#folktale types

[allgirlsareprincesses]

Do you think that Rey's story (excluding episode 9 'cause that was a shitshow) could be interpreted as a Cinderella/Ash girl story?

I hope you realize asking me this is like throwing chum to a shark 😈. But the short answer is yes, to a point.

The long answer is more complicated, so to begin with, let's consult the Cinderella bible:

According to the Aarne Thompson Uther Index, there are five primary motifs to a Cinderella tale:

Persecuted heroine, usually by family

Help or helper, usually magic

Meeting the prince, usually with true identity disguised

Identification or penetration of disguise, usually by means of an object

Marriage to the prince

Rey is abandoned by her family, which is a form of persecution, and harassed by the inhabitants of Jakku like Unkar Plutt. Thus she clearly fulfills the first item.

As for meeting a helper, there are several for her, including Han Solo, Maz, Luke, and Leia. Any or all of these may be considered fairy godparents in the way that they offer her wisdom and material help. Further, except for Maz, they all die in the course of the story, which is consistent with many Cinderella tales in which the helper dies and their bones continue to offer wisdom and comfort to the heroine.

Next, meeting the prince. I mean

To the extent that Rey is "in disguise' here, it would be the extent of her force powers, her destiny as Ben Solo's dyad mate, and her role as the heir apparent to the Jedi (chosen by the Force to wield the legacy saber), all of which are obscured from Kylo Ren when he discovers her in the forest. Further, she is grimy and covered in desert sand, similar to how Cinderella is smeared with ashes that hide her true beauty.

So now an object penetrates the disguise. This is obviously the Skywalker lightsaber, which reveals Rey to be everything listed above, especially when she calls it to her on Starkiller Base, and again when she wields it on Ahch-to.

And lastly, marriage to the prince. As many others have pointed out over the years, Rey and Ben have almost too many symbolic marriages to count in the course of the sequel trilogy. They're extremely married, the Force said so.

BUT WAIT! Go back and look at that list again. Who ELSE fits all those criteria?

It's our boy! Consider:

He is indeed persecuted by family, most notably when Luke momentarily considers killing him.

Ben's helpers are both dark and light, as Snoke/Palpatine guide him in the dark while Luke guides him in the light (poorly). But note again what I said above about the bones of the mentor continuing to offer guidance and comfort after their death. Who should appear at Ben's lowest hour but his departed father, Han Solo? With a message of love, acceptance, and encouragement, Han's memory (because in fairy tales, bones contain memory) encourages Ben to at last cast off his beastly skin and become who he always was.

Next, meeting the prince/ss in disguise. He's wearing a literal mask when he meets Rey, so yeah.

An object penetrates the disguise? Rey slashed his face with the legacy saber, thus symbolically peeling away his mask. And I've argued before that the stabbing in TROS (which I still HATE, btw) is another cutting or burning away of the beastly skin.

And lastly, marriage to the prince/ss. As previously stated, that happened. Many times.

So yes, the Sequel Trilogy can definitely be considered a Cinderella story, with but one glaring issue: Cinderella's husband usually doesn't die at the end. But that's another topic that's been done to death, so let's all just read some more fanfic and forget about it. 👑 Thank you for the ask, this was fun!

[kiddokori]

his ass is NOT getting up for his 8am lecture

[allgirlsareprincesses]

Show prep reading material:

On Fairy Stories - JRR Tolkien

The Language of the Night - Ursula K Le Guin

Willow Series DEEP DIVE | Following Willow

Following Willow will be our What the Force? show covering the #willow Series from a Mythic and Fairy Tale Lens. @allgirlsareprincesses and I are excited to flex our analytical muscles - and explain how the mythical elements work in stories, especially Willow.

Include #following willow #willow series

[bixels]

so how exactly does magic work in your au?

There are four main methods of magic:

Tonics – your basic potion-making/alchemy. The brewer must be able to disassemble and weave ingredients together into a greater sum of its parts. This type of magic must be ingested to affect a person's physical properties and traits. They're temporary.

Formulas – physical pieces of art with magic encoded in itself. These can take the form of woven charms, embroidered fabrics, or drawn artwork (often in art-nouveau, secessionist, or modern styles). A witch fluent in formulaic magic can read and translate these pieces into hexes. These are considered high forms of delicate art. Spellbooks will often contain pages of these instead of instructions or notes. Formulas affect an area indefinitely. Collectors will often frame or display them, especially if they offer good luck or protection.

3. Hexes – incantations, blessings, and curses. They must be spoken, usually in rhyming form. While blessings are temporary, curses must be broken or dispelled.

4. Spells – the softest and least complicated magic. Wave your hands and an object will float towards you. Spells come naturally to most witches and do not need to be uttered, as it only requires the will of the mind and heart to produce. Before long, casting spells becomes second nature and an extension of ones motor functions.

[fisheito]

wait. puss in boots rei? unfulfilled dream? as.. as in. kinda like. a last wish.? like. the last puss in boots movie.? perrito garu?????

[hanzajesthanza]

went outside without my glasses (prescription sunglasses) yesterday on accident and it confirmed for me my headcanons about what higher vampires see in the daylight: bright, blurry, struggling to make out faces… i guess it is the same impossibility that trying to see in the dark is for humans.

so i like to think regis squints somewhat on sunny days… they picked him up from autumn to spring, enduring overcast, rainy, and snowy weather—so not too many sunny days in their schedule, however there might have been a few here and there… 🤔

regis: [essentially getting flashbanged left and right]

angoulême: why’re you screwing up your face like that

regis: vampires can’t see in the sunlight that well

angoulême: hmm… it really helps sell the “old man” look you’re going for

regis: thanks

[tearlessrain]

I think my absolute favorite underappreciated horse color is those really intense sooty chestnuts that almost look like a reverse bay. part of the reason it's my favorite is when I was a kid I came up with a horse oc that was that color and I had no idea a horse could actually look like that, I just saw a bay and was like ooh that would look so cool in reverse.

and then I found out real horses can look like that years later.

[uwmspeccoll]

A Well-Chapeaued Feathursday

Birds in Hats!

Our graduate intern Olivia is currently preparing a major exhibition on the work  of wood engraver, illustrator, designer, letterpress printer, and fine press publisher Barry Moser. He is well known, at least in fine press and book enthusiast circles, for his distinctive engravings and exquisitely-designed limited editions from his Pennyroyal Press. The rest of the world, however, mainly knows him for his illustrations for children’s books, which are usually executed in watercolors. We hold many of Moser’s fine press publications, but only a few examples of his children’s books. The Curriculum Collection in our general library, however, holds quite a number of his children’s books, and we are borrowing a few to include in the exhibition.

We are especially tickled by Moser’s humorous paintings of anthropomorphized birds in hats for Virginia Hamilton’s collection of African American folktales, When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing, published in 1996 by The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. The illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to this set of lively and entertaining jewels of American folklore.

Since the book was mostly designed by Moser, it bears an extensive colophon, usually reserved for fine press publications. This is why we know that the paintings were executed in transparent watercolor on handmade Barcham Green paper, the types are Sumner Stone’s Stone Serif Medium (1987) and Gudrun Zapf von Hesse’s Diotima Italic (1953), the color separations were made by Bright Lights, Ltd in Singapore, and the edition was printed and bound by Tien Wah Press in Singapore. Probably more information than any child would need to know, but we sure appreciate it.

View more posts on work by Barry Moser.

View more Feathursday posts.

[valcaine]

The Flying Head

anyways there’s a popular tale of this guy where it ate coals so I had to doodle it

[bijoumikhawal]

A few weeks ago I had the idea of a maiden trapped in a dovecote tower. You could call her Rapunzel, but according to my folklore book you could also call her Louliyya

[allgirlsareprincesses]

Choosing the Beast: Modern Folklore Heroines Embrace the Animal Husband

ATU 425A

Word Count: ~3200

Folktale Types in Star Wars - Meta Masterpost

So I wrote a few things about how the Skywalker Saga fits into the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Classification of Folk Tales, and I thought I’d link them all in one place. I’ve included the ATU class number for reference and approximate word count so you know how long it might take to read each one!

The Search for the Lost Husband: Reylo as Eros and Psyche ATU 425 Word Count: ~7000

More Search for the Lost Husband: The Burning of the Beast’s Skin in Star Wars ATU 425A-449 (Animal Bridegroom) Word Count: ~1400

The Quest for the Lost Bride: Anidala (and Reylo) as Orpheus and Eurydice ATU 400 Word Count: ~4000

More Quest for the Lost Bride: Sleeping Beauty in Star Wars ATU 410 Word Count: ~1700

There are some other topics I’d like to explore with relation to ATU Folktale Types, so hopefully I’ll have more to add to this in time!

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

(I was going to make a post about "Why Tale Type 425 is my favorite", and then realized I should find a good explanation of what that means, first)

I've known about this index for decades, and it's one of my favorite things. It helps me think about my own "in the folk tradition" creations -- like stitching old pieces of fabric into a new quilt.

I didn't realize until I read this article, though, that it was updated and rearranged in 2008, to try and correct for the sexism and Eurocentrism (work's not done, but it's begun).

BTW, Melvil Dewey was pressured to resign from the American Library Association in 1905, for racism, antisemitism, and sexual harassment of women. So not only does the ATU motif index have more ogres, it also has less bigotry.

[georgekirrin]

Hey buddy!! For the ask game: 11) favorite myth? 24) what would you consider part of your personal aesthetic? 38) what is your love language? [And/or dealer's choice, if there's one you don't feel like answering and something else you'd rather answer!!] Have a lovely day <3

ohhhhhh hard questions lol

11) Favourite myth has to be Black Shuck. He's a giant spectral dog said to haunt the coastline where I grew up. There are only a few dates you're likely to encounter him, supposedly, and the story of how he got there changes depending on who you talk to, but it's agreed he's a death omen and whoever sees him will die imminently. He's supposedly the inspiration for Hound of the Baskervilles, but there are a lot of black dog myths in England and I'm pretty sure all of them claim ACD was inspired by them lmao

24) I don't think I manage to have a coherent aesthetic, mostly because the autism demands comfort over style. I definitely wear a lot of knitted looking jumpers, and my house is a jumble of blankets, fluffy socks, plants, notebooks and interesting rocks

38) Going off the original list, probably acts of service but I could psychoanalyse myself for that 😂 If I'm allowed to make some up, parallel play or going for walks. Basically if I deliberately spend time with someone and try to make their life easier in some little way that's me yelling that I care about them from the rooftops lmao

[classictetris]

im ngl i dont rlly like this years artfig.ht themes LOL

[nemossubmarine]

Helsinki book fair book haul, yay!

[charlemane]

"i could fix him" "i could make him worse" ok well i could catch his dying breath and his immortal soul in an old sack and carry it all the way up to heaven to beg St Peter to let my poor sinner of a husband come in. and when St Peter says no i'm asking to talk to his manager. and when Jesus Christ says no i'm asking to talk to HIS manager. and when God Shimself comes to the door and says no, wtf, we're not letting your husband in here, that dude sucked- i'm throwing the soulsack straight over God's head and direct into Heaven. it's the perfect heist because God doesn't have the jumps to block me