World Lit Unit 3: World Myth The Little Mermaid & ONDINE Name: Date: DIRECTIONS: http://stielwlrbhs.weebly.com/interactive-fairytale.html Use the interactive fairytale webpage to annotate (in the left column) details from Anderson s Little Mermaid story. Then, as we watch the film s adaptation of said myths, we ll look for equivalent points and annotate in the right column. Later, you ll use this study guide again to do an analysis that synthesizes your knowledge of the functions of mythology and this modern fairytale. Be detailed and specific in your note taking. NOTE: The numbers below = the annotation number on the website. Find the paragraph with the number in it, and record information from the paragraph and from the annotation. C/C The Little Mermaid By Hans Christian Anderson ONDINE Neil Jordan film SETTING and the SEA MOTIF: (a) Describe the utopic underwater kingdom: (a) (b) Describe the storm (from paragraph15 starting It was very late ): (b) PLOT: 14 more beautiful voices than any human being could have: 15 Begging sailors not to fear if they sank:
Coming ashore (paragraph 16 starting In the morning the storm had ceased ): 21 have not immortal souls, salvation: 23 the only way for mermaids to gain a mortal soul: 24 legs: 27 sea witch s home: 33 slept at his door: 34 he had a page s dress made for her:
35 he loved her as he would love a little child, but it never came into his head to make her his wife: 37 the knife trembled in the hand: 38 last glance at the prince, then threw herself from the ship into the sea: 40 how the soul is gained: MERMAID CHARAC- TER PRINCE/ HUSBAND CHARAC- TER CHILD CHARAC- TER
Post-Film Analysis THIS WILL NOT BE COMPLETED UNTIL AFTER THE FILM 1. Revisit What is Mythology? article. How does mythology stabilize in this story? Consider the ways it connects to ancestry, history, communal tales, how it connects the characters to the natural world, to society, to other cultures. 2. Choose either Ondine or Syracuse and explain the mythic journey on which this character has traveled in the storyline. Include the character s (a) dieties what they valued most, (b) the various passages through which the character has traveled by the end of the story, (c) the dreams or visions the character values by the end, and (d) how the character can be seen as a kind of everyday hero. a. b. c. d. 3. The article What is Mythology? suggests that myths are metaphors. That myths enduring worth is not in its possible historical or scientific accuracy; instead, myths are important because they are metaphors. We learn about life and people and values in a way which cannot be offered by dry historical or philosophical accounts; in mythology, we learn through imagination. How is this true for Annie? 4. Try to list archetypes you think/or are guessing might be represented in the film:
World Lit Unit 3: World Mythology Shadows of the Goddess: The Mermaid Name: Date: DIRECTIONS: Track the shifting meaning of the mermaid and merman through the ages by filling in this flow chart from the information in the article Shadows of the Goddess: The Mermaid by Scarlett demason. 30 pts. (a) ARROW LINES Describe the connection of one character to the next character. (b) REGULAR LINES Write the different meanings and multiple symbols associated with the character. For example, under Aphrodite s name there are three lines, that means there are three pieces of information that will include meanings and symbols associated with Aphrodite that you will list and explain. (c) Be sure you are recording information under the MALE AND FEMALE sides. MALE Oannes FEMALE Atargatis Semiramis Tritons Aphrodite Tritonids Roman Venus Tritons Nereids v e r s u s Sirens Mermaids (continued on side 2)
Mermaids Medieval Church Global Modern Western World France Old Goddess energy Germany Mystery Brittany Christian Church Norway Witchcraze Japan Trivialized Shakespeare / Elizabethan Era Ocean Theory