What Stuck

Flipping and browsing through all 1500 or so pages of Retellings there are quite a few things, familiar and new that have leaped out at me. I recall seeing several works I have read in the past: Antigone by Sophocles, Hamlet, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?" and "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun" by William Shakespeare, and the Grimm tale "Cinderella". Obviously it wasn’t too shocking to find the story of Cinderella in Retellings. I myself have seen many retellings in movies and read a few books (in which I cannot remember their title) about some version or another of Cinderella. I believe there is a reason why children are disneyfied with the beautiful maid that talks to mice and discovers a fairy godmother in her time of need. The Grimm Brothers’ version of Cinderella is quite grotesque and far from what is expected in comparison. For one I am used to the idea of Cinderella not having any parents at all where in the Grimm tale she has a father that does not seem to mind her mistreatment. Then there is the Grimm’s interpretation of how the two step-sisters tried on the slipper. When it didn’t fit they endured the pain of cutting their foot to fit as their mother suggested. Perhaps my most favorite version of the “little cinder girl” is the tale told in the movie Ever After. It is set in the 16^th century offering a fairly convincing idea of how the Cinderella story may have played out in reality if it were a true story. I won’t go into too much detail, the basic idea is that a servant, Danielle, (Cinderella) captures the heart of the Prince of France, Henry, and despite her step-mother revealing her status as a servant, Danielle and Prince Henry wed and live happily ever after. Moving away from Cinderella, Shakespeare’s sonnet “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun” I remember reading in my literature class in high school last year. In a way it mocks the way some swoon over the divine beauty of their love. Although the description of his mistress doesn’t quite meet up to an expected beauty, he finds her rare and extraordinary the way she is. The last line says “as any she belied with false compare” questioning if the ones described over and over and over again with a complexion of an ideal beauty or a divine goddess actually exist. I realize that I haven’t touched on all the titles above, but for now I’ll jump to a few other things that caught my attention while I was skimming…

A familiar sight I glimpsed at were lines of music, although instead of music I would see to play my flute or guitar, it pertained more to the rhythm of poetry. But that didn’t stop me from thinking that, as we have already discovered with Bob Dylan’s and The Bo Diddley Rock lyrics, that music can retell stories. I imagine that even compositions without lyrics could be a retelling of another. There are compositions that contain a familiar melody and yet the context (whether it be different instruments or different surrounding notes) in which that melody is intertwined can vary like a theme of a story told in a different context. Perhaps it may be taking it a step too far, but instrumental songs containing a similar mood could possibly even retell the image music paints in your mind. There were songs I played in my high school’s symphonic band that had a specific scene that had inspired the work. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were different compositions inspired by a similar scene. Anyway before I confuse you more with my attempts to explain my thoughts I’ll move on to the last item that caught my attention. I never noticed that The Scream painted by Edvard Munch was recreated in the two movie posters for Home Alone one and two. Just as Retellings mentions it is most definitely a parody. Of course my interpretation could vary from your own, but I like to think that the three images share a sense of fear and a feeling of being overwhelmed. Although the little boy in Home Alone stops the two bandits in quite humorous, whimsical ways, there is still a feeling that such a little boy would be overwhelmed and fearful when confronted by two adult bandits that are can easily be overpowering and inflict harm. So as I thought music could be retellings so could art, right? Images can contain a similar theme and meaning but be depicted in numerous different ways. A most recent example was the art of the man Willem Volkersz who gave a lecture to those in 2D and 3D fundamentals class just this past Friday. His art is an autobiography, a visual story of his life thus far. The image to the right is Volkersz way of reflecting on a car accident his son had gotten into after speeding down a gravel road, loosing control and tumbling the car. In the image you can't tell if the car will flip over onto its hood or land upright on its tires just as he was wondering how his son would grow up in life.

So all I have to say is that there are other forms of retellings outside of literature if you think about it.