| Author |
Comment
|
joy
Unregistered User
(11/20/01 2:07:41 pm)
|
shoe ref's please
I am interested in any shoe ref's people can throw at me. I'm working on my final project in design- exploring environments of women (focusing on shoes) in fairy tales.
Could you help?
Thanks!
|
summersinger
Registered User
(11/20/01 3:32:04 pm)
|
Re: shoe ref's please
Cinderella is the obvious first...then there's Anderson's "Little Match Seller", who has her shoes stolen by ragamuffins. There's also the girl from "The Red Shoes", which is quite a creepy and wonderful story. The mermaid from "The Little Mermaid" feels as if she's walking on knives all the time, though that isn't really shoes. On to Grimm. There's the little sister in "The Almond Tree" who gets a pair of shoes from her dead brother. There's "The Shoemaker and the Elves", though I don't think that has anything to do with women, if that's your topic. The girls in "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" wear out their shoes. If you want to go as far as Hoffman, Clara from "The Nutcracker" defeats the mouse king by throwing her shoe at him.
That's as many as I can think of, though if you go through Grimm and Anderson you can probably find more. Good luck!
-Julia
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(11/20/01 4:58:17 pm)
|
FYI
You might want to check out Helen's new story about shoes that you will find in this discussion group below. She wrote it in response to the 9/11 attacks. It is in a sense a "modern fairy tale" which uses shoes as symbols of unity and communication. Really touching.
Jess
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(11/20/01 5:01:26 pm)
|
See my oops note above
It was Donna, not Helen that was the author. Sorry Donna. Still a beautiful tale.
Jess
|
Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(11/20/01 11:46:13 pm)
|
Re: See my oops note above
Don't forget the iron shoes in which Snow White's stepmother dances to her death at the "happy ending" wedding.
Glad that's one I didn't receive an invitation to.
Not that she didn't deserve it....
Heidi
|
kate
Unregistered User
(11/21/01 11:44:29 am)
|
also
There's Inge, "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf," who uses some bread to protect her precious shoes from water . . .
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(11/21/01 1:35:16 pm)
|
Right!
Oh yes, Kate. That is a perfect story.
How about the three spinning fairies - maybe it is a stretch, but the one fairy had a broad flat foot. Not really a shoe story, more a foot story.
Jess
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(11/21/01 1:44:30 pm)
|
Another Grimms Tale
How about the "Blue Light" where the soldier's helper takes the princess' shoe, which serves as the messenger of the whereabouts of the Princess. Give me a while and Scott and I will come up with more!
Jess
|
summersinger
Registered User
(11/21/01 2:11:02 pm)
|
Re: shoe ref's please
I remembered another one today - didn't the heroine of "The Snow Queen" give her shoes to the river in exchange for directions or something?
-Julia
|
Gail
Unregistered User
(11/21/01 2:52:44 pm)
|
storyteller's source book
Hello, just checked the subject index for shoes (there are also entries for boots, geta, and slippers) in Margaret Read MacDonald's Storyteller's Source book (1st edition). I do not have the second one at my finger tips. At any rate, there are numerous stories mentioned there that are not as familiar as the ones from the canon of folktales. If you do not have access to this book, let me know and I will get you the information. Gail
|
Midori
Unregistered User
(11/21/01 2:52:51 pm)
|
shoes
what about all those fairy tales where the hero or heroine has to journey until they wear out seven pairs of iron shoes?
and then there's the seven league boots...
|
Carrie
Unregistered User
(11/22/01 11:40:21 am)
|
foot binding
Hello all. I just read an article on corsets and foot binding and how fashion has historically dictated women's lives. The article mentioned the practice of foot binding showing up in fairy tales and I was wondering if anyone knew which ones.
chronicle.com/free/v48/i13/13a01201.htm
The brief remark made me think of this post and I started wondering if these images truly have made their way into fairy tales. Is it possible that body image and fashion are involved in the underlying currents of fairy tale imagery? The Red Shoes for instance -- vanity? Or the dresses of gold, silver and feathers in Cinderella? Or Puss in Boots? Maybe even Tattercoats? I'm just curious. Doneyskin maybe too? And then does that mean we'll start seeing body piercing and tatoos or even breast augentation showing up in modern retellings? I think the possibilites here could be fascinating. Any thoughts?
Carrie
Carrie
|
ZMethos
Registered User
(11/22/01 2:56:52 pm)
|
Re: shoe ref's please
There's the old woman who lived in a shoe. . . but I guess that's more a nursery rhyme than a fairy tale, eh?
~M. Pepper
|
summersinger
Registered User
(11/23/01 6:57:26 pm)
|
Re: foot binding
I'd say the red shoes definitely symbolized vanity. She was wearing them to church and thinking about them instead of God, which was a major fault in Anderson's eyes. It's only at the end of the story when she repents that she's free of the effects of the shoes.
I can't think of any instances of foot binding, though.
-Julia
|
janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/24/01 5:23:38 am)
|
Musings
Red Shoes: She is also free of her feet! The woodcutter cuts them off for her and the little red shoes (with severed feet) go dancing off into the forest. And that's only the beginning of the story. She still has to earn her way into heaven! (Geck!)
There are some who feel that the emphasis on the tiny foot in Cinderella is a leftover Chinese remnant, referring to foot binding.
Just some musings on this topic.
Jane
|
Carrie
Unregistered User
(11/24/01 8:26:58 am)
|
foot binding
Aha...I hadn't thought of foot binding and Cinderella, but that makes sense. Didn't Cinderella originate in China -- fur slipper and all that? Interesting.
Carrie
|
janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/24/01 12:47:58 pm)
|
Chinese Cinderella
Actually,. the most popular Chinese (early) version of Cinderella has no shoes at all. Rather the girl has a particular fish given to her by her dying mother. Stepmother catches and cooks fish. Girl buries bones which then help her magically.
JAne
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(11/24/01 9:27:28 pm)
|
Arabian Nights
I just went through my copy of the Arabian Nights, which I know is incomplete, but nevertheless I thought it might help to note that I found NO shoe references in it. Maybe that will save you some trouble.
Jess
|
