{"id":2,"date":"2013-09-21T17:19:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-21T17:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2013-09-26T11:48:32","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T15:48:32","slug":"definition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining Retellings"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is a Retelling?<\/span><\/p>\n

To first understand what the genre of \u201cRetelling Fairy Tales\u201d is about, one must define what a fairy tale is.\u00a0 According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a loose definition of a fairy tale is a story involving fantastic forces and beings such as fairies, wizards, and goblins.\u00a0 Fairy tales can be found all around the world and span several cultures.\u00a0 Many people have been exposed to fairy tales since childhood with such Disney movies as Beauty and the Beast<\/em>, Cinderella<\/em>, and The Little Mermaid.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Retelling fairy tales is a relatively new genre.\u00a0 While many cultures have similar themes in their fairy tales, they are all different.\u00a0 Retelling a fairy tale is about taking that fairy tale and putting a different spin on it. \u00a0Oftentimes, retellings keep the bare bones of the original tale, but redress it in something different.\u00a0 Usually this means that main plot points are there, but everything else about it is different.\u00a0 The important part of a retelling is that it deviates from the original tale but one could still identify the fairy tale that is being retold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFractured Fairy Tales\u201d is an important sub-genre of Retelling Fairy Tales.\u00a0 In a fractured fairy tale the same story is seen through a different character\u2019s eyes or is a continuation of the same tale.\u00a0 Just Ella<\/em><\/a>, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, is a novel about what happened after Cinderella (who goes by Ella) finds her Prince Charming.\u00a0 While most versions of the Cinderella tale end when he slips on that slipper and they lived happily ever after, this novel tells the tale of Ella\u2019s adventure into self-discovery and ultimately happiness.\u00a0 This is slightly different than a retelling because this is a continuation of the original tale but goes beyond the happily ever after into what happened after Cinderella was discovered.\u00a0 Another good example of a fractured fairy tale is The True Story of the Three Little Pigs <\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Jon Scieszka, which is told from the Wolf\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 This tale shows the wolf in a different light, where he has a cold and is in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u00a0 These two elements, the continuation of the original tale and a different character\u2019s perspective, is essential to a fractured fairy tale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>\"just<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u00a0do Retellings do differently?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The main difference that you will find in a retelling is different plot points.\u00a0 This means that you can still identify the original tale but there are some significant changes to its plot.\u00a0 This can be seen in The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig <\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Eugene Trivizas where the wolves build their houses and the pig keeps knocking them down.\u00a0 The original tale and the retold one are similar except the roles of the pig and the wolf are reversed.\u00a0 The same elements of the original tale are there but the tale is tweaked and that makes it different but no less entertaining.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"three-little-wolves\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes the plot is the same but the characters are different.\u00a0 This is seen in Kate and the Beanstalk<\/i><\/a> by Mary Pope Osborne, which is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk except that that Jack has been replaced by Kate.\u00a0 In the story it is Kate who is clever enough to fool the Giants. Many authors do the same thing. \u00a0In an article by Hilary S. Crew on the prominent young adult novelist Donna <\/span>Jo Napoli, a popular author in the retellings of fairytales genre, states that \u201cin her revisions of fairy tales, Napoli does, indeed, redefine fairy tale protagonists, creating complex fully realized characters with whom readers may relate to more closely than to their counterparts in traditional tales.\u201d\u00a0 Napoli doesn\u2019t stop at redesigning the female protagonists in her novels.\u00a0 Crew declares that the princes in Napoli\u2019s stories \u201cpossess qualities that challenge Western patriarchal stereotypes of masculinity” because they are \u201crepresented as loving and compassionate; they demonstrate through their actions and their discourse a commitment to family and loving relationships.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"kate-and-the-beanstalk\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The message of the original story may also be changed.\u00a0 Many fairy tales have the quintessential \u201cdamsel in distress\u201d; the woman who is stuck in some situation and can\u2019t get out of it without a dashing prince to save her.\u00a0 What some authors of the genre do is put a feminist spin on a story that otherwise conforms to patriarchal ideals of women.\u00a0 In Cinder Edna<\/i><\/a> by Ellen Jackson, the plain but hardworking neighbor of Cinderella works diligently and doesn\u2019t rely on someone else helping her out of her situation.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t have a fairy godmother but she is determined to go <\/span>to that ball anyways.\u00a0 <\/span>In the article \u201cFairy-tale Retellings between <\/span>Art and Pedagogy\u201d by Vanessa Joosen, she states that \u201cfairy-tale retellings try <\/span>to make children and adolescents who make the connection with the original tale <\/span>aware of issues and possible interpretations in these texts which they had not <\/span>noticed before.\u201d\u00a0 This allows for the child to see things in a different way and <\/span>come to new conclusions on their favorite tales.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cinder<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for the link to Hilary S. Crew\u2019s article.<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here <\/a>for Vanessa Joosen\u2019s article \u201cFairy-tale Retellings between Art and Pedagogy\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is a Retelling? To first understand what the genre of \u201cRetelling Fairy Tales\u201d is about, one must define what a fairy tale is.\u00a0 According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a loose definition of a fairy tale is a story involving … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/retellingsoffairytales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}