Project Statement of Relection – Daumenlutscher

I miss home, Germany to be exact. A place where I connect to all the monumental moments in my life. My childhood has been influenced by my heritage, my culture, and my ancestry. Since Germany has encompassed such a large part of my life, it is only natural I go back to it in my writing and research when I am away from the place I love. Germans are known for their “fairy tales” which in reality are brutal tales to remind children not to throw caution out the window. I was one of those children who was raised on consequences for misbehavior and disobedience by horrendous acts of punishment.

I was one of those children who was raised on consequences for misbehavior and disobedience by horrendous acts of punishment. The interest in this roots from a semester of deep analysis and the look into how the mind responds to things. Issues and opinions, standing for what you believe in and voicing myself was a crucial reason to my love for the class. The constant push to have an opinion made me anticipate new topics. Within each topic, a deeper psychological thought process was called into play and peeked my interest each time. So when it came time to do personal research on folklore, an interest to dig deeper into the meanings of cautionary tales arose.

Research began with a critical look at the variation between the original German tales and the English translation which lost some of the meaning of the story. American video parodies compared to German traditional films showed a defined differentiation between views on the subject of cautionary tales. The finding of a rewrite shortly after WWII gave a new view as to how folklore can be manipulated to explain and joke fun at a contemporary issue of the time it is made in. Finally, books about how the mind works with this introduction to consequences at a young age gave an interesting view as to how I coexist in the world differently to those who were not raised on these tales.

I intend to use this research to aid me in figuring out my actual purpose on earth and within the city. Humans have a purpose to their coexistence with others and I intend to use my research to remind me to take caution to my actions and live purposefully.

Leave a reply

Skip to toolbar