Welcome to our IDS 2015 Seminar at McDaniel College

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Once upon a time … For centuries folk and fairy tales have fueled the popular imagination of people of all ages around the world. The course provides an in-depth analysis of folk and fairy tale traditions. We will read, discuss and analyze folk and fairy tales from around the world, as well as modern folktale adaptations (film, music, art). In the course, folk and fairy tales will be illuminated from different perspectives, including formalist (structure and style), feminist, religious, sociological and psychoanalytic approaches. McDaniel Plan: International Nonwestern, Textual Analysis.

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Learning Objectives:  In this course, students will gain an appreciation of the larger context (cultural and historical) of the development of the genre “fairytale”. They will also gain a better understanding of the literary and form/stylistic characteristics of the genre. The course provides the students with the interpretative tools they need to critically examine fairy and folk tales from various scholarly approaches, above all psychoanalytical (Bruno Bettelheim (Freud), Marie-Louise von Franz and Verena Kast (Jung)), feminist (Maria Tatar, Ruth Bottigheimer and Kay Stone), Marxist (Jack Zipes), social (19th century nationalism and bourgeois construction of the family and children), and religious. Students will also learn to analyze films with fairy tale motives (e.g. Silence of the Lambs or What Lies Beneath). In addition, they will demonstrate literary and cultural openness and appreciation of various cultures around the world.

Week 1- Jan. 29 & 31

Week 1 – Jan. 29 & 31

Tuesday:         Introduction of Course and Material

                           Read:      “Introduction,” The Classic Fairy Tales, pp. xi-xxvi
Neil Geiman “Instructions”, The Classic Fairy Tales (3-4)

                           Film: The Brothers Grimm – Part 1

Thursday:       What are Folk and Fairy Tales

                           Read:      “The Types of the Folktale,” The Classic Fairy Tales, pp. 491-497,
“Folklore and Literature” and “Morphology of the Folktale,” The Classic Fairy Tales, pp. 498-507

                           Film: The Brothers Grimm – Part 2

Blog Entry 1: Why did you choose this class? What are you hoping to accomplish in the course? What is your favorite folktale or fairy tale of all times and why? Blog is due by Sunday, Feb. 3

Week 2 – Feb. 5 & 7

Week 2 – Feb. 5 & 7

Tuesday:  Once upon a time … History, Form and Theories of Fairy Tales

Read: Marie Louise von Franz, “Theories of Fairy Tales,” pp. 1-23

Film: The Brothers Grimm – Part 3

Thursday: Why read folk and fairy tales? Morphology of folk and fairy tales

Read: Bruno Bettelheim, “Introduction. The Struggle for Meaning,” pp. 3-19.

Film: The Brothers Grimm – Part 4

Blog Entry 2: Develop a one-page working definition of folk or fairy tale based on class discussions and materials we have read in class. Blog is due by Sunday, Feb. 10.

Week 3 - Feb. 12 & 14 - Littel Red Riding Hood

Week 3 – Feb. 12 & 14

Tuesday: Little Red Riding Hood – Loss of Innocence

Read: “Introduction: Little Red Riding Hood” (5-14)
“The Story of the Grandmother” (15-16)
Charles Perrault, “Little Red Riding Hood” (16-18)
Brothers Grimm, “Little Red Cap” (18-21)
Zohar Shavit, “The Concept of Childhood and Children’s Folktales,”
(Blackboard, Course Documents)

Thursday: Little Red Riding Hood – Loss of Innocence

Read: Italo Calvino, “The False Grandmother” (21-22)
Roald Dahl, “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” (23-24)
Roald Dahl, “The Three Little Pigs” (24-26)
“The Tale of the Tiger Woman” (26-28)
“Tsélané and the Marimo”, (28-30)
Bruno Bettelheim, "Little Red Riding Hood,” pp. 166-183.

Blog Entry 3: Find a cartoon on-line with “Little Red Riding Hood” as a theme and write a reflection on that cartoon. What kind of cartoon is that (political, social)? How do you like it, etc.? Add a copy of the cartoon, name of cartoonist and the source (URL).  Blog is due by Sunday, Feb. 17.

Week 4 - Feb. 19 & 21

Week 4 - Feb. 19 & 21

Tuesday: Beastly Bride(groom): Beauty and the Beast

Read: “Introduction: Beauty and the Beast” (30-39)
Jeanne-Marie de Beaumont, “Beauty and the Beast” (39-50)
Giovanni Straparola, “The Pig King” (50-55)
Brothers Grimm, “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” (55-58)

Thursday: Read: Angela Carter, “The Tiger’s Bride” (58-74)
“Urashima the Fisherman” (74-77)
Alexander Afanasev, “The Frog Princess” (68-71)
“The Swan Maiden” (79-80)
Maria Tatar, "Sex and Violence: The Hard Core of Fairy tales,"
in: The Classic Fairy Tale, pp 446-456

Blog Entry 4: Choose two of the fairy tales we read and discussed in class and compare and contrast them by focusing on one single aspect: Sex and violence, transformation of the beast, reinforcement of patriarchal order, etc. What is similar? What is different? Which one do you like better and why? Blog is due by Sunday, February 24.

Week 5 - Feb. 26 & 28

Tuesday: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Read: “Introduction: Snow White” (84-92)
Giambattista Basile, “The Young Slave” (92-95)
Brothers Grimm, “Snow White” (95-102)

Thursday: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Read: Ann Sexton, “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs” (102-106)
Neil Gaiman, “Snow, Glass, Apples” (106-116)
Jack Zipes: “Breaking the Disney Spell,” in: The Classic Fairy Tale, pp 414-435
 

Film: Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Blog Entry 5: Watch the music clip “Sonne” by Rammstein on YouTube and compare the story and persons, motives, symbols in the music video with those in the “Snow White” fairy tales we have read in class. What is similar? What is different? Which one do you like better and why? Blog is due by Sunday, March 3.

Week 6 – March 5 & 7

Tuesday: Cinderella: Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

Read: “Introduction: Cinderella” (139-145)
           “Yeh-hsien” (146-148)
           Brothers Grimm, “Cinderella” (148-153)
           Charles Perrault, “Donkeyskin” (154-162)
           Joseph Jacobs, “Catskin” (166-169)

           “The Story of the Black Cow” (169-171)
           Lin Lan, “Cinderella” (171-175)
          “The Princess in the Suit of Leather” (175-181)

Presentation: Danielle: Bettelheim “Cinderella,” pp. 236-277

Thursday:No class: Watch Films: Pretty Woman (https://www.dropbox.com/s/o8llxvz8mh3k67v/PrettyWoman.mp4?dl=0) and Disney’s Cinderella ( ) Make sure to download them first.

Blog Entry 6: Cinderella is one of the so-called “rise tales”, which features a narrative arc of “rags to riches through magic and marriage.” Using the fairy tales and the films “Pretty Woman” and "Cinderalla by Disney" as an example, write a reflection on this motif. Can someone reach success or riches with magic, marriage, charm, etc.? How realistic is that? Blog is due by Sunday, March 10.