Famous Last Words: For the Last Time

This is officially my last post for Mythology and Folklore blog. For the first part of this post I want to look back on my the class this semester. I must admit when I first started this class I was intimidated by the amount of work we had to complete each week. But after some serious time-management skills and a awesome planner I was able to organize my schedule and make a habit out of this class. I think that was one of the hardest things I learned, once you understand that this is like a physical class and you need to schedule the work as if you were going to class it makes it much easier to arrange your time.

I think my writing has improve this semester. While I have always considered myself a good writer this class taught me a lot about writing creatively. I found out that I need to practice brevity in my writing and work on getting to the point of the story faster. I really liked that we had a word count to base our stories on! It pushed me as a writer and as a student!

Overall, I really enjoyed this class! I think that while it can be seen as daunting, when you reach the end its such a sweet thing to see what all you have done and the different stories you have created. I am taking the other MLLL class next semester, so I will be using the skills I learned in this class and applying it to that one! I am excited for the new challenge.

As I finish this post I get closer and closer to dead week. I am excited to be done with my classes and papers and to go back to Lubbock for the winter. We are all so close to finishing the year! We can do this!!

Yet another reason why I wish I went to Hogwarts! Source 

Reading Notes: Hans Christian Anderson Part B

This week I read Part A of the Hans Christian Anderson tales. I found the first story of the Princess and the Pea to be really interesting. I knew the general information of the story before reading it but I though the actual story would contain more details. I was a little disappointed to read that the only thing that marked the princess as a real princess was the fact that she was so sensitive.

If I were to expand on this story I would like to potentially give the the princess more tasks to prove that she was in fact a "real princess." It would be fun to make it into some kind of Real or Not: A Princess Game Show. I think it would add a lot of fun and excitement into an otherwise very straightforward story.

In this game show the contestant would be five princesses from different kingdoms. These princesses would have to compete in a series of tasks and the winner would get to date the prince. While this is a little old fashion I think it could be a fun twist on the traditional "guy fighting over girl" stereotype.

For the character of the prince in my story I want to make sure he is nothing like the Wicked Prince. The Wicked Prince is another on of Anderson's stories. The prince in that story is very mean and dies a horrible death. The prince in my story will be nice and somewhat reluctant. His mother is the one that is pushing him to do this contest in the first place.

A statue of the Princess and the Pea. Source 

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Reading Notes: Little Mermaid

This week I read the Little Mermaid. This was one of my favorite stories as a kid and I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the original story. In the Disney version of the Little Mermaid a lot of the more gruesome details are glazed over and she gets a happy ending with the Prince. In the original story I was surprised to read that in order to get legs the little mermaid would have to suffer through needle like pain in order to have legs. This was a big feature that was not touched on in the original story.

Overall, I love the story of the Little Mermaid, because of the main character. In the book and in the movie the character has a thirst for knowledge. She is basically the underwater version of Hermione Granger. For my story this week I would like to play around with the idea of of the story from either the princes eyes or the sisters eyes. One thing that is so impactful about the original story is that The Little Mermaid was willing to give up her family to be with the prince. It would be interesting to see how the sister reacted to finding out that her sister gave up her tail to live on land. This POV would also be interesting to analyze the progression of the Little Mermaids interest in land.

The next angle I could go with is from the princes point of view. I would probably use the Disney version of the prince because I like the fact the Disney version ends in a happy ending. In this version of my story it would be interesting to see what the prince thinks about a random girl showing up on the beach who couldn't talk. Getting this second perspective on a well-known story would be a great way to show the audience a dual perspective.

My favorite version of the Little Mermaid Story. Source 

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Reading Notes: Dante (Extra Reading)

For my extra reading this week I choose to read the works of Dante! I actually have read parts of Dante's Inferno for a class before and I liked how this version condensed the three books into one! My favorite story out of this section was the story about Satan. I have to admit that I was very apprehensive about reading this story because I didn't know what to expect, but it actually was very interesting.

One thing that I have noticed about Dante's writing is that he is very detailed in his writing and about who who he puts in Hell. He has a clear reason why each person he meets is in Hell and it helps me see the different things that Dante considers to be bad. One thing I would have loved to see more of in the stories that were shown were stories about Virgil. To me, Virgil is one of the most interesting characters in the Inferno and Purgatorio. I like how he acts as a guide for Dante and helps him on this journey!

Back to the story of Satan, it was interesting that the devil had three heads and had a sinner in his mouth. This was interesting because it wasn't just the sinner being punished it was Satan being punished as well. That is another thing I have noticed throughout his writing is that he is very detailed about the punishments that the people go though.

An interesting story that could be created out of this is an awful game of would you rather. It would be interesting to create a story where character had to pick which punishment they would rather have out of the different levels of Hell! Its a game that no one would like to play!

A quote from Dante Alighieri. Web Source 

Reading Notes: Part B Hunt

For today’s reading I read Part B of the Hunt stories. I was really excited for this collection of stories because they dealt with the story of Snow White and the Evil Queen. As I mentioned in my previous post, I want the villain in my project to be a spin off of the original Evil Queen. The Evil Queen to me is one of the worst villains in Disney because her hatred was so deep and wrongly directed toward Snow White.

In my project, College of the Elite, the students are all there to try to work together and bridge the gap between species. I would like to make my villain someone who resents this merger, for the sole reason that they want to continue to control everyone.

After reading the story I was sad to see that there was no wicked queen in it, rather there were evil dwarfs. To me it is interesting how a particular story can be molded and changed to fit modern times. For example the story of Cinderella has been redone a lot. Either in cartoon versions, live person or some form of Disney movie.

In order to get my wicked queen fix I researched the version of Snow White that was closer to what I was expecting. The one I found is Little Snow White by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. In this story the evil queen is Snow White’s stepmother. This is what I was looking for in my villain. Someone who traditionally shouldn’t be a villain, a stepmother typically is nice and looks after the children. But, from this and several other stories you get the archetype of “step-monster.” I want my villain to embody unexpected villain. It will be someone you never expect because I feel like that is more realistic in terms of what happens in real-life.

Margaret Hunt's Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

The Evil Queen from Snow White at Disney. Web Source 

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Hunt)

For this week I read Part A of the Hunt section of the Brothers Grimm. My favorite story out of this collection was the Thumbling. This story reminded me of one of my favorite stories as a child, Thumbelina. This is probably the story it was inspired from.

While this story was interesting I chose these stories as a preparation for the final two stories of my project. I need to give the characters in my project a motive to work together. Since the project surrounds a school I thought there could be no better villain than an evil principal, well in this case the dean.

The reason I choose these stories this week is because snow whites stepmother is one of the best villains. She will be the inspiration for the bad guy in my story. One of the best things about the Thumbling Stories is that a common theme through the story was no one could see the Thumbling. It gave the character a mysterious quality about him. That is one thing I want to happen in my story, I want the readers to not see the bad guy coming! I think that makes the best movies when you cant tell whose bad and who is good.

For this weeks writing, I will write a portion of my story for my project. I want to give a backstory on the bad character in my story.

I will also be using the story Hansel and Grethel to influence my story. I knew doing a project with this many character would have its challenges but I have found that finding a way to connect them is the hardest part. I will be using the completely different stories to inspire me to bring my characters together.

My favorite movie as a kid that resembles the story of Thumbling. Web Source 

Margaret Hunt's Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Story:A Short Drop and a Sudden Stop

“The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, screamed `Off with her head! Off…” read the Mother from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

 “What happens to her” cried the little girl, who in spite of the late hour was still wide awake.     

      “Calm down, Little One.  Nothing happens to Alice,” said the mother with a roll of her eyes, as she took in her daughter’s panicked expression.

  “So does that mean she really went to Wonderland?” asked the little girl in awe.

 “Of course she did, and that said, promise me if you see one of those tricky white rabbits you won’t follow him,” the mother said with a tender smile.

 Henry, the young girl’s brother, looked on from the doorway. He turned away in disgust, how anyone could believe such childish stories was beyond him. Henry was very practical for his age. He saw the world in black and white. One where no colors existed and imagination was just a term adults used to describe overly creative children. He walked to his room trying to get the silly image of a white rabbit out of his head.   

Henry grew up hearing the stories about the white rabbit who was running late and the young girl who followed him. Being a “grown up” boy he regarded these childish tales like any rational person would, he considered them rubbish, nothing more than stories told by parents to get their fussy children to bed.

That night as he was falling asleep he thought about his mother’s story. How could anyone be foolish enough to fall down a hole in pursuit of a rabbit?

The next day Henry was walking home, after staying late at school, he took a short cut through the willow woods, a place that was plagued by rumors of monsters. Henry was a kid who instead of heeding the rumors, decided to ignore them to prove a point. After all, monsters were just for kids with over active imaginations, anyone with a brain would know that. So Henry walked through the woods to get to his house. However, something seemed off tonight. Wanting to get home faster Henry began to run until he stumbled over a branch. When he got up he saw that there was a giant hole before him. Intrigued he bent down to get a closer look at the hole.  As he peered into the black abyss, all he could see was a faint light. Suddenly he felt a pair of hands grab him and as he flailed his arms to get away, he fell forward.

 When he landed, he slowly sat up, and to his astonishment was not hurt at all; he looked up to try and gauge how far he had fell but there was no hole!  Above him was a beautifully lit chandler attached to the ceiling. Standing up he decided to search the room. Finding nothing to help him escape, he went to the single door that garnished the room. Walking out the door he looked around and saw that the butterflies were not the only strange things here. There were huge flowers covering the ground, trees the color of water, and a sky of brilliant orange. As a slight wind blew over the grass, it seemed as if the grass was walking. He turned in a circle so he could take in the extent of his surroundings, and spotted a white rabbit in a jumper with a pocket watch in hand, saying, “I’m late” and rushing around in a frantic mood. All of a sudden, Henry stopped mid-turn; the last remnants of his childlike mind had already begun to piece this together. This was exactly like the story he had dismissed last night. He looked at the rabbit, only to see he was scampering further into the unknown world. As Henry chased the rabbit into the thick woods, he lost sight of it. Why did that surprise him? He knew that the characters in this story were unpredictable. He began walking and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight as if to alert him to an unknown presence. 

 “Where are you heading, boy? This way or that, left or right, up or down, around or around?” asked the mysterious creature. Henry turned and only saw a smile, one with straight gleaming white teeth and cherry red lips.

Trying to be braver then he felt he asked the mouth.

 “Where am I? How can I get home?” The mouth in response wore a grim-looking smile and started to transform. The first thing that came into view were big eyes with a mistrusting gleam to them, next was an exotic body of purple and pink fur, then came was the paws and a bushy tail. It was a cat!

 “Why leave when the fun’s here? Don’t you want to stay” the cat asked.

The cat’s eyes began to glow and Henry could feel himself nodding along against his will. Staying did see like a good idea after all. The cat began to walk off and before Henry could follow, someone tackled him to the ground.

            “Trust me, you do not want to follow that cat. He works for the evil queen and once she has you she will never let you go.” Said the girl who tackled him to the ground. Henry shook himself off as the cat’s persuasion slowly wore off.

“Please, I have no idea where I am can you help me? My name is Henry,” he said as he stuck out his hand.

“You are in Wonderland, I can show you the way home.” Said the girl as she started walking the opposite way that the cat had gone. Just as Henry started to catch up she turned around and said,

 “By the way, I’m Alice.”

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, NYC. Web Source

Author's Note: 

In my readings this week I really enjoyed how theatrical and how detailed the stories where. In my story I wanted to play with the idea of a story within a story. To give the story more detail I didn't want to make Alice the main character. She was already such a strong character that I wanted to take the focus off of her. Alice and Wonderland stories have always reminded me of Peter Pan. So, that is why I made my character a little boy who thought he was grown up. This was a twist on Peter Pan and Alice and Wonderland.