Presentations

So this past week we had our oral presentations. There was alot to take from it, and alot of good topics that people had. I found it fascinating how so many people could take the same topic, such as the one in which which story would be better for children, and came up with so many different versions of which tale is the best.

I thought that my presentation went pretty well. I was incredibly nervous, though, as my hand was shaking as I began! As I went on, though, I became more comfortable and was better able to present my topic. I thought that is was different enough and interesting enough that I could make a good presentation out of it. I went the full 10 minutes, and even then I wasn't able to talk about everything I wanted to.

I felt like I saw a huge variety in presentation styles. Some worked well and others, I felt, didn't work quite as well. In the end, there wasn't any presentation I felt as bad, and that everyone had done quite well. Now it's time to prepare for the next one...

Reflections

So this past tuesday was my turn to help lead the discussion. The whole experience was very nerve racking, as our schedules never lined up perfectly, and had to correspond alot through email. We hardly saw each other face to face, but we managed to get the project done. I think the questions the we have are/were pretty good, broad enough to expound on, yet specific enough to the story at hand. It was stressful, but I'm glad it's over.

Now I'm fine tuning my oral presentation. I think I have a very good and strong topic, and the issue will be how best to present it to the rest of the class. I plan on using a lot of clips from the movie to support my topic, so I don't know how much that will eat into my presentation time. I think it will be an overall success, though, because I'm covering familar stuff in a totally new way and it's very interesting.

The new oral presentation topic, however, does scare me a little, as it's quite involved in something I'm not too familar about, or how best to go about doing it. The topic is more abstract, so I can't have much physical evidence to prove it, I just have to be rather persuasive.

Starting to Overlap

Since we've started the Beauty and the Beast series, I have begun to notice alot of things that are similar between this fairy tale and the others which we have read. Mainly the Beaumond version is something that I see play out in fairy tales of other kinds.

The first thing is the heroine quest. Like we compared earlier today, Beauty goes on a quest much similar to the the quest that Little Read Riding Hood goes upon. Although the final motive is different between the two, the basic goal is still the same, to help out a family member in need. They both even encounter beasts of some sort.

Secondly, I've noticed the presence of evil (step-)sisters. Much like in Cinderella, in Beauty and the Beast the main character is forced to deal with two sisters who are completely jealous of the heroine and try to make her life hell on earth. They do, however, end up with very unfortunate circumstances: The two sisters in Cinderella, for example, get their eyes plucked out, where as in Beauty and the Beast they are turned to statues, but still keep their emotions. I think that this plays into the karma aspect that 'what goes around comes around.'

One other thing is the importance of family to the plot of these stories. It can be seen in Little Red Riding Hood, in Bluebeard, in Cinderella and in Beauty and the Beast. These stories are trying to stress the importance of family to everyone's life, and that your family is the cause and solution to all your problems

Why these stories are so similar I do not know. I would guess that as people learned and told these stories, they probably borrowed parts from stories they really liked and added it into their stories. This edited version gets passed around as the old deal and it just goes on from there. Also the 'authors' also probably did something similar to this as they compiled these stories.

Role Reversal in Tiger Bride

The short story/fairy tale "the Tiger's Bride" was something I found to be very intense. The description used by Carter, the complexity of every part of the story and the reality of the tale made for something quite remarkable.

It seems that everything in Tiger's Bride is symbolic of something else. This constant bombardment and abuse of the idea "don't judge a book by it's cover," a moral which runs rampant within the other stories, is used rather well. The constant allusion to winter, cold, and death could symbolize the girls emotions, the emotions of the Beast, and the emotions of the Father. The Father, for example, drinks constantly. This could mean that he wants to add some sort of heat, in this case being drunk, to the coldness of his life. Or the drinking could mean he is trying to numb, deaden, or cool his hot emotions. The windup maid can also be a be a symbol. This doll could be the symbol of the girl, and how she is something to be used by the others, the Beast for his sexual wants and the Father for his monetary wants. It could be a symbol of something greater, of woman in general. It could expose the idea that women were to be used as a windup toy for the man, and that they were only used when needed.

The role reversal comes from how the story ends. Usually these fairy tales end with the woman changing the man from a beast into a handsome prince. Just the opposite happens in this story. At the beginning the Beast is wearing a 'mask' which the girl obesses over, and the perfection which it has. He is seen on the outside as the perfect gentleman, but this is just a costume, covering the beast within. He is the handsome prince, and the Beauty finds this part revolting and disgusting. It is not until the end that we truly see what happens: the Beast conquers the Beauty. It is the Beauty who becomes like a beast, and we see this in Carter's constant use of animalistic adjectives to describe how the girl and the Beast interact once they have disrobed for each other. The end culminates with the two making love in a way that is described in animalistic terms. The Beast had won.

It is interesting for Carter to do something like this. I think that she is trying to say something about the Beast. The Beast could be inside each and everyone of us, and we put up some type of 'mask' to cover that up. Milord is someone who does just that, but he does it so poorly is seems that he wants people to see his beastliness. The mask that girl has is something less tangible. It could be her pride or her naiviety, as before she meets the Beast she is a virgin, and seems to be very proud of that point. It isn't until Milord reveals takes of his clothes for her, that is she able to take off her mask, and symbolically her clothes, to expose her true beastliness. It is at that point that she feels most alive, and accepts the Beast, whether that be her true emotions or the man.

A Study in Sacrifice

It seems that one of the common themes found throughout the tellings of these renditions of Beauty and the Beast. These stories, being in fashion with the times, are used to teach the children about sacrificing themselves and their personal pleasures for the family. In "the Pig King" is this most apparent.

In the "Pig King" Straparola showes what happens when doesn't obey their parents, as well as what happens when someone does. First, the first daughter is killed when she tries to kill the pig. Her mother, and the queen, both asked and begged the first daughter to take and marry this pig and "do not consider him, but think of the king and me." She defies all of them by the fact that she is stuck with a pig. She tries to kill him because he is a 'foul beast.' The result of all of this is the death of her. A similar fate happens to the second daughter.

The third daughter is the one who does right by everyone. When the queen offers Melinda her son, she accepts and was "quite content to do as the queen asked her." She has to endure the advances of a filthy pig, and even sleep with him. What is the result of her willingness to do all of this? the pig turns into a handsome prince, and the two live happily ever after.

The others reinforce this theme. In "Beauty and the Beast" Beauty sacrifices her life for her fathers just so she can have "the pleasure of saving my father and proving my feelings of tenderness for him." In "the Frog King" the young princess must obey her own promise to the Frog. Even her father says to her "When you make a promise, you must keep it." So she is forced to sacrifice herself for honesty, and her father.

Bluebeard in Opera

I take a post-tonal theory course here on campus. As apart of this course, we are required to listen, and be able to identify, several works for of the corresponding tests we are to take. For this upcoming test one of the listenings involve an opera based on the story of bluebeard. The opera is by hungarian composer Bela Bartok, and the piece is translated as Bluebeard's Castle.

Looking at the libretto, it is rather different from any of the versions we have read in class. The opera is in one act, and involves only two characters, Bluebeard and Judith (the name given to his bride). Basically the plot is as follows...... (this is taken from a website)

A spoken Prologue tells us that the scene is as much within ourselves as on the stage.
Bluebeard and and his wife Judith enter through a small iron door. He asks her whether she want to leave her family and follow him into such a place. Judith loves Bluebeard. She is sure. She has left her family for him and is not discouraged by Bluebeard's dark and gloomy castle. He shuts the door.
Judith notices the darkness and the dampness. She sees seven black doors. She insists that the seven locked and bolted doors be thrown open. She wants to bring light and warmth. Bluebeard responds that it can never be. Bluebeard gives her a key as they proceed to each door.
Behind the first door is Bluebeard's torture chamber, the walls dripping with blood. Bluebeard wonders why Judith wishes to pry into every corner. "Because I love you," she answers. He warns her to be careful.
The second key reveals the armory, with blood on the weapons.
The third key opens to the Treasury, where the blood is all over the crown and robes.
The fourth key reveals a secret garden, with blood on the roots of the flowers..
Behind the fifth door, she finds Bluebeard's kingdom, and the clouds are red with blood. Bluebeard asks her not to open the final two doors, but Judith insists.
The sixth door conceals a flood of tears. Bluebeard passionately kisses Judith and tells her not ask anymore questions. Having guessed what is behind the seventh door, Judith inquires about Bluebeard's former wives.
The seventh door conceals Bluebeard's former murdered wives. Judith is locked in with the former wives.
The stage grows dark.

apparently the entire work is supposed to be a psychoanalytical work, and each room could be seen as some sort of surrealist sketch, with nothing meaning what it literally is. It is interesting that the opera is rather set on the psychological aspects of the work, and not the physical. It would be easier to construct a story centered around the main action of the story, a man killing his wife, but this opera takes a look at the mental aspect of it. The castle could Bluebeard's mind, and judith his conscious, and each door could symbolize one of the seven dealy sins. The confusing part,though, is the fact that Judith is killed, and Bluebeard remains alive. Also, there is no happy ending, just a fade to black.

The prologue says that the scene is as much within ourselves as on the stage. Maybe it's trying to get the audience to realize some type of 'Bluebeardesque' action that we've commited, whether it be physical or mental, and take time to evaluate it.

The Continuing Story of Bluebeard

I really enjoyed the discussion we had on Thursday regarding the short story by Atwood, "Bluebeard's Egg." I think the stuff we were able to draw from just a few pages was really fascinating. Atwood did a wonderful job of bringing the story into a modern setting, yet still keeping the basis of the original.

The use of a modern setting was a little offputting at first, I do admit. I was thinking 'how could she take a fairy tale and place it into a modern, and realistic, setting?' But as we got into the discussion and started to actually analyze the piece, I was able to make out the use of symbol, and how she was able to make the 'stain on the egg' real. The Symbols of the story not only allude to the original story very well, but they take on a whole new meaning aside from the story. Her heart was a good example. It related not only to the egg in the original tellings, but also took on a whole new meaning, a meaning of trust as well as faith in another person. I liked that everything about the story was symbolic of something else, whether it's alluding to Bluebeard or not, because everyone could take something personal from it. The reader sees what Atwood is trying to say and what she is trying to symbolize, and then the reader takes that and personalizes it.

The story of Bluebeard is really timeless. It can be told in one of many ways, whether as the original or a version such as Atwoods. People can take it and emphasize the moral, or theme, that they deem most important, whether it be curiosty, obedience, trust, etc. It's a story that forever have something important to tell.