1. EDU 210: Children’s Literature 3/19/14
Beast Behaving Badly!
EDU 210: Children’s Literature
3/19/14

2. Today’s Topics & Readings
Beasts Behaving Badly!
Beauty and the Beast and its variations
Bluebeard
Psychological criticism and understanding fairy tales
Media: A selection of Scholastic Videos and film excerpts (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and The Princess and the Frog, Twilight, Company of Wolves)
Readings:
Tatar: pp , 66-73,
Today’s Topics & Readings

3. Interactive Read-Aloud
The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Szieska
Quick Write:
Reading Rockets Website
Interactive Read-Aloud

4. Small Group Activity Analyze your assigned fairy tale by examining:
Characters & Setting
Plot structure
Themes
Patterns, motifs, symbolism
Record on chart paper.
Fairy Tales Group 1: Beauty & the Beast Group 2: The Pig King Group 3: The Frog King Group 4: The Frog Princess Group 5: Bluebeard
Small Group Activity

5. A very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture. These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that school of theory. The different lenses also allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important.
Theories as “Lenses”

6. If a critic is working with certain Marxist theories, s/he might focus on how the characters in a story interact based on their economic situation. If a critic is working with post-colonial theories, s/he might consider the same story but look at how characters from colonial powers (Britain, France, and even America) treat characters from, say, Africa or the Caribbean.
An Example

7. Schools of Literary Criticism
Discuss the Schools of Criticism handout
What seems to be the focus of each?
Psychological criticism
Feminist criticism
Archetypal criticism
What is the purpose of reading a work of literature through the “lens” of critical theory?
Schools of Literary Criticism

8. Beauty and the Beast

10. Applying Critical Theory to Your Reading
Step 1
Step 2
In groups discuss your assigned School of Criticism
Reread your assigned fairy tale through the lens of this theory.
Add this analysis to your chart.
Use your assigned theory to analyze each of the fairy tales read by other groups.
Add your analysis to the chart
Read what other groups have recorded!
Applying Critical Theory to Your Reading