Comments on: Apropos of Nothing http://blog.timoth.net/2009/05/apropos-of-nothing.html Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:04:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: timoth http://blog.timoth.net/2009/05/apropos-of-nothing.html#comment-105 timoth Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:41:16 +0000 http://blog.timoth.net/wordpress/2009/05/apropos-of-nothing.html#comment-105 My post was intentionally lacking a thesis statement. I merely wanted this "enter into evidence" to support an idea I may or may not address more fully at some later point (in spite of the title). The short of it is that I noticed a little while ago that there seems to be a trend in television toward strong, "in control" type women and some version of submissive/bumbling/confused/goofy men. It suddenly occurred to me, "This might not be new." Although, many of the stories that I mentioned do involve the female lead being rescued by a prince (or some variation) so my observation here may be tangental at best.<br /><br />It is worth wondering of all the traditional tales, why are these particular ones still popular today? Obviously Disney is a major influence, but actually only about half of the ones I mentioned have a Disney version. <br /><br />Which brings up another tangental point: Walt Disney arguably made his name by adapting classic fairy tales. Then (from my perspective) the movies descended into mediocrity in the 70's and 80's before returning to form with the "trilogy" of The Little Mermaid / Beauty and the Beast / Aladdin. Then they gradually went off making increasingly bizarre adaptations of increasingly not-necessarily-for-kids source material. Why can't you just stick with what you know Disney? It's been like 70 years... where is your Frog Prince? ...And then I found <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_and_the_Frog" rel="nofollow">this</a>. See, now that's what I'm talking about... wait... what the hell? Who's running things over there? My post was intentionally lacking a thesis statement. I merely wanted this "enter into evidence" to support an idea I may or may not address more fully at some later point (in spite of the title). The short of it is that I noticed a little while ago that there seems to be a trend in television toward strong, "in control" type women and some version of submissive/bumbling/confused/goofy men. It suddenly occurred to me, "This might not be new." Although, many of the stories that I mentioned do involve the female lead being rescued by a prince (or some variation) so my observation here may be tangental at best.

It is worth wondering of all the traditional tales, why are these particular ones still popular today? Obviously Disney is a major influence, but actually only about half of the ones I mentioned have a Disney version.

Which brings up another tangental point: Walt Disney arguably made his name by adapting classic fairy tales. Then (from my perspective) the movies descended into mediocrity in the 70's and 80's before returning to form with the "trilogy" of The Little Mermaid / Beauty and the Beast / Aladdin. Then they gradually went off making increasingly bizarre adaptations of increasingly not-necessarily-for-kids source material. Why can't you just stick with what you know Disney? It's been like 70 years… where is your Frog Prince? …And then I found this. See, now that's what I'm talking about… wait… what the hell? Who's running things over there?

]]> By: Cousin Julie http://blog.timoth.net/2009/05/apropos-of-nothing.html#comment-104 Cousin Julie Sun, 31 May 2009 18:37:19 +0000 http://blog.timoth.net/wordpress/2009/05/apropos-of-nothing.html#comment-104 So, what's the point of this contemplation? I think that it's useful to think why they are "well-known". If you look through the Brothers Grimm, you'll see LOTS of tales with male protagonists (Tom Thumb, Iron John, etc.) but many of them are a bit more violent. Or, rather, the violence is unavoidable, whereas the girl tales have been Disney-fied rather effectively. Is Disney the main culprit here in promoting certain tales? Is it the storybook industry? Interesting thing to note, though. <br /><br />As a sidenote, I am trying to tell the Goldilocks tale to Janiya with Goldilocks coming off as the really intrusive, rude girl that she is, and the bears as victims to her self-absorbed sense of entitlement. So, what’s the point of this contemplation? I think that it’s useful to think why they are “well-known”. If you look through the Brothers Grimm, you’ll see LOTS of tales with male protagonists (Tom Thumb, Iron John, etc.) but many of them are a bit more violent. Or, rather, the violence is unavoidable, whereas the girl tales have been Disney-fied rather effectively. Is Disney the main culprit here in promoting certain tales? Is it the storybook industry? Interesting thing to note, though.

As a sidenote, I am trying to tell the Goldilocks tale to Janiya with Goldilocks coming off as the really intrusive, rude girl that she is, and the bears as victims to her self-absorbed sense of entitlement.

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