Rapunzel

http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Rapunzel_61977

This is a cartoon called Rapunzel by Ian Baker. This cartoon is meant to be funny. This is because in this cartoon Rapunzel is at the top of her tower but she doesn't have any hair. The prince is at the bottom and he is saying that the alopecia specialist is here. An alopecia specialist is someone to studies the loss of hair. This is amusing to the viewer because Rapunzel is known for having long, luscious, gold hair. In Disney and in the Grimm version Rapunzels hair is the only way to make it to the top of the tower. Without her hair the prince can not get to her and therefore the whole story is off and can't be told. So the cartoonist makes it ironic that Rapunzel doesn't have the one thing that she is known for, her hair. 

Blue Beard

The three stories that we had to read this week were Blue Beard, The Robber Bridegroom, and The Fitchers Bird. All three are similar and unique because they all start out with marriage. In other fairy tales they almost all end with marriage and happiness. This is because in other stories it is portrayed that marriage is a gift to woman and that is how they truly find happiness. In these stories it is the opposite. Not all women were excited for marriage; some view it as the end of their life and their independence.  These three stories confirm woman’s fear.  They get into a relationship with a scary man who is a killer.

 

                Blue Beard and Fitchers Bird are more closely related to each other than with The Robber Bridegroom. In both Blue Beard and Fitchers Bird the women are tempted by their husbands to not go into a room and in both stories the women disobey their husband and go into the room. This is where they find the misdeeds of their husbands.  The husbands can tell that their wives have disobeyed them though because of the blood on the key/egg. The husband’s view this as punishment by death and try to kill their wives. This can relate back to the sexual fantasy’s women used to have when their husbands went away to war. Man men would have their wives but in chastity belt. This was to help prevent their wives from having sex with other men while they were gone.

                In all three of these stories the women are active and are saved. The women are all smart and use their wits to help get them out of their situations. In Blue Beard the woman asks for more time to pray so her brothers can get there in time to save her, in Fitchers Bird she dresses up as a bird and tells her husband to take gold back to her parents but it is really her sisters, and in The Robber Bridegroom the woman works with the old lady that lives in the house and then tell the story about her husband killing another girl at dinner. In other stories these traits aren’t always seen, the women are more passive.

 

                I liked these fairy tales. I think that they were very interesting and different. I think that they were all very creative and different from other fairy tales that I have ever read.  I liked that the womenre creative and got out of their relationships. It was a nice switch up.