Return to Group Presentations

Group Presentation

• 150 points (15% of total grade).

Directions:

Each group will give a 10-15 minute presentation on one of the assigned critical readings. The presentation should:

1. Identify the thesis and central claims in the article/chapter. 
2. Give an example of the way the author supports these claims.
3. Evaluate the argument. Is it strong? Does it use strong evidence? How does it relate with other scholarship we have read in this class?
4. Post the material for the presentation on the class wiki.
5. Sign up for group BELOW by putting name and WSU email on group page. Limit: 3 people per group. 

1. Identify the thesis

               In Betsy Herne's article on Beauty and the Beast, she is arguing that because the metaphor behind Beauty and the Beast is broad and pliable, the story has been able to undergo continuous changes and adaptions influenced by social and cultural norms.  Herne says that the biggest influences on change to the tale was the transition from oral tradition to the written word to film. However, Herne says that in order for the story to remain in tact as a recognizable Beauty and the Beast adaption, there are certain core elements that the story must possess.

• Herne also seems to be arguing that the adaptations of the story, despite being physical in nature, can posses the individual qualities of oral versions, as both the text itself and the representations of characters and places in the story can change drastically among authors. Despite this, they all share the same thematic elements of the basic story.

2.      Herne uses several examples of adaptations of Beauty and the Beast in order to prove her thesis. In her discussions of picture books, she devotes a good deal of energy to describing the illustrations as well as the writing, and noting how the visual aspect of the book changes the was the story is experienced. She also uses the examples of several more unorthodox adaptations, including a young adult novel of the tale, and several short story versions published in adult periodicals, which take the basic themes and motifs of the story, but drastically change many elements of it.

3.      Overall, I think her argument is strong. As she notes in her conclusion, much scholarship seems to raise oral tradition onto a pedestal, and demean literary versions of fairy tales as forcing a uniform version of the story as the only as the only one. What Herne argues in her analysis of the various Beauty and the Beast adaptations, is that literary traditions for fairy tales are not necessarily more rigid than oral ones, as evidenced by the wide variety of versions of the story, which alter the pace, the feel, and the minor (or sometimes major) details of the story, while leaving the broader plot points intact.

http://prezi.com/616qrd4to_bk/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Nicole Eley :: eg9398@wayne.edu

Samantha Gross -- eh4287@wayne.edu

Sean McGuire -- eq6859@wayne.edu