Fairy Tales as Cultural Discourse, part 2: Stories about Nationalism, Loss of Empathy and Aging

Mary Apikos
Start Date: 11/04/2024
Scheduled course
Online

Overview

Over the course of five weeks students will be given an in-depth overview of some of the most essential genres and story motifs in the oral to written story telling tradition.  By understanding the historical and cultural context that a story is told in, we will see how stories evolve to interact with other forces that impact our lives. Whether you are an artist, writer or a person who wants to experience story and art in a more informed way, you will learn how your story is connected to multi-cultural folklore and literary fairytales.

In this course, we will explore a Jungian Arts-Based Research approach. Sessions will include; Brothers Grimm and the rise of German nationalism; loss of empathy and the concept of hot versus cold evil through the works of Marie-Louise von Franz; the uniqueness of mid-life and elder tales; story mapping & classification systems; and finding one’s “true name” and “true place.”

This is a multi-disciplinary course using music, film clips, art historical and literary references. Readings of both folklore and fairytales as well as scholarly texts are provided for our discussions, but not required, as all resources will be discussed during my presentation.  This course is a continuation of the Fall course, but with all new material, so you can benefit from attending this course without having taken part 1.

5 consecutive Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:30 pm, Eastern Time, USA via Zoom

On completion of this class, you will be able to:

  1. Develop an understanding of Folklore & Fairy Tale typology and their multi-cultural variations using Stith-Thompson Motif Index
  2. Interpret symbols found in specific Folklore & Fairy Tales using resources provided on bibliography.
  3. Analyze stories using of key Jungian concepts
  4. Apply course materials to the making of personal creative works.
  5. Increase understanding of the historical context from which stories emerge and change.
Translate »