Sex And Candy, Wednesday, Second Period

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

The bell had barely finished ringing before Cindy began her lecture. She'd been looking forward to it all week, even dressing in red to match. "So, last week, we covered what fairy tales were, or, at least, were not, distinguishing them from myths, legends, and fables. Today, we're going to dive into what this class is about: examining the stories themselves. Now, most of what we consider fairy tales in this day and age have been Bowdlerized and Disneyfied: anything rude or shocking has been removed, good guys win, bad guys die, sex and violence are tidied up or happen off-screen. But in the early days of these stories, there was a lot less scrutiny on what was considered 'acceptable' for children. In fact, the idea that childhood was meant to be a time of carefree innocence didn't evolve until middle class Victorians decided that it should be true and began a campaign to that effect. Until then, children were often considered miniature adults. Making stories less frightening or less violent was hardly on anyone's agenda up until the mid-1800's."

The vast societal changes the Victorians ushered in still staggered Cindy and she'd lived through that era. "To get an idea of some of the changes that resulted by the Victorian compulsion to tidy everything up, today we're going to read three stories. The first is the version of Little Red Riding Hood that most of you are familiar with--at least, those of you who are at all familiar with Earth fairy tales. Then there is the second adaptation, widely considered the 'original' as it is the earliest known printed version. Finally, we have a much older tale called The Grandmother. All three stories share many of the same elements, but what changes there are, are drastic. So, today we're going to look at all three stories and discuss what changes were made, why, and what lessons each story is trying to impart."

[OCD up. Be warned "The Grandmother" carries a light NSFW warning for a rude word and unsavory situations.]

Comments

Sign in (Week 3)

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

As Little Red!

...Or the Wolf.

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Dana Scully (who is both)

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[wwiii]

Warren Worthington III

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy Thompson, coyote

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[onlymistaken]

Cally

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[notmyownage]

Claudia Donovan

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

Juliet Darling

Listen to the Lecture

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Take notes, ask question, chitchat with your neighbor, hang on Cindy's every word. You know, whatever.

Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Pair up and discuss the differences between the stories. What changes take place as the stories get more modern? Why do you think those changes were made? What lesson--if any--are they trying to impart?

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully had heard this one for years, with her hair. She hadn't heard the earliest version, although she'd heard of the one where the bad child got gobbled up. She might have looked a little sardonic about the changes.

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[wwiii]

Warren had to bite his cheek to keep from smirking a little after reading the third story.

Wow.

"Quite a difference, huh?"

Look, he was a teenage boy. It was kind of difficult to read a story like that and not be at least a little amused, here.

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Quite," Scully said dryly, cocking an eyebrow at Warren in amusement. "I'm surprised the Victorians even let the story exist, but then, they'd never heard of Freud yet, either."

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[wwiii]

"Well, really, when you look at who wrote those... The Grimm brothers were German, right? And the Grandmother version was French. Victorian was kind of an English thing, wasn't it?"

Warren shrugged a bit.

"So it isn't all that surprising, really. Especially if the story has existed in more than a couple of cultures. Word of mouth can keep things like that alive, easy."

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Point," Scully said, considering. "The French version just had the bad little girl being eaten up, with a warning to avoid 'wolves.'" She smirked slightly, noticing the author's name. "17th Century. Two centuries later, the little girl doesn't die. But she's also warned not to leave the path in that one. The French version is more-- arbitrary? No chances to learn better."

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[wwiii]

"Well, no chances for her to learn better, at least. It sure does a good job of hitting the point home for anybody who doesn't want to get devoured by a wolf." Warren smirked a little. "The newer, happier one, kind of absolves Red of every misstep that she made, which sort of makes it seem like you can mess up badly enough to get your grandmother eaten by a wolf, but it's okay, just flag down some guy with a hunting knife and everything will be fine. There aren't really any consequences for anyone except for the wolf, even though Red made some pretty stupid mistakes, too."

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"That always struck me as ridiculous when I was a child, that they'd still be alive after you cut open the wolf, and that he'd run away with a belly full of stones." She considered. "Well. Less ridiculous now that I've been on this island a year..." Scully shook her head. "So, maybe they believed children couldn't appreciate consequences as much? The age of reason not being seven any more, but fourteen?"

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy looked around for a partner.

Class Activity: Advanced Edition

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Little Red's cloak is the foremost symbol of the story. It's become iconic; it takes the place of the little girl's name as well as the title of the story.

Cindy was offering candy to anyone who wanted to explain why the hood was so important, or what it might symbolize.

Re: Class Activity: Advanced Edition

[onlymistaken]

"I think it illustrates the dangers of focusing on your child's appearance instead of her intelligence," Cally said. "It's given to her because of how pretty she is, it obviously makes a bright, wonderful target for wild animals, the same colour as blood, and does nothing to protect her from being an idiot who can't recognise her own grandmother."

Talk to the TAs

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Hello!

Re: Talk to the TAs

[icecoldfrost]

Emma most assuredly was not a ginger, so that made her a wolf. She wouldn't eat any students that had questions, however.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime was there looking thoughtful. Part of him was wondering if there were anything wrong with 'cleaning up' stories. After all, he kind of liked the idea of Milagro having some innocence. And stuff.

Talk to "Professor Perrault"

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

...She's hoping no one notices the author of the printed version, yes.

OOC

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

I am in the hospital all day, so pings will be slow.