|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Aug 14, 2018 14:01:53 GMT -5
They're fascinating and undoubtedly a part of childhood for most of us. We tend to grow out of them, but it's a shame if one never returns to them again. What are your favourites? Did you have someone tell them to you as a child? Did you ever read any? Do you only know the Grimm tales, or have you checked out Perrault, Arabian Nights, or even Straparola or Basile?
If you only know the Disney versions, please don't bother commenting, as this is a strictly literary and oral fairy &folk tales zone (with 'literary fairy tale' I don't necessarily mean so-called Kunstmärchen, i.e. those authored exclusively by one person, like Hans Christian Andersen's, but feel free to talk about them too, if you like).
|
|
|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Aug 16, 2018 8:07:14 GMT -5
has really no one here grown up with any fairy tales, or has everyone stopped caring about them?
|
|
|
Post by Foxy on Aug 16, 2018 9:12:29 GMT -5
Okay, I have something to say, but I'm not quite sure it fits with what you are saying or not, just to warn you.
This is my gripe about Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which I think is a fairy tale, but I am not positive. This ill-mannered girl breaks into someone else's home, breaks their furniture, steals their food, and sleeps in their beds. Why doesn't she get eaten by the bears at the end? She totally deserves it. But I digress.
My favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast, any version (including the animated Disney version, ack, I know, I do not like Disney at all!!! But the music is fantastic, unlike the live action version, where they unfortunately auto-tuned the bejeebers out of Emma Watson's voice.) I just love the changed that takes place in the Beast, where he is this selfish, spoiled prince, and then he turns into this educated, nice guy. I love when people actually change for the better, because it so rarely happens in our world. Everyone is so stubborn. This story is a nice change of pace.
|
|
|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Aug 16, 2018 10:04:01 GMT -5
Apparently one of the earliest recorded versions of the Three Bears fairy tale (a booklet by Eleanor Mure in 1831) has a vagrant old woman instead of Goldilocks, and she ends up impaled on the steeple of St Paul's Cathedral, so she does meet a pretty awful end in that version. But this thread is definitely open to any and all gripes with fairy tales (I myself have some).
I haven't read Beauty and the Beast, apparently it's a French novel (?) that's based on earlier stories, including fairy tales (one from Italy called "The Pig King"). At the risk of being called a hypocrite, I'll mention that I did enjoy the Cocteau film version.
I've been (re-)discovering the Grimms' Household Tales collection, and I really like the darker and absurd shorter ones that appear to be least censored by Wilhelm. The Rose (Legend 3), The Golden Key (#200), and The Old-Beggar Woman (#150) are surprisingly enigmatic; The Godfather (#42) is scary; and Herr Korbes (#41) is hilarious (though violent). The most shockingly gruesome tales are probably The Robber Bridegroom (#40), Fitcher's Bird (#46), and The Juniper Tree (#47), the latter of which might be my favorite of all.
|
|
|
Post by countadrian on Aug 23, 2018 19:38:21 GMT -5
Well, this is a very pleasant post to find here! Fairy tales are my biggest passion in life. Ever. I actually aim to tell my own versions of them in cinema and literature.
When I was young, I was obsessed with The Three Little Pigs. Like, in a psychopath way. I was very spoiled, so every weekend I used to ask my dad to go to the book shop and bought a new movie/book/something based on that tale. One day, I counted every thing I had, and came to 167 books, 20 audiobooks, 4 movies and 2 video games (yes, there are video games of the three little pigs...). I loved the houses of each little pig, and how they reflected their personality.
Hansel and Gretel is another great one. I love them all, so dearily.
Aaaaand, profiting that this is an ASOUE board, I’d love to take this opportunity to talk about a subject I’ve always found fascinating: the influence of fairy tales in Lemony Snicket’s work. Now, we all know Lemony makes plenty of jokes out of fairy tales, and sort of expresses a certain disdain towards them. Buuuuuuuuuut.... we all know he is a great reader and admirer of literature. So he knows what fairy tales are really about. His jokes are mainly towards the ridiculized image we have of fairy tales (thanks to Disney). And if we look closely at the books, we can find many elements that can also be found in ancient fairy tales: the repetition and episodic structure (f.e. Snow White’s stepmother disguises herself three times to try to kill her... just like Count Olaf!), the adults vs. children theme (there are never good parents in fairy tales, and if so, they die), cleverness as the only human resource that can face evil (Hansel and Gretel killing the witch is very similar to the Baudelaires using their talents to escape Count Olaf). True, in Lemony Snicket’s world there is no magic, but magic isn’t an essential part of fairy tales either as we could believe. Magic in fairy tales serves solely for the main conflicts within the story, in a very similar way to Sunny’s teeth and plenty of other absurd elements.
Thank you for this, great subject!!
|
|
|
Post by Grace on Aug 24, 2018 18:04:34 GMT -5
Why doesn't she get eaten by the bears at the end? She totally deserves it. But I digress. Dude I thought she did in some versions. Also this reminds me of the "professor" story from LSUA, low key my fav ASOUE book.
|
|
|
Post by Reba on Aug 25, 2018 10:41:35 GMT -5
when i was little i had the hans christian andersen ones and my favorite was a spooky one about a guy who finds out his shadow is living in the apartment next to his and at the end the shadow locks him away and masquerades as him.
|
|
|
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Aug 26, 2018 16:56:35 GMT -5
that sounds like a really cool story, I'll have to seek that one out. Well, this is a very pleasant post to find here! Fairy tales are my biggest passion in life. Ever. I actually aim to tell my own versions of them in cinema and literature. When I was young, I was obsessed with The Three Little Pigs. Like, in a psychopath way. I was very spoiled, so every weekend I used to ask my dad to go to the book shop and bought a new movie/book/something based on that tale. One day, I counted every thing I had, and came to 167 books, 20 audiobooks, 4 movies and 2 video games (yes, there are video games of the three little pigs...). I loved the houses of each little pig, and how they reflected their personality. Hansel and Gretel is another great one. I love them all, so dearily. Aaaaand, profiting that this is an ASOUE board, I’d love to take this opportunity to talk about a subject I’ve always found fascinating: the influence of fairy tales in Lemony Snicket’s work. Now, we all know Lemony makes plenty of jokes out of fairy tales, and sort of expresses a certain disdain towards them. Buuuuuuuuuut.... we all know he is a great reader and admirer of literature. So he knows what fairy tales are really about. His jokes are mainly towards the ridiculized image we have of fairy tales (thanks to Disney). And if we look closely at the books, we can find many elements that can also be found in ancient fairy tales: the repetition and episodic structure (f.e. Snow White’s stepmother disguises herself three times to try to kill her... just like Count Olaf!), the adults vs. children theme (there are never good parents in fairy tales, and if so, they die), cleverness as the only human resource that can face evil (Hansel and Gretel killing the witch is very similar to the Baudelaires using their talents to escape Count Olaf). True, in Lemony Snicket’s world there is no magic, but magic isn’t an essential part of fairy tales either as we could believe. Magic in fairy tales serves solely for the main conflicts within the story, in a very similar way to Sunny’s teeth and plenty of other absurd elements. Thank you for this, great subject!! great to see this thread resonated with somebody! my mom tells me I was kind of obsessed with Little Red Riding Hood as a kid, wanting to hear the story over and over again. I highly agree with the subtle influence of fairy tales on ASoUE with you. while re-reading Hansel and Grethel recently, the evil stepmother reminded me of Count Olaf in the way she talks to the children: Or
|
|