Fairy Tale Friday: Links Liquidated!

This Fairy Tale Friday brings some posts on the writing of tales, as well as notes on where the ideas bubble up from. To begin, here's a reflection on the global nature of folktales from Katherine Langrish at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles. (Click for the whole story…)

"…he was the genius astral of that island; that his place or residence in the days of Solomon and David was at Jerusalem;
that then he was called by the Jews Belelah; after that, he remained long in the dominion of Wales, instructing their bards in British poesie and prophecies…"

Next, Sarah Zettel's work brings the tradition of fairy tales to the American plains, during the Dustbowl era. Here's a review. For myself I hope it's not a freaky creepy as Carnivale, except that I kinda do hope that….

This link is more for the writers than the readers, but then again, who doesn't need to know more about the myths they might be mithing? (Sorry, sorry.) Writing in the House of Dreams put up a post on how to tap into those universal mythologies all around us to deepen and expand a story, such as the hero's quest (hello, Carnivale!). Good stuff.

Speaking of classic story structures, Robin Ray wrote this tale at Enchanted Conversation, the fairy tale magazine. It hits pretty much all the Stith buttons.

Finally, I just want to talk briefly about this image:

I was struck by how many layers of iconography this image hints at. We have a decal of a cute girl shaped to cleverly incorporate the apple logo of the computer. Except that it's not just a girl. It's a very particular girl, Disney's Snow White, and her looking at the Apple logo like she's getting seduced by it is way more interesting than if it were, say, Hello Kitty (which is also available).

For anyone who doubts the continuing influence of myth in modern society, just consider the existence of this product, which references a centuries' old story, as channelled through the 20th century myth-making machine of the Mouse House, just for the purpose of making your fancy difference engine more "personal". Two instantly recognizable images in one! And it's probably no coincidence that both images come courtesy of two of the most influential companies in the history of the planet.

So what does that mean? Is the Apple logo getting pulled into the the larger, older mythos of Snow White? Does it mean that our stories simply get tumbled and polished every generation, so that a new group of people can absorb the same messages? Does it mean I spend too much time on Etsy? I wonder….