BEDILU
Addis Bedilu
Tiffany Langston
English 2 Pre-Ap
5/14/2014
Change is inevitable….or is it?
Why do folk’s tales exist? To preach a moral to people? Or is it to simply entertain? Like the Disney animated classic Sleeping beauty and its predecessors did. This story of the sleeping beauty horrified children throughout the ages yet as time went by it became more sanitized and cleaned up. But ironically the more it became kid friendly the more popular it became. As society changed the morals and ideals that the folk tales were trying to explain changed as well, as a result the story changed. What changed the story but kept true to its lore at the same time can be attributed to combination of social, economic and historical factors.
How do changes in society reflect the changes in the commercialization of the story? They answer how society views certain issues, class, race, status and gender all of these come into play when the story is being crafted. For example in the earlier renditions of Sleeping Beauty such as The Sun Moon and Talia both the main love interest and central antagonist of the story are both female. BUT the central players Talia FATHER and the wise MEN at the beginning are the ones who dictate Talia's fate at the beginning. The queen presents herself as a villain’s interests and the King is the hero who holds both women’s fate in his palms this first edition of the modern sleeping beauty debuted in 1634. A time of kings and absolute monarchy’s but as time went on by 1697 the sleeping Beauty according to Perrault changed certain things such as the queen being an ogress. A mother who took the throne from her s...
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...oited by the royalty, those concepts did not exist yet. By the time Disney got around to it the tide of morals meant that girls must be presented as lady’s none of the sexual desire stuff of the more ancient versions. The story had to revolve around the selfless prince rescuing his bride to be all good Christian values. However even with those changes the story maintained things that survived the course of history. The damsel who needs to be saved and the role of Man saving the women.
As a result of the varying circumstances that helped evolve the story the popularity of the sleeping Beauty soared causing it to become a worldwide phenomenon. As opposed to its relative obscurity of the earlier versions one has to ask if the story didn't change would we even have the story today?
Fairy tales connect to our owns lives, dreams, anxieties, and help us to consider what we would do in their shoes. Many cultures have their own spin on common fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty, with their own cultural flavor. We read those versions and know that we share something important and the hope for good to overcome evil.
Fairy tales are one of the longest lasting forms of literature. Though now they bring to mind classic movies engendered by Disney, many of these stories were first passed on in an oral manner, meant to convey a message, moral, or lesson. Alison Lurie’s “What Fairy Tales Tell Us” covers a broad range of classic tales, discussing how under the guise of an entertaining story comes life lessons we would all do well to follow. To begin this paper, some of the tales Lurie examines in her article will be looked at and critically examined beyond what she discusses. This will then move the text towards its remaining sections, which will take Lurie’s ideas and have them applied to folk and fairy tales that have not yet been contemplated; for the purpose
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
While Catherine Breillat’s “Sleeping Beauty” does stay true to the original Brother’s Grimm tale in its archetype, she does stray from the original version in many ways in order to convey a message. In comparison to her film “Bluebeard”, “Sleeping Beauty” was much more explicit, with graphic sexual scenes. Additionally, this tale is different in that the main character is not the dainty frail princess we usually see in classic fairytales, but a tomboy who wants to referred to as “Vladmir” and has sexual encounters with another woman. Breillat contrasts the lesbian sex scene where Anastasia is laughing and enjoying herself with her having sex with Peter where she cries throughout it and puts her face down in a pillow after it is done.
Walt Disney needed to change his version and many of his other fairy tales and in doing so started a change in the way we see fairy tales. Ask someone today to define a fairy tale and they will tell you along the lines of a beautiful woman put threw hardships that in the end of the story gets the man and becomes a queen of her own castle.
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
Beauty and the Beast is one of the oldest fairytales known to man. A little bit of fantasy with a little bit of fiction. It provides life lessons that society, deems important to learn. Throughout the years one lesson has remained constant beauty is only skin deep. Generation to generation the story has been passed down, changing ever so slightly but still maintaining that fairytale edge. Differences are slim but still recognizable. In Beaumont's version that we had read in class Beauty and the Beast is told more for an older crowd because of the language and dialogue as well as the ability to understand it, but the message was the same as the Disney version just the Disney version isn’t as in depth.
Thinking back to our childhood, we all remember hearing many kinds of fairy tales. Some of them inspired us others confused us, and most of them taught us valuable lessons. Through out centuries tales and stories have been used as a valuable tool to pass on our culture to new generations. There is a strong belief that these fairy tales mirror and influence society. All cultures interpret tales in their own unique way. They add and subtract various aspects of the tale to fit the needs of their particular society. The same tale in the United States is different from the tale told in Asia. A good example of tale evolution can be seen in one of the most famous tales ever told which is “Cinderella”. As a professor of women’s history Karol Kelley points out in her essay Pretty Woman: A Modern Cinderella “There are some 700 versions of Cinderella”.This fairy tale as many others has been changing for many years, and in recent years Cinderella has come under some criticism for its depiction of women’s roles in society.
Most modern fairytales are expected to have happy endings and be appropriate for children, nonetheless, in past centuries most were gruesome. Consequently, fairytales have been modified throughout time. The stories “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and “The Summer and Winter Garden” by Jacob and Wilherm Grimm share similarities and differences. The two stories are distinct because of the peculiar year they have been written in. LePrince de Beaumont’s story is written in London of 1783 and Grimm’s in Germany of 1812. At the time, wealthy people in London, were educated and had nannies who would read to their children; whereas, in Germany, the Grimm brothers created their own interpretation into a short story. Because many high class parents in 18th century London would not be able to spend time with their children, nannies would read “Beauty and the Beast” to them since they were intended for children and considered appropriate. In “The Summer and Winter Garden,” the Grimm’s’ story was mostly based to entertain misbehaved children and teach them the valuable lesson that everyone should be treated with kindness. The Grimm brothers’ goal in rewriting this short story is to better children’s behavior which worked quite well. Since these stories have been re-written for children, it would be safe to say the reason why parents expose the two stories to their children is because they both portray the same moral: good things happen to good people. The two interpretations of “Beauty and the Beast,” although written in separate countries, share important similarities and differences even though the authors have different interpretations and came from different cultures.
The tale of Sleeping Beauty is influenced by oral folklore and various written versions. Today fairytales are told as a domain for the entertainment and teachings of children. In traditional storytelling, peasants transmitted folklore orally around campfires to audiences of mixed ages. However, during the 17th century, peasant tales, such as Sleeping Beauty, were altered by writers like Charles Perrault’s, to appeal to the courts of aristocracy. Thus the characters of Sleeping Beauty adorned a courtly air to appeal to the crown, such as Louis XIV of France. Throughout history, various cultural influences transformed the tale of Sleeping Beauty through the manipulation of various social forces to achieve better entertainment purposes and reflect Christian beliefs and customs. In addition, the moral of the tale conveys a message that women remain passive in hope to marry her true lov...
In today’s modern age, young children are being raised by their TV screen. Reining from the original tales of Perrault and the Grim Brothers, the Disney princess line has been a staple on the screens since the 1930s (Do Rozario 1). However, these princesses have gone through dramatic changes to remain relevant to todays youth. The effects that can be influenced by the roles expressed in these types of films send mixed messages to the audience, causing them to ask themselves whether or not they should believe what the princess is expressing on the screen.
In many classic stories, youth often equates to beauty; as old age does to a scornful, maybe even evil person. A well known example of this being the differences between Princess aurora (also known as Briar-Rose) and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. I watched Sleeping Beauty as child over 10 years ago, and I saw Maleficent about 2 years ago when it came to theaters. When I first viewed these two Disney versions of the story, I never knew the original version of “Sleeping Beauty.” When I watched Maleficent I wanted to believe that was closer to the original story because it was more engaging and it was not about a set in stone princess and villain. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is more faithful to the original tale it was based on, but Maleficent is a far better and interesting spin of the story.
The one thing that separates Beauty and the Beast from all the other fairy tales is that Beauty gets to know the Beast before marrying him. She lives with him for several months and gets to know him for what he is inside. He is not a prince that rescues her but she is a woman that rescues him. It is only when she professes her love for him that he is transformed. If it wasn’t for her love of the Beast from the inside he would have never been transformed and they would not have been wed. Yes, he helps her mature and become a beautiful, young women but it is her that causes the transformation.
Disney and old fairytales threaten gender politics and ideal women roles by giving certain stereotypes for domestic and personality traits. Fairytales that have turned into Disney productions have sculpted domestic roles for women that consist of cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. Disney has also created these princesses with personalities that are shy, passive, and vulnerable. The cause of these stereotypes are making individuals obliterate their own identities and becoming clones from the mold that was prepared for