With the discussion about fairies on Tuesday, I remembered about a scene from the HBO show "True Blood" that I saw last year. I thought it would be a good clip to show to compare it with the discussion.
The main character, Sookie, is part fairy and in this scene she was transported to the fairy world by her fairy godmother. Everything is very beautiful there and there are many fairies who have brought their own visitors with them too. Sookie then sees her long last grandfather, who has been missing for many years. It is revealed in the beginning that her grandfather thought he was only gone for a few hours. This illustrates the difference in the speed of time from the real world compared to the fairy world. Everything seems to be too good to be true and Sookie realizes that by being able to see past the fairies' glamour tricks. Soon the fairies' glamours fall apart and everyone is able to see them as they truly are.
Here is the clip link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOFBpVMkjZM
Do you guys think this is similar to what we discussed in class?
-Amanda Phillips
In class we discussed many different forms of fairies. At the beginning of the clip they are all beautiful and very serene. They are human sized whereas many people envision fairies as being very small as in only a foot tall. It was also said that ogres are thought of as a form of fairy which is the form the fairies seem to take after their facade is broken.
ReplyDeleteThe reason that Sookie is able to see past the fairies beautiful exterior is she has not yet eaten the lighted food. The man she is with has however so he is infatuated with this place to the point where he could not decipher years from hours. Once Sookie realizes that he has been put under some kind of enchantment can then see this place for what it is. the fruit goes rotten and so do the fairies.
I also noticed at the end of the clip that when the head fairy is summoning her power the light seems to be coming from the ground (magic from below)
It was mentioned in class that there are theories that fairies are angels that sided neither with god or the devil so the fact that they have their own sacred realm i believe supports this theory. It was also said that they were hunted by vampires and were drank almost to extinction. I felt this somewhat paralleled the way humans purged those they accused to be witches.
The last thing that seemed to go along with our discussion in class was that as they were escaping the fairy that tried to help them called the place they were in Faery (sp?) which is what Dr. Green said was where fairies lived and how they got their English name.
forgot to tag this
Delete-Lacy Nagy
I believe this is an excellent example of several of the topics we discussed in class related to fairies. This clip definitely depicted a difference in time between the real world and the fairy world, which seems that time, goes much slower in that fairy world. I also liked how it showed the fairies become ugly and evil creatures once the girl realized what was going on. I believe Dr. Green mentioned in class that a lot of the tales depict fairies as pleasant creatures to you as long as you don’t do x, this seems to be exactly what happens in the clip. This clip also showed the idea that people believe fairies steal or trick people and take them to fairy world. I thought it was interesting that the show represented the fairies as human sized, most Hollywood fairies that I have seen are the small Tinker Bell ones, but it's good that they decided to mix things up and show the larger fairies in this show.
ReplyDelete-Deanna Sickafoose
I totally agree with this post. The time difference, tricking others, and becoming evil/ugly were all apparent in the clip and relate to class. The clip captured many different elements and interpretations of fairies and I found it intriguing. I personally never pictured fairies like that, I saw them as little miniature people with wings who pull innocent pranks on others (not like they are portrayed in this clip). So the way this clip panned out kind of surprised me and I didn't know what to expect from these fairies. I also never really imagined them to be evil, so this clip and class lecture really made me think more about what a fairy could be and what they mean to others. There are so many interpretations of fairies it's kind of hard to keep up, but it is interesting to see the different forms they take and how others imagine what they are like.
Delete-Rachel Skowron
Yes I was glad that I remembered this scene in the show because I thought it showed great examples of everything we were talking about. I agree with you too about how Hollywood seems to use tiny fairies in movies and thought it was good to get a new take on them being human size. I especially enjoyed their image of the fairies' true forms and fairy world.
Delete-Amanda Phillips
Fairies
ReplyDeleteAlthough not related to this post, This discussion reminded me about the parents of my sisters friends in high school. They made their livelihood by traveling to various art fairs selling colorfully ceramic fairy houses. The fact that they are able to make a living off of this turkey shows that belief in fairies is still relevant in modern America. Here is a link to their website.
http://faeriehouse.com/
Greg Massey
This is actually pretty interesting to me that people will actually buy these "Faerie houses". I wonder if it is just people buying them for decoration because they think that they look pretty or good Or if some people actually buy these because they still believe in fairies, or because they believe this will bring good luck to their garden or home. I was thinking that beliefs like this did not exist anymore and were just stories of the past, but after looking over that website, along with hearing in class that there are still some countries and groups of people that still believe in fairies and their "magical abilities". But this bit of information was interesting to look over. Good share Greg.
DeleteWilliam McVeigh
I think this clip is a very good example of some of the things we talked about during class. At the beginning of the clip it talks about how the father had been gone for a very long time, which was not necessarily true according to real time which was exactly what Dr. Green had talked about during class. I agree with everyone else, how they depicted the fairies as beautiful and loving, when after the girl talks about the fruit being a trap, they become ruthless and evil. We had also talked about how fairies do their best to trick humans, which at the end of the clip when the male fairy was trying to convince them to jump into the portal, the evil woman fairy tried to convince them that he was trying to deceive them.
ReplyDelete-Victoria McKinley
I also think that this clip is a great example of some of the things we talked about in class. As others have mentioned I think it does a good job of showing that time is different in "fairy world" than in the real world, which was something specifically highlighted in class. I find that concept in particular to be very interesting. I also agree that this clip made it easier for me to picture another kind of fairy. In my mind I had always imagined fairies to be something like tinker bell in Peter Pan. It is interesting to know that in other parts of the world fairies are as real to people as ghosts are here in the United States. I can't really wrap my mind around that idea, but I think that it is fascinating how much things vary from place to place. I don't know much about fairies outside of what we are learning in class. I never knew that they could be such an interesting topic of discussion.
ReplyDeletewhen you read the books that go along with the true blood series things don't happen like that at all. The book makes the differentiation between two kinds of fairies, ones of water and ones of light, both of which are fighting for control of the fairy world because one side wants to close off the connection between the real world and theirs. Sookie and her parents and grandfather are targets for the fairies of water because they are the half breed children of the high king of the light fairies. In fact Sookie's parents were drowned in a car. I wonder if this is a more realistic approach to the beliefs related to fairies? Would they fight over something like who rules in the other world and I wonder if fairies would kill humans. I know they were feared in certain beliefs but would they kill?
ReplyDeleteIn some of the stories I've read, the Dresden Files to be exact, the fairies do kill people. They would prefer to make a deal with you and keep you bound to them forever or steal you away to their realm, the Nevernever; this realm has a time flux like we discussed in class. But if you make them made enough or if they work it into your deal, then they'll kill you. There was one man in the story that wanted to play the trumpet forever and be loved for it. Well, he died of suffication because he wouldn't breath. These books also talk about the fairies of different courts, Seelie and Unseelie Courts, light and dark repectfully. Although both courts are not what they seem and not as beautiful as they appear, like in the clip. A really good book series if anyone is interested.
ReplyDelete-Victoria Penno