Well the reading out of Zipes wasn't too terrible this week. In every other reading it's like his words are saturated with his feelings of superiority over his audience that it was going from one page to the next. However, this chapter wasn't too painful. My only complaint is know your audience. He's writing this book for an educated audience (those in the children's or adult literary circle, college students) but I still feel like he talks down to us, especially when he's explaining a concept. He mirrors the concept of literary contaminiation to that of the body's immune system by stating that foreign invading substances (be it a virus or a slightly different version of a story) make the host stronger. This is not a hard concept to grasp yet I felt like he was writing to me as though I were a child when he took forever to finish his point. I understand this, but am not sure I agree as to the idea of making the host stronger. This is probably due in large part to the Disneyfying of certain aspects of our culture. I was talking to a college grad friend of mine about the Beauty and the Beast story and although she is educated and very well read, she had no idea that Gaston was not in the original story and I'm afraid that's how my child is going to grow up. And she's already like that, she refuses to listen to various versions of the same song because she thinks they mess up the original (even if the original version is not her frame of reference). This is all due to the contamination (or insemination) of the stories that may be necessary for the audience to to welcomely receive it, but I don't like how these artificial versions are the ones remembered. I read the Grimm stories when I was younger and even though at the time I had no idea that they were gruesome by today's standards, I'm so glad I got the opportunity to get a different perspective on the stories and the history they represent- more importantly, these are the versions that I remember and I prefer it that way.
Regarding the historical contect these stories carry, I would really like to know what was going on with step-mothers and cannibalism. How did stepmothers (Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel) get such a bad reputation? Why are the men in these stories inept (Cinderalla, Hansel & Gretel)? And why do these stories lead to cannibalism (Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel)? Was this common practice at the time? Were step-parents in general looked down upon in society and therefore could be an easy villian in these stories? I thought I had read some of these stories before, but if I had, I completely blocked out the part where the parents are the ones sending Hansel & Gretel out to be eaten by wolves or to starve... was this also something that was happening at the at time the stories were written or told? I don't understand why all the Hansel & Gretel stories were linked together. The tree stories didn't seem to fit with the exception that the child was killed by a step-mother (and maybe this is the common thread). Only these kids were killed out of jealousy... And the Molly story, this was way more greusome than I would have guessed. I still don't understand why she made the giant's wife get killed, she was nice to her and warned her about the giant. But to me, it was pretty sick to make the giant kill his own daughters and wife, and maybe dog and cat. I'd also like to know why the king wanted the giant's ring and sword. Anyway... I digress... the readings were interesting to say the least. My husband kept asking what as I sat next to him reading the fairy tales silently but expressing my disgust aloud. He likes gore and all that but even he, after I read him what was going on in the story thought they were a little sick and twisted.
3 comments:
I personally believe that I am having trouble reading the Zipes book. At times when I read it I find that it helped me think interestingly about something and at others I feel I dont know why I was supposed to read this or what i should have recieved from it. I agree that Gag and Disney seemed to be writing for self gratification, but thats the number one reason people do anything. For themselves, and if they can profit off of it, why not. If I were to write a variant to a well known story or fairy tale, I would write it how i would have liked it told, not because i think its best for children.
The storys under Hansel and Gretel somewhat reminded me of others i have heard before; like I thought that Juniper tree should have been listed under snow white. I was surprised to see that they used a boy instead of a girl, and also saddened that the giant murdered his whole family off. Its funny to me now because i am older but if i were 11, id be disturbed by many of these stories. How could a father want to marry his own daughter? well, I guess it seems horrible because times are way different.
It seems that most everyone in the class has a porblem with Zipes. I would have to agree with this. He does seem to talk down to the audience of his books, but I think this may be a way to create conversation among the people reading it. If you think about it, it makes sense. Why would anyone make major critisms about such a well know and loved person, who brought fairy tales and such to people that may not know how to read, or cannot afford books. Disney is loved the world over.
Another thing about Zipes is that I dislike the use of the word "contamination." The use of contamination connotes a negative feeling and I do not believe that changing of fairy tales for children is necessarily a bad thing. After reading the varients of these fairy tales, I am glad that as a child I was not exposed to such gruesome ideas like death, canabalism, and sexual overtones. I do not believe that these sorts of things are appropriate for very yooung children to hear. They will invoke a sense of dispair in the child. Although, I am not advocating getting rid of the older varients, I do not believge that children should be hearing these as their bed time stories. As the United States has grown, we have become more politically correct in everyday life, so why would we share these stories with young, impressionable minds.
Zipes is an interesting fellow...Although I do agree that the reading about contamination was a lot more agreeable than the last one. However, it did seem to take him a long time on making his point. I think that contamination allows a child to look into their own imaginations and make their own contaminated versions of fairy tales. With children and Disney, I think that it is okay that they think it is original because they do not know any differenlty nor do I think they would believe the other stories were the originals. If they are shown the originals later on in life, then I think they would be able to appreciate them more than if they were told about the originals at a young age.
I think that the issue on cannibalism and step-parents is definitely an issue of the difference in society from back then to today. Our ancestors had harder lives than we do today and we have a lot more luxuries, so I think that they were able to take these things that may have been going on in their society and put them into a story so that they did not seem so bad. It's exactly what we do today with our social issues except we have numerous ways of putting them out there. I find that I am not grossed out by these stories because I think that they are so interesting and so different from the stories I was told as a child.
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