Sunday, October 25, 2009

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.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

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]”.