Folk and Fairy Tales

Jeanne-Marie le Prince de Beaumont created a version of Villeneuve’s tale, “Beauty and the Beast,” in 1750, which includes most of the details our culture today identifies with Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” In this version, Beauty’s merchant father had six children: three sons and three daughters, including Beauty. Upon Beauty’s arrival to the Beast’s castle, she is informed that she is the mistress there and that he will obey her. While Beaumont lacks the lavish details of the castle (ones that Villeneuve’s version includes), Beaumont adds a twist and quickly maneuvers the scene back to Beauty in her home—since the Beast gave her leave to tend there for a week. While she was gone, Beauty’s sisters devised a master plan that involved rubbing onions in their eyes to feign the tears of sadness as they watched their sister leave. The sisters wanted to keep Beauty at home for another week in hopes that she would return late to the palace and the Beast would eat her in anger and as her p...

First, let me start off by saying this cartoon tale of Little Red Riding Hood is very adapted, modern, and risky! I appreciate the shift of the monster from a wolf in the woods into a man prowling the clubs of a city. While this cartoon ends sadly and violently, I believe it is a solid adaption of the original tale and has a lot to say about modern men and how they act and perceive women. This cartoon I found online was called “Red Hot Riding Hood” by Tex Avery and MGM Companies. In 1994 it was voted #7 of the “50 Greatest Cartoons”. The plot of “Red Hot Riding Hood” begins just as the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, but is an urban, contemporary setting. The narrator (Little Red Riding Hood character-type) is an attractive Hollywood performer who has a stage name of “Red Hot Riding Hood.” In the cartoon, the Big Bad Wolf is now a Hollywood “swinger” who follows Red Hot Riding Hood to the clubs where she is performing that night! One night, the wolf-man falls deeply in lust wit...

The thing that folktales are missing is a wonderous element—which fairy tales have an abundance of! Furthermore, it is this wonderous atmosphere of fairy tales that keeps children craving to be read, or told, the tales, and makes adults revisit and reminisce on their childhood. A fairy tale could consist of anything: from dragons to mermaids to dwarfs to princesses who kiss frogs. In this world, children can dream full of wonder, and adults can experience a certain enchantment they might not have since childhood. While I was writing this blog, I was talking to my roommate Sammy, and asked her what she considered a fairy tale to be…and she said she thought a fairy tale is where anything could occur! I happen to fully agree with this statement. As children, we crave the spectacular aspects of the fairy tale world and wish that they would come true in our own lives—such as finding a mermaid swimming in our house pool, or a witch living in the wilderness of our backyard forest landscap...

Hello! My name is Rachel and my favorite fairy tale of all time is Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” This tale happens to be my favorite because it is centered around the ocean and romance (two of my favorite things), but also, when I was little, all I wanted to be was a mermaid, just like Ariel—swimming with the dolphins and being able to explore shipwrecks with my fish best friends. Growing up, fairy tales would fascinate me, so I would beg my mother to read them to me. As I grew and expanded my creativity and love for enchantment and wonder, I would write my own fairy tales and give them to my family as gifts. Although during middle school and high school, I stopped reading fairy tales and started branching out towards other stories that had qualities resembling fairy tales—lots of dystopian, science fiction, and romance novels. Now in college, I was thrilled to find a class that not only greatly interested me, but would also count for a McDaniel plan credit. I am thrilled to begin t...