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The Man In The Woods by Shirley Jackson Short Story Analysis
In the early 1800s, the Grimm Brothers collected a fairy tale called “The Old Woman In The Woods” and included it for publication in Household Tales. Is Shirley Jackson’s “The Man In The Woods” a riff on that, or something different altogether? (Find Jackson’s story collected in Dark Tales.) I’ll be arguing that “The Man […]
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Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski Analysis
Meg and Mog is a super long-running series of picture books written by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. As is often the case with popular picture book series, there is also a TV series. There’s a massive gap between the first book and the first TV show, which was broadcast in 2003, when the original […]
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When The Sky Is Like Lace by Horwitz and Cooney Analysis
When The Sky Is Like Lace (1975) is a picture book written by Elinor Lander Horwitz and illustrated by Barbara Cooney (1917-2000). If you read Wind in the Willows and wanted more otters, this one’s for you. (I’m not familiar with otters but I think these may be river otters rather than sea otters?)
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Women and Cats in Art
There is a strong link between women, girls and cats. In fiction, for instance, women are frequently described as cats (and also as birds).
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The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg Picturebook Analysis
“The Widow’s Broom” is a 1992 picture book by American author illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. Like many of Van Allsburg’s books, this one remains popular with teachers, partly because this is a storyteller who requires the reader to do a little work. Students can practise their inference skills in class. Like all good stories which […]
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Fear of Engulfment in Storytelling
There’s a very good reason why girls should be told the truth about baby-making as soon as they ask: If she’s old enough to be asking, she’s old enough to be worrying.
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Dead Calm Film Study
Sometimes horror movies are even more terrifying when read metaphorically. In Dead Calm, the story of a husband and wife at sea with a murderous intruder is bad enough, but what if the murderer doesn’t exist? Dead Calm is a well-executed but outdated psychological horror, adapted in 1989 for film from a 1963 novel by […]
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Why Does Spirited Away Feel So Weird To Westerners?
Spirited Away draws from sources as diverse as: When Spirited Away was released back in 2001 I was teaching Japanese and English literature in a New Zealand high school. Bridging both subjects, I’ve shown the DVD of Spirited Away to a large number of students. It’s an annoying 2h 5m — ideally teachers want a […]
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The Symbolism of Broomsticks
Broomsticks are useful storytelling symbols that serve double duty — they are a symbol of female oppression (tied to the house and the drudgery of housework) but also, by leap of imagination, turn into a vehicle by which to escape. Broomsticks may keep a woman housebound, but also afford the imaginative freedom to fly. Which […]
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The Gingerbread House In Hansel And Gretel
When artists choose to illustrate a single narrative moment, they make a choice of lasting importance, because their illustration creates a memorable impression for an entire story, one that visually anchors an impression of that story in its reader’s memory. Illustration history is full of such memorable moments. In the illustration history of Grimm’s Tales, one image predominates, that of…
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A Dictionary of Witch Words
The definition of witch changes over time. The word witch dates from around 800 AD. It originally referred to men who practise witchcraft but 200 years later referred to female magicians and sorceresses. Later it meant women who were meant to cooperate with the devil or other evil spirits.
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Burlesque Witches In Storytelling
Witches have a long history in storytelling, but they aren’t always scary. They aren’t always Baba Yaga types, sometimes murderous, sometimes helpful.
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The Ritual (2017) Film Study
“The Ritual” is a horror film directed by David Bruckner, adapted by Joe Barton from Adam Nevill’s novel. Although this film is pretty standard in its tropes and structure, the CGI monster makes the viewing experience truly scary. This article says more about the monster and its basis in Swedish folklore.
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Bedrock by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“Bedrock” is a short story from Annie Proulx’s collection Heart Songs, published 1999. This is a subversive feminist tale, which challenges the readers assumptions about ‘gold-digger’ women and especially those we dismiss as ‘rednecks’. “Bedrock” makes a good mentor text if you: Are writing a story in which the reader is asked to switch sympathies, […]
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Baba Yaga: Witch or old woman?
Baba Yaga is a legendary Slavic witch, or a hag, who lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs and who flies through the air in a mortar.