fandomhigh | Traditional Fairy Tales, Class Seven (02/19)

Monday, February 19, Second Period

The usual offering of breakfast pastries and drinks was laid out on the table. Aziraphale was looking slightly distracted, and occasionally would lose track of what he was doing and stare off into space with a bemused expression. He appeared to be in good spirits, however, albeit a bit sheepish.

“Before we begin our discussion, I have a bit of other business to take care of. First, there is a list on the wall of students who missed class last week, and from whom I will need written excuses.

Armony Eiselstein
~~Phoebe Halliwell~~ excused
~~Jack Harkness~~ excused
~~Jude Lizowski~~ excused
~~Miley Stewart~~ excused

Second, I’d like to remind all of you that I need to speak with at least one representative from your project groups regarding your end of term projects. My regular office hours are third and fourth periods on Tuesdays, or you can sign up ~~below in the comments~~ to schedule a meeting at another time. Lastly, I also want to remind you all that we’ll be making a trip to New York City over the weekend of March 16-18 with Dr Wilson’s Conflict Management class.”

LECTURE/DISCUSSION: “Your reading assignments for this week, and the reading assignment you’ll have tonight, deal with the themes of morals and morality in fairy tales. Not only do the tales present common character types, but they often deal with the concepts of sin, corruption and punishment, as well as the dichotomy of good versus evil.

“For today’s discussion, I want you to look at the tales you read, "Little Snow White" and "Lambikin", and consider how they depict the Seven Deadly Sins:

Wrath
Greed
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth
Envy
Pride

“To start you off, I’ll use the example of Pride as it’s found in “Little Snow White”. The evil step-mother, who is a witch or sorceress, owns a mirror which she uses to reinforce her self-image as the most beautiful woman in the land. When this self-image is threatened – when her Pride is threatened – she lashes out and attempts to destroy her competition. In this way, the evils of the extremes of pride are depicted for the tale’s audience, presenting a case for moderation and humility.”

READING ASSIGNMENT: “Your reading assignment for our next class is "Jack and the Beanstalk". Remember that there’s no class next week due to Spring Break. However, the week after we’ll be meeting in the Danger Shop for another Immersion Study.”

[OOC information about the group projects: Your group project assignment is choose a tale not on the reading list for class and to update it for a different setting, maintaining the character archetypes, themes, etc. There are a number of ways you can do this: rewrite the tale so that it takes place in a modern/futuristic setting, keep the “medieval” setting but rewrite the story itself to reflect modern sensibilities, rewrite the tale for a different cultural setting, etc. If you’re not certain how to go about this, please contact me OOC or talk to Aziraphale IC for assistance.]

[ooc: ~~Please wait for~~ OCD is up and class is in session.]

Syllabus
Class Roster
Project Groups
Linkdrop for classes

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"There'd be a lot more sugar. And nap time. Which I wouldn't say no to right now." Jack stretched out and groaned a little. "If I'm going to talk, maybe we should actually talk about the sin thing. Though I still don't see what's so bad about them," he added under his breath.

"Right, ummm, well, they're supposed to lead to bad things," Evie said worriedly, "Mostly through overindulgence in each. Not so bad to be angry, very bad to be so angry you kill someone, for instance." She blinked. "And not so bad to eat a great deal, but very silly, at least, to eat so much you can't run away."

"Yeah, I can see that. It makes sense." Jack pondered it for a minute. "But they don't say that. They say they're bad in and of themselves. There's no proviso or addendum. No 'only in large doses' warning," he said, frowning. "And some of those are my favourite things."

"I think some of that is the culture they were based in, of course-- it was just understood that the ideal was moderation. And of course they're very simplified for children." Evie frowned anxiously, hoping Jack was feeling all right. "But, well, envy, for instance. How could that be good?"

"It could be a spur?" Jack had no idea actually, and he put his head down on his knee. "If you really envied someone, and wanted to be better than them, you could end up doing things you never thought you could."

Evie patted him on the head. "Oh, dear. Yes, of course you're right and why don't you take a little nap? Or perhaps I can get you a muffin? If your pride will allow it?"

Jack tilted his head to look at her, and if he was casting her a deliberately woeful look, well, a muffin sounded pretty good right about then. "I think me and my pride could let you get me a muffin. And maybe a coffee?"

"Definitely," Evie said determinedly, even knowing that look from Jonathan's hungover days. Jack was injured, it was entirely different. She came back with a lemon poppyseed muffin and a nice big cup of coffee. "And neither gluttony nor sloth should thwart you."

That made him smile at her as he accepted both, attention primarily focussed on the coffee, and he drained half the mug before saying, "Trust me, I won't." He broke the muffin in two and offered half to Evie. "I'll even share."

Evie beamed at him and accepted her half a muffin. "You see? Not so very difficult. You'd never die in a fairy tale, Jack."

"Of course not," he replied, taking a careful bite of muffin. "I'm Jack. Jacks are the heroes, or at least the protagonists. They never die, or else there's no story."

Traditional Fairy Tales, Class Seven (02/19)

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