Fairytales

[Mugshot]

Is it really? Maybe in your world, but not in the real one.

When I was typing that post I did think about putting a little more, along the lines of "in films" or "in stories" then I thought, nah, no one isn't going to understand what I mean, particularly on a thread where we've been talking about fairy stories and cartoons.

 

[Mugshot]

Now the lack of decent heroines is a different subject

It is?

 

[tyred]

Max conscription age is traditionally 52, and with previous time in green id be in as a senior NCO or even a Rupert. I've have you lot licked into shape as an effective fighting force in no time. That said, there would be no ribald American marching cadence songs for fear that Kiera Knightley gets a bit upset over it.

Hmmmm....

 

[Deleted member 26715]

When I was typing that post I did think about putting a little more, along the lines of "in films" or "in stories" then I thought, nah, no one isn't going to understand what I mean, particularly on a thread where we've been talking about fairy stories and cartoons.

It's you that introduced the theory

It is?

Yes

 

[Mugshot]

It's you that introduced the theory

Yes

Which theory?

A thread about the role that women have traditionally had in fairy tales and stories, and the potential lack of positive female role models due, amongst other things, to their reliance on men, even those men in extraordinarily minor roles, has no relation to a subject concerning a lack of decent heroines?

 

[Andy in Germany]

It's quite a big leap from fairy tales to hard core pornography, but it sort of proves a point.
One of the things that we know about children is that they are like sponges, their early experiences, what they see and what they hear, everything shapes and influences their minds. If we keep telling them that women are basically helpless without a man, that they are responsible for cooking and cleaning, that looks matter and so on (I'm not going near my views on royalty) don't you think it's at least possible that some of this will sink in, and if it does, do you not think that this is not necessarily a good thing?

As @Mugshot points out, stories have power. In fact I'd go as far as to say we all believe what we believe because of stories, even though we think it's about science and evidence. On that basis we need to be careful about the stories we tell.

Fairy tales are boring, so I liven them up for mini D.

My favourite was Arnold Schwarzenegger and the three little pigs. When he gets to the brick house he says "..and I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll straff you with a Dillon Aero M-134." And he did, and the little pigs were all killed. This prompted a surprisingly matter of fact discussion about where bacon comes from.

Rapunzel and Prince Schwarzenegger was a good one, as was Stallone and the Beanstalk. They're all unbelievable tosh, so they may as well be fun unbelievable tosh.

King Chuck Norris and the Action heroes of the Round Table is another favourite. Schwarzenegger pulling the rocket launcher from the stone is a tear jerking moment.

I'm part of a storytellers online group and we are always telling stories in different ways: last time I told a story about Thor, I included a bit about his sleigh having GPS (gods positioning systems) on the dash.

Partly we change stories because in their original form they're either incredibly dull or incomprehensible to our audiences. One member of the group told us about a time she was collecting stories in central Asia, and just as she though the plot was beginning to move the teller said: "and then she got the house and was happy."
"Hang on, what happened to the wicked aunt in the high fortress with all the eagles protecting her?"
"Oh, she died..."

By the way, if you think Grimms tales are bad, I once researched Japanese stories...

 

[User6179]

In fact I'd go as far as to say we all believe what we believe because of stories

I believe the opposite to be true, the behaviour comes first, then observed, then told in stories.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I believe the opposite to be true, the behaviour comes first, then observed, then told in stories.

True, but then the stories are passed on, and this shows the next generation why things are the way they are, or what a society expects and why. They change over time, of course, and new ones are created to explain new things.

The point I was making was more that we are influenced by stories rather than, as we like to think, facts and science.

 

[Mugshot]

Are fairy tales sexist? A child's eye view