Feminism and Sexuality

Today's presentations were interesting. I was happy that Carmen and Tish decided to pick a topic different from everyone else. I thought Tish's presentation was very creative. Women have come a long way since the 1950s as far becoming independent. The videos she showed during her presentation depicted this dramatic change. Its not uncommon for women nowadays to be able to take care of themselves whereas back then it was almost unheard of. Women were the ones who just cooked, cleaned and kept the household in order. Carmen's presentation was very shocking. There are so many sexual references made in fairytales! Her first slide and word "penis" grabbed my attention immediately. I liked how she compared Disney's versions of fairytales to those of earlier times. She explained how the Disney versions were more appropriate for children. I was very impressed with both of their presentations because they showed how fairytales have played a role in our society: good or bad.

Nickeloden Fairytale?

Today I was watching Nickeloden and was watching a cartoon about a fairytale. It wasn't a remake of any other fairytale we've come across. Instead of the prince saving the princess, the princess saved the prince! I found it very ironic that the roles switched especially after we have discussed this in class through our presentations. The princess was played by no other than Barbie (I think.. she looked like her) and I guess the Ken figure was considered the "prince charming." Basically a group of people planned to kidnap the prince and the princess over heard. When her and her 3 or 4 other friends tried to warn some of the royal people in the castle, they don't take them seriously and turned them away.They threatened that if they ever came back to the castle, they would have them imprisoned. Come to find out those people were part of the sneaky plot as well. They use the opportunity to go back to the castle when a masquerade ball takes place. (since their faces would be covered up by masks). Long story short, the evil people find out its them eventually and tries to fight Barbie with a sword. She ends up saving the prince in the end with the help of her friends. It was really interesting to see a princess save the day for once.

Oral Presentation #2

So far the oral presentations have been really good! I was disappointed with my presentation because I did not have as much time as I would have liked to work on it. Plus, I was unaware of the actual time limit. The presentation I really enjoyed was Chelsea's. She did a great job showing how fairytales have played a role in gendering our children. Her pictures and powerpoint were very appealing. There was never a dull moment in her presentation. I also liked Joey's presentation. I thought it was clever how he included how he contributes to the gendering problem in his conclusion. I have noticed however that most of the people that have went so far have either chosen the gendering or fairytale ideas prompt to present. I hope to see others present on some of the other topics just to see how others feel about them personally. As far as my feedback, it was pretty positive except I seemed to rush at times when i was nervous. (which I was). Everyone really liked my attention-getter of the Snow white video. I hope I did not make a D or a F on this presentation since I didn't meet the time limit.

Fairytales in modern day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsMZuYim4U As stated in one of my previous blogs, my oral presentation will be on how fairy tale ideals such as prince charming and damsel in distresss have an influence on our society. I have found more research and took the advice to include specific examples in my presentation. One of the examples I'm considering using is the Enchantment movie in which a fairytale princess ends up in our world and is not able to function on her own because she has been shielded and too dependent on "prince charming." Now I have never seen the movie for myself but I looked up the trailor on youtube. ( I have provided the link in this log as well). I do feel strongly that we can get rid of these ideals if everyone contributed by becoming independent, sespecially women. Men should help a woman to an extent but should put theirselves first. Selfish I know but sometimes you have to put yourself before others. Women should accept help from time to time ut not be dependent on that help. This was reinforced to me personally by my accounting teacher last week. She said by the time we all graduate, we should be able to take care of ourselves and not have to be dependent on someone else financially, mentally, or physically.

Breaking the Disney Spell

After reading this, I have a better understanding of what distinguishes fairytales from other genres. Jack Snipes does a good job in comparing folk tales to literary fairytales. The literary fairytales were intended for the people who could not read while folk tales were intended for everyone. I also read that fairytales weren't originally for children as well because of the symbolic uses and the unruly social behavior. Jack Snipes also mentions how Walt Disney has made a revoluntionary impact on fairytales. In the reading, he wrote "There is something sad in the manner in which Disney "violated" the literary genre of the fairytale and packaged his versions in his name through the merchandising of books, toys, clothing, and records" (Tatar 352). I agree to a certain extent but I think Walt Disney has made a good impact on children through his animations. Yeah, he does stray away from the original fairytales, but I believe that children can be more entertained and can believe the notion that sometimes dreams really do come true. Personally, I have read the original fairytales and I find Walt Disney's more appropriate and appealing to society today.

Fables Comic Book

I really thought the Fables comic book was a tad bit too much. As stated in class, the characters didn't possess any of the qualities (except appearance) that they had in the original fairytales. The only character that stayed in its element was the pig. i do agree that the comic book is more like reality than the fairytales which contain make believe themes and an "happily ever after" ending. One thing I did like about the comic book was the humor in some parts and the detailed pictures. The cussing went overboard. I know that most comic books have cussing, but like Amber Brown stated in class, the cuss words were used at awkward times in awkward ways.

grade and research outline

I am satisfied with my oral presentation grade. I got a B but was expecting a C. I was shocked to hear in class that I wasn't the only one who recieved a rude comment. That made me feel a little bit better about my presentation. On Tuesday when we worked in groups I felt the most prepared. I had made a trip to the library the day before to learn how to look for sources on the database. I found about 7 useful sources for my outline. I chose the topic about how prince charming and damsel in distress influence society's perception of relationships. Personally, I think these ideals can be stopped if women learned to survive on their own without being dependent on a male figure. In fairytales such as Cinderella and Snow White, Prince Charming comes to the rescue. If women like these two princesses learned how to get out of bad situations on their own and became dependent, the men wouldn't be so dominant nowadays.