SLFK 211, Thursday, October 24, 2002
Bettelheim's "higher morality" point
He claims that what he is talking about is BEYOND cultural differences (higher than) implying that it has to do more with biology than culture
Remember all of the development stuff
Psychological development, if you will recall, is linked to physiological development
And, to a certain extent, physiologically determined in its own right, as in not just the relationship between the development of the body and how it shapes cognition, but the nature and growth of the human brain
This is true to a degree, but DOES NOT apply to all of the things that Bettelheim would have it apply to
When it comes to sexual maturation, not all cultures want female to be small
Not all cultures think that men are the ones with the stronger sexual desire and that women need to be taught that men are lovely and loveable rather than beastly
Showed this with the 2 Russian tales of Frog Princess (rather than Frog Prince)
Female is disgusting and bestial (except at night) rather than the male
And with Finist the Bright Falcon &endash; a pretty and not frightening animal groom
Male is attractive and not bestial and scary
Female seems to have great knowledge of sex and interest in same than the male
Gave cultural parallels
Then said even things that are VERY close to biology can be culturally influenced
As in birthing of the baby
Show video
The practices SEEM to be determined by biology
American &endash; need to start kid breathing, for example
But, can be shown to have cultural relevance
American:
Individuality
Child alone in his little plastic crib being viewed by daddy from behind picture window
Later, child sleeps in own room rather than with parents
You can argue that anesthesia of mom is mother/child separateness
Or &endash; needs of child DO NOT take precedence over those of parent
Child fed on schedule
Women schedule their delivery and have induced labor so that delivery baby does not interfere with work, other schedules
Kid toughs it out approach &endash; whether sleeping alone at night or food
Related to hitting child to start breathing
Activity and motion of the child encouraged
All of the crib toys that try to entertain baby all of the time, get to move
American batting the kid around versus Russian herb bath
On one level &endash; American is tough whereas Russian is comforting
But you could argue that Russian is enveloping and stifling, too
Russian:
Lack of individuality in that child in close quarters with adults
At one point slept with adults, or at least in same room
Lack of motion and at one point carried around all of the time
Much more indulgence to child &endash; feeding on demand
GROUP rearing of child &endash; before: older siblings, community
Now: granny care
People on the metro
Grannies tell you what you are doing wrong in the streets
This continues in the school system
Russian punishment by ostracizing kids &endash; vseobshchii boikot
Desks in Russian schools are 2-seaters; you share
American &endash; time out as punishment
Have own desk, own locker; or NO desk and no locker
Can be seen in all sorts of levels, including folkloric, like games and toys, even taunts and jeers
This is kid>kid material as opposed to adult>kid as in tales
Kids play more group games &endash; gusi, gusi, ga, ga, ga
Less whether is competition by a single player and where there is a clear winner or loser
Even body functions which are chosen for control can be different
Control equals maturity
American &endash; poop and sink
Americans are odor obsessed &endash; see the commercials on TV about deodorants
Assorted sprays, bathroom tissues
Kidlore:
Pink, pink
You stink
----- was a nut
S/he had a rubber butt
And every time s/he turned around
S/he went put, put
------ was a dope
S/he ate a bar of soap
Bubbles here, bubbles there
Bubbles in his/her underwear
Beans, beans, the musical fruit
Birthday party surprise
Phenomenal fart &endash; as in control of this function
Or farting songs, like My country 'tis of thee
Russian concern is more with snot
Snot insults
What they did to the baby's nose in the video
Don't know much American snot material among kids
Except the rhyme about dancing with my honey
Russian getting away with it games which require great awareness and control
Belogo i chernogo ne bukupat'
Da i net ne govorit'
Like Simon Says in a way, but note that Simon Says includes motion and this does not and also it is more complicated
You have to keep track of MORE things while someone (SELLER) tries to trick you &endash; seems so much like their view of the capitalist West.
Just the idea that you have to be more careful than in the West
American &endash; usually knowing dirty things and not saying them
Like Miss Suzie
The Pen 15 club
Russian version of One, Two, Three &endash; Red Light
Is Tishe edish', dalshe budesh'
Which beautifully reflects cultural perspective
American pain tolerance &endash; analogous to batting the baby at birth and having kid tough it out later
The nuggies and various write on hand "jokes"
The little shooting things &endash; hornets
Toys: used to be hand-made
Adult for kid or kid for self or younger sibling
Now hand-made stuff might be gum wrapper chain
Friendship bracelet
Most of stuff is adult, in fact commercially produced
Kids do have some choice as to what to buy (or ask parents for) and what to ignore
Cultural messages in toys
Barbie versus action figures
Various more realistic body female dolls seem to fail
How kids turn Barbie into a folk toy &endash; cut and shape to own interests
Go into Toys-R-Us and boy/girl differences
How can you tell which section for girls?
Supposedly gender-neutral toy like Lego
Girl's version is pink and you build things like kitchen
Paradise Island
Sex-role socialization: this is what girls do and this is what boys do
Continuing on Lego
Old Lego with freedom of design and prescriptive Lego
Parallels a great many of the teaching issues I see now
Russian Barbie version is Steffi, made in Germany for the Russian market and she is popular
Show pictures
Stories of the vampire doll (legends)
Could continue this way and I do want to teach a childlore course at some point
But let us sum up &endash; there is much that is the same across cultures and much that is culture-specific
The culture-specific can be shown to fit the cultural system
How to resolve the issue of what is culture-specific and what is universal?
Propp is one answer
That answer is that the structure is consistent (for whatever genre you are dealing with)
And the culture is the same from culture to culture
What is culturally relevant is the material inserted into the structure
Slot versus that which fills slot
Generic/nominal motifs
Emit/etic units
Example of Propp's work, since it is very famous
And very influential
And done using material from Russian tales
Vladimir Propp and the Morphology of the Folktale
The discovery of a narrative structure that is immensely powerful
This is a structure that people instinctively react to
If you take culturally relevant material, or material that is meaningful to the current situation
The things I noted last time: emphasis on technology
Acronyms
Alcohol
Ecology
And put it into this structure, you've got a hit.
Desired results: DESCRIPTION
What are the characteristics of the magic tale?
Setting BOUNDARIES: where does one type of tale end and the other begin?
Propp concludes that the basic unit of the tale is the FUNCTION
What matters is what a character does (and what action follows)
Not who a character is
So, it does not matter if you have a male or a female hero
And villain can be witch, or dragon, or Koshchei, or your sister
And you can vanquish the villain with a sword, or a hanky, or by finding his/her external soul
Thus, what matters is what the characters DO and what FOLLOWS
1) The functions of the characters serve as the stable, constant elements of the tale, no matter how or by whom they are filled
2) The number of functions is limited; it is 31
3) The sequence is identical
Not all 31 functions need be present in any one tale
In fact, any function can be omitted, except for the "lack"
But the ones that are there, will be in a certain sequence
4) All magic tales have the same functions, in the same sequence
Therefore, they are all of ONE TYPE as regards to structure
So, Propp thought he had succeeded in doing what he set out to do.
THE FUNCTIONS
a possible intro. sequence
1. family member absents self
2. interdiction
3. interdiction violated
4. villain &endash; reconnaissance
5. villain gets info.
6. villain attempts to deceive -- trickery
7. victim submits -- complicity
the body of the story
8. villain causes harm or injury -- villainy
carries off victim-hero
carries off desired object which must be retrieved
OR
8a. family member lacks something
or wants something LACK
9. lack made known
10. hero (seeker hero) agrees to counteraction
11. hero leaves home
donor group of functions - sphere of action
(willing, unwilling)
12. hero tested, questioned
13. hero reacts
14. hero receives agent, object
15. transfer to whereabouts of object of search/lack
16. combat with villain
17. hero branded
18. villain defeated
19. lack liquidated
can end here &endash; or &endash;
20. hero returns
21. hero pursued
22. rescue from pursuit
can end here &endash; or &endash; new villainy, as in 3 Brother tales
23. hero arrives home, not recognized
24. false hero presents claims
25. difficult task set
26. task resolved
27. hero recognized
28. false hero exposed
29. epiphany of true hero &endash; new appearance, transfiguration
30. villain punished
31. marriage and rule
Complete set of functions called a move
From lack to liquidation of lack or
Other resolution like marriage
Tale has at least one move, but can have more