Bluebeard - elements of horror

Question 1: Compare the elements of horror in the various versions of Bluebeard that you read for today. Please name the elements you are comparing and discuss how they function in the story. Do they help move the plot along? Elaborate the story? Startle the audience? etc.

In man versions of Bluebeard like Perrault's Bluebeard, Grimm's Fitcher's Bird, and Jacob's Mr. Fox, the main element of horror was the small (forbidden) room with all the dead, chopped up bodies of young women. In these versions, the wife is told not to enter this room under any circumstances, but the wife can't resist and enters the room just to see all the dead bodies. The description of this room is pretty horrific with descriptions of bloody chopped up fragments of bodies. In Grimm's The Robber Bridegroom, the young maiden actually witnesses the killing and consumption of another young girl.

This element of physical horror functions as some sort of punishment for those who dare to disobey the master of the house. It also functions as a way for readers to realize the true horrific nature of Bluebeard/sorcerer/robber.

Another less-obvious element of horror in many of the versions of Bluebeard is the reaction and emotion of the young girl/wife when she realizes she cannot wipe the blood off of the key/egg. This element of horror functions to allow readers to feel the fear and desperation of the young girl as she tries, to no avail, to somehow undo what she knows was wrong in the first place. This illustration of the girl's emotions serves to create a sort of nervous suspense of what Bluebeard is going to do to his wife when he finds out that she disobeyed him.

Assignment 8 - 24. March 2009

Hi Nikki, Erin, Emily, Benton, Michelle and Tiffany,

For this week, please complete two separate posts.

Question 1: Compare the elements of horror in the various versions of Bluebeard that you read for today. Please name the elements you are comparing and discuss how they function in the story. Do they help move the plot along? Elaborate the story? Startle the audience? etc.

Question 2: Tatar offers two readings of the heroine's character: either as a celebration of self-preservation and cleverness or as a disobedient female. Using a version other than the Perrault, consider how the heroine gets presented. Use quotes to support your reading.


DEADLINE for Posts: Midnight on Tuesday

DEADLINE for Comments on atleast two other posts: Midnight on Wednesday

Again, please post two separate entries!

Ann

The Devil's Three Golden Hairs

I definitely think the target audience of this film was the younger, lower/middle class because of the emphasis on hard work (as with the DEFA Snow White film) as well as the element of comedy present in the film.

I found many similarities between "The Devil's Three Golden Hairs" and "Snow White" - the most obvious similarity to me was in the opening scene. "The Devil's Three Golden Hairs" opens with the blacksmiths working really hard, and in "Schneewittchen," the kitchen scene with all the cooks and kitchen hands working away. Both of these scenes were really long (even though they really didn't contribute that much to the actual plot of the story) and were meant to emphasize the benefits of hard work.

This "lesson" of hard work that the film attempts to teach makes me believe even more that the film was geared towards the younger population (possibly towards children)

Devil with the three golden hairs

     I would say that this audience might be lower to middle class, and younger rather than adults.  It is created in such a way to preserve teachings, and not be able to interpret it in any other way than just a story.  

     This movie is similar in a way to the version of Snow White that we saw, because of its humanization of certain elements.  In Snow White, instead of the "magical" element of the mirror, we got a clever machine.  In this movie, the devil is very human looking.  There is not necessarily an aspect of "devilish" nature, like I would necessarily expect.  While the devil does have horns and a tail, they are very minimal in terms of the whole.  His magic is also overdone, and could be explained by special effects.  

     I found the medium of this film to be told in a very humorous way, especially the part with the boy taking care of the devil.  There is no devil's grandmother as in the Grimms novel.  Instead, the boy is left handling things himself.  He watches the devil play piano, combs out his hair, makes him dinner...I interpreted this part of the plot as an additional way to make the concept of this movie ridiculous, and fake.  This society didn't want to acknowledge that there was magic, or stories other then the ones they were telling.  

The Devil w/ 3 Golden Hairs

The intended audience of this film seems to be the middle class who could potentially identify with the working class of the movie. This is identifiable as a DEFA production because, as in Snow White, the film seems to involve a slapstick element even though it is acting as propaganda of East Germany. The medium is an advantage to the propaganda effort because not much is let up to the imagination, so whatever image the DEFA wants to portray is seen by the audience.

Assignment 7 - 17.March 2009

Hi Nikki, Tiffany, Erin, Benton, Emily and Michelle,

Here's the assignment for this week. Please note that the deadlines are different from the usual.


After having viewed the DEFA film "The Devil's Three Golden Hairs", do the following:

1. Try to interpret from the movie, who the target audience might be. Keep in mind, that the film was made in 1977 in East Germany.

2. Compare the movie with the DEFA version of Snow White.

3. Explain how the medium 'film' is used to tell the story. You could consider talking about the plot, dialogue, etc.

Do try to touch upon all three points in your blog.

Deadline for posts: 11.00 a.m. on Wednesday

Deadline for comments on at least two posts: Midnight on Wednesday

Looking forward to your posts!

Ann

Beauty and the Beast

Something that I thought that was interesting in both versions was the fact that the story seemed to share elements with many different fairy tales. For example, the fact that there were three sisters, two of whom were "evil," seemed similar to Cinderella. The mirror, while considered part of many Beauty and the Beast stories, is present in Snow White. These are just a couple of examples of the shared themes.

Beauty and the Beast - Cocteau vs. De Beaumont

The primary difference I saw between  the de Beaumont version of the story and the film version by Cocteau was the existence of the arrogant suitor, Avenant.  In the text version, he does not exist, whereas in the film he is created as a rival for the relationship between Belle/Beauty and the Beast.  I saw the existence of this character as more of a testament to the change in format than anything else.  Film plotlines, even early films, are generally much more streamlined than their textual counterparts.  Avenant encapsulates the idea of a marriage for all the wrong reasons--appearance, wealth, status, etc.  In the book version, this idea is illustrated by the cruel sisters, who serve as foils to Belle's virtuous nature.  However, though the awfulness of the sisters is evident in the story, imposing these ideas in the form of an active antagonist heightens the dramatic tension in the film.  With these traits rolled into a character, the central conflict for Belle is much more evident; the decision she has to make is much clearer.

It is also notable that at the end of the transformation scene in the film, the handsome prince has the chiseled features of Avenant but not his boorish behavior.  It could be said that the two mean, rivals for Belle's hand, represent two sides of the same coin--the question of what constitutes a happy marriage.

Cocteau vs. de Beaumont

One difference I noticed between the Cocteau film and de Beaumont's version of Beauty and the Beast was the part of the story where Beauty/Belle goes to take her father's place at the Beast's castle.
In the de Beaumont's version, Belle pleads with her father and brothers to let her go to die instead of her father, and ultimately her father and brothers give in. Even though Belle's father is pretty upset at having to leave her to die in his stead, in the end he leaves her to the mercy of the Beast. However, in Cocteau's version, Beauty mentions that she wants to go to the Beast's castle in place of her father, but before any course of action is decided, the father falls ill and the next day Beauty sneaks out of the house to go to the Beast's castle without her father and brother knowing.

Though this is a relatively minor difference, I still believe it is significant. De Beaumont's version has reader questioning the love Beauty's father has for his daughter - as discussed in class, how can the father just hand over his (favorite) daughter to a Beast? But Cocteau eliminates this predicament altogether. By tweaking the story so that Belle sneaks out without her father knowing, viewers can't really blame the father for being unloving or selfish - Beauty's decision to go to the Beast's castle was out of his hands. Cocteau enables the father to maintain a reputation of being the ultimate loving and caring father - something that is easier for a viewer to understand than a father who allows his own daughter to die in his place.

Beauty and the Beast Ending

The ending having to do with the sisters in the movie and de beaumont's version of Beauty and the Beast were different.  The sisters, in both, were such a taunting, crucial part of the tale.  They treated Beauty horribly out of jealousy and spite.  In the ending of debeaumont's they got their "just desserts".  The fairy turned them into statues to sit outside the Beast and Beauty's palace, and could only be turned back once they got over their evil, jealous minds.  For the movie, they weren't even mentioned at the end.  I found that odd because they were such a big part of the story in general.  It just doesn't transfer.  Including the sisters in the ending adds more to the plot, and gives it more of a conclusion, since they were such a part of the story.  

I just wanted to also mention that altogether, this is very different than the version of Beauty and the Beast which I grew up with.  Belle (Beauty) was an only child, and there were no mention of sisters of any kind.  It was definitely a different view reading the stories in which the Disney movie originated from.  

Assignment 6 - 10.March 2009

Hi Nikki, Erin, Benton, Tiffany, Emily and Michelle,

Here is your assignment for this week, with deadlines different from the usual.

Pick one scene or element from Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, and compare it or contrast it with de Beaumont's version. You might pick something that interests you, that seems odd, or something that you missed in one version or the other, for example.

For those of you who didn't manage to, you have time to complete the reading and watch the film, which is available on OAK and also on Reserve in the Library.

Deadline for putting up your responses is 09.00 p.m. on Wednesday.

Deadline for comment on at least one post is 10.00 a.m. on Thursday.

Ann

Forgot the Link... sorry!

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/other.html#BURNTFACE

Little Burnt Face

This is a Native American tale from the Micmac tribe. This tale has many components of a catskin tale as well as a few from a Cinderella tale. Like the Cinderella tales, the sisters were mean to the girl and in this case burned her so that she was no longer pretty. They also tried to keep her from the Great Chief. As in the Catskin tales, she wore a birch suit and when she completed the challenge (seeing the Great Chief) the scars vanished and she had nice clothes. This story had typical features that recurred in many stories such as a challenge to face.

Baba Yaga

This story intrigued me because it was so different from other Cinderellas. There were no sisters, no prince, no kingdom even, just a family. After reading it I had to question why it was even included in the Cinderella category as it was so dissimilar from many of the other ones. The evil stepmother was the one thing that gave the story a connection to any of the other tales. Baba Yaga's character was also very strange, the idea that this woman sat here and trained her magical minions for ensnaring girls or something was weird to me. However, the story itself does mirror the Cinderellas in its triumph over the evil thanks to the magical helper being related to the main character, or, the "Fairy Godmother," here the good aunt. The helper advises the protagonist who, using that help, can defeat evil and return to her happy life. So while initially it seems to have little to do with the popular versions of Cindarella, it is pretty similar in its core elements.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#babayaga

Katie Woodencloak

Katie Woodencloak is the Norwegian version of Cinderella.  It has aspects that are both similar and different than the versions of Cinderella that we have read.  The similar aspects deal with the number three- there are three dresses for church, and three woods that she has to pass through with the dun bull.  Another similar aspect is the cloak that she dons in order to disguise herself to keep from being found.  The difference of the versions is that in this case, the prince wont even fathom her with responses.  In the other stories I read, he is at least amused by her, or acknowledges her.  Another difference is that the King is still alive- he is just away, which allows the stepmother to abuse her.  

I picked this story to read, because I figured it would be interesting.  I enjoyed the different take on the Cinderella stories, than the normal glass slipper version that I am so used to due to popular culture.  I had never heard these alternative tales, and wanted to look more into it.  

Assignment 5- 24.Feb 2009

Hi Nikki, Erin, Benton, Tiffany, Emily and Michelle,

Here is your assignment for this week.

Look through the websites suggested below and find a version of Cinderella or even an illustration of her, that has not been talked about in class as yet.

1. D. L. Ashliman's folktale site:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html

2. the Sur La Lune fairy tale site:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/

3. the Cinderella Project at the Univ. of Mississippi:
http://www.usm.edu/english/fairytales/cinderella/cinderella.html

Having selected the story/illustration, you are to elaborate on the reason you picked that particular story/illustration.

You could talk about how the story is different from what you have read so far and how these differences could be interesting in the light of our current discussions in class.

If you have selected an illustration, mention what about it grabbed you, what about it is different from other illustrations known to you and whether it contradicts or proves any of what we have discussed in class so far.

Posts are to be sent in by Midnight on Tuesday and comments to a minimum of two other posts are to be in by Midnight on Wednesday.

Breaking the Disney Spell

In his essay "Breaking the Disney Spell," Jack Zipes articulates a feeling likely experienced in part by anyone who has grown up watching Disney films and then grown up to give more thought to what they were all about, exactly.  However, it was hard to read this essay and definitively take one side or another--and perhaps ill-advised to do so.  Jack Zipes in a renowned scholar of literary fairy tales, whose work is informed by extensive research into the storytelling tradition behind the stories we have all heard as children.  Walt Disney built a media empire on a very specific interpretation of these well-known stories.  Both have a vested interest in maintaining one extreme or the other, but as a reader, it's hard not to consider your own history and relationship to these stories that are uniquely personal.  

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I agree with Zipes on a lot of the points he makes, at other times I wanted to tell the man to take several deep breaths and think about dolphins or something equally calming.  

It isn't that I don't agree with Zipes that the Disney version of Snow White takes a number of artistic liberties with the original tale--but so did the 1916 version that we watched, and Zipes does not seem to have a problem with that, perhaps because that version was not part of a cultural phenomenon on the level that Disney's films were.  I do agree that the Disney version of Snow White is vastly different, in tone especially, from the Grimm original.  And I also agree that Snow White, and a number of Disney's other fairy tale films, perpetuate an idea of a patriarchal, male-driven structure (I really wish this most recent Disney Princess craze would end and soon, for all our sakes.)  I find all of those points to be relevant, it's just that I don't think one interpretation of a story with such a rich history behind it is going to ruin or change that story forever.  The very nature of fairy tales is to be passed from person to person and reinterpreted, so how, in essence, is a movie any different from that idea?

That being said, it doesn't mean that I particularly like Disney's interpretation of the Snow White character.  I actually caught myself rooting for the Evil Queen a couple of times, because Snow White was just so annoying.  

Disney

I believe that the main point of this essay was to show how Disney commercialized fairy tales through his films and how this "'violated' the literary genre of the fairy tale" (352).

In class, Professor Figal told us to pick an issue or topic in the Zipes essay to "grapple with." An issue I had with this essay was that Zipes seemed to accuse Disney of sacrificing the old oral and literary traditions of fairy tales for the sake of appealing to his consumers and gaining fame and fortune. I feel that the beauty of fairy tales is how they are able to change and morph depending on who tells them, who is listening, and the circumstances and culture under which these fairy tales get passed along. Disney being a household name that we all associate with fairy tales is something that should be admired, not condemned. Maybe Disney was ultimately in it to make money and gain recognition, but in the end, our culture today is defined by these Disney films, and I just see Disney as another method of passing along fairy tales to the next generation.

Zipes

dentify the thesis/the argument(s) in Jack Zipes' essay , Breaking the Disney Spell’. Do you agree or disagree with him? Justify the stance you take.

While the essay was well written, I found it difficult to take apart one thesis or argument in Zipes essay, "Breaking the Disney Spell".
I found the main argument to be that Disney was taking the classic fairy tales, and minimizing the lessons, replacing them with menial tales that were written and created to make money, and to show and demonstrate his skills as the owner of a company, and an animator.
I partially agree with what Zipes is saying. I do believe, since as he states that Disney was one of the first to use techniques in his animations and films, that Disney wasn't in the business to preserve and demonstrate classic tales. Disney adds too many commercial aspects into his films and stories to really care about the integrity of the stories themselves.

Assignment 4- 3.Feb 2009

Hey Nikki, Erin, Benton, Michelle, Tiffany and Emily,

Below is your assignment:

Identify the thesis/the argument(s) in Jack Zipes' essay , Breaking the Disney Spell’. Do you agree or disagree with him? Justify the stance you take.

• Posts to be sent in by Midnight on Tuesday
• Comments on two other posts to be posted by Midnight on Wednesday

Looking forward to what you have to say.

Ann