Blogpost 8: Rapunzel: Narcissism and Hair Syndrome

Rapunzel.. the girl with long golden silk hair... Those blonde wavy locks that flows all the way from the top to the bottom of a tall tower... Well she might pay a million to a stylist to do some hell a lot of a job, but I agree that hair was really admirable. To be able to use that on hauling people down and up? Totally essential. I'm always fond of long hairs, but not Rapunzel-long hair. Good luck to those dandruffs though. 

Well let's get to the topic and let's see what research had thought of our Rapunzel.

I found an article entitled "Rapunzel, Daughter of a Closet Narcissist" written by Gudrun Zomerland from the site ChinnStreetCounseling.com.

Zomerland talked about the movie "Tangled" and it's sort of psychological challenge. It said that with the "Mommy Dearest" endearment that Rapunzel calls her 'mother', it shows a type of narcissism  that is focused on self-absorption that molds her daughter to an exact copy of herself. There was this thing called "closet narcissists" that clearly describes the mother with characters mentioned. They are not bad as the article says, they are mothers still in their child-like mentality, sort of.  They live in their so-called fantasies. 

The article said that "She had her own fairy tale to live through. However, without her having inner and outer resources for healing herself, her trauma became generational and it was passed on to me."

Come to think of it, I had seen some experiences with mothers with that attitude. They tend to be a little overprotective at times in their children and kept on dictating them on what they should do. They claim that they "know best" but really, they should took pity on their children. Spoiling them won't do any good.

On the side of science, I found this article entitled "5 Psychological Conditions Named for Disney Characters" written Lauren Baker from the site MentalFloss.com.                                                                                                                                                                 I found out that there is a thing called Rapunzel Syndrome where it is an intestinal condition that results people to eating hair, from a disorder known as Tricophagia. They swallow hair and as a results, it grows to a ball inside their intestines. 

As disgusting as it is, it actually exists. I'm just thankful that I never got that habit. It needs operation in order to pull the hair out from the stomach. And as I searched for images, I advice that you don't. I'll describe it anyway. It looks like a big bulk of feces but as you look closer, it is made of hair and the wastes inside the intestines. Really weird and disgusting.

So much for having Rapunzel. I think with all of the above infos it just gives a small piece of advice, to take care of yourself and do not let hindrances keep you from growth. Following our parents are never wrong, but sometimes, you just need that little dose of rebellion in order for you to find who you really are.

Blogpost 7: The Frog Prince: Dreams and Growth

I've been into giving quotes that matches the topic fairy tale and here I will say that this one we got here is the perfect one for "Don't make promises that you can't keep." The "Frog Prince" or in its original German translation, "The Frog King" or the "Iron Heinrich"; still written by our favorite the Brothers' Grimm. Either way it's till the same. A short story of finding a true love; but not so good of the characters. Personally, this is the most boring story for me, because I see no essence of true love in it. But as I go along the research, well, as always, there's more than meets the eye.

As everyone is familiar of the story, I will jump to the first favorite branch: mythology.

Heket

I found an article entitled "Frog, Toad - Dream Symbol" written by Lori Phillips from the site BellaOnline.com.                                                                                                                                                               Phillips talked about the different interpretations of a frog in various mythologies such as it being a symbol of transformation or fertility. In Egyptian Mythology, there was a frog goddess named "Heket" and she symbolizes life and fertility to the Egyptians and her image was worn for pregnant women in belief that they would give a safe birth. In Native American mythology, they are believed to control the rain. While when they appear in dreams, frogs symbolizes the deeper aspect of one's self, may it be thoughts, emotions, or creative aspects. As stated earlier, they also symbolize fertility since they lay a lot of eggs and also can mean birth of ideas. The leaping frog in a dream are seen as positive symbols, but may also mean inattentiveness because of the frog leaping around, it may mean of things incomplete or undone that we have missed.

Phillips also said that "When thinking of animals associated with rebirth or transformation in mythology, it may be easy to overlook the lowly frog. But the frog has a prominent place in the mythology of many world cultures as a symbol of transformation or fertility meaning that the little green gal also has a firm footing in the collective unconscious, the place where dreams are made."

Looking back, we might have ignored the value of frogs in tales but really, this little guys have declared some special value for themselves. I never experienced of encountering a frog in a dream; or I might have but I can't really remember. The frog had always been that tiny subject that is passed out from judgement. And now that we know that they mean a lot, maybe it's time to take a look on the little creatures.

It seems like I haven't gotten enough from sexual topics that I found the article entitled "The Individuation Process: The Shadow" by Carl Jung from the site MythsDreamsSymbols.com.

In the site, there's a part that stated that the story of Frog Prince shows the meaning of a young woman overcoming her fear of sex. It said that the frog has a connection to dragons and monsters that guards treasures; where the treasure is the true self; the princess's kiss on the prince is the acceptance of the shadow (the underside of one's personality); and the transformation of the prince is the wholeness of discovering true self-hood.                                                                                                               In other words, it sort of symbolizes maturity of a woman to overcome her own fears, not just sex.

                                                                       

If you had read the story, the princess was a stubborn and irresponsible kind of girl at the beginning when she broke her promise to the frog. While she ignores the callings of the frog to let him inside her room, it took him 3 tries for her to finally allow him to her bed. But by then, the princess already accepted him and that's why he was given the kiss that released him from his spell. We may hate the princess, but yeah, she had proven something.

I'll hate the princess for all she cares, but still she got the last laugh. But not only that, there's still some morals though. A girl in order to become a woman should come out of her cave and explore what's outside, her fears and beliefs included. To grow, it doesn't take us overnight, (well yeah the princess kind of did but that's not the point), there's always that little lesson that should slap us back to our senses. And also for the prince's part, to be fully free on our self-inflicted spells, we must endure sacrifice and spin a lot of hope and patinece in order for us to achieve the dreams we have been waiting.

Blogpost 6: Beauty and the Beast: Origin and Delusions

While before The Little Mermaid is an example of "Be careful what you wish for", this story, one of my favorite stories of this subject, is the perfect example of "Do not judge a book by its cover." The "Beauty and the Beast" with the oldest version written by Gianfrancesco Straparalo way back in the 1550s. I personally love the movie of Disney's version because their love story is just to great and really inspiring, talk about those cheesy moments in the castle. I've always admired the strong character of Belle and how she managed to handle a short-tempered, and not to mention a hideous looking beast under her wings. Tough one of a girl she is. 

Since this story's history is not much familiar to us because most of us knew only the one we saw in the movies, (which is probably still Disney) I decided to trace its roots to back mythology. 

As always, research never fails me. I saw an article entitled "Beauty and the Beast" from the site WillOfTheWisp1.Webs.com written under the username of Abby's Lair. 

The article tells about the different evolutions of the story Beauty and the Beast whereas the first origin is tracked down from the love story of Psyche and Eros; their love story filled with hindrance. Next is the vague love of the couple Hades and Persephone; the two not-so-happy couple. The story went on to Europe where it was first included in an anthology by Starapalo; but the famous version we know today is from Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne. It is now the story of the merchant agreeing to pay for his intrusion in the Beast's property with his daughter; the one also with Disney. 

As time goes by version's of the story came made up to the famous "Phantom of the Opera", where the story of Erik, a man with a body of corpse falls in love with Christine that leads to a disaster. And another Beauty-and-the-Beast-like version, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with a hunchback named Quasimodo loved by a gypsy Esmeralda despite the odds that he was deaf and an orphan. 

The article said, "As time goes on, the misfit Beast often becomes more understood, more pitied by the heroine, herself taking a more proactive role in the story, choosing her role rather than being forced into it by her father.  A fairytale must reflect the society that tells it, and judging by the telling of Beauty and the Beast, society seems to be changing for the better." 

As a bit of a fan of this story, I agreed to everything the article said as quoted above. From the first origin to the latest connection, it clearly it shows it has the most different approach of fairy tale stories made so far. Belle, and the other female characters that symbolizes Beauty, had this certain characteristic of a strong-willed woman that makes it even more unique. In here, it's not the man who only fights for the love but its the female role that played a big part. It is from the woman that the story completed its circle and giving it a happy ending. Cheers to girl power!

Such happiness as I've read the past article, but the next sort of crashed my beautiful painted image of the story Beauty and the Beast.

It's an article named "Beauty and the Beast’s Dark Delusion" written by Peter Gross from the site OverthinkingIt.com.

The article, well, quite shocked me to some revelations. It stated the Belle's story is a bit of a psychological drama, she being schizophrenic with hallucinations. Also, her having Stockholm Syndrome; a psychological phenomenon that hostages develop sympathy and positive feelings to their captors, which is considered irrational since it is an open risk captors are engaging at.  It also stated that the "enchantress" actually Belle's super-ego (meaning conscience) telling her the high moral cost of having the high standard lifestyle of aristocracy. For Belle to survive between the wealth distributions, she would need to "stop viewing people as human beings", see them as objects as the movie of Disney interpreted in the household. 

As if it's not shocking enough, the view on Gaston as the villain in the movie seemed misinterpreted. It stated that Gaston is actually concerned about Belle's seemingly weird being and that he was actually trying to help her, because he thinks that Belle is on her way to a tragic outcome because of her own beliefs. He was trying to convince her to be one with the villagers, to find her function but since it was contrary to Belle's imagined aristocrats with nothing common with the working class, she refuses. Having two options in order for her to function in the society, since she only shows interest in reading but not of science and maths and not writing on her own, she falls to only marriage and prostitution. In the near end of the movie, Gaston was asking her to marriage and it was misinterpreted for selfish reasons because he was actually helping her from falling to tragedy.

Since we sort of "thought" Belle as a tough woman, it became hard for Gaston to convince her and ended up rallying the villagers to kill the Beast, trying to stop Belle from her so-called delusions. 

(So much information that I can't explain all of them. So if anyone's interested, click the link to the article above.)

A neck-breaking info I found there. It gets a little complicated at times because the article was really particular on the details. And now my impression of the perfect story just crashed. Belle as schizophrenic? Who would've thought about that! But in a way, I found it a bit true since she really is against all odds in the movie. And it scared me of how true these observations could have been. I hope they're not, but I feel that they are.

I might say the most sweating research so far. This is my favorite. Honestly. I never thought I would found such heavy infos because I never searched about this before. Well I guess there'll be a lot more. Got a little heartbroken though.

Blogpost 5: Little Red Riding Hood: Morals and Sexuality

Deception is just a cruel thing isn't it? You get to make someone believe into something to get what you want. A commonly used trickery in stories and movies but it never gets old. Ever since in Snow White, the idea of deception is just the favorite act of villain characters. And up until now, it's still the best way to make one story exciting. 

So I'm going to tell one story of deception: Little Red Riding Hood written by the Brother's Grimm and has a version with Charles Perrault. Actually there were a lot of versions of this story. One with Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother got saved by a Woodsman; another with Red Riding Hood killing the Wolf and saving her Grandmother by dissecting the Wolf's belly; the other, a grosser version, is the Wolf dissects the Grandmother and invites Red Riding Hood to eat her flesh, but ended up eating her; and the other, well I might say the weirdest one, is Red Riding Hood stripteasing the Wolf while he lies in bed and escaping while he was distracted. (That one shouldn't have been included.) While a lot of versions are done, the original story goes like this: Red Riding Hood encountered the Wolf; the Wolf ate her Grandmother and when the little girl came, he ate her too. THE END. 

Boring? Yeah I know. So I decided to break one rule in researching and I searched for the meaning why "Red Riding Hood" is "red". 

Amazingly, I found an article that directs me exactly what I'm looking for, entitled "A Deeper Look Into Little Red Riding Hood" from the site Werewolves.com written under the username of Moonlight. 

As the title implies, the article talked about different symbolisms as well as hidden morals from some of the versions of Red Riding Hood. One is of course, with the color red. According to the article, before it was not really supposed to be red and that red is placed on to place some hidden morals. From one version that I said about the girl stripteasing, red is made to be its color as it represents sins and lust, and some versions are mixed with sexuality. An example is one with Red Riding Hood stripteasing the Wolf  to distract him; and another one is teasing the Wolf offering her clothing to buy her freedom; but ended up eating her anyway.                                                                                                There are bonuses that the article offered and I am not the one to refuse such valuable information. Another moral in it is from a version that Red Riding Hood strayed from the path given to her and that it symbolizes maturity, she is free from childhood and is gaining her own independence.

There's also a version about the Huntsman/Woodsman where he rescues them by slicing the Wolf's belly and pulling the Grandmother out who is still alive. Still in the article, it implies a lesson that on whatever life throws at us, there will always be a way to pull ourselves out from those troubles and we would still be complete and intact.

Lastly, is about the rocks where on that version Red Riding Hood cuts open the Wolf's belly and stuffed rocks inside and sewn it back, making his belly heavy and killing him with a broken heart. The rocks symbolizes the heaviness of the Red's experience and that she will never be fooled again.

Too much information on one article, but no, I'm not complaining. Really helpful it is though breaking a rule. I'm delighted to hear those symbolisms and morals and it gave the story more value than before. A little ticked off at the sexuality parts as it shows pedophilia, I mean, red Riding Hood is a little girl right? Stripteasing is a too sensual of a way to use as a method in a kid's story. Such a bad example. Whoever made that version is probably a pedophile. Either way I would probably never look at Red Riding Hood the same way again. 

And as if I hadn't gotten enough of sexuality, it grossed me even more as I found another article that is on the subject. An essay entitled "Psychoanalytic Approach to Little Red Riding Hood" from the site StudyMode.com written under the username of Putiputi. In the essay, it says that it was Sigmund Freud that started the psychoanalysis of a theory in human behaviors that is motivated by sexuality. And he gave the story of Red Riding Hood as an example, which is apparently abundant on the sexuality thing. It stated that the story's purpose is to actually warn from the "smooth-tongued" and "dangerous beasts" that steals ladies from innocence. From Perrault's version, it said that before the Wolf devoured her, the Wolf made her took off her clothes and after the girl commented on the Wolf's "big" body parts, he "jumped on her". 

Another thing the essay wanted to point out is the repression of sexual desires which is seen in the Wolf as he waits for the perfect timing. And he didn't eat the male woodcutters around the area and waited to prey instead on a young girl, which is a little weird. The version said that he made her naked first before going to bed before completely eating her. The Wolf was representing the psychic energy of an id; the first psychic zone of the mental process that consist lacking of logic, and functions only for "instinctual gratification."

The essay said that, "In stories such as this, the sexual undertones are clearly evident, and thus substantiate the intricacies behind the approach. Perhaps it is a bit untraditional. However, this investigation remains both thought provoking and brilliantly compelling."

Truly untraditional it is, for some elements like this to be included in a folk tale. For me, subjects like this gets a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's because we're talking about children stories here; the ones where you supposed to tell them before going to bed and that they will learn something from it. But from this different point of view, I guess there's more things that children can learn from bedtime stories.

Fairy Tale stories' origins have always been interesting. But it's always, the philosophy, psychology and mythology that keeps everything running. And I understand why my blogposts always revolves around them. The human mind is such a wide subject, especially when you focus on how it works. There's a ton of possibilities the human mind can offer and who knows? Maybe in the next few years of Fairy Tale evolutions it would not only be deception this time.