First Year Seminar Final Exam

Myth

deity-centered, the origin of the world, ritual-associated

Legend

hero-centered, true to come, locality

Folktale

human/animal-centered, fictional, both magical and realistic, including many sub-genres (ATU classification system, such as animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, realistic tales, etc.)

Salon Fairy Tales

17th century, France

• Charles Perrault

  • Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Puss in Boots

• Themes: social critiques, female agency/autonomy, love and civility, transformation, and power of language/storytelling

• transformed raw material into polished, real genre

Tale Type

• also named “ATU” tale type

  • Antti Aarne, Stith Thompson, Hans-Jörg Uther

• derived from historical-geographical theory

• allows the tracking and analyzing of patterns of development and specific configurations of incidents

Chastity (pre-modern China)

• the root virtue for women in Confucian China

• sexual and moral fidelity

  • associated with other virtues (loyalty, righteousness, trustoworthiness)

Examples of Chastity

• avoidance of unnecessary contact between men and women

• lifelong celibacy and loyalty to deceased husband

• moral authority and self-sacrifice

“Qing”

• name chosen by Manchus to symbolize fresh start

  • purifying China from late Ming rule

• deep feelings, love, passion

Origin of Cult of Qing

• Mind play titled “The Peony Pavilion”

• Manchus brought Buddhist values to existing Chinese systems

Impact of Cult of Qing

• the ideal of love/marriage shifted from “Mandarin Duck” to “Companionate Marriage” (represented by scholar-beauty romance)

Nüshu

• discovered in Hunan province, China, in 1970s

• script and genre used exclusively by and for local women

Lady Meng tale

• search for her conscripted husband Qi Liang

• immense grief causing a section to collapse

• confrontation with wicked Emperor Qin Shi Huang

• often ending with her suicide or transformation

The National Style

• defining style of socialist Chinese animation films

• developed by Shanghai Animation Film Studio in 1950s

  • Ne Zha (1979)

• Two dimensions

  • aesthetic: folk and traditional arts, including classical Chinese painting

  • ideological: authentic expressions of Chinese national character and culture (traditional Confucian values & socialist ideologies)

• built China’s national image, promoted national pride, disseminated socialist ideologies