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

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Earthy?" Scully offered, amused. "And I wish we could too, but if she's still alive, you'd think she'd try to save her granddaughter. And I can't think of how she could be, if the Wolf is wearing her nightgown. I suppose she could panic and run away into the woods to get lost... and come back with a nice woodsman. But almost seems even more far-fetched."

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[wwiii]

"Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, Grandmother's got to get eaten."

Unless Grandmother knew karate and kicked the wolf's ass, and then gave Red a dressing-down when she got there later, but that kind of destroyed more of the story, still.

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Poor Grandma." Scully still looked liked she wanted to laugh. "Now, if we were going to modernize it instead of just change it, Grandmother would live on Park West with a doorman and wouldn't get eaten, but the doorman would be a goner."

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[wwiii]

"And the building manager would pitch a fit," Warren laughed. "I think that might be pushing it just a little, though."

If they were from Warren's world, little Red would have superpowers and would just teleport the wolf to another cottage, or maybe stop time, or something...

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully held up her fingers verrrry close together. "Juuuust a smidge." And in her life, the doorman would turn out to be an alien conspirator, and Grandmother would be in on it.

But who would ever believe that?