After reading this long and ridiculously confusing article, “The Sociopsychological Analysis of Folktales” by J. L. Fischer, I realized I really didn’t like it very much as much as I thought I would have. When I think of myths, folklores, folktales, etc. I think of amusing and interesting stories that teach morals, lessons, and values. They teach about justice and equality and how these stories can connect to society. These folktales have strong meanings to what is explained in them, and they also have strong connections to the cities and people that they came from. There is even a powerful significance on why the stories mainly use animals as characters rather than using human beings. Although this article does elaborate on those points, I feel as if it went into such detail and examination of folklores that it basically took all of the interest out of the topic. The author mainly went into the idea that these folktales affect the mind as well as society. But even though I was able to understand the main point, I can honestly say that it was actually very hard to comprehend everything else just because of the thorough and strong research. It was a bit hard for me to keep up with everything else the author was trying to say. There wasn’t much that was catching my attention. However, one piece of information did interest me. “Local folktales are being collected and studied in a number of other parts of the world, most notably Finland and Scandinavia, Germany, Hungary, Japan, and Russia.” (239) Out of all the countries in the world, I really wouldn’t have thought of those to be the ones to study myths and folktales. It was surprising yet intriguing. Otherwise, I really didn’t like the rest of the article. I view folktales as very engaging, but this text took a lot of the excitement out of them. As far as the information, it wasn’t wrong and it definitely was informing, but it was too detailed and researched rather than actually elaborating on the true important of myths and folktales.
Seher,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I really didn't enjoy this article at all. It sucked the fun out of myths and folktales.
Hi Seher,
ReplyDeleteI also agree that this article wasn't as interesting as folktales should be... Sometimes when studying something critically the meaning of the material loses value.
It was also a really hard read ...myths and foLktales should remain interesting and easy reads
ReplyDeleteSeher I agree with you on how the article is really confusing and not interesting at all. When reading a myth or a folktale it should be interesting and fun. But in this article they were giving us an analysis on the introduction, situations of innovation in folktale, symbolism, and the structure of the tale. These are facts the author had found but myths and folktales, but it should remain interesting not boring.
ReplyDeleteHey Seher,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that this reading was boring sometimes. I found myself having to reread paragraphs that i had just finished reading. I think that the best way to understand readings like this is to read them a couple of times and talk about them together.