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Author
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Comment
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sophiepeers
Unregistered User
(12/15/04 6:37 am)
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fairy tale to horror
to what extent do you think the translation of fairy tales to horror movies changes with the different audiences in different contexts?
ie; the violence is obviously enhanced and made more realistic etc
and the morals and cautions are played down because people arent intersted any more.
:rolleyes
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cmoore0013
Unregistered User
(12/15/04 1:36 pm)
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Horror films
Well, I love all horror films and I love all fairy tales. They do share some of the same things.
If Hansel and Gretel was filmed today as an R rating, it would be very bloody. Just imagine the witch eating the children. Thats nasty, but it was in the original story.
The original stories never go into deep descriptions of the bloody events. They'll just say sometyhings like "and the stepsister cut off her toes."
In a horror film, "and the stepsister cut off her toes. Blood splashed as the first toe fell to the ground. Blood sprayed on the pillow of the bed she was sitting on."
Hororr films jsut go alittlemore extreme with the gore.
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MadFae
Registered User
(12/15/04 1:53 pm)
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Re: Got me thinking...
This question got me thinking. I believe it is assumed in some ways that the people who heard the original versions of a lot of our favorite fairytales were somehow more naive and innocent than we are today...but in considering the fact that old fairytales weren't descriptively gory even though they were dark, I had this thought...
People today are exposed to a great deal of violence and gore...real or imaginary, but it's second-hand. We see it on t.v., in video games, in the movies, or on the news. But first-hand experience of gore and violence, for most people (at least in the US and other "peaceful" "modern" countries), is a rarity. For people living in the Dark Ages, however, I imagine that it was not so rare. Children were exposed at an early age to the slaughtering of animals for food, to illness, injury, and death of other people, to the visceral reality of watching childbirth...and also to scenes of public execution.
My point is this...people who had first-hand experience of gore and violence didn't need to have it spelled out to them in story-form. When a storyteller explained that a woman's toes were cut off, the listener could quite well imagine the sight of it, and possibly the pain, too.
Today, people need to have things explained or portrayed in gory detail in order to fully imagine the horror of it. And even then I imagine horror isn't as effective to us as it may have been to those listeners of the past. When getting eaten by a wolf was an actual possibility, the story of Little Red Riding Hood may have been much more than a cautionary tale. It was good horror, too.
Just some thoughts.
MadFae
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sophiepeers
Unregistered User
(12/15/04 2:46 pm)
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horror translation
thanks so much that's really useful i hadnt thought about violence in that way. i thought your point was really interesting..
the thing is i'm writing my dissertation on how fairy tale narratives have influenced the structure of fairy tales. im starting the introduction with the idea of translation as a theme. i will hopefully be able to introduce some different types of translation ( i was wondering if anyone would be able to help me out here?) and then talk about how the subject matter would change if translated within different historical contexts to different audiences.
i was then going to talk about the translation of more gruseome, rude oral fairy tales into fairy tales told to children. and how they changed them because of the different audience. ie; enhancing the violence to help caution the children.
i was then going to introduce my main theme. the idea that fairy tale narratives have influenced horror film structures. i was going to talk mainly about the concept of violence, and female protagonists
then going on to talk about tim burtons sub genre of fairy tale horror, and mentioning angela carter's company of wolves, the film made by neil jordan.
any help would be greatly appreciated
i hope it all makes sense to you guys! thanks:D
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redtriskell
Registered User
(12/18/04 2:29 am)
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good ideas
Imagine my shock when I read your post. I've planned for years to write my dissertation (assuming I ever make it to grad school) on the evolution of fairy tales into modern horror stories. So- great idea!:D Anyway, I heartily second MadFae's suppositions. Although I also think gory violence is over used in both film and writing these days. Horror tales, gothics, scary movies, and my father led me to fairy tales- I discovered that all the best things about the fiction I loved early on were originally to be had in fairy tales. It's an interesting idea to look at these stories cast in a modern light; hence, the popularity of the retellings. Sometimes, though, I think we (modern readers) miss some of the point. I think a lot of fairy tales can be viewed as serving a similar function as urban legends do today. Take Little Red Riding Hood, for instance. It seems, on the surface, to be a cautionary tale about straying from the path. But, read a certain way, it could also be interpreted as a warning about being overly trusting. How long have men been referred to as wolves? How many young ladies shivered at the telling of this story because they were thinking about that handsome young man, not because they were afraid of getting eaten by a wolf? It's sort of like the Hook story- on the surface it's about a crazed, murderous lunatic with a hook for a hand, but it's REALLY about why parking with a boy is dangerous. Just a thought.
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