It's caused a couple of people to concentrate on the old stories, and avoid the variations, because how can you have parody or satire without the original? It's scary to them/us that no one else is focussing on that.
I can understand this; and 100 years from now? our culture myths may very well be derived from television or other sources of mass entertainment -- although I'm not so certain. I know that fairy tales and children's books have often achieved longevity because they're passed from parent (or aunt, or grandparent) to child, down a line (like me and Little Women or Narnia); my early exposure to fairy tales that weren't Disney were the Andrew Lang Fairy Books (blue is my favourite. If anyone is asking).
(And then there's the kids who say, when you're telling Cinderella, "But what about Bippity Boppety Boo?" which either leads to an interesting discussion about the impermanent, fluid nature of the oral tradition, or hysterics on the part of the teller...)
I can see how it could lead to both <wry g>. Also, different cultures have different takes on what constitutes "appropriate for children" entertainment. Some of the old German fairy tales? Really old, and really, really unfriendly -- to children <wry g>. Lots of fingers being lopped off, and lots of children starving or freezing to death as a sort of comeuppance.
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branchandroot
Re: fairy tales
Date: 2004-10-23 06:25 pm (UTC)I can understand this; and 100 years from now? our culture myths may very well be derived from television or other sources of mass entertainment -- although I'm not so certain. I know that fairy tales and children's books have often achieved longevity because they're passed from parent (or aunt, or grandparent) to child, down a line (like me and Little Women or Narnia); my early exposure to fairy tales that weren't Disney were the Andrew Lang Fairy Books (blue is my favourite. If anyone is asking).
(And then there's the kids who say, when you're telling Cinderella, "But what about Bippity Boppety Boo?" which either leads to an interesting discussion about the impermanent, fluid nature of the oral tradition, or hysterics on the part of the teller...)
I can see how it could lead to both <wry g>. Also, different cultures have different takes on what constitutes "appropriate for children" entertainment. Some of the old German fairy tales? Really old, and really, really unfriendly -- to children <wry g>. Lots of fingers being lopped off, and lots of children starving or freezing to death as a sort of comeuppance.
I'm wandering <g>.