{"id":376,"date":"2018-02-19T17:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T17:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jlwriters.com\/?p=376"},"modified":"2018-02-13T19:36:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T19:36:19","slug":"fairytale-commentaries-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jlwriters.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/19\/fairytale-commentaries-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairytale Commentaries for the 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobody can do away with reviews in fairytale celebrations here at JL<\/a>. For such an occasion, I handpicked several well-known fairytales that have some relevance to modern daily life. True, I’m more keen to grab you an article from the World Economic Forum<\/a>\u00a0so that you get the kind of life advice you’ve been painstakingly Googling for. Yet, if a work of literature stands the test of time, it usually means that it contains something indispensable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Green
Green beans (Pixabay). Most Jack and the Beanstalk<\/em>\u00a0illustrations depict the beans and beanstalk as green.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

English Fairytale: Jack and the Beanstalk<\/h2>\n

Joseph Jacob’s version<\/a><\/h4>\n

If I had to review it seriously, I would thus comment:<\/p>\n

This version’s Jack starts off with quite a solid voice demonstrating his optimism and wit. However, it ends too sloppily. What a bummer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the apparent simplicity of the fairytale, I find that many of us are Jack. Now we know that Guantanamo Bay banned it<\/a>. Is it because this more popular version does not moralise against theft? Could it suggest to inmates that theft may be rewarded rather than punished?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, theft can be and is<\/em> rewarded. If you Google, but have never downloaded for free copyrighted movies, music, software, textbooks or whatnot, I must take my hat off to you. Too often, we think of the creative conglomerates as the Ogre (or Giant). Aren’t those things often overpriced? Come on, a paperback novel is cheaper than a calculus textbook.<\/em>\u00a0However, denying the makers their contract wages\u00a0doesn’t make us more moral people.<\/p>\n

\"Red
Red rose (Pexels). This triggered the following love story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

French Fairytale: Beauty and the Beast<\/h2>\n

English translation of Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont’s version<\/a><\/h4>\n

This story is one of many fairytales which seem to carry the moral that the real worth of a person lies not in the appearance, but also in the heart. Another notable one is The Ugly Duckling<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Interestingly \u2014 and perhaps perpetuating a cherished myth \u2014 storytellers back then often beautified the good people. Bad people looked and acted ugly. I think it was since The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em> that people began to doubt appearances. Nevertheless, recently the idea of judging books by their covers has made a comeback. As Milton Friedman puts it, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” Similarly, people nowadays seem to judge people by their appearance much more. All communication experts emphasise that first impressions make or break deals. The nonverbal accounts for at least 70% of all communication.<\/p>\n

Moreover, although the characters are called only by their role in the story, we are not distracted by this unseemly feature. The maiden protagonist is not called by some girl’s name \u2014 just Beauty. The Beast who turns out to be a prince has no name or formal title either. Yet it is still possible to get caught up in the story. An enjoyable story can get away with being imperfect.<\/p>\n

\"Naked
Naked king in procession (Pexels). Oh look, no one can even talk about the King’s skin tone either!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hans Christian Anderson Fairytale: The Emperor’s New Clothes<\/h2>\n

This story still amuses me. When I first read it, I wondered: how can anyone have the guts to call the naked clothed?<\/p>\n

But as I grew up, it turns out people actually do it!<\/p>\n

For example, people:<\/p>\n