This Class...

This is the last day of class. I was anxious about taking this class because I am a writing minor and get to select only a few upper division lit. classes. I figured that I would be better off taking a Shakespeare class or Brit lit. Something where the stories were for adults, that was more likely to help me with my writing. I wanted to write for adults anyway, so what would Children's Lit have to offer me? Boy am I eating my words. Children's lit has everything to teach me about my own writing. It is the basis for all stories. duh! Why didn't I figure that out. And yet I am glad that it has taken this long for that information to filter down to me. I can still see the cleverness in a signature but I no longer see the magic in the story. This doesn't mean I'll give up reading, I love it to much, but I do feel as though a piece of the mystery is gone. I have always admired what I believed to be originality and I wanted my own art to be original. But it won't be, because whether or not I want to be, I am influenced by others that have gone before me, as is an author by those before him or her . I'm not upset, I know more than I did before I started this class and that was the goal. I really have had a blast.

Dr. Sexson, All of my posts are on here but they are under the month headings off to the side rather than continuing down the full page. It starts with August. I hope this all makes sense, otherwise you can e-mail me any questions. Thanks for another creative and entertaining semester!

Research

I decided to look at women's roles in fairy tales for my research topic. I didn't think that this would be a terribly interesting topic but more that there would be several opinions on the web that I could sort of bounce off of. That is true there were many people, mostly women that spoke out on this topic. What I did not count on was that I would find it interesting, or that I would really form an opinion. I took "women in photography" a few semesters ago and it was held by the women's studies dept. I was kind of put off by these people that called themselves feminists. Some of them were really angry and did a lot of complaining to say the least. I felt that women needed to fight through more action, less talk. Anyway, I could go on about this forever. It's really beside the point. What I wanted to say was that the clear gender role distinctions within fairy tales are fascinating. What was even more interesting was that I could then reflect on how I have been affected by fairy tales. It's true that there is a huge emphasis on beauty in our society, but as a child some of the first tales you hear prep you for this world. I know that as a young (5-7) girl I felt that it was extremely important that I be a beautiful princess. It mortified me growing up that I felt my sister (senior by three years) was more beautiful than me. That was going to ruin my life, I couldn't be the ugly sister. And yet I was. I didn't want that to be the role I played. I would never get me a prince!
All of this now mixed with my paper has actually helped me to understand myself better. I am no worse off for having read fairy tales as a kid, don't get me wrong, but I understand better where some of these feelings were coming from. I still plan to read fairy tales to my own children (if that day ever happens) but I will also expose them to stories like Shrek.

Thesis

I thought that I would put my general thesis statement idea on the web so that anyone that came across it could give me feed back. I am researching gender roles in fairytales. I think I am going to take the angle that these fairy tale lessons on gender are no longer relevant to our society. I think that this may be too broad so I might cut it down to just woman's gender roles in fairy tales. There is generally always an emphasis on appearance. Beautiful = good. Ugly/Old = bad. That's a real generalization but it does seem to fit several cases. (Not all however, the Grimm's Cinderella has the two step sisters as beautiful, and not nice). Also there seems to be lessons on how men and women are meant to behave. Men strong and gallant. Women submissive and demur.
Anyhow, if anyone has any ideas, let me know! Thanks.

Snow White

Today was group presentations. I love this section of the class. I hate having to orginise a group of six people to come together as a cohesive group but I absolutely love the actual presentations and I would just like to say that I thoughouly enjoyed the Snow White groups film. It was clever, funny and informative. They did a really great job. I grew up as a product of Disney and this class has really opened my eyes to the real fairy tales. I'm not saying that I don't still enjoy Disney, but there was a whole other fairy tale world out there. One of sex and violence not talking mice and fairy dust. I am so glad that I have gotten to take this class. It has really opened my eyes.
Back to the Snow White's though. They just did a marvilous job of showing Disney's income intent when it came to remaking fairy tales. I don't think Disney's desire to remake fairy tales came from a love of the tales or a desire to pay homage to the fairy tale, I believe it came from a desire to succeed. The Snow White group was really able to show that in their presentation. Great job guys!

Happy Turkey Day

Over the Thanksgiving break my group has alloted research topics. I am researching the Freudian interpretation of Cinderella. The info that I found was so interesting that I thought I would share it with all of you.
This all revolves around the scene where Cinderella loses her shoe.
- When the Prince and Cinderella are dancing the rythmical activity is symbolic of sexual energy or sexual build up.
- Running up or down stairs, (Cinderella running down) is symbolic of the act of sexual intercourse.
- The shoe represents the virgina, and the fact that cinderella loses her shoe while running down the stairs is symbolic of her losing her virginity.
- 12AM, the due time, is representative of the climax, and there is even comments here made about the Disney version of Cinderella where the pulsating clock represents the libidinal discharge.
All very racy stuff for a children's story!

J. D. Salinger.

I've spent a little time on the web researching the life of J.D. Salinger. I wanted to get the background because I felt that I could get a better perspective on how he could have written such a heart wrenching, depressing but beautiful book. I was interested in knowing what life Salinger had that would inspire him to create "The Catcher in the Rye". This is what I found out:
- Salinger never had a good relationship with his father. He didn't attend his fathers funeral
- Salinger was half Jewish, during WWII, and fought against the Nazis. He saw over 100% of his battalian killed (they kept bringing in replacements).
- It is believed that Salinger may have been with some of the first people to see the concentration camps. He never talks about his time in the military, so no-one knows for sure.
- Salinger got out of the army for psychotic reasons. He got himself out. Yellow? No. And he talked about being yellow in "The Catcher in the Rye."
- Salinger claims that he continues to write, although no-one has seen any works. He keeps them in a vault.
- He told his daughter that there is a color code for what to do with his writing once he is dead. Publish straight away, edit, then publish, etc.
- Many people believe that he may be a recluse because it helps his sales.
Anywho, I found this all interesting so I thought I would share!

Why Grimms?

Why is the Grimms' collection of fairy tales considered "The" book of fairy tales? I believe that we even went as far as comparing the Grimms' to the Bible. But why? From what I can gather, the Grimm Brothers got together and rewrote a collection of fairy tales. They didn't even get it right the first time, but had to do it again. As these two gentlemen rewrote these tales they molded them to fit their morals and their ideals. They gave us their lessons. The Grimms' did not agree with the many of the sexual references, so they took them out! Violence however, in general, was OK. I'm not saying that the Grimm Brothers didn't do a good job, I'm just curious as to why it is their job that got stuck on that canonical list. I'm bringing this up because I have a feeling that it was just easier to pick one big collection rather than read all of the versions and pick the most fitting for the cannon. Or maybe they did, and just thought that every Grimms' tale was the best (I highly doubt this). You know, I don't even know why we need to pick canonical fairy tales, if you ask me (and no-one did), I would say that all fairy tales ought to find their way into the cannon, rather than just one set. They all have as much right to be there. As far as comparing the Grimm Brother's tales to the bible, I find that interesting. I don't care to comment on that any further at present though. Suffice it to say, I am still mulling it over.