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Journalism Class - Friday October 7

Muttering quietly beneath his breath, Spider is leaning against his desk, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth and an old book in his hands. "All right, class. You've talked about the four basics of most stories guaranteed to grab someone's attention - heroes, villians, beauty and ugliness." He held up the book. "Today we're going to take a very basic story from this book of Fairy Tales, and discuss what it might have been like with any one, or all four, of those traits reversed beneath the obvious surface. Treat the story as a whitewash of very different events or one side of a much darker story."

"I've chosen two stories and there are copies of each on my desk. Take them, familiarize yourself with the stories, and discuss. If you have a favorite story that is also in this book," he raised it again, "you may use that instead, but be sure to make copies of the story so that those students unfamiliar with the world from which it was drawn can debate and follow along."

The two print-outs consist of the older, darker version of Cindarella (complete with maimings and eye gougings) and Rapunzel (again with the eye gougings and this time with Teen Pregnancy (tm)!.

"This assignment is worth double credit, particularly if either start a debate on the nature of one of our four topics in context, or manage a good revision of the chosen story itself. You may be as literal or metaphorical as you like." Spider glanced around. "Please try to keep off-topic chatter to a bare minimum today."

((OOC: Pardon the player as they are very, very sleepy, but the point of all this is, more or less, to put a 'spin' on the existing story so that the 'facts' support the change in status from beautiful/ugly - hero/villian.))

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George sighs and approaches the Professor's desk to take the two print-outs. She scans them each and decides to talk about Cinderella first.

"I always thought Cinderella was a fucked up story anyway. So I guess I should look at it from the stepsisters' point of view. Yeah, they got some slave labor out of Cinderella, but they've gotta feed her, and she is automatically competition for any eligible bachelors out there. They do what they feel they must for their own survival. Does that make them villians? All of us do the same sort of shit to each other every day -- metaphorical eye-gouging."

Oz offers a quiet nod. He knows too well what George is talking about. "I think you're right, on all accounts. People will knock each other down in a milisecond, often without caring about the ramifications of their actions. People are cruel to each other."

George thinks guiltily of Phoebe. "Sometimes it's not that they don't care, or that they're being selfish... it's that they don't realize their own actionsare having such a damaging impact.

"It's sort of like the beauty conversation we had earlier. What if you're being purposely cruel to someone because you think that it's the best thing for them -- being cruel to be kind? And what about 'tough love?' You're completely justified in your own mind, you're the hero of the piece. What if the Stepmother thought that what she was doing to Cinderella was the best possible thing for her?"

"Right would be loving all the children equally. She loved the father, and the girl was a product of him, a living reminder of him. Treating her like dirt certainly couldn't be right, it also wouldn't be right to treat her like her father treated her when he was alive. Right would hav ebeen trying to find a middle ground. Bu the stepmother wasn't thinking that way. I agree with you, she thought/i> she was doing the right thing for the child, trying to teach her humility. But thinking something is right does't make it right."

John takes the two hand outs.

"You know, regardless of the way she went about it, I always thought Cinderella's stepmother was, deep down in her heart, thinking of her kids first by trying to find a suitable suitor to provide and care for them. And if she got some power and money out of the deal, then all the better. She was almost the hero in the story but Cinderella stole her thunder."

I agree, the step mother was watching out for her own. I mean she was forced to sacrifice her life to care for a child that was not hers after her husband up and died on her and Cinderella was an indulged spoiled brat who's father denied her nothing. I mean, imagine not only have to deal with losing your husband that you loved and raising your two daughters once again on your own, but now out of moral obligation to the man you loved, you have to raise Cinderella who was obviously never told no. I think some eye gouging and beatings may have been needed because she was so overindulged. I mean who's to say she was not a wild little tramp and the only way to control her was to keep her beaten down and tired from working all day to keep her from going out at night and coming home in the condition of our Rapunzel here.

Jake shuffles in, wearing blue flannel pjs and carrying a coffee mug (http://pics.livejournal.com/courier_gavin/pic/000091cr). She doesn't seem quite awake. She heads directly for her desk without grabbing the print-outs.

"I was raised by my ma, no da around. Most of the time I was too caught up in my own things to notice, but I know it wasn't easy for Ma to be raisin' two boys on her own. Kids are difficlt to raise with two parents, when it's only one...and another wayward brat is thrown into the mix, that would complicate matters. The way the story is traditionally presented, we see how Wee Cinderella suffers, and we're conditioned to respond to that. We're forced to see the stepmoher as evil, forced to see the stepsisters as horrid and malicious. We don't see how they have strugged, after losing ther father not once but twice, and the second perhaps treated them as the stepmother treated poor Cindy."

"That's what often happens in society, aye. The less fortunate are overlooked when those who have everything lose it suddenly and find themselves strugging somehow. It's not fair, it's not right, it's not just. Feel the unfortunate soul's pain, because they knew better. Knew different. Knew once how wonderful life could be and it's been taken away. Who cares about the ones who can only dream of a better life? They don't know the different anyway."

*frowns*

I dOn't undeRstaNd the quEstIon.

Rory grabs the handouts, and scans them.

"You know, fairy tales started out as cautionary tales to young women. They're almost entirely metaphorical, and most of the ugly themes that we've edited out were put there to keep ladies pure," she says to no one in particular.

Marty sneaks into the classroom with what appears to be a sandwich made of two pieces of bread surrounding pixie stix sugar and crushed Captain Crunch cereal. He hands her the sandwich and flares his nostrils.

"Thought you'd like an early start."

She snorts, and gingerly pokes the sandwich.

"Um. Thank you?"

[ooc: I was going to wait until later to break out the actual Ally Sheedy icons, because Rory's scheduled for the dunk tank later and OMG her costume/outfit can't get wet!!]

"What's the matter Gilmore? Not hungry?"

[OOC:No worries. Marty's mun is just bored out of his mind at work. Angela's around someplace. When are we starting the whole double date shindig. Thought of a way to get you out of eating the sandwich. See ya at the dunk tank]

"Big breakfast," she says, patting her flat stomach. "Very full."

[ooc: I figured Angela and Rory would probably have some pre-HC girly helping-each-other-get-ready stuff, and then the guys could pick them up from that locations whenever. Since Logan made reservations, I'm guessing there's a particular time we're shooting for, but you'll have to ask Logan's mun.]

[OOC: Pinged him.]

Xander studies both handouts, twitching back and forth from a grin to a frown. "Is it cheating if you actually lived through the story? Where I come from, Hansel and Gretel aren't innocent little kids with a craving for fresh-baked drywall -- they're a demon that pretends to be innocent and pretty -- and dead. Then it gets high on all the fear-and-hate juice created by the witch-hunt for whoever 'killed' them."

um, I'm. sorrY?

"Fairytales...can come true... it can happen to you... if ~~you're young at heart~~ you live in the suckiest town on earth..." Xander sings.

I liKe youR Town ThouGh. SOmetImes wE siNg songs toGether about. um. CorN and stArs and the bRoken thinGS that lIVe in the bRokenesT shadOws.

This is not entirely on-topic, but most of the old stories, I must note, are in the "that's life, take it or leave it" vein of thought.

D takes the hand outs and settles in to read through them.

[ooc: If I have time, I'll come back with a reaction type thingy from her.]

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Journalism Class - Friday October 7

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