Help on deconstructing and defamiliarizng a fairy tale?

Question

can you site some examples on how to deconstruct and ddefamiliarize the fairytale beauty and the beast?

Answer 1

YES.  Look into the original base of the story.  Most modern fairy tales are rooted in morbid, terribly disturbing stories.  The Brothers Grimm made them more palatable for, well, everybody!   Check out

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/...

Answer 2

DECONSTRUCTION:

here's a deconstruction of the McDonald's McRib sandwhich:  http://www.foodfacts.info/mcrib/

How do we deconstruct Beauty and the Beast?  It seems what we have to do is peel off the layers and get down to what the story BASICally is when you scrape off all the pickles, onions, sauce, all those toppings which give it flavor, and you get down to the basics...you cut the meat in half...what's it really made of on the inside?  From our examination of the interior of the sandwhich, it looks to be pressed rib meat.  So the McRib is made of rib meat.  The MEAT of the McRib story, is rib.

So, what is Beauty and the Beast?

Here's the story as told by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont.  http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html

BASICALLY:  Beauty and the beast is the story of a poor unselfish person, who continually goes through hardships, and due to virtue comes out "domestically" on top.

This plot IS the definition of "sentimental comedy".  (sentimental comedy is also described as a comedy too exquisite for laughter)

http://www.answers.com/topic/sentimental...

Sentimental comedies were popular during the Enlightenment in the 18th century.  This makes sense, as the author lived during this period.

"Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont (1711-1780) moved from her native France to England in about 1745 and from England to Switzerland in 1764. A prolific author of over 70 volumes, she was highly regarded in her day, but is now known only for her version of "Beauty and the Beast." "

So OK, we see a lot of this mess right?  Person is virtuous, and goes through hardships, and in the end comes out on top

DEFAMILIARIZATION:  

"the artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar."

"A fine example is the cartoon character Pepe le Pew's phrase "My sweet peanut of brittle"."

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.co...

defamiliarization:  taking the familiar, and making it unfamiliar by enhancing it

So basically you've got to get across the point (of Beauty and the Beast, and all other sentimental comedy) that moral virtue leads to you being rewarded domestically, in a new and enhanced way which is unfamiliar.

How about an epic about a child who's town is destroyed by gremlins and trolls.  This kid is good, I mean morally virtuous to the max, and he lives in a lower-class neighborhood, and he's also picked on in school at the beginning.  After the town is destroyed and everyone is being taken away to be locked up and eaten, he escapes and falls down a well where he is knocked out.  Being knocked out, his body flows down the stream in this well.  When he awakes, he is on a shore somewhere.  He is confronted by a society of giant fuzzy ball-like creatures.  He thinks they're going to eat him, but really they just want to help him.  The boy is overly sad due to the predicament his family and town are in.  The fuzzy creatures decide to help the boy.  In the end he and the society of cute fuzzy creatures, rise up out of the earth to go save his family and his town.  There will be a long arduous battle where the boy will destroy some magic due to him being so virtuous, and some other stuff will be conquered due to virtue... the fuzzy creatures and the boy win!  and they find all the troll gold too!  Yay, everyone is saved!!!  The boy saved the day!!!  A huge celebration ensues!!!  The boy then falls asleep the happiest person alive.  The next morning, he wakes up in his bed in the same crummy living conditions he was once in.  It is like nothing happened.  He runs into his parents bedroom explaining everything that happened to his parents.  They don't remember a thing, and they think he was dreaming.  He goes to school, and it's crummy again, and the people he saved pick on him and don't remember anything that just happened.  There will be a few signs for the viewer/reader to realize that the epic story did indeed actually happen.  The boy returns home after riding on the bus.  He's really down.  As he is walking to his door, he hears one of the fuzzy creatures.  He turns around quickly to try and catch a glimpse!  He sees just a piece of the fuzzy creature as it zooms around the edge of his house towards the backyard.  Of course the boy will chase it!  He follows the sounds and glimpses of the fuzzy creature into the woods.  Finally, all the visions and sounds stop.  The boy looks around but doesn't see it anywhere...but suddenly he realizes he is standing beside a GIANT PILE OF TROLL GOLD!!!!!  THERE'S MOUNDS AND MOUNDS OF IT!!!!!! REAL GOLD!!!!!!  The gold they captured in the final battle!!!! Yay, now the boy and his family are rich!

Next major feel-good movie of the summer.

How's that?

Same idea/plot:  Moral virtue leads to domestic awesomeness

New story:  beauty and the beast - changes to - boy and the beasts

Answer 3

Sorry

Answer 4

Read the Graphic Novels called FABLE.