Russian Fairy Tales Test 3

Transitional Objects Psychology of Aloneness o Separation Anxiety Separation = abandonment o Symbiosis The self and mother are one Maternal absence = personal none Cashdan o Fairy tales function for children Seven Deadly sins of childhood:

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Gluttony Envy Lust Greed Deceit Sloth Learn to deal with fear of abandonment o Coping mechanisms for mini-abandonments Maternal imaging and peek-a-boo Transitional Objects Why a doll? o Absorb warmth and provide comfortable tactile sensation o May be acquired a stressful time: Specific illness, family crisis General separation anxiety

Marxism Fundamental of Marxism o Analysis based on economics o Not synonymous with Communism o Classical Marxism Human is a producer Needs are conditioned o Who owns the means of production? Agrarian or Industrial The fight for control of production is a class struggle

Ownership of a means of production implies a class society Change in means of production = change of classes o Haves and Have nots Haves Nobility, aristocracy, bourgeoisie Have nots peasantry proletariat The Frankfort school and the culture industry o Culture as a commodity Creates and satisfied false needs Suppresses true needs, which capitalism cannot meet o Whats wrong with the culture industry? The dominant idea: Changes authentic texts to fit the capitalist system Insists on its authenticity for legitimacy sales The masses lose their ability to criticize their own society Duplication and revision o Duplication: the message of the original story remains o Revision: details of the story are altered to change the message A Marxist critic might Approve revision that emphasize equality and the community over the acquisition of the acquisition of wealth by an individual. Disapprove of revisions that impose a capitalist ideology that was not present in the original tale.

Zipes o Fairy tales change over time and do so for a reason Literary fairy tales used to challenge politics o Transmission Folk fairy tale: public group consumption Literary fairy tale: individual consumption Fairy tale films: public group consumption VHS,DVD,Internet: individual consumption

 Youtube: ? o Disney Walt Disney capitalist man Lure people in with artistry then reinforce the status quo Properties of Disney films Heroism and glory for individuals Heroes seek to improve own class rather than overcome class distinctions for all Heroes perpetuate existing social structures rather than promoting social revolution Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin Characteristics of Romanticism o Imagination, Nature, Cult of Individualism (exile, isolation) o Strong and Mysterious personality Passion, intellect, moodiness, aesthetic sensitivity, drugs and alcohol. o Experimentation with style and genre Orientalism o Romanticism o Caucasus The Caucasus region middle east Response to censorship of literature Foreign themes Fairy tales Irony and hidden meaning Meter o Trochaic tetrameter 7 or 8 syllables stressed-unstressed If only 7, last one will be stressed Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol Viy o Motifs

 Stories

The grotesque Food Sex, sexuality, and sexual initiation Vision and the gaze

The Snow Maiden (Literary Tale) Pale = Pure = Beautiful Cycle of Womanhood No blood in her face (not sexually ready)

The Wicked Sisters Youngest sister married King and had 3 sons with the sun moon and stars Older sisters stole them and king left her Brothers recognized mother from breast milk Romanticism o Imagination (A lot of unreal things) o Exile/isolation (Put in a barrel at sea) Salt (Marxism) Merchant controls means of production/receiving of goods Capitalist motives Characters look for wealth for the individual not the community Tale of the Military Secret No classes (no upper class) = good life Bourgeoisie attacked, red army fought

Tale of the Golden Cockerel Poem iambic tetrameter The Sorceress Priest son looked at princess with no head She requested him to read psaltars

MOTIFS: o circles to stop supernatural forces o looking (seeing the princess, dont look back)

The Vampire She saw vampire eating corpse Vampire destroyed by holy water The Colonel and the Witch Witch was riding and torturing a soldier Colonel rides the witch He makes her give up her magic for him to take the horse shoes off

Legendary Birds Sirin: Traditionally a bird of joy and success o The image of the classical Siren is split in Russian folk belief between the Sirin and the Rusalka o Note that the meaning of Sirin in the Tolstaya story differs from the standard function Alkonost: Traditionally a bird of sorrow and melancholy Gamaiun: Traditionally fortells happiness Finist (cf. Phoenix)

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