Sarah's Blog

The fairytale “Snow White” is one of the most known fairytales around the world, due to the various versions of it and it was Walt Disney’s big break. “Snow White” was Disney’s first movie that was in color, and just like any Disney fairytale, it differs from the original, written by the Brothers Grimm.    At the beginning of the Brothers Grimm version, there's a backstory on how Snow White got her name and how her mother had passed after Snow White was born. In the Disney film, they jump right into the evil stepmother with the magic mirror. In the Disney film, Snow White meets the prince early in the movie, unlike in the original when the prince doesn't enter until Snow White is in the casket. In the original story, the dwarfs tell Snow White that if she wants to stay with them she will have to keep house but in the Disney film Snow White offers to clean the house in hopes that they will let her stay. In the Disney film, there's a scene that lasts about 5 minutes...

    Cinderella is the fairytale that every little girl dreams about; from being belittled by the people that are supposed to have your back, sneaking out to the ball and meeting the prince, having the rush of nerves while trying to make it back on time so no one finding out who you actually are, to finally beating the evil in your life and riding off into the sunset with your prince. Going from rags to riches through marriage is pretty realistic depending on what part of marriage you are talking about. If your only looking at the money aspect of someone's marrage it may look like they didn't gain much, but if you look at the actual person they married, how happy that person makes them it seems like they were given everything they could have asked for. Even if this is the case, a person should just sit around and hope that money falls into their lap. If they really aspire to be richer than they are they should have to work for it. The concept of going from rags to riches t...

Stith Thompson describes a fairytale as a “tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous never-never ending land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to the kingdom and marry the princess.” A fairy tale can also be called a “Märchen.” A fairytale, unlike a myth or legend, has a large magical presence and is understood to be fictional. A fairytale contains magical characters such as giants or witches. They are also written with the idea that the reader would not ask questions about things are impossible, such as talking animals. Fairytales could have originated one of two ways; mono-genesis, which means it originated from a specific place and then spread to other countries, or poly-genesis, which means different tales were told in different places at the same time.  Many fairytales have different versions that consist of the same theme but the plot and detail...

In the first chapter of his book, The Brothers Grimm, Jack Zipes depicts an accurate description of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s life, starting from when they were born, to their studies in school and careers, and ending with the death of Jacob. Zipes goes into detail about their family life and their studies and their drive to be the best in the classes. He also goes into depth about how they collected their stories and all of the work they have published.  The movie, “The Brothers Grimm,” directed by Terry Gilliam, also shows a description of the Brothers Grimm while incorporating parts of the fairytales that they had collected into their lives. Gilliam also added and left certain parts of the Grimm’s lives out of the movie in order to keep it entertaining.  Even though the movie gives light into the Brothers Grimm’s lives, some of the movie is not true, or fiction. To start the first scene of the movie it shows one of the brother’s sisters very sick, w...

Why I Chose This Course: Fairytales have always been apart of my life since I was a little girl until now. I love just about every Disney Princess movie out there and I know that while some of the movies are Disney’s original writing most of the plots are adaptations of other stories. Knowing this has always made me curious about the origin of most Disney movies. After reading the description of this course, I immediately become interested in this course. Knowing that I was curious about the history of fairytales, I decided that this was the perfect topic for my first class at McDaniel. What I Hope To Accomplish: During this seminar, I hope to have a clear understanding of the history of different fairytales. I also hope to learn about the different and correct ways to interpret and analysis fairytales. Through this course, I also want to work on my writing and become more comfortable giving presentations. My Favorite Fairytale: I think my favorite fairytale is The Little Me...