Urban Legends
Urban legends always remind me of the oral tradition. That's how they're passed on to other. The main difference is that with an urban legend, the point of the story isn't the story. When you tell a folk tale, you're handing down a piece of history set to poetry. The words are crafted to represent the local flavor, dialect and tone of a place. Urban legends on the other hand, are more like fairy tales. Almost. Their point isn't to hand down a piece of history so much as it is to scare people. Fairy tales scare children... and me.
But I think that's why I like fairy tales so much. In our PC culture, they're oddities now. They used to be commong place. It was never a problem to tell a story about a two women getting pieces of their feet chopped off (at their mother's advice) in order to wear a shoe. Have you read the Brothers Grimm stories? Those are absurdly violent.
I think children are closeted too much. Generations were raised on those stories, and people turned out perfectly normal. I think children live more in the fictional world than adults do. It's easy for them to know when something is made up. To them, all the stories are imagined. It's only when people get older to they ask, "What's the significance of gender in this story?" As opposed to what a child would say, "That girl got hurt because she played with matches. I shouldn't play with matches." Adults forget that make believe isn't about real people, and it's ok if bad things don't happen to real people. It teaches us how not to act.
But I think that's why I like fairy tales so much. In our PC culture, they're oddities now. They used to be commong place. It was never a problem to tell a story about a two women getting pieces of their feet chopped off (at their mother's advice) in order to wear a shoe. Have you read the Brothers Grimm stories? Those are absurdly violent.
I think children are closeted too much. Generations were raised on those stories, and people turned out perfectly normal. I think children live more in the fictional world than adults do. It's easy for them to know when something is made up. To them, all the stories are imagined. It's only when people get older to they ask, "What's the significance of gender in this story?" As opposed to what a child would say, "That girl got hurt because she played with matches. I shouldn't play with matches." Adults forget that make believe isn't about real people, and it's ok if bad things don't happen to real people. It teaches us how not to act.
posted by Darcy at
8:33 AM
3 Comments:
Sometimes I have to be careful because I read a lot of histories about Tudor England, but I also read historical fiction about the same time period, so fact and fiction blur in my head. It's like _Jaws_. I know, weird leap. Robert Benchley researched sharks, so some of the novel is based on reality and some is pure fiction. Separating the two can become a problem, which is why there was mass murder of sharks after the movie viewed.
By
Donna Sewell, at 9:02 AM
Your comments remind me of the movie The Neverending Story. Have you seen it? I try so hard to allow my children to experience those fantasies. My four-year old swears that her wings will grown in any day now, and I continue to let her believe that. Life is too short to worry about reality when you are four. They've got enough time for that later.
By
Mary Poppins, at 9:08 AM
I think fairy tales are what childhood's all about. I grew up in a devout Christian home, and I believed in the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy. My mom didn't freak out when I was obsessed with the Wicked Witch in Snow White, nor did she worry that I would puff along with Puff the Magic Dragon one day. I agree with you, Alison - reality is no place for children at the age of four. Or seven or ten or twelve for that matter. It's such a sad place that our society's in because our children are subjected to too much "reality" at a young age. Which mostly goes back to parenting. Just ask me what we caught SIXTH graders doing at school this year. Ok, I feel like I'm rambling and soap boxing all at the same time.
The Brothers Grimm is where it's at! ; ) They are pretty violent, though. I'll admit... I never read those as a child!
By
Carrie Beth, at 12:39 AM
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