http://steel-not-glass.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] steel-not-glass.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2011-05-25 05:40 am
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Sex And Candy, Wednesday, Second Period

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.]

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[identity profile] showmetheproof.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 09:52 am (UTC)(link)
Dana Scully (who is both)

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[identity profile] showmetheproof.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
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.
wwiii: (NOM)

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[personal profile] wwiii 2011-05-25 11:32 am (UTC)(link)
Warren Worthington III
wwiii: (O rly)

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[personal profile] wwiii 2011-05-25 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
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.
walkswithcoyote: (Coyote standing)

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[personal profile] walkswithcoyote 2011-05-25 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Mercy Thompson, coyote
walkswithcoyote: (Default)

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[personal profile] walkswithcoyote 2011-05-25 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Mercy looked around for a partner.
onlymistaken: (sneaky - hiding)

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[personal profile] onlymistaken 2011-05-25 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Cally
icecoldfrost: (I can kill you with my mind)

Re: Talk to the TAs

[personal profile] icecoldfrost 2011-05-25 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Emma most assuredly was not a ginger, so that made her a wolf. She wouldn't eat any students that had questions, however.
onlymistaken: (conversation - listening - skeptical)

Re: Class Activity: Advanced Edition

[personal profile] onlymistaken 2011-05-25 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"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."

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[identity profile] kestrelswolf.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Image
notmyownage: (*is looking up*)

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[personal profile] notmyownage 2011-05-25 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Claudia Donovan

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[identity profile] showmetheproof.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"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."
weldedtomyspine: (concerned)

Re: Talk to the TAs

[personal profile] weldedtomyspine 2011-05-25 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[identity profile] twintuitionist.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Juliet Darling

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[identity profile] child-of-rer.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Sov Thade Tage em Ereb

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[identity profile] didntchewgrass.livejournal.com 2011-05-25 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Elphaba Thropp
wwiii: (Kinda Pained Smile)

Re: Class Activity: Compare & Contrast

[personal profile] wwiii 2011-05-25 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"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."
selfhelphero: ([com] magic is my forte)

Re: Sign in (Week 3)

[personal profile] selfhelphero 2011-05-25 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Billy Kaplan

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