Fairy Tales are hot, hot, hot! Just look at all the movies and TV shows coming out or which have come out recently based on the classics. Have you seen NBC’s “Grimm”? Or last year’s "Red Riding Hood" movie? (You can enjoy the Grimm Brothers’ original “Little Red Riding Hood” in my video library, which I think holds up quite well, even with all of its special effects created by your imagination!)
Snow White is currently having her moment in the Hollywood sun. With two new movies out in theaters this year, I thought it was an ideal time to share the Grimm Brothers’ original version with you. “Snow White” is, of course, the story of a poor girl whose beauty earns her the envy of an evil queen.
And because it features the immortal line, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall,” I couldn’t pass up a chance to make that the title of a fun new playlist! The subject of the playlist is the best fairy tales of them all. I know what’s “best” can be debated, but I have consulted many a list and spoken to many a child, and the Grimm Brothers top the charts every time. Who were these famous brothers?
Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm were born in Germany. They were not only authors who collected folklore, but were also academics, linguists and cultural researchers. Some say they were the best-known storytellers of European folk tales. While they have hundred’s of stories to their credit, some of their most well known stories are “The Frog Prince” , “Rapunzel”, “Rumpelstiltskin” and “Snow White” (see my new playlist). Their first collection was published in 1812.
Some questions to get you thinking:
Fairy tales are, by definition, stories that get retold. They do not exist as static texts, but rather as ever-changing variants on a theme. That is why, with each new movie or TV version, or new book published with the same title, none is exactly the same as the original. Can you think of any stories you have read or seen multiple versions of and how they differed?
I’d also like to share a little bit about Folklore. It can be anything that passes on traditions and beliefs from generation to generation: oral history, jokes, fairy tales, tall tales and music. Are there any other ways you can think of that pass on traditions and beliefs? Have you ever passed along any traditions from another culture?
I hope you enjoy my new playlist that contains:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Rumpelstiltskin
- The Six Swans
- The Three Little Pigs which is already on a playlist
As a big fan of fairy tales, I think it's fun to compare the contemporary, softened versions to the older, darker versions where the teller really was trying to scare the kids out of walking through the woods!
Thanks for sharing, Mrs. P!
Posted by: Kidobi | 06/04/2012 at 01:42 PM