Maria Tatar's Presentation

The stars were beginning to sparkle as the sun set revealing the ravishing colors of the autumn season. It was the perfect beginning to a wonderful night.

As my classmates and I gathered in one of the sitting rooms in the president's house, we entertained each other with stories of what we could expect the night to be like. When Maria Tatar entered the room full of people her face lit up. She wasn't nervous the least bit, in fact, it was the complete opposite! Her face lit up in appreciation of all the people from the college gathering in her favor.

We started out with a wonderful meal and a fabulous dessert at the president's house while enjoying each other's company in anticipation for Tatar's lecture. I was certain that she would cover interesting concepts but what I wasn't sure of was whether I would agree on her points of view or not. After reading one of her books all semester I knew there would be topics that I would disagree on but, would I enjoy her lecture overall? I would just have to wait and see.

I entered the lecture hall which reminded me of an over-sized dining room equipped with chandeliers and a faux fireplace. This room added a homey gesture to the lecture allowing it to seem more of a one-on-one conversation rather than a long boring lecture that both the students and the professors are all too use to. She added a touch of humor and down-to-earth personality to start off her lecture.

She began talking about her new book with the assistance of a picturesque slide show. It was convenient how she began discussing her views on Bluebeard when we had just covered the multiple stories in class. Her presentation all together seemed convincing but did not have an ending that brought anything together to prove a point. Her points seemed valid but it seemed her presentation abruptly ended without giving a real grand finale to blow our minds and really impress the audience. At some points during the lecture, I was impressed when she discussed aspects of light and color to display themes. That was a real turning point for me but, she couldn't bring her enlightening points home and make a big bang impression on the audience.

All in all, I was not super impressed by Maria Tatar's presentation but I was glad that I attended it. She left a new outlook on fairy tales than my class had covered in the past months and I am proud to say that I have witnessed the speech a legend of my time.

The Distinct Qualities of the Jewish Religion in Folk and Fairy Tales

I woke up to go to class thinking about my normal routines: taking notes, listening, asking questions. When I showed up to class, I was surprised to see an older man sitting where my teacher normally would sit. Why was he in my classroom? I glanced down at the syllabus and it read “Guest Speaker: Dr. Mani Goldman, “Jewish Folk and Fairy Tales”.” I love intellectual surprises that happen in class and having a guest speaker come to talk about the Jewish religion was definitely an intellectual surprise.

Overall, this unit was different in the aspect that a single religion could actually have a culture to it. The stories and examples Dr. Mani Goldman talked about as well as the stories we read have common motifs special to the Jewish religion.

Dr. Mani Goldman was unlike any doctor I had ever seen. He did not have any professor aspect to him. He talked softly, while seated, in a very calm matter. His conversations were engaging like a friend talking to another friend. Dr. Goldman made sure that everyone knew and understood his references to the Torah and the stories he told. His tactics to engage the class in his discussion were successful. The majority of the facts Goldman talked about were ideas that most of the students in the class had learned previously in life but the stories he told about his experiences with the Jewish religion, teaching Sunday school and working with younger children, helped us, as a class, to think of these facts in a new light.

One of the aspects Dr. Mani talked about was the Enlightenment. Most of the class at least recognized the name and knew it was related to religion but Dr. Goldman asked the class why the ideas of the Enlightenment had anything to do with stories. I jogged my memory and analyzed the question looking for the perfect answer. I was not alone in this process; no hands were raised. Then all of a sudden from the back our peer mentor Lauren raised her hand. You could feel the tension in the room cease. She said “you need stories to lighten up your life.” All of a sudden the Enlightenment was clear. The new ideas that were written for the newer branches of religion allowed people to have more light in their lives and to interpret the stories of the Torah in a new way.

Out of the stories we have covered in the Jewish Folk and Fairytale unit, my favorite story was It Could Always Be Worse. This ironically sound story captured my attention because of how witty the Rabbi was. The Rabbi is the one person that every character goes to for advice in the Jewish tales. In this tale, the reader knows that the Rabbi is the intelligent one and trusts his advice but still questions how the tale will end. The poor Jew in this fairy tale listens to the advice of the Rabbi and is rewarded in the end when he realizes that the life he has can always become worse and you should just be thankful for what you have.

Reflection on Dr. Shabbir Mian's Presentation on Folk and Fairy Tales from Bangladesh

Fairy tales are not just about one culture or about one version of a fairy tale, they are much more than that. Reading fairy tales from other cultures helps to understand the history of the culture and the people.

During the presentation of Dr. Shabbir Mian's presentation on "Folk and Fairy Tales from Bangladesh" helped our class to understand the similarities and differences in the Bangladesh culture compared to our American culture and the cultures we have learned in the class. Mian's presentation captured the essence of the fairy tale culture through the eyes of the Bangladesh culture.

I had no idea at first what kind of similarities this culture would have. I did not know what to expect from a culture half way across the globe. The motifs were similar to the ones we have been learning about all semester in other cultures. The common good versus evil is a common motif. I thought it was interesting how Dr. Mian explained how virtue is rewarded and evil is punished but an evil person cannot be forgiven. Forgiveness is only rewarded when it is due to a misunderstanding.

Our class also learned certain words relating to fairy tales. Dr. Mian taught us that Rupkotha meant fairy tales in Bengali and Panchatantra, which means five books in one, is one of the first written collection of fables around 550 A.D. This taste of the culture helped our class to get involved in the learning experience. We learned about other stories like Jatake (5th century B.C.), Lalbehar, Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder and Upendra Kishore Roychawdhury. These people helped to evolve the Bangladesh fairy tales into what they are now.

Another helpful aspect was when Dr. Mian showed our class a video on youtube, Neelkamal and Lalkamal, conveying the exact aspect of what Bangladesh fairy tales are like today in that culture. This video showed cartoon characters reflecting the aspects of the Bangladesh culture.

Over all I enjoyed the presentation with the appreciation of the visual affects to help me take better notes and remember the fascinating facts of the culture.

Beauty and the Beast in Relation to Cupid and Psyche

Version of Cupid and Psyche: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/cupid.html

The versions of Beauty and the Beast vary throughout history; that is no secret. The version by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont relates to the fable Cupid and Psyche because of the different time periods and places they were created, the two versions are very different; but contain similar motifs. In both versions there is talk about love between the “beauty” and the “beast”, and trials that the female figures have to complete successfully and transformation.

The love between the two main characters is a blind-type of love. Beauty loves the Beast even though he is ugly. She is not blinded by his terrible looks instead she sees that he is “very kind” and bases her view point of him only on his kindness and begins to ignore his ugly looks. In the fable Cupid and Psyche, the two main characters (Cupid and Psyche) do not see each other when they are married. Cupid just talks to Psyche and she falls in love with his kindness just like Beauty and Beast.

Psyche and Beauty undergo tasks that highlight their inner beauty and not just their outer beauty. Psyche undergoes three tasks in which she proves her loyalty to Cupid. She trusts his judgment when he tells her how to complete her tasks for Venus. Like when she has to go and retrieve Golden Fleece, separate the grains and to travel safely to the kingdom of Pluto. With Beauty and Beast her kind heartedness is tested when she is brought to the castle and gives herself to replace her father’s death. She also is rewarded for her kindness by not being killed. Through these test and trials the female characters prove that they are both beautiful inside and out.

In the end of both stories a transformation occurs. Psyche transforms into an immortal goddess to love and be married to Cupid for eternity. In Beauty and the Beast, the male character Beast transforms into a handsome prince when Beauty confesses that she “can’t live without [him]”.

Snow White in Current Times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfHlA3fmJG0

In modern day America, there are references to fairy tales in just about every instance. From t-shirts to the internet fairy tales pop up in unexpected cases. Although we see this in our own culture, we do not tend to see it in other cultures but in the German band Rammstein they reference a well known fairy tale, Snow White, in the song “Sonne”.

The song in no way references the famous Brothers Grimm’s story. The reference comes from the music video of modern day men stuck in the world of a fairy tale and in this case it is not a happily ever after ending for the men.

Some of the similarities in the music video in comparison to the fairy tale Snow White are some of the symbols and people represented in both. In the beginning of “Sonne”, the scene opens in a coal mine with seven men working quickly and diligently. These men are covered in coal and are sweating profusely. They portray the seven dwarfs like in the Disney version Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We can tell from the video that they are the dwarfs because Snow White is larger and looks like Alice in Wonderland when she takes the bread to grow larger; she looks like an over grown person. Snow White is easy pick out of the video. She has the qualities that Snow White has in the Disney version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—long dark hair, red lips, white porcelain face, the yellow and blue dress and even the red ribbon tied perfectly in her hair. All these qualities are ones that a person can easily identify the character Snow White. Another part that is in most of the versions of Snow White is carrying the glass casket up the mountain; the video made this an obvious parallel to the original fairy tales.

Some qualities of the video Rammstein made their own. First of all, Snow White is not the innocent bystander of the story. She is the evil one who makes all the dwarfs work for her in the coal mine and even in their living quarters when cooking and brushing her hair. The men work together to get rid of her and end up killing her with a needle while she was taking a bath. Another part that was different was when they brought her up to the mountain dead and then a random apple on a tree fell on the glass casket and shattered it. The representation of the apple is still there but not in her mouth this time. In the end of this video there is not a happily ever after. The men return to the mine and continue their work as long as Snow White is in charge.

This video represents how times have changed and how now the women in society have a stronger hold on men sometimes. Whether it is good or bad times have changed for women and it is not about the men having all the control.

Cinderella as an Outlier

Cinderella is one of the most favorite fairy tales of all time. The famous story of rags to riches is one that little girls take the liking to the most. They love how Cinderella goes from a life as a slave to marrying her true love and living happily ever after. But is this realistic?

Like in the movie He's Just Not That Into You Cinderella is "the exception". This fairy tale is just an Outlier like the novel by Malcolm Gladwell; all her fortune and "happily ever after" is just by chance. Just by happen stance she is given a chance and she does everything in her power to be able to take that chance. If she would have never taken the chance or even thought twice about it none of the magical elements of the story would have been made possible.

In the movie He's Just Not That Into You, the main character talks about how certain romantic love stories are only possible for some. Like the stories where a man and a woman go out for dinner on and date and then never call each other the next day, but a week later call and fall in love and get married (the typical fairy tale love story). In the movie that kind of relationship in the exception and not the rule (a regular relationship without a fairy tale twist) just like an outlier and Cinderella. Not all people can have the romantic love story like the movies portray. An outlier only happens to people who just happen to be presented with the opportunity and take it and actually do well in society.

Cinderella is the outlier, the exception to the rule. In most cases these things typical to an outlier won't happen (the magic never happens) and only when you are presented with a rare opportunity will you ever be close to being an outlier yourself.

My Definition of a Fairy Tale

Fairy tales, when first hearing the word you tend to think about living happily ever after and the prince rescuing the princess in the end. Fairy tales are more than just a child’s story. Dictionary.com sites that “a fairy tale is a fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children”. My own definition of a fairy tale is a story that teaches a lesson in a magical way.

Fairy tales serve as a learning experience for younger children without having to actually experience it. In Little Red Riding Hood a young child listening to the story hears how dangerous talking to a wolf maybe and how terrible Red’s consequences are in the end. The lesson is learned better from the story than if a parent had just told the child not to talk to strangers.

These tales are not just for children though; adults enjoy them as well. The interpretation taken from the fairy tales as an adult is not the same as a child’s interpretation. The adult pulls out complex ideas from the stories rather than just the moral of the story as children do. Instead of thinking of the wolf as just an animal, the adult thinks of him as a man with sexual innuendo.

As time goes on, fairy tales grow with the person and they appeal to you no matter what age you are. So fairy tales cannot simply be a story that teaches a lesson; that is too broad of a statement to make.