Blog Topic 1

[lucas.s.kunsman]

Watch Nicky Phelan's "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIDv1jJhoxY. In which way does this movie show typical fairy tale elements and in which way does it deviates from typical fairy tale characteristics. Use criteria that we discussed in class. Furthermore, what could be the 'message' of Phelan's short film?

The first similarity I noticed in the short film was the use of the fairy tale idiom "Once upon a time."  This is immediately followed by setting an ambiguous location -- "in a kingdom far away."  I think that these elements are typical to fairy tales because of the ambiguity that they set up; without knowing when exactly "once upon a time" was or where "far away" is, it sets the audience up to more easily believe the fantasy elements in the tale.  In the short film, these elements are manifested as the fairies of the forest, including the elderly fairy and her curse.  However, the short lacks any sort of real transformation; the curse is placed, but there isn't the typical quest undertaken to break it.  The tale itself stagnates rather than reaching conclusion.

Due to this dissimilarity, I feel that Phelan's short is not so much meant to be a new take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale itself, but to be a critique on how fairy tales are told.  At about the 2:20 mark, the grandmother stops reading from the fairy tale entirely, instead telling her own version of the tale that reveals her own thoughts and opinions rather than the written version.  With versions of Sleeping Beauty ranging from Perrault to the Brothers Grimm to Disney, I believe that Phelan is making comment on how the orator of the fairy tale can twist a somewhat established plot to their own purpose; his message is to bring light to the malleability of the genre based on the author conveying it and what audience they are conveying it to.

[Clay Alspaugh]

Nicky Phelan’s “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” contains typical fairy tale elements, yet proposes its own message different from that of other fairy tales. As Lucas stated in his earlier post, the story begins with “Once Upon a Time” followed by “in a kingdom far away”. Here were see the differentiation between the fairy tale world and the real world.  The ambiguity of the time and location allows for the author to construct his characters and plot in such a way that it does not have to be questioned logically. Furthermore, we see that a beautiful princess it born and, likely because of her naiveté, has a hoard of beautiful fairies sticking to her side as her godmothers. With these wing-tipped godmothers we see the use of magic or of the supernatural. The evil fairy comes down and casts a spell on all of the beautiful fairies, but we never see the product of the spell, which in typical tales would be a transformation, as the grandmother ends the story abruptly and is not concluded.

 

I would agree with Lucas that the purpose of Phelan’s fairy tale is to express that, although many fairy tales are similar in nature, the success and uniqueness of the fairy tale is up to the person who tells it due to the flexible nature of the genre. The grandmother reads from a book called “Sleeping Beauty”, so it might seem at first glance that Phelan’s tale is a commentary on “Sleeping Beauty”. But, after the grandmother sets the scene for the tale, she takes it into her own hands and begins to incorporate her own emotion and life into the story. The portrayal of the old fairy conveys the angst of the old woman’s life in the real world. She feels left out and not needed because she is old and viewed as ugly. Her age allows her to feel as if she has the wisdom and power to place a spell which will cause all the beautiful fairies to die, but her wisdom allows her to realize her time has passed, thus her spell is never completed. If the grandmother told the real story of “Sleeping Beauty” her grandmother would likely sleep well rather than hiding under her covers from nightmares. The grandmother’s twist on “Sleeping Beauty” adequately illustrates Phelan’s purpose that the person telling or reading the tale can shape it to as to reflect her own ideas. The genre follows a fairly basic formula but is ultimately pliable. Fairy tales are not simply a continuation of a single original tale, but serve as a mode of expressing different emotions depending on the author.  

[madison.m.miller]

I agree with Lucas, the fairy tale begins quite typically, as a bed time story told to a child starting with the phrase "once upon a time." The only indicator that something is amiss, though, is that the child seems petrified. The grandmother figure also says "why not read one of your favorites, 'Sleeping Beauty,'" yet the child's response later indicates that she is not familiar with this story.

It begins harmless enough, a princess is born in a far away, unspecified kingdom and there are fairies. However instead of being "good" they are described as being "young" but are implied as being good as they are introduced first and have favor with the royal family by being invited to the christening. The fairy who is not invited, typically implying an evil nature, is simply old hereby associating something wrong or bad about being old.

Here in the deviation from typical fairy tale elements it seems the message is revealed. This tale is the grandmother's narrative on respecting the elderly. It is her favorite tale, not her granddaughters, and her liberties with the story line indicate why she prefers this story. Like all fairy tales it is short and fairy gruesome, but it leaves much unresolved and lacks the redemptive quality that is an earmark of traditional fairy tales.

[shoaib.a.rashid]

I agree with everyone that the beginning of the story has typical fairy tale elements like the idiom "Once upon a time" and the ambiguous location, as well as the fairies. However I would like to add that the ambiguous location not only serves to suspend disbelief but also allows people from many different locations to identify with the characters in the story. For example, though many of the fairy tales were taken from Italy or France, by leaving the location ambiguous German audiences could more easily identify with the characters. If the film had said, once upon a time in Brazil, the child would have not as easily identified with the princess. 

When the grandmother deviated from the typical storyline and interjected her own situation into the plot, like Lucas I see this a demonstration of the utility of fairy tales in being able to send whatever message the person telling the story wants. In this case, the grandmother wanted to show the negative attitude against the elderly, but if a tyrant had been telling the fairy tale he could have made it serve his purpose as well by tweaking the plot. I think this maleability is the main point of the film.