Traditional Fairy Tales, Class Twelve (04/02)

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Monday, April 2, Period Two

Students, upon entering the classroom, discover that it is decorated in a strange mixture of very "boyish" sports themes and very "girlish" flowers and kittens. Aziraphale looks a little apologetic, as he stands to begin the lecture.

"As you may be able to tell from the unusual decorations, today we'll be discussing Gender Roles in fairy tales. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, so please keep in mind that not every tale will fit the models we discuss today."

LECTURE: "Most fairy tales separate the genders into very traditional roles, according to whether they fulfill the purpose of hero or villain. Male heroic figures are generally either princes or poor but clever youths. They are adventurous, brave, and demonstrate an ability to overcome obstacles through the use of cleverness and often deceit. They fight, solve problems, find treasure, rescue princesses, and outwit monsters and witches. Male villains are very often monstrous -- giants, ogres, dragons, trolls -- and are gluttonous, lustful and wrathful. Both the heros and the villians share very stereotypical 'male' traits as well: skills in weaponry, outdoorsmanship, and the handling of animals; an interest in treasure or leadership; positions of social power. Even the poor 'Jack' figures are often the male representative in the household.

"Female heroic figures usually rely on their wits and their womanly skills. They use their ability to sew, cook and tend children in order to reach their goals. They generally do not use conventional weapons or go out into the world on adventures, and they are often put into the position of being the 'prize' or 'reward' in a story. Their lives are controlled by a male figure -- father, brother, husband, etc. Female villains are nearly always either evil sorceresses or hags, who cast curses and spells. They are motivated by jealousy, vanity, and greed."

CLASS DISCUSSION: "Using the three tales assigned for today's reading: "Rushencoatie", "Johnny Gloke", and "Baba Yaga"", choose a male character and a female character and discuss how they are portrayed in the stories. How do they represent the traditional stereotypes of men and women as they appear in fairy tales?

"To start you off, I'll give two examples, from earlier reading assignments. In "Little Snow White", the evil queen is an excellent example of the stereotypical Female Villain. She practices witchcraft, an art associated with women much more strongly than with men. She is motivated by her personal vanity, believing herself to be the most beautiful woman in the land until Snow White comes of age. To rid herself of her rival, she does not attempt to kill the girl with her own hands, but rather first sends a loyal male figure to do it for her, and then later uses a potion -- related to the art of cooking -- to create a poison apple. Instead of fighting, she employs disguise and subterfuge as her weapons.

In "Jack and the Beanstalk", the Male Hero is the only male in his household, therefore holding the traditional position of power in what would be his most immediate world. He exhibits bravery in setting off alone to climb the beanstalk, and although he doesn't fight with the giant directly, he does make use of an axe to bring down the beanstalk and kill his enemy."

READING ASSIGNMENT: "Read "The Fairy Serpent". We will meet next week in the Danger Shop for another Immersion Study.

ABSENCE LIST:
Matilda Wormwood (five absences) excused
Jude Lizowski (one absence)

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



Syllabus
Class Roster
Linkdrop for classes

Comments

Sign In

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

...

Re: Sign In

[pyroliz.livejournal.com]

Liz Sherman

Re: Sign In

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River Tam

Class Discussion

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Using the three tales assigned for today's reading, choose a male character and a female character and discuss how they are portrayed in the stories. How do they represent the traditional stereotypes of men and women as they appear in fairy tales?

Re: Class Discussion

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

"Well, in Baba Yaga, the stepmother is evil, of course; so are most women who replace the real mothers. And Baba Yaga is old, ugly, cruel, and hungry-- the traditional crone hwo has to be propitiated before the heroine can be said to be an adult," Evie said, thinking aloud. "They don't say if the girl is beautiful or not, but she's at least smart enough to know when she's in trouble, and to take good advice. And while her kindness to the animals and magic artifacts is a result of that advice, mostly, giving the handkerchief isn't, so that's another virtue there, as well as persistence, and surviving to tell on her stepmother." She frowned. "Although the father then shooting her isn't exactly... traditional."

Re: Class Discussion

[chasingsnitches.livejournal.com]

"In Johnny Gloke, the main character, a male tailor, seems to think he must seek fame and honor and cannot find that through being a tailor. The male figure in most stories seems to have to be strong, brave and have a job that makes those traits come to the forefront. A man cannot be a tailor and be thought of strong and brave. In Baba Yaga, the old woman is the evil one. The dark lady who uses magic for her benefit. Typically, it seems, most women are shown as evil, old, not beautiful but possessing a magic that can more than make up for it and they, of course, must be defeated."

Re: Class Discussion

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"And yet some women are evil and beautiful," Isobel said a little archly. "The Queen in Snow White for one. Men find women a threat - especially women with power - and in response they make powerful women evil or old and ugly. They must be defeated because a man cannot allow a woman to be more powerful or talented than they are."

Re: Class Discussion

[sensethevisions]

Briana wrinkled her nose. "I find myself wondering why the young girl in Rushencoatie didn't use the magic she obviuosly had at her disposal to reveal what was going on and overthrow her step-mother and her ugly step-sisters?"

Re: Class Discussion

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Yeah now that you mention it I'm wondering that myself. Probably goes along with the 'traditional' virtues of a young woman in those stories. They liked their women to be meek and demure back then I guess."

Talk to Aziraphale

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Questions, thoughts, or idle chit-chat for the professor

Re: Talk to Aziraphale

[bookwormwood.livejournal.com]

Matilda marched up to her professor after class, looking quite sad, and ashamed.

Re: Talk to Aziraphale

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale was actually rather relieved to see Matilda. With an encouraging nod, he said, "Miss Wormwood. It's good to have you back."

Talk to the TAs

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Er...if you dare.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[sensethevisions]

Briana had found out that she was something called a "Teacher's Assistant", so here she was, sitting and relaxing, waiting to see what happens.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

For the first part of class, Aziraphale was distracted enough with his lecture that, aside from casting a puzzled look toward his TAs, he didn't really take much notice of anything unusual.

But once the discussion had begun, and he wandered over toward the two girls, he was brought up short by the realization that something was very wrong.

"What exactly is going on here?" he asked, in a low but stern voice.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Isobel honestly could care less about this whole thing, but she sat and waited for anyone who might have questions for her. She tried to avoid her grin when she saw Jack enter the room and did her best to look a bit teary and upset whenever she thought he or Cedric were looking in her direction.

Oh that had been so much fun. She actually wished Jack or Sam had tried to attack her last night. Wouldn't they have gotten a surprise!

Re: Talk to the TAs

[sensethevisions]

She had figured out that this TA thing had some freedoms and responsibilities associated with it. However, she fast beginning to get bored -- just like with the earlier class she had gone to.

Briana looked at Isobel. "Hey," she said softly. "How come this one's boyfriend was able to tell I wasn't her?"

Re: Talk to the TAs

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

["What exactly is going on here?" (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomhigh/1314580.html?thread=77080084#t77080084)

Talk Amongst Yourselves

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Since you will anyway.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

Evie waved cheerfully over at Jack, and smiled at Cedric. "Did you have a nice weekend?"

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Jack so wasn't in the mood for class discussion. Instead he was just sitting as far away as possible from certain people, alternating between pretending they didn't exist and thinking up ever more elaborate ways to make their life very difficult and far shorter.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

Madeline found this whole thing quite boring. At least Isobel and Briana were here too.

[slow to no play while at work; Lana and Phoebe may mod if needed for any possessed wacky hijinks.]

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

[pyroliz.livejournal.com]

Liz quietly took notes but she really wasn't very focused on them since she was mostly thinking about the weekend.

OOC

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

My schedule seems to be getting back to something more normal now.

Re: OOC

[sensethevisions]

*is amused by the flailing that Phale will end up doing* :)