Since this is my first blog, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Leigh and I am currently a college student enrolled in a class pertaining to Fairy Tales and everything there is to know about them! I have only had two classes so far but it seems like it is going to be a fun semester.
One might ask, “Why take a class on fairy tales?” and believe me, I wondered the same thing. It all started at my previous institution. I began my freshman college experience at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania before transferring for my second semester. While there, every freshmen was required to take two semesters of the “Common Intellectual Experience” (CIE).
Here is a link to the Fall 2010 CIE Curriculum:
While I was in the class, a couple of the readings varied but for the most part the class was the same.
Anyway, I was in this class and fortunately I had an interesting teacher. Nobody really enjoyed the class, curriculum wise, but I at least enjoyed my professor. She was from Germany and was a German teacher at the college and was assigned to a CIE section. One day, she told us about how fairy tales in Germany do not end in ‘Happily Ever After’ but some of our favorite fairy tales contain gore and things we would never think of as a child. This is what interested me in the idea of fairy tales differing based on cultures and, when I saw the class was offered at my college, I decided it was worth my while to expand my knowledge in the subject.
Throughout this class, I hope to accomplish many things. I hope to improve my writing ability, critical reading ability, etc. But, I especially wish to expand my knowledge in a subject that seems intriguing and experience a course that I never in my wildest dreams thought would be offered at a college.
When I was younger, I hear many fairy tales as a child and watched many Disney movies, my favorite being The Lion King, although not a folk tale (at least as far as I know). Other than this popular Disney film, some of my favorite folk tales include Goldilocks, the Three Little Pigs, and Thumbelina. Other than these, one of my favorites is not technically a fairy tale but contains many elements of one and that is The Princess Bride. This is by far my favorite because it contains fairy tale elements of all different sorts. It is clever, funny, entertaining, romantic, and moral. If one has not seen the film I would highly recommend it. I loved these tales so much that when I was younger I could recite many of them and to this day, I can watch The Princess Bride film and talk along with the dialogue.
Generally, I enjoy fairy tales and have enjoyed them in the past so I hope this course opens my eyes to the vast world of spoken stories and their history throughout time.
Thank you for sharing with us your experience at Ursinius College and the story with your teacher from Germany. We will read a few German folktales from the Brothers Grimm and compare them with Disney's versions. You'll be surprised to see how Disney subverted the stories to be able to sell them to the American audience.
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