Fractured Fairy Tales and the American Dream

“And now for something we hope you’ll really like!”

If you read that line the cheery voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, you are probably a fan of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.  And you probably know that after that announcement, a short fairy tale segment would begin– hello, Fractured Fairy Tales. Read more... “Fractured Fairy Tales and the American Dream”

La Llorona versus Appalachian Jack: Assigning ATU numbers to International folktales

All of the fairy tale references in television in this database are categorized by a number from the Aarne Thomspon Uther index. This is an extensive list of mostly European fairy tales. Categorizing tales using these numbers was essential for the software that would show us the prevalence of specific tale types, but it also presented an endless rabbit hole of interesting questions, most of them dealing with the very broad question of what a fairy tale really is. Read more... “La Llorona versus Appalachian Jack: Assigning ATU numbers to International folktales”