Tall Tales and Peculiar Parodies

1. Tall Tales and Peculiar Parodies An Exploration of Fairy Tales and Their Counterparts

2. “Fairy tales are rich blueprints that help us understand and create our own worlds.” - Catherine Hardwicke

3. What makes a fairy tale?

4. What makes a fairy tale? • Often begins with “Once upon a time…” or “Long ago…” • Has characters such as kings, queens, princesses, and princes, and there is usually an “evil villain” • Takes place in far away places • Often contains magic • Characters have unusual names • Has a happy ending

5. Anything else? • Sometimes characters are turned into animals • Sometimes animals can talk • They usually have specific patterns – like things happen in sets of threes (3 and 7 are usually important numbers ) • Still has the general characteristics of any short story: a beginning, middle and end, conflicts, climax or turning point, protagonists, themes, etc. • There is always a moral or a lesson that the reader is supposed to get out of the story! (theme)

6. What type of fairy tales do you know? Make a list of them now! * Be prepared to share your list with others. *

7. How did you access your fairy tales? Where did you hear the fairy tales that you know?

8. Ideas? • Through family stories • Through books • Through school • Through popular media (movies, television, etc.)

9. Versions of Fairy Tales • The Grimm Brothers

10. Disney • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbqSEbALYno

11. Cultural Stories

12. Why do fairy tales persist? “Fairy tales are rich blueprints that help us understand and create our own worlds.” - Catherine Hardwicke

13. Why do fairy tales persist? • They are familiar (and sometimes comforting). • They are easy to remember (lots of patterns, fun). • They are a way to pass down cultural beliefs and customs. • They teach important lessons.

14. What happens when fairy tales are outdated? They are often updated to fit the new social norms!

15. How are they updated? • In many ways, including: • Change of genre • Character change • Change of setting (time and place) • The use of a literary framework • Humour! (parody/ satire) • Use of politically correct language

16. Change of Genre • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVqRm8G97U • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8V3cHdSC4

17. Character Change • Gender • Characteristics • Cultural Background

18. Change of Setting • This can be TIME or PLACE • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW6dNiOIOhA

19. The Use of a Literary Framework • Using different perspectives to look at the text. • For example: a feminist reading of “Little Red Riding Hood,” looking at the idea of the helpless, innocent female and the lustful, violent male

20. “The Company of Wolves” – by Angela Carter The girl looked round the room and saw there was not even the indentation of a head on the smooth cheek of the pillow and how, for the first time she’d seen it so, the Bible lay closed on the table. The tick of the clock cracked like a whip. She wanted her knife from her basket but she did not dare reach for it because his eyes were fixed upon her – huge eyes that now seemed to shine with a unique, interior light, eyes the size of saucers, saucers full of Greek fire,7 diabolic phosphorescence. ‘What big eyes you have.’ ‘All the better to see you with.’ No trace at all of the old woman except for a tuft of white hair that had caught in the bark of an unburned log. When the girl saw that, she knew she was in danger of death. ‘Where is my grandmother?’ ‘There’s nobody here but we two, my darling.’ Now a great howling rose up all around them, near, very near, as close as the kitchen garden, the howling of a multitude of wolves; she knew the worst wolves are hairy on the inside and she shivered, in spite of the scarlet shawl she pulled more closely round herself as if it could protect her although it was as red as the blood she must spill. ‘Who has come to sing us carols,’ she said. ‘Those are the voices of my brothers, darling; I love the company of wolves. Look out of the window and you’ll see them.’ Snow half-caked the lattice and she opened it to look into the garden. It was a white night of moon and snow; the blizzard whirled round the gaunt, grey beasts who squatted on their haunches among the rows of winter cabbage, pointing their sharp snouts to the moon and howling as if their hearts would break. Ten wolves; twenty wolves – so many wolves she could not count them, howling in concert as if demented or deranged. Their eyes reflected the light from the kitchen and shone like a hundred candles.

21. Humour • Satire: • A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it. • Some Techniques Used: • Exaggeration – to enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen. • Incongruity – to present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings. • Reversal – to present the opposite of the normal order (e.g. the order of events, hierarchal order) • Parody – to imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing.

22. Political Correctness • To be “politically correct” means to speak and act in a manner that is respectful and aware of the discriminatory power of language. When a person speaks in a way that is politically correct, they are aware of traditional biases and discriminatory roles for different members of society. • Done in 2 ways: • Choice of words • Creation of new roles