Blog Entry 1

I have chosen the course “From Grimm to Disney” as my First Year Seminar because I have always been interested in folklore and fairy tales. I like to read about fantasy and fiction; and being in this FYS helps me to focus on my interests in reading and understanding what I am reading. In this course, I would like to learn the true meaning of well-known fairy tales that I am familiar with. Also, in this seminar, I hope to accomplish a "better understanding of the historical, social-cultural, and political situation in the 19^th century of Europe and Germany." I hope to read and analyze various fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and by Walt Disney and describe how they differ based on adaptation, industrialization, and contamination. I hope to be able to compare original fairy tales with filmed adaptions of fairy tales by Walt Disney and recognize the similarities and differences between the two. My favorite fairytale is Sleeping Beauty just because I grew up watching the movie with my family and younger cousins. I know that the meaning of the movie has something to do with “true love’s kiss,” but I would like to get to know the fairytale a little more to understand the meaning of it as a whole. For example, why was there was an evil queen present, why was Aurora (the princess) not aware she was a princess, what did the princess do to deserve a spell that put her at risk of death? I want to be able to understand and interpret my favorite fairytale so that I can go about telling it to the younger children in my family.