The part of this paper that stuck out most to me was the part where Fischer discusses myths and dreams. In my philosophy class we have been learning a lot about dreams so thats why this caught my attention the most. In a recent discussion I had with my sister, we talked about how we thought many ideas for screenplays must come from dreams. So the part where Fischer says "Much ethnographic evidence points to fact that both whole myths and modifications of existing myths often originate in special dreams or trances of the religious leaders" made a lot of sense to me. But it also makes sense when Fischer says that it could be hard to create a myth based on a dream because we easily forget most of our dreams. Also the meaning of a dream is usually for that person who had the dream and not for a general audience.
Another part I enjoyed reading was when Fischer explained the definition of "folklore" in terms of this paper. This term can be very confusing to me. I like that it is first defined very simply as "any traditional, dramatic, oral narrative." It makes sense that time and place will have an affect on how folktales will be interpreted and categorized. How Fischer explains "expressive culture"and its relationships to folktale was also interesting.
I agree with your points, the definition of folktale is confusing
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ReplyDeleteI also found the section of Fischer's essay about myths/dreams very interesting, as it really made me question what I initially had thought about the concept. Everyone has dreams, of course, but what do these dreams really mean, and could they, in fact, translate into a myth or folktale? I feel that Fischer effectively tackles this in his writing, even though I still have my doubts on the subject.
I also liked the simple definition of folklore as stated by Fischer, it summed up a deep concept in just a few powerful words in my opinion. In addition, I really liked how he broke up the various aspects of folklore by subtitle, I feel like it helped organize a deep and rather complex topic into much simpler terms. Overall, it was an essay that I definitel enjoyed reading.
I also think that the part where Fischer talks about myths and dreams very interesting. I feel like dreams and myths are connect in some ways, people might have dreams that seem really real so they go around telling people and words spread.
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