versions.

            Another thing that interested me, when I saw “Sonne” a second time, I thought that the dwarves had given her an overdose earlier when they found her dead in the bathtub. That would certainly match up with the “Men in control” discussion; where the huntsmen held Snow White’s life in his hands in the fairy tale, Rammstein showed that the dwarves held her fate in their hands by causing her to O.D. (It certainly could explain why she looked so mad after the coffin shattered.)

            But looking at it a 3^rd and 4^th time I definitely think that she did the overdosing. Especially because the dwarves looked stunned and sad when they found her in the bathtub and then later when they carried the coffin up the mountain. If that’s true then it contradicts the idea that men (dwarves) held any control over her. It also shatters the Brother Grimm’s “angelic” submissive, dependent image of Snow White. Rammstein’s Snow White clearly showed that she’s independent enough to take her own life. She doesn’t need the Queen, dwarves, or a poisoned apple to do so. That active independence in taking her own life, matches the fairy tale Queen’s “monster” activism in trying to kill Snow White, which again, supports the theory that she the Queen and her mother are the same person.

            I think my favorite part of this video was in the end, when the dwarves are staring at the tree next to the coffin, where a single apple is dangling from the branches.  The subtitles say “It will never fall from the sky.” But a moment later it falls and shatters the coffin, reviving a malicious Snow White. My thought when that happened was “The apple does not fall far from the tree.”