Fractured Fairy Tales.doc

Trina D. TaylorStorytelling 5440August 3, 2002Fractured Fairy TalesEvery child is familiar once they have reached school with at least one fairy tale. One must be familiar first with a fairy tale in order to understand a fractured version of one. According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence web page, “Fairy tales typically have simple, direct plots, even when they involve multiple episodes and themes. They take place in the past (once upon a time), and the time, setting, and central conflict are quickly established at the beginning with little time devoted to description. The conflict is usually resolved soon after the climax of the story in a brief and usually happy ending ( . . . and they lived happily ever after). Characterization is two-dimensional, with characters being either completely good or completely evil. Attention is maintained through suspense and repetition, a frequent plot element, often in series of threes (as in the three huff and puff sequences enacted by the wolf in The Three Little Pigs). Common narrative devices include magical powers, spells that induce extended sleep, magical objects and transformations, wishes, and trickery.” Fractured fairy tales will be studied to see if they have the same elements. Fractured fairy tales are written with a unique adaptation to make it different either by changing the setting, the characters, the problem, or how the story ends. Fractured fairy tales are present in poetry, books, songs, movies, and even can be found written by children on websites. The purpose of this project is to compare and contrast 10 fractured versions within three form of analysis. This study focuses attempts to incorporate as many different versions as possible. The main concentration and description of this paper is to examine the tales in relation to three aspects: characters, theme, and genre. The main character changes in relation to the fairy tale and characteristics of good and evil. . CharactersDo the characters change in the fractured version? Does the gender or age differ? What are the characters motives and goals? How do the characters change in physical form? ThemeThe central theme of fairy tales is happiness and contentment. These were further broken down into four other categories. GenreDoes it still contain a majority of the same elements as a fairy tale?I found some of my items by searching the database of . I had several versions in my personal collection. There are a wide variety of sources available including cassettes, teaching kits, big books, flannel board sets, puppets, CD-ROMs, games, videos and DVDs.Bibliographic Citations:Hopkins, Jackie. The Three Armadillies Tuff. Peachtree: Atlanta, 2002.The three armadillies take the place of the three billy goats gruff in this version. The three sisters have to go through a culvert to get to the dance hall to go dancing. They meet a coyote who would like to eat them in the drain pipe and convince her to go along to the dance hall after a complete make over. Calmenson, Stephanie. The Principals New Clothes. Scholastic: New York, 1989.The principal is the emperor in this tale. Mr. Bundy, the principal, has so many clothes that he can go a month without wearing the same thing. So he is elated when Moe and Ivy offer him a new suit with magical powers that no one who is stupid can see. He goes to an assembly in his new clothes, which turns out to be his underwear. The students come to his rescue and save the day by giving him assorted pieces of clothing. He sets a new fashion trend with his assorted styles of clothes. Ernst, Lisa Campbell. Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie Tale. Simon & Schuster: New York, 1995.Grandma lives on a farm and drives a tractor to thresh her wheat out on the prairie. Little Red Riding Hood who wears a red sweatshirt instead of a cape rides her bike to bring Grandma wheat berry muffins from the secret recipe. She meets the wolf that decides to steal the recipe, but he doesnt count on Grandma being a tough character. Grandma puts him to work as a chef in her kitchen of the restaurant making muffins, but he doesnt learn the secret recipe.Osborne, Mary Pope. Kate and the Beanstalk. Scholastic: New York, 2000.Kate is poor and sells her cow for beans. Little did she know that a magic beanstalk would grow and would make all her dreams come true? Kate climbs the beanstalk and learns from an old woman that the giant killed her father so she decides to get back the hen, the gold and the harp that the giant stole from her family. She learns that the castle once belonged to her family. She eventually chops down the beanstalk, kills the giant, and makes her fortune for her mother and herself.Tolhurst, Marilyn. Somebody and the Three Blairs. Orchard: New York, 1994.The three Blairs who are humans all go for a walk in the city, and Somebody, looking mighty like a bear, makes himself right at home in their cozy place. They set off to feed the ducks. When they return, they find that the kitchen is a mess; somebody has been playing with the water in the bathroom, and sleeping in the beds and is still asleep in the crib. Somebody escapes down the drainpipe, but Baby Blair invites him back to play.Kimmel, Eric. The Runaway Tortilla. Winslow Press: Florida, 2000.Tia Lupe and Tio Jose own a taqueria in Texas down on the Rio Grande. The tortillas are as light as air. One day the female foolish tortilla up and runs away. She rolls away from the couple, two horned toads, three donkeys, four jackrabbits, five rattlesnakes, and six buckaroos. Senor Coyote tricks her by asking her to eat the grasshopper that is stuck in his throat and eats her as she tries to help him. Who can resist a Texas version of a fairy tale? Cole, Babette. Prince Cinders. G.P. Putnam Publishing Group: New York: 1987.Prince Cinders is a skinny boy who is jealous of his brothers strength and hairiness. He is left behind to do the laundry and other household chores while they are off to the Palace Disco. One evening a fairy visits him to grant his wishes. The fairy is not very good at spell casting though and when he asks to be big and hairy she turns him into an oversized ape. He doesnt know it though. Prince Cinders heads off in his new incarnation to the Rock n Royal Bash to claim his princess. French, Fiona. Snow White in New York. Oxford University Press: London,1990.Snow White is living in the art deco world of New York City. Her father marries the Queen of the underworld. She resents Snow White for her popularity in the city. One of the mobsters leaves Snow White to die on the streets, but she is saved by the seven jazzmen when she falls into a jazz club and becomes a singer. The poisoned apple becomes a cherry in Snow Whites drink at a party thrown by the queen. Thank goodness she had just choked on the cherry, and it pops out when her coffin is hit. Scieszka, Jon. The Frog Prince Continued. Puffin Books: London, 1991.The marriage is in trouble. The princess hates the way he hops around on the furniture instead of slaying dragons, and he dislikes the fact that she never likes to visit the pond anymore. The prince decides that he will be happy only if he becomes a frog once again, so he runs off in search of a witch to do the job. On the way, he finds a trio of eccentric old women who are still worried about the other fairy-tale characters and a fairy godmother who is practicing turning various objects into carriages. When he kisses the princess again, he turns back into a frog. Everything turns out well in the end as they find out they truly love each other after all.Trivizas, Eugene. The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1997. “Once upon a time, there were three cuddly little wolves with soft fur and fluffy tails. They go out into the world to build a house for themselves. Yet, the big bad pig is after them. They use brick, concrete, and steel constructions, but the pig with a sledgehammer, a pneumatic drill, and dynamite destroys each house. Something must be wrong with our building materials, the wolves muse. Their final house is built from beautiful and sweet smelling flowers that are easily destroyed. The perfume of the flowers causes the pig to change his horrible ways and all live together as friends happily ever after. Websites:Fractured Fairy Tales ProjectThis site is devoted to many different primary and intermediate classes around the United States and Canada that have written fractured fairy tales. It has a section that links out to other sites./FT/#topFairy Tales for TeachersThis site provides background information on fractured fairy tales./wired/fil/pages/listfairytake1.htmlChildrens BooksThis site allows you to search for numerous topics including fairy tales. /cs/fairytales/Fractured Fairy TalesThis site presents a list of books for children and parents of fractured fairy tales.http:/www.ucalgary.ca/dkbrown/fft.htmlNarrative elements:Numerous narrative devices or elements abound in fairy tales. These elements were detailed in the introductory paragraph. Four of those: time of the story, magical elements present, repetition of key phrases and series of three were chosen to be analyzed in a chart with the fractured version of the fairy tale. Many of the fractured fairy tales change the time period of the story from long ago to a more current time period. The majority of the fractured versions still contain the narrative device of repetition with different flavor added to the wording. Many have a series of three characters in the plot.VersionIn the PastHas MagicRepetitionSeries of ThreesThe Three Armadillies TuffPresentNo“Whos that scritch scratchin through my tunnel?”3 ArmadillosThe Principals New ClothesPresentPretendNone3 Viewers of Magic ClothLittle Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie TalePast/PresentNoNoneNoKate and the BeanstalkPastBeansFee, Fi, Fo, Fumun, / I smell the blood of an Englishwoman3 TreasuresSomebody and the Three BlairsPresentNo“This is too _.This is just right.”3 BlairsThe Runaway TortillaPresentNoRun as fast as fast can be. You wont get a bite of me.NoPrince Cinders1970sFairyNone3 BrothersSnow White in New York1920sNoNoneNoThe Frog Prince ContinuedPastWitchesNone3 WitchesThe Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad PigPresentNo“Then Ill huff and Ill puff and Ill blow your house down.”3 WolvesThemes:The central theme of the fractured fairy tales is for the characters to live happily ever after. The themes of the stories that I abstracted from that happiness and contentment were marriage, friendship, self-esteem, and other themes that might not fit into one of the other categories. I chose to take a fairy tale approach to the themes and only look at the bright side. Marriage of the characters takes place in Snow White in New York, The Frog Prince Continued, and Prince Cinders.Friendship is the major theme of Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie Tale, The Three Armadillies Tuff, and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. The characters self esteem is changed in The Principals New Clothes and Kate and the Beanstalk. Somebody and the Three Blairs theme is to be happy with what you have. The Runaway Tortillas theme is to learn when to be quiet and not be a braggart.Character:The characters change in all of the versions except for The Frog Prince Continued. The character in Snow White does change her innocence to worldliness and changes the setting in Snow White in New York. The setting and the reason Little Red Riding Hood earns that name changes in Little Red Riding Hood: A Newfangled Prairie Tale. She earned the name of Little Red Riding Hood because of the red hooded sweatshirt she wears instead of a red cape with a hood. The characters reverse roles in The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. The wolves become the good characters and the pig becomes the bad guy. The other characters change into totally different characters in The Three Armadillies Tuff, The Principals New Clothes, Kate and the Beanstalk, Somebody and the Three Blairs, The Runaway Tortilla, and Prince Cinders.The gender is changed in some of the tales. Prince Cinders is a male Cinderella. Somebody is actually a bear instead of a little girl like Goldilocks. The tortilla is a female as the gingerbread boy was a male. Kate, a young girl, is the character of Jack. The armadillos and the coyote are all females instead of male as in The Three Billy Goats Gruff tale. Age is hard to determine in the tales. It seems that most of the characters remain the same age except for the teddy bear character in Somebody and the Three Blairs. The principal might be younger than the emperor in the version of The Emperors New Clothes.The characters motives and goals are basically the same in the majority of the tales. The Frog Princes goal is different because he is not happy being a man, and he wants to change back into a frog. Prince Cinders actually wants to be more like his brothers in their brawniness and hairiness as opposed to just attending the ball. The armadillos are attempting to cross the road to go dancing not for fresh grass. The goats become armadillos to make the version a Texas or western tale. I have to admit it is one of my favorite tales from this research pro