The Use of Fairy Tales in Sanders-Brahms' Film Germany Pale Mother Perhaps one of the most haunting and compelling parts of Sanders-Brahms’ film Germany Pale Mother (1979) is the nearly twenty minute long telling of The Robber Bridegroom. The structual purpose of the sequence is a bridge between the marriage of Lene and Hans, who battles at the war’s front, and the decline of the marriage during the post-war period. Symbolically the fairy tale, called the “mad monstrosity in the middle of the film,” by Sanders Brahms (Kaes, 149), offers a diagetic forum for with which to deal with the crimes of Nazi Germany, as well a internally fictional parallel of Lene’s marriage. The fairy tale begins with a miller betrothing his daughter to the first suitable man who comes along. The man choosen happens to live deep in the forest, and fills the daughter with dread everytime that she sees him. One day, the suitor demands that his bride come visit him at home. When she tells him she does not know the way, he says he with spread the path to his house with ashes. Nodoubt this fictional element is meant to invoke sadistic images of Nazi Germany and the use of ashes of cremated concentration camp inmates for road construction. The daughter does follow the path with great unease, however, as she follows the path she marks it with peas. She finally comes to the house, and is promptly warned by a bird that she is entering a house of murderers. The girl enters and house and finds it almost entirerly deserted. However, in the basement she finds an old women who repeats the bird’s warning. The crone then prphesizes that the girl will marry death and her bridegroom only seeks to kill her, cut her pieces up, and eat her. As the two prepare to escape, the bridegroom and his band of theives return with maiden [virgin]. The old woman hides the girl behind a large barrel. From her hiding place, she whitnesses the thieves give the maiden three glasses of wine to stop her heart. They then rip her clothes off, and hack the body into pieces with axes. On of the murders notices the girl wears a gold band, but cannot pull it off her finger. He cuts off thefinger which flies from the table and lands in the girls lap. Before the thieve can look for it, the crone offers them some wine, which she has laced with a sleeping potion. The thieves fall prey to the potion and sleep deeply. The g... ... middle of paper ... ...lms. She includes several other references besides the long narration of the fairy tale. Soon after Lene and Hans get married, Lene pricks her finger on a curtain needle. This is symbolic of Sleeping Beauty and her loss of innocence by pricking her finger on a spinningwheel spindle. Anna also speaks of herself and her mother as witches on several occasions; which furthers the fairy tale motif. So in the end it is to be asked what is so important about trying to intertwine Germany Pale Mother with established fairy tales. I propose that it is part of the defensive mechanism Sanders-Brahms uses in dealing with the crime’s of her parents generation, and making sure that it is not forgotten. Fairy tales are timeless pieces of literature. As Anton Kaes wrote, “... fairy tales stand outside of history, they confront us directly with unconscious impulses and let us project into them our own wishes and fantasies. (Kaes, 149). Works Cited Kaes, Anton. From Hitler to Heimat. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1992: pp148-150. Sanders-Brahms, Helma. Germany Pale Mother (Deutschland bleiche Mutter), Helma Sanders-Brahms Filmproduktion, 1979.
Once upon a time there was a young maiden named Cinderella who lived with her wicked stepmother and two ugly stepsisters. There was a ball where the Prince danced with a beautiful maiden. However, at the stroke of midnight, the young woman fled the ball, dropping one of her glass slippers along the way. The next day, the King proclaimed that the Grand Duke visit every house in the kingdom to find the girl who fit into the glass slipper, so that she can be married to the Prince. When the Grand Duke arrives at Cinderella’s house, her stepsisters try on the slipper, but it does not fit them. Then, Cinderella appears, tries on the slipper, and it fits. Soon after, Cinderella is happily married to the Prince (Cinderella). This is Disney’s 1950’s account of the classic fairy tale Cinderella, which greatly differs from the Brothers Grimm retelling. The Brothers Grimm story is filled with violence and misfortune, not with fairy godmothers and singing mice, as in Disney’s version. In the Brother’s Grimm account of Cinderella, when the first stepsister’s toe is too big for the slipper she cuts it off. Similarly, when the second stepsister tries on the slipper she cuts off her heel to make her foot fit. However, the Prince realizes each of the stepsisters has deceived him and does not take them to be his wife. Then, Cinderella tries on the slipper, it fits, and the Prince takes her as his bride. At the wedding, pigeons peck out one eye of each of the stepsisters for their wickedness and falsehood (“Cinderella”).
Highly similar in form, they are both short works, collected as fairy tales with similar plot structure (a woman becomes engaged, visits her betrothed’s home, discovers he is a murderer by witnessing the dismembering of a maiden behind a cask/barrel, retains evidence of the crime in the form of the maiden’s severed hand with a ring, and exposes the betrothed’s crimes via public storytelling, resulting in his punishment). Neither tale requires a happily ever after beyond the bridegroom’s punishment, though Jacobs’ punishment is more brutal. Notably, Grimm’s bridegroom is more brutal himself, with graphic torture of the maiden and cannibalistic tendencies. Jacobs’ bridegroom acts alone, a serial murderer, while Grimm’s bridegroom is a member of robber band. Jacobs’ characters are more fully formed, with greater detail ascribed to his named characters. Jacobs and Grimms’ stories revolve around high and working class circumstances respectively, contrasting a lady with a miller’s daughter, a mere home with a castle, and an ax with a sword. The framing of both variations has the heroine as the central character, with her personal account of the bridegroom’s crimes matching the narrative’s version in diction and syntax. Both heroines draw power from narratives, spinning tales like the female character of the storyteller featured in many collections. They also obscure their accusations using a
The short stories, “A Wagner Matinee” and “A Pair of Silk Stockings” convey a similar view on a woman’s right to independence and opportunity due to sacrifices enforced by an oppressing society which depreciates self-value. The main characters in the two works go through life changing experiences, which transform their perception of the self and outlook on society; both characters have precious past experiences left behind after marriage, and both characters did not want to attend to their daily lives after returning to those experiences. In Aunt Georgiana’s case, her fixation on music is revisited after a long term of suffering in an isolated and distress state on the farm, while Mrs. Sommers reverts to her life as a young, noble lady who tends to herself in exchange for the role of a mother who devotes all her time and attention to her responsibilities. Once the two women reclaim their everyday life under patriarchal figures, the path to sunshine is closed, and they will decay like wilted
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Rapunzel.” Folk and Fairy Tales. Ed. Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002. 67-70.
In the classic story of “Cinderella”, a beautiful young woman is treated badly but in the end lives happily ever after with a prince. The French version of “Cinderella” is romantic and happy, where the Cinderella character forgives her bad stepsisters by finding them husbands and allowing them to live in the palace with her and the prince. However, in the German version of “Cinderella” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the stepsisters are violently punished for mistreating Cinderella.
In the article, “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality,” Catherine Orenstein attempts to show the contrast between the modern romanticism of marriage and the classic fairy tale’s presentation of them (285). She looks at the aristocratic motivations for marriage and the way these motivations are prominent in Cinderella. She then looks at the 20th century to highlight the innate difference of our mentalities, showing a much more optimistic and glorified relationship. In the article, “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” Elisabeth Panttaja claims that Cinderella’s success can be attributed to her craftiness (288). She shows her and her mother as an equal to the stepfamily, analyzing each family’s goals and values. She attempts to show their similarities,
Wilhelm married a woman named Dortchen Wild. They had a baby in 1826, who died (Hettinga pg.68 + 108). They had a second child in 1828, and in 1832, Dortchen had a baby girl (Hettinga pg.118). Meanwhile, Jacob applied for the head librarian’s job, after the man had died in 1829 (Hettinga pg.109). Dortchen got very sick when she was helping her friend Lotte, who was very ill (Hettinga pg.118). Wilhelm died at 3 pm on December 15, 1859 (Hettinga pg.146). Jacob died on September 20, 1863 at 10 pm (Hettinga pg.149).
Director Mark Herman presents a narrative film that attests to the brutal, thought-provoking Nazi regime, in war-torn Europe. It is obvious that with Herman’s relatively clean representation of this era, he felt it was most important to resonate with the audience in a profound and philosophical manner rather than in a ruthlessness infuriating way. Despite scenes that are more graphic than others, the films objective was not to recap on the awful brutality that took place in camps such as the one in the movie. The audience’s focus was meant to be on the experience and life of a fun-loving German boy named Bruno. Surrounding this eight-year-old boy was conspicuous Nazi influences. Bruno is just an example of a young child among many others oblivious of buildings draped in flags, and Jewis...
A young girl is forced to live with her step-mother and step-sisters after her father and mother die. She becomes the maid of the family, tending to their every need. Eventually there is a ball; she acquires a fairy Godmother, goes to the ball, falls in love with the prince, blah blah blah. All you really need to know is that she has a happy ending. A happy ending. No matter how much suffering she went through in her early years, at the end, it all came together and she had no more worries. And this is the problem. Cinderella is not realistic. It never was and never will be. Watching this movie when I was young made me believe there was a prince waiting for me somewhere. I grew up thinking that life was simple and uncomplicated, that I did not need to worry about the future because there was a man that would provide everything I wanted and needed. But as I got older, I realized this was not the case. I saw many of my friend’s parents divorce, people die, and the world fight with each other. My fantasy died off, and I realized I had to work hard for myself, and not others. The poem Cinderella by Anne Sexton made fun of the ending of Cinderella. She states, “Cinderella and the prince / lived … happily ever after … / their darling smiles pasted on for eternity. / Regular Bobbsey Twins. / That story.” (Sexton 11). Notice who she referenced and how she has a sarcastic tone. Cinderella and the prince smiled for others, trying to convince
The fairy tales that we have become so familiar with are embedded with love, imagination and enchantment. In truth, these are just common archetypes; originally fairy tales had a much darker backdrop. They were once symbols of sexualisation and brutality as not everything ended happily ever after. Deriving from promiscuous and overlooked on goings from the 19th century (such as molestation), these ideas were later suppressed when they became children’s tales. John Updike described traditional fairy tales as ‘The pornography of their day’, hence they contained elements of wish-fulfilment and gratification such as rape, pleasure and attainment. This is true to a certain extent but they also consisted of violence, mutiny and injustice. An exploration
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
Fairy tales have been part of our lives ever since we were young children. We all either grew up watching Disney renditions of fairy tales, or we had storybooks filled with vivid pictures of a tale. Fairy tales are so important in our culture that it would be difficult to find someone who has not heard of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, or other fairy tale protagonists. Interestingly enough, fairy tales have been a very integral part of Western culture since the time they were written. Fairy tale writers, such as Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers, revolutionized culture in the 17th and 18th centuries with their writings. Not only did these writers write these tales for entertainment, but they also accomplished to influence the
The Glass Slipper Fairytales, the short stories that most children hear as they go to bed, are actually folktales from previous decades. The fairytales today are primarily adaptations of older versions recreated by Disney— the pioneers of this generation. With that said, the modern versions consistently display good triumph over evil, a prince charming that constantly comes to the rescue, and a happily ever after ending. However, the original folktale version didn’t always come with fortunate events, but often were more violent and gruesome. With the fairytale Cinderella, Disney maintains a similar theme as its Grimm version; however, the conflicts, events, and characters that support this idea are rather different.
I am writing this paper because I was assigned to write it as a class project. Along the way I realized the importance of sharing the real meanings of all these stories. Stories are important because in the society we live in things are constantly changing. Fairytales change but the base of the story always remain the same no matter how many times it has been retold. It’s important to reveal the true meanings of these stories, even with its dark characteristics, because the world is dark .Children need to know that there are people that have told stories relatable to what they are going through. Fairytales help the development of children; it helps their maturity as they confront someone else’s tough situations, instilling hope of a more positive ou...