English 305
Dr. Stewart
Rewriting the Fairy Tale
20 pts. For Intro and 20 pts. for tale

By the time you write this paper, you'll be familiar with some of the motifs, topics, and themes conveyed through folk and fairy tales. You'll also be familiar with how some have been revised. Take a traditional fairy tale of your choice ("Cinderella," "Red Riding Hood," etc.) and radically rewrite it to reflect contemporary attitudes and concerns that are different from the initial versions. This can be accomplished by writing from a different viewpoint (e.g., the stepmother of Cinderella), by combining tales (a postmodern approach), or whatever you can think of. And yes, it can be humorous.

Also write a 350-word (minimum) introduction to the tale and explain what you have done and why. Explain the contemporary ideological attitudes and concerns with which you are working. For instance, think about how our world has changed since the Grimms or Perrault recorded their tales. Women are more independent. They work and take care of their families. Who are today's wolves? How might issues regarding drug abuse or early sexual activity fit in? What about single mothers or fathers raising their children? How might gay and lesbian relationships work? What might be the prize instead of marriage? What might be the prize instead of great wealth? Be careful of taking a modern component and basing your story around that. For instance, computers are an important part of our world, but simply adding computers to a story won't be sufficient. Remember, this must reflect changing ideological attitudes.

The best introductions will include quotations from the essays and introductions of Tatar's Classic Fairy Tales and other scholarly sources (incuding from the links I've provided below). While you can include quotations from the text you are revising, introductions that do not include quotations from the essays and introductions to Tatar's text and other scholarly sources will not be considered for an A. To assist you with more understanding of folk and fairy tales, you can access the first two chapters of Jack Zipes' Breaking the Magic Spell (broken up in two documents):
http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/slstewart/ZipesChapt1.pdf and
http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/slstewart/ZipesChapt2.pdf and
the introduction to Hallett and Karasek's Folk and Fairy Tales
http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/slstewart/FolktalesIntro305.pdf

If you rewrite a tale that we haven't read or might be unfamiliar to me, please provide a copy of the original text that you are retelling.

This assignment will be evaluated by the following:

Details:
Double-spaced
1" margins
Times New Roman 12
Introduction: 350 words minimum
Tale: 1,500+ words
Please put word counts at the end of the introduction and the tale

If you're artistic, feel free to illustrate your work.