Compelled, but not defeated

[beldarzfixon]

I love old stories.

This situation reminds me of the tale of Brother Rabbit. You'll hardly hear that one, and that's sad. But I understand, there are problems attached to the telling, yet the story itself is still valid. We got it from an oppressed people who brought such tales from their old lands, tales they told for generations to their children

Comments

[adoptedwriter]

"They are the Fox"!!! Brilliant!!!

[beldarzfixon]

Thank you!

[favoritebean]

I like the idea of a sci-fi version of the tales. I remember having a 'Song of the South' record as a child, although I don't remember seeing the movie. The story of Rabbit and Fox always stayed with me.

[beldarzfixon]

I always appreciated them for the lessons taught. I was reminded of the "Tar Baby" during the Iraq war.

[i_17bingo]

It's always when they gloat in victory that they get defeated. On a literary level at least. In real life things rarely turn around for the underdog.

[beldarzfixon]

True. But history has shown that the defeated don't necessarily stay that way.

[lordrexfear]

When I think of Uncle Remus...
I immediately think of his true origins as an Amercanized version of Aunt Nancy or... Anansi. Which back when Remus was created was too broad a concept for the white folks that Remus was created for to tell the African folklore in a more contemporary style in a supposed attempt to bridge race relations.

With American Gods now on television and fast becoming part of the cultural regime to people who have never read a book in their life this is interesting times.

I'm throwing too much into the pot here, but you got my brain thinking which is a good thing.

[beldarzfixon]

I remember in our school grade school reader (in the '70s) a Anansi (the Spider) tale from West Africa, and I never connected it to the stories in Song of the South (which Disney still published kids books of, and aired the TV edit on Wonderful World of Disney on occasion).

With perspective, I can see the wisdom of the folklore, which should be shared (didn't anyone remember the Tar Baby story when we got our paws stuck in Iraq?) stripped of the SOTS whitewashing -- while acknowledging we did dilute culture that way and should be more careful with it.

[messygorgeous]

I'm a Georgia girl. I lived for seven years about 30 minutes away from Joel Chandler Harris' home in Eatonton, GA. They have a museum there dedicated to him and his stories.

Central GA, where he, and I lived, was the inspiration for The Uncle Remus Tales, for the plantation Tara, in Gone With The Wind...and in many ways, regardless of the outcome of the Civil War, many of the people who had been in that area for generations, white AND black, did continue to live out the social expectations of the 1840's.

Your piece was a terrific metaphor for what happened when disgruntled Georgians returned home after the war ended.

[beldarzfixon]

As a fellow Southerner (Arkansas), I too face the issue of being proud of one's home state without embracing its darker aspects