#on continuing traditions of what makes a retelling and appropriation of the broadcast into the folk levels

[edwardian-sea-witch]

Why did no one tell me that fairy tales count as their own fandoms on AO3?

I’d always avoided fanfic and fandom culture because seeing other people’s (entirely subjectively) Wrong Opinions on existing IP tend to make me irrationally angry (and that is something I’d like to work on Not Doing—why do I do that?) but!!! Straight-up fairy tale retellings? That aren’t AUs of copyrighted media?? Taking the tools of modern transformative fiction and applying them to traditional tale types and thus creating a hybrid between the very new and the very old???

[ourcommonbowl-blog]

Nunavut Animation Lab - Qalupalik

Neena de Ruiter, George Gao, Ricky Chen

Qalupalik is originally a story from the Inuit peoples and this film adapted its story using stop-motion animation. The film is directed by Ame Papatsie and is merely 6 minutes long. The film was produced by both the National Film Board of Canada and the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. This film visually and orally tells the story in a language that children can understand. Papatsie utilizes stop-motion animation with leather cutouts to retell a traditional story. The National Film Board of Canada website also includes a lesson plan to help with teaching a younger audience to understand the traditions of Inuit storytelling prior to viewing the film.

Context of the Piece

The story shares its name with the half-human, half-sea monster, Qalupalik. This monster lurks in the ocean, preying on children who do not listen to their parents or their elders. One boy disobeys his parents and goes out to play. Qalupalik takes the boy away from his village, and his father goes out on a journey to find and bring back his son home.

The story is based on an Inuit tale and retold by Ame Siqiniq Papatsie. Not much about Papatsie could be found, this short film being his only one. However, he is an artist who studied at Nunavut Arctic College. Most of the little information we have found of him were from social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, so the accuracy of his roots are not reliable. 

In an article, the differences in how Inuit storytelling films were presented differently between studios was compared to by looking at their adaptions of the story Lumaajuuq. It showed how the National Film Board of Canada, the same producer as for Qalupalik, had respected their original source, utilizing Inuit art forms to further enrich the animation experience (Korniakova, 2014, p.17). Qalaupalik was also created with respect, being mostly directed by Paptsie, someone with Inuit heritage. We believe that the National Film Board, with the work of Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, is able to present Qalupalik well. 

Benefits and Concerns of Qalupalik

The story is presented by the way that most children appreciate -- animation. Different from normal animation techniques, this film uses stop-motion skill to revivify the original scene of a traditional Inuit story. The motions that stop for few seconds could let children carefully observe the detailed drawing of those Inuit objects like inukshuks (a kind of stone landmarks), the Nunavut flag, and other sketches on the board (NFB, 2010). It can also allow children to image the motional scene in their minds by leaving the motions stop. Besides, the film that based on the Inuit story uses the voiceover language that easy for children to understand, and the storytelling is in a slow narrative pace. The music and sounds it uses are precise that make children feel and immerse into the that culture deeply. It is not only a rearranged lesson to teach children, which tell them to listen to their parents. Qalupalik also gets children know more about Inuit culture in an appropriate way. 

On the other hand, the character Qalupalik, a half man half sea-monster, is drawn with a scary figure in the film, and when it appears, the background sound gets scary as well. This could be a disadvantage for this film, because once children got scary and fear of the monster scene, they would not willing to keep watching it, or even resist to watch this kind of First Nation animations any more. For those children who are not familiar with this culture, the horrible descriptive scenes in the film would cause their biased opinions, such as thinking the whole culture is in a dark and scary atmosphere. In order to fully utilize the film in a learning environment, we’ll need to consider how we introduce the film in a way younger children can understand its importance. 

Teaching practice

The instructor should be sure to introduce the culture of the Inuit people, the community in which Qalupalik originated from. Educators should connect with relevant First Nation Peoples community in order to bring the information in the most respectful manner to their students. JoAnn Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork, emphasizes the importance of the 4 R’s, respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. Allow the students to be aware of the community Qalupalik is from and why it is important to hear their stories before showing the class Qalupalik. 

We would use the animated film Qalupalik for Social, English and Arts classes. According to National Film Board of Canada, potential students will be in grades 3 to 6. The lesson will help students to better understand Indigenous cultural. Students will be attracted by both the narrative storytelling and the art style of the work. So they can better understanding metaphor as well. 

We suggesting assigning this film as homework first, students need to watch it with their family. Before assigning this homework, we’ll need to let the children know the film is based on an Inuit story, Qalupalik. The film “tells the tale of a disobedient child who fails to heed the warnings about the danger of the shore and the power of the sea.” Then, we would let them know the film is animated by using leather piece as well. The next day, they already watched film at home with their parents last night. I will show the film in class so we can all watch it again. Then, we would encourage discussion on the film freely. After three - five minutes. I will leave them with some questions listed on the National Film Board’s website:

What is this story warning against? 

How is it a metaphor (both positive and negative) for the sea? 

Does the story have a happy ending?

Does Qalupalik really exist?

We would let them to form groups of 3-5 people to continue the discussion for another five minutes. Each group will share their thoughts with the rest of the class. 

The lesson would end with “explaining that the Inuit once believed everything had a soul: man, animals, plants and objects. Qalupalik represents the sea’s dual nature: its generosity to the alert hunter, and its dangers for the imprudent child”. 

At the end of the day, we would encourage all students to tell their family what we have discussed in class and watch the film again with their parents.

References

Archibald, J. (2008). Indigenous Storywork. Vancouver: UBC Press. Retrieved from http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2007/indigenousstorywork.pdf 

Korniakova, E. (2014). Canadian and Russian Animation on Northern Aboriginal Folklore. Retrieved from http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/979038/1/Korniakova_MA_F2014.pdf 

National Film Board of Canada and Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. (2010). Qalupalik - Lesson Plan. Retrieved from http://www3.nfb.ca/sg/100690.pdf 

Papatise, Ame. (2010). Qalupalik [video]. Retrieved from https://www.nfb.ca/film/nunavut_animation_lab_qalupalik/