Once Upon A Time

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale book, the Lillian H. Smith library has a special exhibit that runs until Dec. 8. Thursday night, Dr. Maria Tatar of Harvard, an expert on fairy tales, gave a talk entitled "Mythical and Magical".

The first part traced the evolution of the fairy tale, even prior to the 1812 published book, as evidenced in paintings, book covers, and movie posters. It started as story-telling in front of a hearth to a multi-generational audience; evolving to a grandmother/nanny entertaining her charges, often with a cautionary finger; to today's resurgence of fairy tales in films, TV, and books. The current fight is between the anaesthesized and infantile Disney versions versus the iconoclasts (e.g., Shrek) who attempt to bring back the original intents by subverting or parodying the tropes.

The second part concentrated on two female figures: Gretel and Briar Rose. Gretel, with her lies, deceipt, and cunning, embodied the familiar Trickster figure. In a way, she represented the growing awareness of children that you need wits to make your way in this hard world. Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty)was the other face of perceived femininity: arousing yet passive, innocent but death-like. Dr. Tatar showed many illustrations that drew on this contradiction between "sarcophagus and seraglio".

The many illustrations and paintings shown were wonderful, as well as her discursive points and asides. The attempt to link fairy tales to its modern incarnations sometimes seemed force. It may make sense in an academic paper, but in a short layman's presentation the idea that Katniss (Hunger Games) was Gretel or that Ellen Page's Hard Candy was a take on Little Red Riding Hood was risible.