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Author |
Comment
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InkGypsy
Registered User
(7/2/07 6:44 pm)
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Fairy
Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Developm
Hello All!
Now that I'm semi-adjusted to being a new mum I'm back to visiting
the boards and slowly getting into writing and researching again
(yay).
The project I'm currently involved with has me looking into Fairy
Godmothers again. The archived boards have been very helpful re
a little of the history (eg. 3 Fates and the Salon women's extension
of the concept) but I'm wondering if there's more I'm not finding.
I keep ending up in Western tales unless I expand my horizons to
include wise women and the dual-natured Baba Yaga. Are there other
equivalents that you guys know of that I should look into?
(I've looked into the following so far and found definite parallels
but not necessarily any concrete connections: spirit of the dead/absent
mother, magical helpers - animal/ nature/ trees/ inanimate objects,
spirit guides/ guardian spirits, 'white' witches/ 'white lady',
godfather death, blue fairy/ fairy with blue hair [Pinocchio], magical
nanny..)
I am finding more frequent references in the Fairy books (Lang)
- interestingly with as many 'Carabosse' type characters as good
- but would love a faster way to search these texts if anyone knows
a way.
My research has led me to think that the 'Fairy Godmother' is more
of a convention in 'fairy tale fantasy' (sub-genre of fantasy) rather
than a common literary fairy tale convention. And the character
of FG - at least these days - tends to be less assigned to a specific
child to watch over but instead is more likely to help those in
need she comes across (often women/girls). Am I missing something
here?
As far as books/movies that deal with Fairy Godmothers (minor and
major roles) I have the following list:
Fiction:
The Godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (+ sequels)
The Fairy Godmother: (Tale of Five Hundred Kingdoms + sequels) by
Mercedes Lackey
The Worlds Worst Fairy Godmother by Bruce Coville and Katherine
Coville
My Scary Fairy Godmother by Rose Impey
The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales by Mrs Alfred Gatty
Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esm Raji Codell
The Downtown Fairy Godmother by Charlotte Pomerantz and Susanna
Natti
Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
Movies:
The Slipper and the Rose
Pinocchio (Disney's)
Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio
Cinderella (Disney's)
Sleeping Beauty (Disney's)
Happily NEver After
Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother (TV series on DVD - anybody seen this?)
Nanny McPhee
Mary Poppins
Non-fiction Books:
This is a toughie - there's not a whole lot in any I have!
Any others I should be looking at?
Does anybody know anything about Befind (fairy who appears at births)?
Has anyone studied the Fairy Godmother than you know of?
Also, I'm sure this is old news but I couldn't find what happened
to the book of FG letters Jane and Midori were working on. Did it
get published?
Lots of questions but if anyone has the answers it'll be someone
here!
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(7/2/07 7:28 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
The FG letters by Midori and Jane turned into a story, Except the
Queen, that appears in Fair
Folk edited by Marvin Kaye.
I haven't seen much scholarship on fairy godmothers, either.
Are you also interested in picture books? Such as The
Youngest Fairy Godmother Ever by Stephen Krensky and Diana Cain
Bluthenthal. She also appears in Beware
of the Storybook Wolves by Lauren Child. There's plenty more
but I would actually have to think to write them down.
Also, the fairy godmother appears in Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson
Levine as well as in Shanna Swendson's latest, Damsel
Under Stress (the FG keeps trying to put the heroine in dangerous
situations to win her love although she already "has"
him).
Heidi
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MaryCatelli
Registered User
(7/2/07 8:42 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
It's not surprising that you should end up with Western tales. There
are equivalent figures in other folklores, but the fairy is a Western
European figure.
If you're looking for the general case, you might investigate "donors"
as Propp termed them. The fairy godmother (as in Cinderella) is
a variant of them.
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InkGypsy
Registered User
(7/2/07 8:42 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
Thanks Heidi (I don't know how you find time to reply to the boards
with all the work you're doing on the site right now! - which is
wonderful BTW. Can't wait to see how it looks when it's all done.
Thanks again for your amazing work...)
I find it interesting that FGs are commonly 'referred to' now but
how they came to be considered a fairy tale staple (in popular thinking)
is somewhat vague. Why is the concept of a FG so popular?
I have my own theories of course - some of it is to do with the
idea of a guardian angel-type in our corner when we feel alone,
some of it is to do with the 'makeover' obsession our society seems
to have (my life would be better if I looked different/ was rich/
met the right person/ etc) but I also think some of it is that an
FG isn't quite a Deus Ex Machina. It's help - albeit magical help.
A girl (because it's usually a girl) still has to use her wits and
spunk to achieve her goal. Now that's appealing - even to a politically
correct feminist!
I'm interested in any portrayals of the character - what are the
common factors represented, how do we define fairy godmother today,
why is she so popular and what concepts and/or characters has she
been formed from? Almost all the points in my original post on this
thread are my own theories and connections but I'd like something
a little more solid to base my conclusions on, if there is anything.
Are there 'types' of fairy godmothers? (kind and helpful, devil's
advocate, prompter/challenger, working for the 'greater good' of
which you are a small player, 'anti'FG, forgetful/vague [films use
this one a lot], surrogate parent, etc) I'm making this list up
off the top of my head but in doing so it makes me realize why the
character lends itself so easily to fantasy fiction (think hero's
journey and threshold guardians, tricksters, mentors/sages, caregivers
and magicians).
Any thoughts anyone has on the subject or avenues of research to
suggest would be very welcome!
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InkGypsy
Registered User
(7/2/07 9:06 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
Thanks also Mary (I was busy replying as you posted). I'll definitely
look into Propp's categorizations too.
Is there a good book/resource I can buy to have on hand re Propp's
element breakdowns as I write/research in the future? Wikipedia
is great but I'd like to have a text to refer to as well. Is Morphology
of a Folktale something one can read without a Masters degree!?
(while I'm keen to learn and happy to put in effort I find some
of those texts a little intimidating and I can get lost following
the connections) If not, has anyone tackled his analysis in 'laymans'
terms that anyone knows of?
And any thoughts anyone has on my multitude of questions re Fairy
Godmothers in the above posts would be most welcome!
Many thanks!
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MaryCatelli
Registered User
(7/2/07 9:37 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
I read _Morphology_ when I was still in high school. I was a little
weird in my reading, but it's not that diffucult.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(7/3/07 12:06 am)
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misc
Under godmother novels, do add WITCHES ABROAD. This is a marvelous
three dimensional multi-aspected weaving of motifs!!!!
For anti-godmothers, of course the Name of the Helper tale type
(Rumplestiltskin). And perhaps the witch of Rapunzel?
Male similar mentors/helpers: Puss in Boots, the Fox in the "Fenist
the Bright Falcon" type of story.
I found MORPHOLOGY OF THE FAIRY TALE fascinating and not difficult,
except for it being rather inconsistent. But brilliant and very
useful.
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(7/3/07 9:15 am)
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Re:
misc
(It's actually easier to reply on the days when I am living at my
computer, forgetting to eat anything but the chocolate next to my
desk. I need to take it downstairs, far, far away from me next time
I get up!)
Just a bit of trivia: The Fairy
Godmother shirts have been SurLaLune bestsellers on CafePress.
Bestseller is relative, but it means that about 20 people on the
earth are wearing the design on a shirt since I first created it
in April 2006. The Cinderella
Around the World and Talks
to Wolves are the other most popular designs.
Oh, and I've always been amused by Da Vinci taking on the fairy
godmother role in Ever After.
I will brainstorm more fairy godmother stuff while working today.
Heidi
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Wonderlicious
Registered User
(7/3/07 5:29 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
"And the character of FG - at least these days - tends to be
less assigned to a specific child to watch over but instead is more
likely to help those in need she comes across (often women/girls).
Am I missing something here?"
An idea in your research could be to reference the film "Shrek
2", which sends up this idea. You've probably seen it, but
in case you haven't seen it (or at least in a long time), the Fairy
Godmother is introduced as a kindly figure devoted to one person,
yet is soon shown to be a ruthless capitalist, owning a large factory
manufacturing potions and dreams and handing out cards for her business.
She also is the mother of a stereotypical Prince Charming, and tries
to use her magic business to get what he wants (in this case, him
marrying Fiona), even if it means wrecking other people's dreams
(in this case Shrek's).
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(7/3/07 5:57 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
You might also look at Michael Gruber's The
Witch's Boy, which presents the fairy godmother as another face
of the witch character (and explores what happens when the fairy
godmother must assume full-time responsibility for raising
a child).
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(7/3/07 7:42 pm)
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Re:
Fairy Godmothers: Research, Retellings & Recent Deve
Congrats on the baby, InkGypsy! Hope that you and she/he are doing
well!
I second the adoration of Witches Abroad. For nonfiction,
I'm almost embarrassed to recommend From the Beast to the Blonde
to an old hand such as yourself, but I believe that it is in there
that Warner talks about the prevalence of the figure in the Contes
des Fees and advances the thesis that they represent the writer
of the tale herself.
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InkGypsy
Registered User
(7/4/07 1:40 am)
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Thanks
and more on Béfind
Thank you so much everyone. As always your comments inspire new
avenues of thought and give me more reasons to expand my library
(!)
Baby Jack and I are doing well, thank you Veronica, and you were
correct about Beast to the Blonde! Having read it fairly recently
(I thought - actually I realize now it was nearly three years ago)
I thought a cursory glance through would jog my memory... I plead
that 'the baby ate my brain'! Silly me. Every time I open it I find
myself paying attention to different things - there's so much in
there. So thank you for making me go back again. I'll need to do
some thinking about the concept in particular of linking the storyteller
and the fairy godmother...
For those interested I thought I'd note a little more I found on
Béfind (which is not the same as Befana by the way):
Béfind is a fairy from Celtic lore. Essentially she is an Irish
fairy godmother. She appears three times in a persons life - at
birth, marriage and death - apparently with two other fairies (though
I haven't found any much more information on them). Birth is Béfind's
specialty and attends for the reasons of telling the child's fortune/future
and bestowing gifts. It's thought that belief in these three fairies
descended from ancient goddess worship of the Three Fates (or Three
Norns) - something which lines up with the European idea behind
adding the 12 (13) fairies to Sleeping Beauty and the popular thought
that they also were descended from the Three Fates.
The story 'Fairer-Than-A-Fairy' from the Yellow Fairy Book also
mentions three fairies in green and white that attended the princess'
birth. It doesn't seem to have been noted which country this story
came from unfortunately.
A tarot deck I found also referenced Béfind as holding a spindle
while the other two hold a measuring stick (for marriage - about
which I'm not sure I can accurately speculate!) and shears (presumably
to cut the life thread). It also suggested laying out a feast of
honey, bread and three white almonds to ensure blessings instead
of curses!
Other reading vaguely referred to the fact that belief in fairy
godmothers attending births was widespread in many cultures until
recently. Does anyone know which cultures? Or know of any customs
that were linked to the fairy godmother giving a (hopefully) blessing?
Thanks again everyone - for such a popular figure it certainly seems
difficult to find much information on her. It almost seems as if
folklore has been growing before our very eyes in this age of readily
available books and movies - and yet, somehow, as modern as this
character has become she remains rooted in our collective past.
Fascinating!
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MaryCatelli
Registered User
(7/4/07 9:49 am)
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Re:
Thanks and more on Béfind
The spindle, measuring stick and scissors come right out of the
Fates -- which is the root for the word "fairy".
Italian fairy tales seem to have the fairies closer to their form
as fates. The
Pig King for one. Catherine
and her Fate even more so. (It's in The Pink Fairy Book
as "Catherine and Her Destiny")
And if you keep reading Lang's, you will find, in The Crimson
Fairy Book, "The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder"
Which has a woman with supernatural powers giving the hero magic
and advice. She's not his godmother however; she is, of all things,
his stepmother. But she's a donor character.
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Mnemosynehime
Registered User
(7/4/07 12:38 pm)
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Re:
Nonfiction on Fairy Godmother
It's been a long time since posting, writing has kept me uber-busy.
For a good nonfiction book, I highly recommend you pick up Pregnant
Fictions by Holly Tucker. I'm in the middle of this one right now
for my own research and I love it to pieces. There is a whole chapter
on midwives and fairies, which is what the fairy godmother equates
to. You might also want to look at From Beast to the Blonde.
Anyway, just had to delurk for a moment as this subject happened
to be the very chapter I finished reading last night and I wanted
to recommend Tucker's excellent gem to the board. So far my only
gripe is the chapters are shorter and quicker than I'd like but
they are a good sounding board and introduction to get the mind
going and the fingers reaching for further corners to research.
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InkGypsy
Registered User
(7/4/07 5:50 pm)
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Re:
Nonfiction on Fairy Godmother
The more I research and follow these trails of information the more
surprised I am that no one has tackled the 'Fairy Godmother' as
a subject of scholarly study unto itself/herself (and published
a book or paper). Thesis anyone?
I need to look into the Italian tales and folklore a little more
it seems (thanks again Mary). I guess looking at birth rituals and
celebrations the world over would be a good place to look as well
(thank you Mnemosynehime for your timely de-lurk! Gotta get me a
copy of that book - it sounds fascinating). When you think of the
fairy godmother being a 'midwife' and storytellers narrating, or
one could say, 'birthing' stories the connection Maria Tatar suggests
(as per From the Beast to the Blonde) seems to carry quite a bit
of weight. Quite a bit to think about - and I'll have to re-read
those fairy tales with that in mind now too.
I've also been reading up on The Norns and found a very fairy tale-like
description of their appearance in the Poetic
Edda (the written version of ancient Icelandic literature).
This is from stanzas 2 and 3 in the Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I (The
First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane):
'Twas night in the dwelling,
and Norns there came,
Who shaped the life
of the lofty one;
They bade him most famed
of fighters all
And best of princes
ever to be.
Mightily wove they
the web of fate,
While Bralund's towns
were trembling all;
And there the golden
threads they wove,
And in the moon's hall
fast they made them.
Fabulous stuff and suggestive of many other story possibilities!
Wikipedia, it turns out, has a great summary and some fabulous images
too (I didn't realize Arthur Rackham had painted The Norns!). You
can find the
Norn article here.
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Rosemary Lake
Registered User
(7/4/07 8:40 pm)
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more
Italian fees
[[ Italian fairy tales seem to have the fairies closer to their
form as fates. ]]
I liked the 'three fees' in Calvino's version of "The King
who Would Have a Beautiful Wife" (I don't remember Calvino's
title). They are three cheerful old ladies out for a walk who see
the false queen dangling outside the king's bedroom, laugh at her,
then give her three blessings for giving them such amusement. In
context iirc they could be either fairies or witches or something
in between. (I see them rather like Disney's 'fairy godmothers':
small, plump, brisk, cheerful, competent, non-threatening, non-numinous.)
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MaryCatelli
Registered User
(7/5/07 9:49 pm)
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Re:
more Italian fees
Straparola had similar fees in a tale -- Seven Pieces of Bacon --
not, alas, in the translation that we've got on Sur La Lune.
It's a variant on The
Three Spinners, which is, come to think of it, a kind of variant
of the fairy godmother. Unlike Rumpelstiltskin, the women make reasonable
requests, and get them.
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(7/5/07 10:44 pm)
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Re:
more Italian fees
Seven
Pieces of Bacon Rind is hidden on SurLaLune under East of the
Sun to which it also has similarities. I got it from the Burton
translation which I will maybe someday etext after everything else
is accomplished...
I've always liked Three Spinners. It's an interesting twist on the
tales.
Heidi
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MaryCatelli
Registered User
(7/7/07 6:42 pm)
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Re:
Nonfiction on Fairy Godmother
Besides the derived from fates aspect -- another thing to consider
is the godmother aspect of the fairy godmother. The French
fairy tales take place in a culture where -- well, Perrault's "moral"
for Cinderella is that is all goes to show it doesn't matter
what your virtues are, it matters whether you have connections.
Real godmothers would not have used the same techniques, but their
role could be quite as crucial.
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MaryCatelli
Registered User
(7/7/07 10:02 pm)
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Re:
Nonfiction on Fairy Godmother
In a couple of Madame D'Aulnoy's tales, The
Hind in the Wood and The
Blue Bird, the fairy godmothers act as villains precisely because
other characters, rather than the heroine, have them as godmothers.
And in Henriette-Julie de Murat's "Bearskin", the heroine
has a hard time getting help from her fairy godmother, who was offended
that the king and queen arranged her marriage without consulting
her (even though they made it under complusion). That would be entirely
appropriate in the historical milieu for an ordinary godmother.
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MEDATS
Registered User
(7/9/07 7:26 am)
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fiction
on Fairy Godmother
hello, my login seems to have changed from agathajun to another
one of my hats, so I'll post from here.
Thanks for such stimulating forum reading, all. Inkgypsy, your post-baby
brain is fairly impressive!
My two cents is: what about M. M. Kaye's The Ordinary Princess,
for FG-with-twist; the male FG/donor figure is also interesting
(cf. Da Vinci in Ever After). This may be expanding boundaries too
far but um, *cough*, Obi Wan Kenobi comes to mind. He even has a
magic wand of sorts....
Is there not a sort of theological contradiction in a fairy (heathen/pagan/immortal/magic/godless)
godmother (responsible for spiritual health of child in religious
context; often conferred at baptism)? Is that tension part of the
impossibility? Is it semantic convention for different sets of values,
hiding older traditions behind linguistic changes? Is the role of
the godmother (as we term it) complex enough to allow the appendage
of 'fairy'? Off the cuff thoughts, with no further research!
cheers.
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