Traditional Fairy Tales, Class Twelve (04/09)

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Monday, April 9, Period Two

The class assembles in the Danger Shop. To one side is a small clearing with a pleasant cottage, to the other side is a forest full of flowers.

CLASS EXERCISE: "Your assignment today deals with the story of "The Fairy Serpent". I'm certain you're all familiar with variations of this story -- "The Fairy Serpent" is a Chinese tale, but the story is better-known in Western countries as "Beauty and the Beast". It also has strong similarities to several of the stories we've read throughout our class. You may have noticed that this tale presents examples of four fairly typical gender roles: the father, who dotes on his children but whose foolish actions put the family into trouble; the serpent, really a prince under a curse who needs help in being freed; the older daughter, who is too selfish to put the needs of her family before her own; and the younger daughter, whose self-sacrifice and cleverness rescue them all.

"For this exercise, I'd like you to break into groups of four. Each of the four should take on one of the four roles. But instead of playing out the story as you read it, I'd like you to think about the stereotypes for the role you've chosen, and then try to break those stereotypes. Can you present us with a new interpretation of these four characters?"

ASSIGNMENT: "Next week we will have our last test of the term, and the week after you will present your final projects to the class."

[OOC: Please use the OCD threads to join up into your groups. You can simply discuss the possibilities for turning around the stereotyped gender roles, but please also feel free to play out the story with your new and "improved" characters. Tag the OOC thread if you have questions. And, of course, please wait for the OCD is up and class is in session.]

Unexcused Absences
Jude Lizowski (one absence)
Miley Steward (one absence)


Syllabus
Class Roster
Linkdrop for classes