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3. How critical are your knowledge and behavior to the sustainable development of Vietnam?
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Soiree: Tấm Cám and Cinderella
Folktales were first told long, long ago. They were told over and over from one generation to the next until they were written down by people who set their minds to collecting them. Every culture has its folktales. Every culture passed the stories on through oral traditions and almost all cultures had the collectors who have captured the stories into written form – and today, into film and other media.
But what is happening when similar stories and themes grow out of different cultures? Does this mean that the story was born in one place and that, somehow, the story followed the journeys of traders on their routes and were passed on and spread from one region to another? Or
do the stories reflect some common experience, value or moral that is universal and present to humans all over the world? Folklorists, anthropologists and ethnologists have been searching for this answer for hundreds of years.
Tấm Cám is one of these stories. In North America
and Europe there is a similar story called Cinderella. In China, she is known as Yeh-hsien; in ancient Egypt, she is Rhodopis. The Little Rag Girl (Georgia), The Invisible One (Native American), Katie Woodencloak (Norway), Mjadveig (Iceland), Nomi (Africa), and more!
The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series was created to bring together similar stories from around the world. Folklorist and author, Judy Sierra, compiled the selection on Cinderella (1992). She writes,
“Cinderella stories can be found in more parts of
the world, told in more languages, and in more different ways than any other folktale. A young girl (or sometimes a boy) is mistreated by her family, but she receives magical help so that she can be recognized for the good and beautiful person that she really is. There are hundreds of ways of telling this story. For instance, there are different terrible jobs or impossible tasks that the girl’s cruel family gives her; there are all sorts of magical people and animals that help her; and there are many surprising ways in which a prince or a king recognizes her true identity. Yet somehow the basic story remains the same....” (p. 3).
A shoe is often missing in these stories. The foot that BENDING BAMBOO
fits the slipper, sandal or shoe is the true one. Over two thousand years ago, Strabo, a Greek historian tells the story of an Egyptian king who searched for the unknown woman whose foot would fit in a beautiful sandal. The sandal had been swooped up by an eagle while Rhodopis was bathing and dropped in the lap of the king. The first story written, Yeh-hsien, comes from China one thousand years ago – only the smallest foot could fit in a shoe of gold.
The Story of Tấm Cám has some elements that are similar to Yeh-hsien – a fish that helps Cám, for example. Since Vietnam is near China, this is understandable. But the shoe of Cám is carried off by a crow and dropped in the lap of a prince, just as Rhodopis’ sandal is snatched by an eagle and dropped in the lap of a king.
Sierra, Judy. The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series: Cinderella (Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1992).
Step One. Watch these two films. The global classrooms may collaborate an online soiree so that several schools are watching the films simultaneously, and then joining in discussion afterward.
Editorial Review (from Amazon)
Adapted from the Vietnamese fairy tale, Tấm Cám: The Untold Story (2017) is similar in storyline to Cinderella (2015). Beautiful Tấm is ill-treated by her stepmother and stepsister, but a fairy guardian watches over her. A demon pretending to be a faithful servant to the king waits for an opportunity to become human. The prince is told to marry politically but declares instead that he’ll marry the woman whose feet fit the silk shoes. He hopes it is Tấm, whom he met by chance.
Step Two. As you watch the film, think about these questions, and take some notes:
1. What is the family context in each film? Rich or poor? Is Cám and Ella (Cinderella) happy in the families they find themselves in? Are they mistreated by their families? What are their relationships to their fathers (blood relatives)?
2. Are Cám and Ella good people? What are examples in the films that illustrate the virtue and quality of people they are? For example, if they are good, how do the films show that they are good?
3. Is there magic in these films? What is the magic in each film and how does it help Cám and Ella? Why does the spirit, the fish, and the crow help Cám? Why does the fairy godmother and animals help Ella?
4. What is the source of cruelty in the films? What makes people act with cruelty towards Cám and Ella?
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