Fairy tales Myths

Fromm, Erich. The forgotten language an introduction to the understanding of dreams, fairy tales and myths. New York Rinehart, 1951. 

McLean, Adam. The myth of the Fall and Goethe s Fairy Tale. Hermetic Jno. 18 (Winter 1982) 36-40. 

The Symbolic-level "world" of myth and ritual, the world of legendary and fairy-tale themes and figures, of archetypes and other timeless symbols and essences, is more profound and meaningful than the historical and evolutionary se-... 

The etymology of toadstool is further compounded by the poisonous nature of toads. In any event, European folk tales refer to toadstools as places where poisonous toads sit on poisonous mushrooms in the forest, a myth perpetuated in whimsical drawings accompanying fairy tales and other stories intended for children. 

While it may seem obvious, birth defects are not new. In the vast majority of cases, birth defects and their causes cannot be linked to modern consumer products, occupational exposures, therapeutic or recreational drugs, or environmental pollutants. Congenital defects are perhaps the greatest source to have influenced the myths of antiquity (second only to belief in divinity or the study of the heavens), fairy tales of Rumpelstiltskin and other dwarfs, elves and hunchbacks or otherwise twisted (arthrogryposis, torticollis, and scoliosis) trolls, or contemporary book and film scripts of the macabre. 

The early myths of any tribe usually tell about ways in which human beings are affected by the actions of a god or gods, while its fairy tales and legends are apt to describe ways in which human beings are affected by more earthy aspects of the supernatural—say witches, giants, trolls, talking... 

To the point at which something not yet said, something as yet only darkly felt, suddenly appears and seizes us and tears us to pieces like the fangs of a man-eating witch. Through the forest of fairy tale the vibrancy of myth passes like a shudder of wind."5... 

Male or female, we are all "younger sons" in one way or another, and what seizes us as we read or listen to or watch a well-told story is that powerful intermingling of feeling and thought that Aristotle called "recognition." If you substitute the word "image" for "sentence" in the quotation above, you will understand why it is that, as teachers, we have found myths and fairy tales so useful to the novice short-screenplay writer (who may well regard herself or himself as a filmmaker, and not a "real" writer at all). 

ADAPTING A MYTH OR FAIRY TALE A FIRST EXAMPLE... 

From the very beginning of the film industry, fiction and drama have proved unending sources of film stories, and it has been our experience in many years of teaching that adapting a myth or fairy tale offers the novice screenwriter an immediate way to learn how to structure a short script. 

Some contemporary adaptations of myths and fairy tales done by students working collaboratively in workshops given by coauthor Pat Cooper include the following ... 

Find yourself at least two good collections of myths or fairy tales, and pick a tale you d like to work on. After you ve located it, make at least two photocopies of several versions of the story—one to keep as a clean copy, the other to mark up as you work on your outline. In addition, photocopy any other material that interests you, such as illustrations or observations by the book s editor. At this point it is better to have too much material rather than too little, as you can t tell which bits and pieces of information may prove useful in writing your outline. 

Researching and locating the right myth or fairy tale can take a good deal of time, but it is important to choose a story that is personally meaningful, one that you will enjoy working on. It is also important that this assignment not be rushed. 

Reading several versions of a fairy tale or myth and recognizing the differences in the versions... 

Fairy Tales. Write and illustrate your own fairy tale or fable or myth, using the conventions of the genre. Especially effective with visual/special learners. 

Folk Tales Revisited, Part I. As an exercise in literary expression, invent a different written form for telling a folk tale, fairy tale, or myth, such as... 

Then there are capital P and small p philosophers. Capital P philosophers deride literalists and small p philosophers alike as fundamentalists, a dirty word. These capital P philosophers know all myths are just that, myths without a historical basis. Unless archeology proves something happened then it did not, and the myth is just a story having no more merit than a fairy-tale. 

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