SLFK 211, Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Last lecture &endash; the link between culture and biology
Shown on birth customs
Then various means of socializing the child
Both adult > child and
Child > child
Including games that kids play
Including material that is, on the surface, countercultural and rebellious
A great deal of kids stuff is working out the contradictions of culture
Like sharing and hording
Note Halloween
Halloween also works out protection of children and their desire to be daring
And adults DO want them to be brave; don't want them to be sissies
Biological/social contradiction worked out &endash; desire to eat, esp. sweets, versus desire for thin body
Other things worked out &endash; respect for others and their privacy
Respect for adults
Versus daring, community
The various telephone jokes
Sibling rivalry and "I had a little brother"
Dealing with foreigners and the various ethnic jokes
Dealing with technology
Microwave stories
Various toys and how they socialize the child
Messages of gender equality &endash; as in Lego for girls
By same token, items made a kitchens and island getaways
Barbie and roles for women
Desired body type?
In short, child socialized in ALL sorts of ways, not just through tales
Culture and biology are very much intertwined
We want to separate
Biology given esp. merit in our culture
But almost impossible to do this
The Nature/Nurture debate
Ended up with something that SEEMS to be natural
Namely the pattern found by Propp in Russian tales
This pattern seems to be hard-wired in the brain
Impossible to tell if this is true for ALL people, but certainly true for quite a number
Brain is hard-wired for language and this pattern works much like language
In fact, this is a product of language
Seems to be that whatever cultural, or other, information is presented through this pattern will TRANSMIT
That is 1) make an impression
2) be remember and retained
Please note above toys and connection to Zipes
Concerns more of the here and now than universal concerns
As concerns of the here and now, connected to legends which tend to change to respond to current issues
In terms of Zipes, the implication is that, if you have a story that is presented following the pattern discovered by Propp
It will have emotional impact
If it has emotional impact, child, viewer will be attracted
Will want things connected with the story
Like spin-off toys, lunch boxes, back packs, clothes, etc.
Zipes says the people present their own personal issues through tales
Be this intentional or not
If they use the pattern discovered by Propp, then their personal ideas will have more of an impact and be better remembered
Later he talks about the commercial motivation behind things like Disney films
Well, if these are clever enough to tell their story using the pattern discovered by Propp, they will have more of an effect on people and have a better chance of financial success
Look at background to Propp
In terms of the folklore and folktale theory dominant at the time
It was the Aarne-Thompson approach I presented earlier
Also called historical-geographic method
Looking for archetypes of tales and trying to trace how they traveled
Over time
Across space
Looking for relationships between the Indo-European languages and the tales of the various peoples speaking these languages
Problem of orality already mentioned &endash; just because a tale was not recorded in a particular locale at a particular time, does not mean it was not being told there at that time
Again, they already looked at the Tale Type Index a bit and I told them that the 3-way division that we use and that Haney uses comes from there
Well, they may already have noticed that it is NOT all that clear what constitutes an animal tale and what constitutes a magic tale
Basic: animal tale has animal and magic tale has magic
BUT: human actors in animal tales, such as the peasant in the story of the stupid bear and the fox.
Animal actors in magic tales &endash; and can be central ones, like wolf in the Firebird
Or &endash; Ivan the Cow's Son is a cow's son and a cow is an animal
This is not even a magic animal that turns into a human as wolf sometimes does in Firebird
And if you make the finer distinctions that are in the Tale-Type Index itself, you get into more problems
The divisions into the various categories are pretty well agreed upon by all people who are in the field. The divisions can be replicated by pretty well all people who are FAMILIAR with the material and the discipline
BUT &endash; very hard to explain to someone who has not had lots of exposure to the field
Very hard to create definitions that all will agree on and that can be given to a novice and lead that novice to reproduce the divisions and distinctions accurately
This is something that we are trying to do with computers
Compatibility between folklore and hypertext
The way the two work is the same
NOT linear, but links
In addition to the Tale-Type Index, the Historico-geographic school developed the Motif Index, which is also still used and useful for looking up all sorts of stuff
You can find lots of culturally relevant info in this.
Basic divisions here are motifs of:
Person = actor
Object = recipient of action
Event = the action itself
Well, problems here, too
Remember story of pancake, bladder, straw, and shoe?
Are those objects or persons because they are actors?
What about animals?
Event can sometimes be the whole story
So what is the difference between this and a tale-type?
I can answer all of these questions, but I can't give definitions which someone without extensive exposure to tales can replicate
Russian scholar Vladimir Propp decides to straighten all of this out
Context in which he works
Early post-revolution Soviet Union
Very creative and happy period called the NEP
Focus on science and objectivity and progress
This is that wonderful period of flowering between the Revolution and the Civil War that followed and was horrific and devastating and the rise of Josef Stalin, who was also horrific
Propp is part of the Formalist school
Trying to be scientifically rigorous in the analysis of things like literature and folklore
Look at the work itself, in isolation
No audience, performer
How, when, where
Propp takes 100 folktales out of Afanas'ev
All of the magic tale category
And starts looking for common elements &endash; the 3X5 card method
Propp assumes that, since he is using a scientific and objective method, he will come up with a scientific and objective definition of the magic tale category of folktales
Others will do similar work, apply Propp's method, and define animal tales, tales of everyday life and so forth
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.
PLEASE NOTE
1. Propp did isolate a scheme that is repeatable
They will try Proppian analyses
Not that easy, but still
And I will do some in class
Would not dream of doing this with Aarne-Thompson
Very easy to use this to generate things
Hard to do from the descriptions in Aarne-Thompson,
But not Propp
2. Propp produced a basic structure
He took what were 100 tale types and condensed them into ONE structure
Recall total number of tale types in the Tale Type Index is in the thousands
For magic tale, at least, Propp produces one structure instead of 100 tale types
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
In multi-move:
One problem resolved &endash; another presents itself
(Firebird)
Moves sandwiched &endash; to liquidate lack number one
Need to do a number of acts, retrieve a number of objects
Each of these becomes lack in turn
Any function can be zero &endash; except lack
Analogy to linguistics
Root of a word cannot be missing, but prefixes, suffixes may or may not be there
NATure as root
denature
natural
naturalize, naturalization papers
supernatural
As Propp calls the actions of a tale functions and says these are basic &endash; so he calls the characters of a tale dramatis personae
But while functions are the stable, basic units &endash; always the same from tale to tale, dramatis personae are a kind of slot &endash; fillable by anything
The dramatis personae are:
1) villain
2) donor
3) helper
4) girl (and father)
5) dispatcher
6) hero
7) false hero
They are used to thinking character, actor first &endash; Propp says that, for folktales, just the opposite is true
Repeat &endash; these are categories, very general slots &endash;
Remember how the various names, traits of character do not matter
Sex, age
Whether character human, animal, object
More than one character can fulfill the same dramatis persona slot and perform the same function &endash; like an expansion, continuation of the function
Examples:
Villain killed &endash; his mother or his sisters pursue
Dragon killed &endash; one with three heads appears or two heads sprout in place of one
Little soldiers (skeleton) pop out from teeth of dragon
Drops of dragon's blood
Helper dramatis persona slot can be one character &endash; like wolf in Firebird or several helpers, whole group &endash; a series of animals
Strong &endash; bear
Courageous &endash; lion
Swift &endash; wolf
Small and can sneak through &endash; rabbit
Human (?) helpers
Far-Seer
Far-Hearer
Over-Eater
Over-Drinker
Man who can run far
One character, actor in a tale, can fill more than one dramatis persona slot
Donor becomes helper as wolf in Firebird
Girl can be lack &endash; wanted as wife
Once she is obtained can become helper
Esp. if witch's daughter
During pursuit &endash; turns hero into bush, self into flower
Hero into well, self into bucket, etc.
Carries handkerchief that turns into a desert, comb that turns into forest, mirror that turns into lake
Villain vanquished &endash; becomes helper, sometimes unwilling &endash; witch or giant leaves trail of blood that leads hero to place where princess is kept captive
A series of characters can fill one dramatis persona slot
3 brother tale &endash; as tale follows each brother, he is hero
Personality traits of the various characters do not matter &endash;
Characters not very noble, not very heroic
Heroes lie, cheat and steal &endash; note above with hostile donor
Heroes are helpless and rely shamelessly on their helpers and companions
Hero &endash; more character that fits slot than heroic person
Note older brothers (who tend to be real shits) as heroes for part of the story
Hero can be female
Villain can be your sister &endash; as sister in love with highwayman (milk of wild beasts)
What matters is the structure, the plot &endash; the morphology
Consequences of Propp's book - as said before, he thought he had defined magic tale
Described its structure
Drawn the boundaries of the magic tale category
Book published in USSR 1928
Formalism falls into disfavor in the USSR
Too egotistical &endash; no social service
Focuses on form only
Does not deal with context and social message
Everything was to reflect economic and class struggle
Propp really is pure morphology and pure structure
No social, economic, or class message
Propp's own later books not follow up on the Morphology -
He does not try to figure out structure of animal tale, tale of everyday life
Rather &endash;
Book about Russian Agrarian Festivals
Book about historical roots of the magic tale
Book on epic
Class struggle and economic motive oriented
Structured according to Marxist ideas of history
Or connection of narrative to past &endash; the historical roots book
Formalism carried west &endash; Prague, then US
Propp's work, though not Propp himself, follows this path
His book first available in West - 1950
First translated &endash; 1958
Tremendous impact
But scholars do not do what Propp wanted
Do not try to define other tale groups using his method
First test his morphology to see if it works
It does
Test by Dundes in his PhD dissertation on American Indian narrative
As people test Propp further, turns out his pattern also works on all sorts of American and other Western tales
I will tell you now that it also works on
Comic books
Star Trek &endash; TV serial and its various spin-offs, movies
Star Wars, esp. 1st one
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Fifth Element, Matrix
Dr. Seuss stories - some
Not Green Eggs and Ham &endash; ones for youngest children
But the ones for the same level of development as those who would theoretically listen to the magic tale
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
And assorted popular TV cartoon shows
Implication &endash; what Propp found was not the structure of the magic tale but some sort of universal narrative pattern!
Standardsville test
First thought to be the one and only narrative pattern
Now seen as one of a very limited number
Implications further &endash; so basic that anything in this pattern
Will "transmit"
Will draw an immediate response
Madhu's work
Work in Indian to transmit message of good of using birth control
Memory experiments in the US &endash; remember a series of objects
Random
In order
In story
Turkey &endash; AID and trying to introduce new farming technology
Implications for Transformers stories in terms of selling toys
Ninja Turtle
Strawberry shortcake
Care Bears
Ethical?
QUICKY SAMPLE ANALYSIS - Star Wars, the first movie
Lack - capture of Leia
Lack made known - R2D2
Hero/Luke sets out
Donor - Obewan Kenobe
Tests - father of Luke and his knight's heritage
Hero reacts
Agent - the sword
Knowledge
Donor gives self
Spatial transference &endash; need space ship of Han Solo and Chubby
These become companions with differing characteristics, abilities
Other companions? - R2D2 and C3PO
The remaining assorted abilities
R2D2's - read plans of Death Star
C3PO - linguistic abilities
Death Star and combat with villain
Done by companion - Obewan
Combat repeated - villain not destroyed, but Death Star is
With help of the various companions
Han, R2D2
Obewan &endash; destroyed, but not totally
Becomes internalized voice telling hero what to do, sort of like Julian Jaynes and bicameral voice
Marriage like scene at end
Discussed one character fills several dramatis personae slots
Girl starts out as lack, after she is acquired, can be helper or companion &endash; Leia helping fight along with Han and Luke on Death Star
Donor can give self as magical agent and become helper &endash; as Obewan does
And, of course, all sorts of stuff based on Star Wars is for sale
Videos &endash; how many times Greg has seen
Games - computer, Game Boy, Lego
Clothes, lunch boxes
Action figures
Models, puzzles
ASSORTED OTHER POINTS OF PROPP
Lack can be excess &endash; something you have to get rid of, rather than something you find and bring home _ like Death Star
OTHER MATERIAL FROM PROPP
While sequence is identical and maintained
1) Functions may repeat
Either individually
Ivan, the Cow's Son &endash; three combats with 3 successive villains, on three successive nights
Each villain worse than one before
1-headed, 3-headed, 9-headed
Or in groups
If group, same order of functions within
Donor &endash; three donors, 3 sisters/witches
Each tests, hero reacts, she supplies magic agent &endash; gives information on how to get to next point in destination
2) Recall &endash; complete set of functions (not necessarily all 31)
From lack to liquidation of lack or other resolution like marriage &endash; called move
Tale consists of at least one move, but may have more than one
Like Firebird
Or Finist the Bright Falcon
Please note GIRL is hero, not girl
Magic agents
3) Motivations
Propp says these are singularly lacking
Villain is villainous just because
Heroes are heroes just because they fill the hero slot
Already talked about the fact that they may not be all too heroic in character and be weak; lie, cheat, steal
Can also be very unattractive looking
Turkish Keloglan
Russian snotty boy
Stupid Hans
Stupid Jack of the Jack tales
(Jack and the Beanstalk)
No character development
No explanation of personality and how it came to be that way
No change in personality as result of events in the tale
No exploration of personality during the course of the tale
4) Functions distributed in the story by spheres of action of the various dramatis personae
Already discussed some grouping of material
Hostile donors versus friendly
Victim hero versus seeker hero <<<
Spheres of actions &endash; how functions grouped according to the "slots" of actors or dramatis personae
1) Villain
Villainy &endash; initial
Fight with hero (or helper)
Pursuit
2) Donor
Test
Giving hero magical agent
3) Helper
Spatial transfer of hero
(Han Solo)
Liquidation of lack
Rescue from pursuit
Solution of difficult task
Transfiguration of hero
4) Girl (and father)
(character with opposite sex parent, as on TV)
Assignment of difficult task
Branding of hero
Exposure of false hero
Recognition
Punishment (of false hero)
Marriage
5) Dispatcher
Dispatch of hero
6) Hero
Departure
Reaction to the donor
Wedding
7) False hero
Departure
Reaction to donor
Unfounded claims
Please note how little ! the hero does
How much is done for him
Importance of other characters
Put this together with the lack of character development
Idea that hero is a SLOT in a structure rather than a person with heroic traits
In combination with the fact that the "hero" does so little and much is done FOR him leads to the idea that Bettelheim was proposing
That this is INTERNAL development
The adventures of the parts of the self, of one's own mind in the process of growth
Work of Jung
A student of Freud's
Emphasized the normal rather than the abnormal
Did NOT believe that the mind is blank at birth and that what it is filled with is the result of various experiences of growing up
Rather, that we are born with a memory of the development of the human race
Called the collective unconscious
Structured according to archetypes
Which are remarkably like the dramatis person of Propp
Examples of archetypes:
Anima/animus
Mother
Child
Old man
Shadow
Archetype itself structured along axes of polar opposites
Anima &endash; an opposite to the man in whose mind it is an archetype
Opposite further
Anima &endash; old
Young
Kind and helpful
Devouring and destructive
Examples from tales
Structure by opposites extremely powerful
As such, can encompass a great deal
The variable axes
Also used in lots of popular media items such as:
Star Wars
Commercials