SLFK 211, Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Left out Zipes:
American desire for the counter-cultural
The individual
Even the rebellious, but …
Americans tend to prize things that are NOT part of the system like
Indy films
Young, first-time authors
Independent inventors of software, games
Yet, becoming part of the system is big goal for all of the above
For indy films, getting contract with big studio
Same for young author and big publishing house
Young inventor and getting bought up by Microsoft
Illusion of independence
Indy film companies keep own name, even when bought up
Small food companies try to appear independent, even when part of General Mills
So Zipes lives up to the cultural imperative in 2 ways
By being against the system &endash; against the culture industry
And by merrily being co-opted by it
He is quite willing to write the sorts of things that will SELL WELL
Just like Disney wants to make the films that will gross big bucks
And sell lots of lunch boxes, pajamas, etc.
Zmei Gorynyshche as a Soviet story
Intended not to be seen as such but as a cute and charming children's story
Interpretation practice
Last lecture
Legends in the context of myths and tales &endash; the 2 other main prose narrative forms
Chart one shows relationship in terms of context
When told and to whom, when collected
Chart two shows relationship in terms of content
Which stories are believe to be true
Which have human actors
Legend falls between myth and folktale
Shares some traits with one prose genre and some with the other
Furthermore, legends have various subtypes
Two basic ones are between historical legends that tell about the past and contemporary or urban legends
Since myth is about the beginning of time, the creation of things
Term: cosmogonic
Tells how things came into being
Why they are as they are
Since legends confirm that things should be as they are
That, when social norms are violated, things go wrong
And since historical legends tell about events several centuries ago
Since both myth and legend are true
Whereas tales are fantastic
Temptation to see an evolution from
Myth: something sacred
Taken very serious
Which talks about origins
To historical legends
Something serious
Which talks about the past, though not that distant a past
To contemporary legends
Which deal with less weighty topics
More personal issues than issues that affect a country
To tales
Which are not that serious, at least on the surface
Not taken to be true
Perhaps SOME topics did indeed evolve this way, but things are a lot more complicated.
Stopped at historical legends, American and Russian
Quick review of American historical legends you know
George Washington and the cherry tree
George Custer and the massacre at Little Big Horn
These are indeed connected to ancient mythic themes
Mentioned last time about Custer and the old woman/seemingly weak person = time
Parallels in Robin Hood, Koroglu, Volga
The old woman defeats the hero in a rather unpleasant and insulting manner &endash; she bleeds Robin Hood to death
Slow death is indicative of the ravages of time
Cutting DAD's cherry tree is a castration story in a way
Related to ancient Greek myth of Zeus and Kronos and Aphrodite
Mutilation and creation out of the body
Strange births &endash; Russian Dnipro and Dunai
Most American strange births are of the devil baby variety
Usually woman had sex with someone she should not have had sex with
Incest
Bestiality
Used in X-files and movies
Appear in various tabloids
Again, they have mythic parallels
In Greek myth, Zeus goes around mating with various mortal women creating various heroes &endash; or monsters
Bear's son is an ancient myth
Please note that Russian son of a creature/former deity stories appear in TALE form, while, in the west, they are in legend form
Russian also has a castration story, only in tale form
Russian Tom Thumb story
Boy is the result of the woman's severed thumb or finger
This does not mean that the Russians are more advanced because their stories have evolved into tale form
All it means is that, this particular set of stories is not held to be true by the Russians &endash; they see as fantastic
In the west, there is an element of true to the birth stories
But perhaps not a question of development through stages of society
Rather, a question of social issues important at the time.
Look at some more Russian historical legends
Russian stories of disrespect to a skull
Sviatogor and his coffin
Many Russian historical legends are about famous rebels
The death of Sten'ka Razin
Sten'ka Razin and his treasure
Pugachev spots an evil village woman who drinks the blood of babies and unmasks her
Sten'ka Razin and his ability to make clothes into armor
His ability to escape &endash; locks, boats
Legends can also be about kings, but usually about strange ones
Ivan the Terrible and expelling crows/witches from Moscow
His whipping the river, or throwing people in
Founding of villages using an icon
Getting a city wall or a fortress to stand by immuring a live woman in it
Persecution and Old Believer mass suicides
Many of the rebel stories were and are used in cinema
With things like Sten'ka Razin, you always wonder
Supposedly was good and law-abiding until his brother was unjustly killed
At which point he becomes a rebel
Since death of son, brother, best friend is so much of a mythic theme, you wonder if it was real or added because it made NARRATIVE sense
Or maybe we have an ultimate truth
That at situation like that is so upsetting that it can change a man's nature
American &endash; in addition to the big historical legends of the presidents and major battles type, there are lots of historical legends on a smaller scale
Haunted governor's mansion &endash; strange death or a mis-birth of some sort
Often strange sexual liaisons involved
Will Monica become the stuff of legend at some later point?
Semi-historical set:
Jersey Pine Barrens devil
Big Foot in Blue Ridge Mountains
Accident zone on 29 North
Claim to say something about the region which is essential, captures the essence of the place
Reaches far back into time
The small-scale urban ones deal with isolated and current issues
Take legends about pets in Curses and elsewhere
Old classic: Pet/baby in microwave oven &endash; remember what I told them about pets and children, animals and children
Horror of eating something that close
Couple in Chinese restaurant and disappearing pet
Recall also the baby sitter on drugs and "put the turkey in the oven"
Other pet:
Cat/ham substitute
Cat/cake in Russia
Also story of the run-over cat in Richmond
All sorts of dead pet
Cat at the garden party &endash; nibbles from salmon, then found dead
Had been run over by neighbor and placed on porch so as not to disturb party
Dog dies at a yard sale &endash; almost sold
Proliferation of dead/mutilated pet in the more recent Brunvand collections
Pet rescue &endash; then run over
Catapult cat
Pet sat on
Pet legends come out at the time that there was a great deal of discussion about child abuse
If child is associated with pet as we discussed when we did trickster material
Then talking about horrible things happening to a pet is a way to secretly talk about horrible things happening to a child
Whether these are things you are afraid of
Or things you would like to do, but dare not admit your secret wishes