...and they lived happily ever after.

Once upon a time, I thought all fairy tales began with "Once upon a time..." I have learned so much from this FYS class this year and I now view fairy tales in a way that I never would have before. When watching "The Silence of the Lambs", I would have never even thought of Little Red Riding Hood. When thinking of Little Red Riding hood, menstruation and the maturation process would have never crossed my mind. When talking about the maturation process, Rapunzel stuck in the tall tower with her long, blonde locks would not even begin to be a topic of conversation.

There is so much that we can learn from fairy tales by looking at them in a psychoanalytical point of view. When discovering new information by analyzing and summarizing the case study by Verena Kast on Little Red Cap, I was amazed by all of the things it revealed from the woman’s childhood. It is interesting to compare many of the things in my life today to my favorite fairy tales that my mom used to read to me when I was a little girl.

Also, I have seen my blog writing change. In the beginning, I was less confident about my answers and it was more difficult for me to find the motifs and symbols in the fairy tales and movies. I find it easier now to see these and reflect on their importance to the story. The Aarne-Thompson classification system and the Vladimir Propp’s functions have helped me find the most important aspects of the stories which has really allowed me to have a totally different understanding of them.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading, reflecting and writing about all of the fairy tales that we have read and watched the films on. I couldn’t have chosen a better First Year Seminar class!