Folk Culture

I first thought of writing this topic when exploring the topic of Bulgaria yesterday and immediately considered folk culture. I also just realized that folk culture is an intersection of two of my passions that I considered researching in my dissertation, fairy tales (which I ended up focusing on) and carnival (which I hope to still include).
Folk culture is popular among rural and peasant groups. It is noted for its oral nature.
Bulgaria is one of the masters of folk culture. Wikipedia states that the Bulgarian nation has one of the richest folk heritage in the world since a number of ancient civilizations, such as the Thracians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Ostrogoths, Slavs, Varangians, and Bulgars left their mark on the culture, history, and heritage of Bulgaria.
On the website on Bulgarian folklore, http://www.spellintime.fsnet.co.uk/Folklore.htm, it says, "The world’s myths, traditional tales and folklore are windows into the development of the human psyche. They represent a distillation of human experience that both transcends and reflects boundaries of time, geography and culture: they have universal relevance yet are culture-specific." That theory can apply to folklore of all cultures. The aforementioned site also states, "Bulgarian folk narratives are distinguished by their stark, primal qualities, their spare poetic beauty and powerful archetypal characters. The characters are larger than life - epic heroes, warrior women and beguiling beings who inhabit a magical landscape that has its own reality, laws and logic. They are many-layered and reveal some very ancient roots, perhaps going back to Thracian times and beyond." I love archetypes, larger-than-life characters, and multi-dimensional characters. It is quite interesting that the archetypes can also be multi-dimensional as these two elements are often mutually exclusive. I should look into Bulgarian folklore to get an idea of how to develop characters that are both archetypes and multi-dimensional in my own writing. I wonder whether this multi-dimensional quality means that characters have complex morality; a distinction from usual folklore with its black-and-white good evil characters. I also like that the characters inhabit a magical landscape with its own laws and logic. I remember that in Fairies in Medieval Romance, a book that I researched for my dissertation, James Wade said that a fairy world/magical landscape has its own set of rules, morality, and logic. I also like how on the Bulgarian folklore site, it says, "While stories speak to us direct across time and space, an understanding of their cultural context can reveal a whole new dimension of meaning which has been obscured through the passage of time. Stories are two-way mirrors: a way of looking back into the past in order to see forward into the present." So it is common for the Bulgarians of today to keep turning to folklore as a guide on how to live their lives.

 

 

Bulgarian culture tends to be very traditional. Bulgarians still dress in traditional folk clothes and follow supernatural customs. Folk music, tales, and dances continue to be influential in everyday life. Bulgarian folk music and tales also are celebrated throughout the world. There is a National Fair of Bulgarian Folk Art that is held every year.

 

Africa is also another nation that is celebrated for its folk culture. It has a rich tradition of folk tales and fairy tales. Africans also turn to folk tales for superstitions and events in their everyday lives.

 

During a book fair in elementary school, I bought the hardcover version of From Sea to Shining Sea, which is a treasury of American folk tales and songs. I gather from the book that folk tales are more prevalent in the South in the United States. I especially liked reading about Brer Rabbit and playing some songs on the piano. I think that during childhood, one should fill their lives up with folk tales as much as possible to foster his/her imagination!

 



 I remember doing a report on folkloric music for extra credit in Spanish class during freshman year of high school. For some reason, I am no longer able to find any sites on folkloric music on the Internet now.

My friend, Leslie, whom I have mentioned before, created an ingenious dance piece, Racine d'Or, which is all about folk culture. I love when modern day artists turn to folk culture!

In The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance, Northrop Frye states that while myths are often related and complement one another, folk tales are independent. He states that, however, folk tales often follow a pattern in a culture.

Carnival was a manifestation of medieval folk culture. I will explore carnival in a later blog entry.

 

Well, for now, that is all I can think of to say about folk culture. I might write more in a later post.



Audrey Hepburn Vs. Marilyn Monroe

Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe were both actresses in the Golden Age of Hollywood that were icons in acting, fashion, and persona. However, Audrey and Marilyn were polar opposites in style regarding all these areas, and there has been a debate in history ove which is the more preferred style.

 

 

It is interesting that both these posters have each star in red lipstick so they allow for a side-by-side comparison of each star's persona and style, which is captured perfectly. Audrey is displayed as an innocent and sweetly mischievous gamine and ingénue. Marilyn is displayed as a sexy, vulnerable, yet sweet femme fatale. Both of these actresses have also coined quotes on lipstick, which I will insert here:

“I believe  in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick.  I believe in pink. I believe the happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles.”--Audrey Hepburn

“I said pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.”--Marilyn Monroe

Both of these quotes exemplify Audrey's and Marilyn's takes on life and style. Audrey's lipstick quote illustrates that she is innocent, full of life, dreamy, and idealistic. Marilyn's quote captures her confidence, the key to her sexiness. Audrey here represents a classic, conservative approach while Marilyn here represents a bold, liberal approach.

 

I will now discuss Audrey's and Marilyn's acting styles. Although both are celebrated as stars, Audrey Hepburn is appreciated more for her acting than Marilyn Monroe, who is associated more with glamor. However, that condition lay in how they were cast. Audrey was often cast as the sweet and innocent ingénue while Marilyn was often cast as the dumb blonde and/or sexy seductress. I believe that Marilyn had a lot of potential in acting and could have harnessed it had she been cast in more demanding roles. I have seen eight movies starring Audrey Hepburn--Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Love in the Afternoon, Funny Face, My Fair Lady, A Nun's Story, and The Children's Hour--and so far, one and a half movies starring Marilyn Monroe--Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and half of The Seven Year-Itch. So far I have seen that both actresses appear as glamorous icons in their own way in these movies although Audrey also does a good job as an actor. I see that modern day actresses (such as Meryl Streep) are able to completely disappear into their roles and live and breathe and shed blood as human beings in a way that is lacking in Audrey Hepburn. Although she said herself that she wanted to be an actor and not an icon, in most of her roles, she exudes grace and glamour. She is also the icon of Hollywood as many aspiring actresses keep a poster of Audrey Hepburn in their bedrooms. I did see roles that demanded a change from her usual glamor in The Children's Hour and A Nun's Story. It was there that I could actually see Audrey as a human being, which she does a good job of portraying. However, I saw that she shed the glamor in The Children's Hour as a teacher, which she did not in The Nun's Story as a nun. I have heard that Marilyn also took on a challenging role in Bus Stop where she proved her acting ability. I will now discuss the different roles that I have seen Audrey and Marilyn play. In Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Love in the Afternoon, My Fair Lady, and Funny Face, Audrey has portrayed the sweet, innocent ingénue. In Breakfast at Tiffany's, she enacts the role of a dreamy, eccentric, full-of-life, liberal woman who survives by charming men (aka a prostitute). It is interesting to note that Marilyn Monroe was originally offered the role of Holly Golighty, but her agent advised her against portraying a prostitute for the sake of her image. So you see that although Marilyn is known as a sex symbol, she still kept a sense of pride about her body and image. I do not know why Holly Golighty is known as Audrey's signature role since it does not portray her standard ingénue persona (in both acting and real life) the way that the other movies that I mentioned do. Breakfast at Tiffany's is also not one of my favorite movies, although I love how Audrey Hepburn sings "Moon River" sitting on the window!

 

 

 

I will now discuss Marilyn's roles that I have seen. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn is portrayed as a superficial, dumb blonde. In The Seven Year Itch, she is portrayed as a sexy, naïve fantasy of a married man (aka a sexy seductress). I will watch more of her movies to develop my opinion of her. So far, it appears that Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is her signature role as an actress and person.

 

 

I will now write about Audrey's and Marilyn's personalities. Most of what I have already said applies as their roles, that Audrey's real life personality is said to be sweet, innocent, classy, and graceful while Marilyn's real life personality is said to be bold, sexy, glamorous, and seductive. However, I have also heard that in real life, Marilyn was quite intelligent and always carried a book in her purse. Both Audrey and Marilyn have been role models in personality and style as many girls have strived to emulate either woman.

I will now discuss the styles of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, which illustrate their individual personalities. Audrey Hepburn's style is classic, feminine, and graceful, reflective of her sweet and innocent gamine personality, while Marilyn Monroe's style is sexy, bold, and alluring, reflective of her sharp seductress persona. Audrey also worked through what God gave her, staying away from plastic surgery and heels or any other fake displays, while accentuating her strong points. Marilyn, on the other hand, challenged nature and dyed her hair blonde, attained plastic surgery, embraced heels, and wore false eyelashes. When I read WikiHow articles on how to dress like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, most of the tips are diametrically opposed. The article on Audrey Hepburn says that Audrey knew both her strong points and weak points and emphasized her strong points while deemphasizing her weak points. While Audrey wore kitten heels to deemphasize her tall stature, Marilyn coined the quote, "I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot." I have found it very interesting that the two actresses' status as polar opposites is exemplified by how the WikiHow article on Audrey Hepburn mentions that every girl should have an LBD to showcase her as elegant female, referring to Audrey's LBD in Breakfast at Tiffany's as an example, while the WikiHow article on Marilyn Monroe states, "Forget the LBD! It's all about the LWD!" referring to Marilyn's LWD from The Seven Year Itch. The WikiHow article on Audrey advises to stay away from crop tops while the article on Marilyn advises to embrace crop tops, much like Marilyn. The article on Marilyn instructs the woman to wear a bikini while the article on Audrey instructs the woman to wear the less popular one-piece bathing suit. I love how Audrey states that "You can wear a crown even if you are not royalty" and believes that every woman should be treated as a princess. Both articles, however, advise women to wear pearls and red lipstick, which represent both Audrey's and Marilyn's styles. I believe that both styles contain femininity and glamor. I think that Audrey's style could be classified as classic while Marilyn's style could be classified as trendy. After all, the WikiHow articles mention that Audrey did not follow trends, but was rather old-fashioned for her era while Marilyn followed the trends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will now discuss the different shapes of Audrey's and Marilyn's figures. Marilyn had a classic female hourglass figure, with voluptuous curves and big breasts (very suitable to her sexy persona), while Audrey had a rail-thin boyish figure with less curves and small breasts. Both of them flaunted what they had. However, as aforementioned, Audrey emphasized her strengths (such as her diminutive waist--by cinching with a belt) and deemphasized her weaknesses (such as her small breasts and tall stature) in her dressing while Marilyn both flaunted her strengths (such as her big breasts and curves through low-cut dresses, crop tops, and bikinis) and challenged nature in her weaknesses (through plastic surgery). Both figures are very appealing in their own ways.

 

 

As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry, I am 50% Audrey Hepburn and 50% Marilyn Monroe. I am a sweet and innocent ingénue and gamine like Audrey and love to wear the classic, graceful style. I love dresses, lace, silk, and ruffles. I would also like to dress like a princess, such as with a crown, like Audrey idealized. I also wear Audrey Hepburn bangs, which are always in style. I would also rather try to work with nature rather than against it and avoid dying my hair, plastic surgery, and fake eyelashes. So I love kitten heels and prefer them to heels although a part of me also likes heels. However, I am like Marilyn in my affinity for bikinis and crop tops. People have advised me against posting bikini photos on the Web, but I will continue to do so. I like different aspects of Audrey's and Marilyn's figures. I idealize the feminine, curvy hourglass figure that Marilyn has. I also like that Audrey is tall and slim. At the moment, I am busty and curvy like Marilyn and not very slim (although I was two years ago). I am also tall like Audrey. My goal is to have a very slender, curvy hourglass figure with big busts that is of tall stature (a mix of Audrey and Marilyn).

I will end by stating that I keep many Audrey and Marilyn dolls on my window seat. This represents that I see them as iconic role models to emulate.

Japan

I have always been enamored by Japan. It is my favorite country of Mongoloid natives. There are many facets of Japan that fascinate me.

I appreciate anime culture. I have to admit that I am not yet well-versed in anime as I would like to be, but I plan to get well-versed in the next few years. Anime is a genre all on its own. My former suitemate told me that even though anime involves Japanese characters, the characters have different colored hair.

I have, however, watched a few episodes of the American version of Sailor Moon where the girl is named Serena and has a cat named Luna. However, I plan on watching the whole series in the original Japanese uncut version. I hope to get the series DVD. I appreciate the fantasy and magic of the series. I love that the heroines have sailor names and are dressed in different colored sailor outfits. I hope to own the different colored sailor costumes one day. I also love the moon! I read on Wikipedia that Sailor Moon is a very sensitive girl. I was going through an emotional period and appreciated and empathized that Sailor Moon cries a lot because I was crying a lot those days. I also like that Sailor Moon does not get the best grades because I do not think that heroines have to be perfect.

I have watched the dubbed fantasy anime movies, Princess Mononoke and Paprika 4 1/2 years ago. I remember that I really enjoyed them since they were of the fantasy genre. I like that Princess Mononoke is about animals and that Paprika is about dreams, psychology, and inner lives. I plan to watch the original Japanese versions.

I would like to familiarize myself with Japanese live action movies, particularly Japanese romances. My friend, Veronica told me that in Japanese romance movies, the conservative culture is reflected in how there is rarely kissing.

Another facet of Japanese culture that fascinates me is Lolita fashion. I love how Japan is intrigued by English Victorian culture (a culture that I am fascinated by) and strives to emulate it in Lolita culture. The Lolita subsets include Classic Lolita, Sweet Lolita, Gothic Lolita, and Fairy Lolita. I especially like Sweet Lolita since it is so girly and cutesy and most Victorian and Fairy Lolita since it is so magical. Some of Lolita fashion derives from the Victorian Alice in Wonderland. My friend, Ginny told me that Lolita fashion has the aim of a sexual fetish--that it strives for the appearance of sweetness and innocence for sexual appeal. She told me that it derives from the title character in Lolita who is sexually appealing as a child. I told her that I like to incorporate the fashion since I like to have a sweet & innocence persona & I find the style beautiful. She told me that that's fine; as long as I am doing it for myself and not to attract a sexual fetish. I like the bonnets, bows, dresses and accessory dolls and lollipops of Sweet Lolita fashion. Once while walking in the streets of NYC, I saw two grown women dressed in pretty frocks and carrying dolls in one arm. I really hope that I can buy enough Lolita outfits when I have the money. I already have two jumper dresses with Alice on them and two matching bonnets.

 

 

 

I am fascinated by Harajuku in Tokyo. I love Gwen Stefani's brand, Harajuku Lovers, which is based on her band. I own many of their purses and clothing and plan to one day get a perfume of each character, which is like a doll. I love how in her song, "Harajuku Girls," Gwen Stefani describes Harajuku as a "Ping-Pong match" between the East and the West. So I bet that Harajuku tries to incorporate both eastern and western culture. I was wearing a Harajuku Lovers Alice in Wonderland top one day, and one Japanese girl told me that Harajuku is very a popular place to visit, especially for the young crowd. If I get to go to Japan, I would love to visit Harajuku and would shop there for many items, such as Lolita outfits.

 

I also love Sanrio, better known as the Hello Kitty brand. I own Hello Kitty's signature red Chubby Bunny bow along with many of different colored bows in Hello Kitty style. Hello Kitty is so cute as is her twin sister, Mimmy. The creator of Hello, Kitty must be intrigued by twins since there are numerous pairs of twins in the Hello, Kitty, the other noteworthy pair being the boy-girl twins, Kiki and Lala. Hello, Kitty, Mimmy, and Twin Stars are my favorite characters, and I own a number of their products. I particularly love my two musical jewelry boxes in the shape of a piano with rainbow keys in the colors red and pink. Both pianos have both Hello, Kitty and Mimmy on them. I hope to learn the stories of Hello, Kitty and watch the show.

 

 

 



My friend, Michael told me about this rabbit island in Japan called Ōkunoshima (大久野島). I would love to visit this island since I love rabbits, and I love the seaside! In a perfect world, I would take home a pure white rabbit with blue eyes, but realistically, they would possibly not survive in my climate.

I will now write about Japanese literature. My friend, Kat told me that there is a beautiful melancholy and subtlety in Japanese literature, compared to American literature.

I have wanted to read The Tale of Genji since seventh grade when I first heard of it as the world's first novel and a very voluminous work. It was first written and illustrated on handscrolls. I have owned a beautiful illustrated hardcover two-volume edition for years, but have yet to finish reading it. I have read that The Tale of Genji is full of digressions and streams-of-consciousness. Whenever I hear the usage, "I digress," I wish to turn to the master of digression, The Tale of Genji. I appreciate that every theme is in The Tale of Genji, including love & the supernatural, two of my favorite themes. I also love that The Tale of Genji is referred to as a psychological novel, a field that I am currently researching. Here is an excellent encyclopedic site on The Tale of Genji: http://www.taleofgenji.org/ 

 

The Memoirs of Geisha is another book set in Japan that is a well-known masterpiece. I read it nine years ago. I remember appreciating that Sayuri said that she is like water while her sister is like wood. I also love Sayuri's sweet, innocent, poetic, imaginative, storybook way of talking. I like that Sayuri has beautiful gray eyes. I love the name, Sayuri! I need to reread Memoirs of a Geisha.

I was introduced to Haruki Murakami in a creative writing workshop. We read the short story, "The Second Bakery Attack" from the collection, The Elephant Vanishes. A classmate thought that the represented Japanese culture was very similar to American culture. I have also read Sputnik, Sweetheart. A friend recommended the voluminous work, 1Q84 to me. 1Q84 has been entitled Murakami's magnum opus.

 

My friend, Michael also said that the political system of Japan is unique and powerful. I would like to look into that.

Japan is also very famous for its beautiful cherry blossoms. I hope to visit Japan during the cherry blossom season in spring.

 

I also have to mention that one of my best friends from college, Kabir grew up in Japan. He was the one that got me fascinated with Japanese culture. Through his sweet, mature personality, I have a good impression of Japanese culture.

I hope to add more to this discourse once I have familiarized myself more with all the above mentioned and travelled to Japan.