FOLKLORE IN FILM

Ellen Quinn

COM 329: Contemporary Film

Dr. Neuendorf

12/2/14

WHAT IS FOLKLORE

Although the word folklore is more than a century

old, no exact agreement has ever been reached as to

its meaning. The common idea present in all folklore

…involves the dances, songs, tales, legends, and

traditions, the beliefs and superstitions, and the

proverbial sayings of peoples everywhere.

-Stith Thompson in Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend (v.

1 p. 403)

FOLKLORE STUDIES

aka folkloristics

Looks at popular film from several perspectives• Ethnographic documentary as evidence of folk ways• Use film for study in the field – data collection• In analysis of popular cinema – aka motif spotting

Film, Folklore and Urban Legends by Mikel J. Koven (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008), chapter 1.

ACADEMIC ANALYSIS

MOTIF SPOTTING

“Motif spotting” is the most common type of folkloristic

analysis of contemporary fiction cinema

Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of

Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables,

Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabiliaux, Jest-Books, and

Local Legends by Stith Thomas

Vague map of traditional storytelling- From Koven 2008 book p. 49 & 2003 article p. 190.

EXAMPLE

Motif: arm emerging from grave

Grimm’s Brothers – The Wilful Child• Friday 13th

• Carrie• Deliverance• The Evil Dead

- From Koven 2003 article p. 183.

Motifs• Fatal deception• Deceptions connected

with adultery• Night spirits/dream

demon• Tricksters• Forest dwellers• Incubus• Based on Alp –

nightmare creature of German folklore

BORGMAN (2013)

FAKELORE

Pop culture use of folklore often excessive and out

of context

Folklore used as an important part of plot or theme

- From chpt. by Sharon Sherman in 2008 Koven book, p. 513

M Ä R C H E N

A folktale characterized by elements of magic or the supernatural, such as the endowment of a mortal character with magical powers or special knowledge; variations expose the hero to supernatural beings or objects. The German term Märchen, used universally by folklorists, also embraces tall tales and humorous anecdotes; although it is often translated as “fairy tale,” the fairy is not a requisite motif.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/364221/Marchen

DISNEY & ANIMATION

Renowned folklorist Stith

Thomas considered the

animated cartoon as “the most

successful of all mediums for

the presentation of the fairy

tale.”

Others considered Disney film

version of fairy tales to be a

“debasement of the traditional

literature of childhood.”

-From Koven 2003 article p. 177

Jean Cocteau,

Le belle et la bete (1946)

– references horror films

of the 1930s

Based on well known

folktale

ADULT ORIENTED F ILMS BASED ON FAIRY TALES

Snow White a Tale of Te

rror

(1997)

The Red Shoes (1948)

Black Swan (2010)

Snow White and the Hu

ntsman

(2012)

Freeway (1996) story of

Little Red Riding Hood

From 2003 Koven article p. 183

Candyman (1992)• Folklorist investigates

murders in housing project supposedly committed by legendary hook handed killer

• urban legend: hook handed killer + Mary Worth ritual

• Beauty and the Beast story elements

FOLKLORISTS STUDYING FOLKLORE

The Serpent and the Rainb

ow

(1988) Wes Craven

Loosely based on

true story of anthropologist

investigating rumors of

zombies in Haiti

PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006)

Dark fairy tale motifs • Fairies• Faun• Pale man (ogre)• Mandrake root• Heroine given 3 tasks• Disobedient heroine• Fairy tale princess• Evil stepfather (variation on evil stepmother)- From Fairy Tale Films (2010) chpt. 3

LITTLE OTIK (2000)

Tale Types• the artificial child

• curse of childlessness

Based on Czek fairy tale /Otesánek • Hair eating scene

Descriptions of early

British human sacrifice

based on false accounts

by Julius Caesar (as

described in

The Golden Bough (Frazer

p. 653)

Trailer

THE WICKER MAN (1973)

(About tale-types and motifs in zombie films)

"Returning momentarily to the problematic nature of popular filmmakers ransacking folklore (poorly) and not doing proper folkloristic research into the narrative traditions means that concepts like "corpse froth" do not get included in zombie films.  Often filmmakers doing proper folklore research into the themes of their films not only ensures accuracy and verisimilitude with narrative traditions but also reveals some really wonderfully repulsive images that are much better than most horror script and story writers can conjure themselves.  The folk have been grossing each other out for centuries."

- From Koven 2008 book pp. 43-4

REFERENCES

Mikel J. Koven, Folklore Studies and Popular Film and Television: A Necessary Critical Survey, 116

Journal of American Folklore (460) Spring 2003 pp. 176-195.

Mikel J. Koven, Film/folklore academic; senior lecturer and course leader of Film Studies at the

University of Worcester Academic web page and Twitter

Märchen in Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Film, Folklore and Urban Legends by Mikel J. Koven (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008). 

Fairy Tale Films: Visions of Ambiguity, Pauline Greenhill and Sidney Eve Matrix, eds. (Logan, UT: Utah

State University Press, 2010).

Folklore/Cinema, Sharon R. Sherman and Mikel J. Koven, eds. (Logan, UT: Utah State University

Press, 2007).

Sharon Sherman, Folklorist and independent filmmaker; Use of film by folklorists similar to

development of documentary film; Academic web page

Dr. Mary Magoulick. Academic web page and FOLKLORE FILMS from class on Myth, Magic & the

Modern World.

Structuralism and Folklore in The Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical

Essays of Alan Dundes pp. 126-153 (Logan, UT: Utah State University

Press, 2007).

Morphology of the Folktale (1927) by V. Propp (Austin: University of

Texas Press, 1968.

The Golden Bough, A Study in Magic and Religion by J.G. Frazer

(London: Papermac 1987).

The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (NY: Pantheon Books, 1972).

Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and

Legend. 1949-[50] 2 v.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife 4 v. Westport, CT:

Greenwood Press (2006).

Grimm brothers’ fairytales have blood and horror restored in new translation. ‘It is

time for parents and publishers to stop dumbing down the tales for children,’ says

editor of uncut edition by Alison Flood, The Guardian, 12 November 2014.

Motif-index of folk-literature; a classification of narrative elements in folktales,

ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local

legends by Stith Thompson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955-1958.

The Types of Internatonal Folktales, A Classification and Bibliography Based on the

System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson by Hans-Jorg Uther, Helsinki, 2011.

Fatal Attraction and the Attraction of Fables: A Morphological Analysis by Jim Hala.

92 J. Popular Culture 71 (1992).

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