Blog Entry 8

URL FOR SONG:
"Little Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs 

Instead of finding a cartoon with the theme of “Little Red Riding Hood,” I chose an interesting song that conveys a different message but still involves the same theme. The song is called “Little Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. I would say that this song is more of a social type of song over political because it is not concerning anything about a party or groups in politics.

            I really like this song just because you can imagine your own cartoon for it. Also, it has a different type of ending and message than that of the Grimm version of the fairy tale and in the movie “Hoodwinked.” In the Grimm version, the wolf is set out to be the bad guy. The wolf symbolizes the lustful thoughts of a man or sexual predator - when analyzing the Grimm tale. The wolf is set out to be a predator and someone who Little Red Cap does not trust because he stray her away from the path into the forest to her grandmother’s house. However, in the end, a hunter cut open the wolf when he ate the grandmother and Little Red Cap and was outwitted by the three characters thus ending up dead.  But the wolf in the movie “Hoodwinked” is actually a very determinate, bold, and just a good guy who has a heart more than just being hungry. He is willing to help and protect the other characters in the movie, including saving Red and helping to rescue her Granny. This movie also had a happy ending but the wolf was just more of a good character.

            In the song by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, they focus on how people have already made their interpretations of the wolf as a horrible, hungry, flesh eating wild animal. They use this social aspect of the wolf to explain how, in reality, he is just understood as a monster but not as an animal with feelings. In the beginning of the song, the singer describes the setting of the story “Little Red Riding Hood.” They still cover the main plot and theme of the girl encountering the wolf and him following her to grandmother’s house. During the song, they describe eyes, lips, and heart. But instead of describing the ears, hands, and mouth of the wolf, the artist depicts the lips and eyes of the little girl and how that lures such a bad creature toward her. Then they just describe how big the heart is of the wolf because he really is not looking for someone to eat like in the Grimm version with his big mouth.

“What a big heart I have-the better to love you with. Little Red Riding Hood, even bad wolves can be good. I'll try to be satisfied just to walk close by your side. Maybe you'll see things my way before we get to grandma's place.”

            In short, this song just focuses on how the wolf does not want to be seen as the bad wolf. He does care and he just wants Little Red Riding Hood to understand that he is not like the rest of the wolves out there. This could symbolize men and their treatment towards women. Some women view men as pigs and predators and because of their past experiences with some men, they think this is how all men act. But the wolf is trying to get his point across that he is not like “everyone.” Just like how some men try to prove to women that they are not like the other guys they have been with. Some men actually do have a heart like the wolf in the song.

Blog Entry 7

In the story of “Cupid and Psyche,” the princess Psyche is said to be more beautiful than the goddess Venus. She is the youngest of the three daughters just like that of “The Frog King.” Venus then gets jealous; so Venus sends her son Cupid to get vengeance of the beautiful Psyche to fall in love with a monster. But Venus’ plan does not go so well because Cupid scratches himself with his own arrow and then falls in love with Psyche. They are then married before Psyche was actually able to see what he looks like. She is only with her husband at night because he bans her from seeing his face. After her jealous older sisters influence her that her concealed husband Cupid may be a monster that will eat her, the princess finally looks at him. She reveals his face but holding a lantern up to it and discovers that he is not a monster, but a god. Nonetheless, he flies away from her but she is able to win him back. They both live happily ever after together.

            “Cupid and Psyche” relates to the Grimm tale of “The Frog King.” A princess is the youngest of three but is forced to marry a frog because of the act of “kindness” he did for her by fetching the ball that landed in the well. She is terribly upset about the promise she made with the grimy frog and so she throws him against the wall which then reveals a handsome prince who was cursed by a witch. The princess marries the prince and lives happily ever after just like in the story of “Cupid and Psyche.”

            In both stories, the youngest princesses of three think they have married some type of beast. But it then turns out that these men were actually handsome princes. Even though in "Cupid in Psyche" the princess marries Cupid before she has seen his looks, she was able to discover his beauty. In the Grimm tale of "The Frog King" the princess did not actually marry him until she found out he was a handsome prince after his transformation from being a frog. Both stories are in relation to the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" because both princesses find happiness and love within the "beasts" or "monsters" before or after they have discovered the man's looks.

Extra Credit: "The Buried Child"

            The themes and motifs in the play “Buried Child” is related to that of fairy tales. The main theme that was presented in the play was the oedipal complex. The term “Oedipus complex” signifies the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, through dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a child's desire to have sexual relations with the parent of the opposite sex.

            In the play, the mother and son have an incest relationship. This is an element of the plot that relates to the oedipal complex that is also displayed in fairy tales.  The son of Laius is Oedipus, who then becomes intimate with his mother, as does Tilden with his mother Halie.

            For example, in the most recent the fairy tale I have analyzed, “Snow White” is also related to the myth of Oedipus and the oedipal complex. Snow White’s stepmother raises her after her father’s death. The evil stepmother/queen was very vain and jealous of Snow White. The queen’s mirror said Snow White was fairest of all and so because of that, the queen ordered her to be killed. This can be compared to the life of Oedipus: Laius believed his unborn son, Oedipus, was going to kill him and then become king. Laius’s jealously forced him to have a royal servant kill his baby. The huntsman in “Snow White” is sent to kill Snow White but he could not kill such a "beautiful creature." As a result, he abandoned her in the forest. As the story goes on, Snow White finds a home and lived with seven dwarfs. "Despite her stepmother’s jealousy, Snow White not only survives but finds great happiness." The servant that was sent to kill Oedipus but he could not commit such a tragedy. He chose to leave Oedipus at a home in the forest. In spite of the king’s attempts to kill his son, Oedipus still gains the crown and becomes king in the end, resulting in great happiness.

            To wrap things up, the play “Buried Child” is related to fairy tales because the oedipal conflicts that is shown. Each fairy tale is different, however in some way; a child has a desire to want the affection and attention of the other gender parent. Just like that of Tilden and his mother.

Blog Entry 6

  I think tabithafys.blogspot is a good blog because it is well organized and includes interesting pictures that relates back to how she answered each of the questions to the blog entries assigned. I like how the same font is used in each blog entry; it is easier to read the blog when the same font and size of the font is used. Also, I like how this blog is organized into different paragraphs with each entry instead of being on big answer to each of the prompts.

            The blogs that need the most improvements are the ones with no pictures and do not appeal to the eye of the audience, or people viewing the blogs. Though their answers to the questions are interesting and actually make sense to the questions being asked, it is important to included aesthetic components that would catch the eye of the readers and make them more fascinated in the blog itself.

            My favorite blog entry is mandyqfys.blogspot’s Blog Entry 5. She made an interesting point about the music in the Snow White movie compared to no music at all. The music in Snow White creates a more dramatic affect and helps to intensify a situation; that is how it is so different from the Grimm version of the tale. I like how she was able to relate something totally different to Snow White. The music from the movie Psycho did play a major role in the stabbing scene; whereas in Snow White, the music creates that engagement with the audience.