We will be having a wonderful event next week in 4101 JFSB where we hope to have some cool conversations about fairy tales and television and their interesting relationship. It’s a salon, so there will be great discussion and some refreshments and we hope that you all come and contribute and join in! From 5 to 6 pm on Thursday, October 20th, we will be on the fourth floor of the JFSB having a great time!
Below is an interview with Dr. Jill Rudy of the BYU English Department and the Fairy Tales on Television Research Group, where she discusses all the reasons that this event is going to be a blast!
What should people expect when they come to this event?
They should expect to be able to talk about their television viewing habits and experiences and, of course, we are going to want to hear about their fairy tale TV viewing experiences and hope that they have some. They should come prepared to talk, to listen, and to get some context about fairy tales on television, but we really do want to hear what people’s experiences are. We hope that they can give us some insights on the question of “is this is the beginning of the end of the golden age of fairy tales on television?”.
We are calling it a salon because there is a history of people gathering together to share fairy tales and talk about fairy tales and we want to tap into that. Part of that will be the refreshments. You should come prepared for conviviality and food, as well as discussion. And, there may be some clips. [On campus], we have film screenings and we have International Cinema and we have lectures before the films, so part of this is that we want to figure out how to have deep, insightful conversations about television as a medium, as a way of telling stories, especially as it connects with fairy tales.
What are the proposed topics of discussion?
So we started this idea because of a blog post about the end of [CW’s] second Beauty and the Beast series where a blogger wondered if this was “the beginning of the end of the Golden Age.” So we decided that we had some ideas about that and we wanted to share and see what some other people around campus thought about that. So it will start with some of those issues, and, again, ask for people’s experiences, especially with fairy tale shows like Beauty & The Beast, Once Upon A Time, and Grimm, the recent dramas. But then we also want to historicize it because we have our database about fairy tales on television, so we want to see if there have been other “Golden Ages” of fairy tales on television and what happened when they came and went. We’ll talk about specific aspects of television as a story telling medium and ways that endings are particularly interesting when you combine fairy tales and television.
Does a person need any level of expertise or experience to participate in this event?
No, it would be great if you’ve never watched a fairy tale on television because we need to remember that this may not be as popular and fun as we think it is. But if you are a big fan of any of those shows, then that would be great also. Also anything related, one thing we learned with doing the database is that there might be a specific tie-in, like Beauty and the Beast obviously connects to one fairy tale, or Once Upon a Time does a mashup, and Grimm sort of does some specific tales but it also just has more an aura of a specific type of tale. We are interested in other shows that people might be watching that seem like a fairy tale to see: is it in our database? Should it be more on our radar? We want people to participate and also I think they will learn something more about fairy tales on television.
It should be a lot of fun!
Join us at 5pm in room 4101 of the JFSB next Thursday, the 20th of October, for riveting discussion and a whole new appreciation for fairy tales on television!
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