Lit In-Person: Fairy Tales

“My! What Big Teeth You Have!” The Hidden Histories of Fairy Tales
Four In-Person Sessions
Mon., Oct. 28, Nov. 4, 11, 18, 2024, 6:30-8:30 pm MT

Did you know that Beauty and The Beast was written to convince young women to accept arranged marriages? Or that Little Red Riding Hood was intended to warn women not to sleep with men out of wedlock? In fact, most original fairy tales were written for adult women and included dark, even gruesome themes that were meant to scare people into accepting social mores. Join April Chapman-Ludwig, teaching associate professor in DU’s Writing Program, as she strips away the Disney whitewash and dives into the historical and cultural meanings of several original folk tales. In each class, Chapman-Ludwig begins by sharing the “origin story” of a popular fairy tale. For example, Cinderella has its roots in Chinese foot binding. Sleeping Beauty is woken by a child rather than a prince’s kiss. Chapman-Ludwig looks at the intended morals of these stories and adaptations to each across time. What do the changes reveal about society and the author’s own life? Join class discussions about why these stories still resonate today, which adaptations seem antiquated, and which hit too close to home. Chapman-Ludwig covers Beauty and The Beast, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. Come away with eyes wide open—the better to see you with, my dear!

April Chapman-Ludwig has taught in the Writing Program at DU for over 16 years. Her writing and research focus on visual rhetoric, 18th-century women’s literature, the history of fairy tales, documentary film, transfer student persistence and the social sciences.