English 103

Fairy Tales

[bajoh103-blog]

Taking Their Autonomy Doesn’t Keep Kids Safe

In my researched argument, I looked at how the perception of childhood has changed over the past 200 years. I start right around the publication of the Brothers Grimm and go from there. It was super interesting to see the transformation that has taken place. From the Industrial Revolution that endangered children to the Enlightenment thinkers that praised them, there developed a dichotomy that people struggled with for centuries. We can still see the scars of these conflicting ideas when we look at children today. The average child is now protected, nurtured, and completely useless. We have robbed children of their agency in an effort to safeguard them from the real world. We must protect them, no doubt, but we must not forget that they are autonomous beings in society as well.

[mabig103-blog]

I find your topic interesting discussing how children and how they are treated is constantly changing. I am curious where you will go with connecting the children throughout the centuries to the children in your story.

[trtay103-blog]

but... What is beauty?...

Fairytales bring joy to children and adults alike while transcending the boundaries of time. Many fairytales have far deeper lessons hidden within them than meets the eye. Some authors of fairytales use their characters and storyline in an attempt to prompt change within their society. Jeanne Beaumont excelled in writing tales that promote change. In her work, “Beauty and the Beast,” Beaumont uses the interaction of the main characters to stimulate the mind concerning the definition of beauty. Living in a world in which  I am surrounded by pressures from society, I find these fairytales to be very effective at encouraging me to look outside my original understanding.

[mabig103-blog]

I find it very interesting that authors may have underlying issues with their characters that are not essentially mentioned but can be inferred. While many of the characters in my story may just seem cruel or depressed when in reality they have other issues that cant be seen at first.

[mabig103-blog]

This is the real world

In fairy tales characters are portrayed specific ways as to allow readers to sympathize and relate to the characters. The stories don’t show why the characters may be the way they are. In my paper I analyze Cinderella and her decisions to conclude that she has Dependent Personality Disorder and often exhibits symptoms throughout the story.

[trtay103-blog]

So. Many. Articles.

After finding countless unless articles on varying subjects slightly related to my topic I find myself exhausted. How many people spend their every waking moments devoted to writing these things? I found a 488 page article on the effects of makeup on mans understanding of beauty… like… Who writes that? This is indeed a struggle. I finally find myself citing experiments full of math. Including an equation  “N of beautiful people X percentage of opinion= amount of beauty”… How does one derive this? It is a strange world out there folks. 

[mabig103-blog]

I found a lot of the same issues when researching for my annotated bibliography. There were so many sources that I went through and I also saw the authors putting quantitative qualities on personalities, I still don’t understand how no matter how many times I reread.

[erste103-blog]

Parental Neglect

In my annotated bib I examined parental neglect and how it affects children. Specifically in the aspect such of self- esteem.  Generally speaking, lazier parenting, or parental neglect, can lead to several psychological issues I children. One being their self esteem. This is something that can be related back to Cinderella. Her father was never present, and her mother passed away. Leaving her with her step mother who genuinely abuses Cinderella everyday. This is something that can shed light on what shaped Cinderella’s character, which allows us to further understand why Cinderella would run away from a charming prince, or take other drastic measures as she did in the tale.

[mabig103-blog]

I completely agree on the fact that how you are raised and the types of parents you have can shape your personality and determine how you decide things. I am not sure if Cinderella acts in the classic way most children would in this situation but I would be interested in the analysis of her decisions.

[mabig103-blog]

Dependent Personality Disorder

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

Cinderella vs. A Case Study of Emergency Room Procedure and Risk Data Management by Hospital Staff Members in the Urban Facility

Stacy Richter took her story “A Case Study of Emergency Room Procedure and Risk Data Management by Hospital Staff Members in the Urban Facility” in a completely new direction from the Grimm brothers’ “Cinderella,” incorporating bizarre new aspects into it including the shocking new themes of drug addiction, imprisonment, and legitimate danger, in contrast to the original Cinderella where all the princess really had to endure in terms of mistreatment was a life of servant-hood and an unpleasant step family. Still, this story ultimately failed as a retelling. The characters were unrecognizable apart from the nicknames of “Prince” and “Princess,” which caused the story to lose all of the original and respectable elements that make it such an alluring and beloved fairy tale.

[evsor103-blog]

I think that the way you noted these new themes is very cool. I like that the themes in the modern retelling are more socially acceptable to be discussed in modern times. However, this has nothing to do with the original tale of “Cinderella.” I wonder how the stories compare. 

[mabig103-blog]

After reading the story I agree that the adaptation was not successful in retelling the original version yet I found this story interesting and captivating. Other than the nicknames I am not sure the stories could be typically linked as you said, but I enjoyed the view that the princess was running from her prince because she was scared of a new life but instead because she was afraid of him.

[maces103-blog]

Successfully shedding a new light onto a well-known story intimidates many writers, as it should, but James Lapine the Writer of Into the Woods took this challenge on. He even went a step further and made adaptions to four well known fairytales into a musical and then a movie. The musical was an adaption of some of the Grimm’s brothers stories combined, it included Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel. These characters stories developed separately to start, then they intertwined with each other to play off of their plots into a single story. Although there was many characters involved in the movie the main ones for Cinderella were, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, and Chris Pine as Prince Charming.  James Lapines adaption of Cinderella in Into the Woods was somewhat successful because it followed the general story line but gave modern twist, however it neglected to address Cinderella’s father and mother before the stepmother.

[evsor103-blog]

I completely agree with your first sentence, and I love the way you brought that up. I find it interesting that you brought the actors and actresses into this. That is really cool. I also like that there is some success to this adaptation, as most retellings are much more different from the original than this one, especially because these are all tied together

[beachhbummerr-blog1]

I kind of agree with you. I thought the adaptation was extremely successful because the director took well known beloved fairy tales and made them better.

[mabig103-blog]

I agree that the adaptation was successful in changing the story while also still being Cinderella. I also noticed how they did not delve into Cinderella’s past with her parents and that was my one disappointment with the new telling.

[mabig103-blog]

Into the Woods: Typical Cinderella?

In Into the Woods we get a classical representation of the typical Cinderella as told in Grimm’s version of the tale. There is a common girl who is covered in ash being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, fairly typical. She continues on to sneak out to the festival and every night steals away and hides from the prince. Everything goes as is expected until the third night of the festival where she gets stuck on the stairs of the palace and we are finally able to see the thoughts upon her decision. We know in this version that she purposefully left her shoe for the prince to find because of her own uncertainties. This addition to the regular story line allows us to see into Cinderella’s mind and have a better feel for the character. Although she is still the same in many ways I believe this retelling gives us a better sense of who Cinderella is.

[beachhbummerr-blog1]

Mean Girls

At some point in time we all, I included, have felt extremely threatened by the superiority of another person, but we must understand that to act upon our natural instincts to get rid the superior being is immoral and incorrect. Although Snow white was treated poorly and extremely unfairly by her step mother, despite being “the fairest of them all,” I don’t believe she was in right to make the wicked queen dance in the heated iron slippers until her death. I was always told to never fight fire with fire, you only end up with a bigger fire. The outcome of the wicked queen’s death after is left up to the reader to decide, as the story ends with her death, but the fact that Snow White essentially killed the queen poses the question; was Snow White as bad as the Queen?

[mabig103-blog]

This is very interesting as most of the stories I hear about Snow White end where she has nothing to do with the queen’s undoing. In this version I think it could be argued that she had hatred in her heart and acted at cruelly as the queen.

[trtay103-blog]

Unknown Yet Beautiful

     While I doubt that many people who read The Tiger’s Bride are at risk of turning into a tiger, the tale poses a very interesting and common situation. Too many times people miss out on something that could be wonderful and beautiful just because they do not understand or because they let fear get in the way. Just as I faced my fear, the girl in the story opened up and let herself see past her predetermined ideas about the monster. As a result, we both found something wonderful. If people would look past their fear of the unknown and allow themselves to be vulnerable they might just find something they never expected. Looking back, the four years I spent in this show-choir were by far the best of my life. These years were filled with new experiences and countless irreplaceable memories, all of which I would have missed out on if I had let myself continue to be blinded by my fear of the unknown. From that point forward, whenever I felt nervous or unsure about a situation or felt scared of the unknown, I simply “shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur”(66).

[mabig103-blog]

I think that is a great anecdote, and I hadn’t heard about this version of Beauty and the Beast before so I find it interesting that the Beauty had to keep looking past what she saw.

[mabig103-blog]

Cinderella: Damsel or Fighter

Often in the tales of Cinderella that are dispersed throughout our media we see a fair maiden who works hard for her family but is passive. She runs from the ball and waits for the prince to find her. This could cause misconceptions about the strength and will in Cinderella’s heart. In many different versions of this story the young girl endures punishments and judgements and only runs so she is not caught. Later she finds her own way of showing her prince who she is, often by some sign or token. In Lin Lan not even death keeps the maiden from being near her love and taking back what her sister took. Cinderella is often misunderstood as the damsel who needs saving, but in reality she is just afraid of her consequences, if not for the cruelty she often endures I have no doubt she would never run. Cinderella is a fighter, she is just passive in her techniques.