SLFK 211, Thursday, November 14, 2002
Last lecture:
A bit more about Zipes and a cartoon exemplifying Zipes points
The cartoon also is a good showcase of Soviet issues which they will see again in Russian urban legends, including the POST-Soviet ones
Just because a political system changes, does not mean a culture changes
Culture is much more tenacious
Legend in context and continuation of very basic mythic or archetypical themes from myth into legend and tale
When it comes to legend, 2 categories
Historical and
Contemporary or urban
Historical legends reflect events of the past
But, if they are told NOW, they reflect CONTEMPORARY concerns (as well as perennial ones)
Russian legends of the Soviet era are about rebellion
Something people would LIKE to do
Stories popular in the post-Soviet era include stories of building cities, which means building things at great cost
There are also issues which are culturally specific and persist despite changes in political systems
In the Sten'ka Razin, rebel stories, there are a number of legends about his death and what happens after
In the after, he becomes a treasure spirit &endash; klad
Anti-materialism, anti-possession ideas are pre-Soviet, and Soviet, and persist now as they will see
Contemporary or urban legends, of course, deal with contemporary issues
Started doing the animal stories in Brunvand
These talk about destruction of pet
In horrible ways
Often by accident
Person things s/he is doing good, but ends up being destructive instead
In these stories, pets and babies seems to substitute one for the other fairly freely
One VARIANT has small pet and another has baby
Sometimes quite literal &endash; as in microwave story usually told about pet poodle, but sometimes about baby
Sometimes substitution is more oblique:
Pet/food exchange in cat/ham, cat/cake
Baby/food exchange in babysitter on drugs
Pets behave like small children, or at least people think they do as in cat and salmon at garden party &endash; pet eats that which it is not supposed to eat.
Look at historical context
Pet legends come out at the time that there was a great deal of discussion about children, desire for children and assisted fertility
Coupled with a great deal of concern with and 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
Recall Runaway Grandma &endash; some of it is real problems
Some is secret wishes realized
In short, legends, too, are multifunctional and have many meanings
Thus, this set in not just about pets, but this set is also about problematic family relations when there is pressure for family unity
Recall little tags you put in cars saying: baby on board
Purpose of the tags &endash; not to make you more careful about hitting the car in question because one of the passengers was an infant
You would get into deep doo-doo regardless for hitting ANY car
Rather, this is a form of bragging about having a baby and letting the world know
Recall parody of baby-on-board signs
Which were grandma-in-trunk
Look at MULTIFUNCTIONAL nature of legends:
Recall cat and salmon at garden party
Garden party is also about big issue of greed
Other manifestations
Red Velvet cake at Neiman Marcus or Mrs. Fields' cookie recipe
Cheap imported goods with dreadful contaminations
Clothing, carpeting
Christmas cactus
Whole series of dreadful contaminations
In food
Ants in the face
Black widow spider in boot
On beaches (syringes) and all kids wear those little rubber shoes now
Lots of sex
Nude in the RV
Related to man cleaning leaves off of roof &endash; stupid wife stories; Darwin awards
Super glue on the balls
Nude surprise party or farts at party
Lady doing the laundry in the nude with a football helmet on
Man fixing the pipe under the sink in the nude
Lady skiing and stopping to pee
Man playing Batman as couple makes love
Many more strange sex behavior ones
Stuck Coke bottle
Light bulb
Vacuum cleaner
You can see a kind of evolution over time
Early ones &endash; as in when I was a teenager
Are of the couple parking variety &endash; interpreted by Dundes in Vanishing Hitchhiker
Tell of potential danger of sex, but not sexual activity
Freer sexual relations
Legends that parallel are of the cheater punished variety
Super-glue on balls
Solid cement Cadillac
Long distance to China
Or self-gratification stories
Usually various stuck items
Coke bottle
Vacuum cleaner, light bulb
Various uses of Coke in my teen years
Actually tested scientifically
Making sex at home exciting &endash; Batman
Recent are punishment for recreational sex
Parallel in dumb blond jokes
Female vanity and … Tanning salon &endash; the cover story of Curses, Broiled Again
Also:
Diet pills with tapeworms
Old story of beehive hairdo
These verge back onto the dreadful contaminations idea
Russian version with shoe polish in the mascara
Male attempts at attractiveness: cucumber or sausage in disco pants
Why cucumbers are better than men at about this time and notice the self-gratification theme
Look at more Russian material
Imported doll, imported curtains, imported hat
More Russian anti-ownership of nice things stories
And don't be too attracted to the pre-Soviet stuff either
Man digs up a gold statue on the dacha - was there from some past time
Makes mistake of putting wedding ring on it (explain system of rings)
Statue insists on marriage and kills man and/or wife
Please note that anti-materialism messages are like
The no accumulate a treasure in Sten'ka Razin
Russian dreadful contaminations in food
Bushovye nozhki
Colorado potato beetle
At least the first has anti-imported (and seemingly more luxurious) goods message
Even in birthing video &endash; don't buy imported pacifiers; they may look pretty and come in colors, but bad jaw formation