theres-a-motif-for-that

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🩵🩷🤍Happy Trans Day of Visibility! 🤍🩷🩵

Did you know yall have a whole sub category in Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature?

Here are some others:

Some for genderfluid folks:

Here's some motifs for the silly transphobes:

And finally here's some (mostly joking ones) for transitioning:

Stay legendary!

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Hi there!

Welcome to There's-a-Motif-for-That, where I find and meme folktale motifs in pop culture and modern stories.

This is mostly for fun, but I do think it's cool to see how these things still show up in our current storytelling. I think it can show us some commonality/universality in human experiences and the stories we tell to express those experiences. And it gives a sense of connection to oral tradition, and the enduring/adaptive nature of these elements (though to be fair most of my connections tend to go more by just the title instead of how the motif is actually used. So sometimes it’s more of a stretch for a joke, but hey memes are folklore too).

Also it's just really hilarious the types of things included in the index, they are just so random and oddly specific sometimes, it's like is that seriously a common occurrence??

What is a motif?

I'm using Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. Which is a 6 volume (fat AF) catalogue of motifs compiled and organized by folklorist Stith Thompson in 1932–1936 and 1955–1958. As such it is a tad outdated at times, and not without it's limitations (it tends to have a Eurocentric bias). Even with 2471 pages (PAGES) of motifs, something like this could never be truly comprehensive. (Other scholars have made additional regional-specific indexes, so maybe I'll get to those someday too!)

The Index is mainly used in conjunction with the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (yes same Thompson) for cross-referencing tales and as an organizational tool for archives (which is what the numbers are for). But where the ATU Index compiles tale-types, self-sufficient plots recurring in stories around the world, the Motif-Index is for the individual details and narrative elements within those tales. Or as Thompson puts it:

"A motif is the smallest element in a tale having a power to persist in tradition. In order to have this power it must have something unusual and striking about it"

How to read an entry:

(source)

Tbh, activity on this blog will be pretty sporadic. Also my pop culture knowledge is limited, but if anyone else is silly enough to take a dive through 2471 pages of motifs, I’ll totally take submissions or recommendations in asks

Format: I post a screenshot of the motif and a related gif, with an image link to the full scene (if i can find it) for those who need full context (though most are pretty self-explanatory). Image descriptions will be in the alt. Sometimes I'll post a scene directly, or an image if it's from literature with the context in the image description. Some posts will be compilations for either multiple examples of a motif, or multiple motifs found in one piece of media.

For the sake of organization I’m also tagging based on the broad index categories (bold for ones I've gotten to already):

A. Mythological Motifs B. Animal Motifs C. Motifs of Tabu D. Magic E. The Dead F. Marvels G. Ogres H. Tests J. The Wise and the Foolish K. Deceptions L. Reversals of Fortune M. Ordaining the Future N. Chance and Fate P. Society Q. Rewards and Punishments R. Captives and Fugitives S. Unnatural Cruelty T. Sex U. The Nature of Life V. Religion W. Traits of Character X. Humor Z. Miscellaneous Groups of Motifs

(I've tagged them below for easy navigation, along with some other category tags)

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I love her, your honor

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I mean for a lot of tale types you can start with the tags on Ao3, people have unknowingly cataloged themselves quite nicely!

Motifs are another story, of course, but I'd start with “they smiled but it didn’t reach their eyes”

so who's gonna amend the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index and Thompson's motif index to include popular fanfiction tropes and plots?

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Folktale Types in Star Wars - Meta Masterpost

So I wrote a few things about how the Skywalker Saga fits into the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Classification of Folk Tales, and I thought I’d link them all in one place. I’ve included the ATU class number for reference and approximate word count so you know how long it might take to read each one!

The Search for the Lost Husband: Reylo as Eros and Psyche ATU 425 Word Count: ~7000

More Search for the Lost Husband: The Burning of the Beast’s Skin in Star Wars ATU 425A-449 (Animal Bridegroom) Word Count: ~1400

The Quest for the Lost Bride: Anidala (and Reylo) as Orpheus and Eurydice ATU 400 Word Count: ~4000

More Quest for the Lost Bride: Sleeping Beauty in Star Wars ATU 410 Word Count: ~1700

There are some other topics I’d like to explore with relation to ATU Folktale Types, so hopefully I’ll have more to add to this in time!

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How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

HTTYD1 is basically a retelling of the Bellerophon & Pegasus myth. Bellerophon was instructed by the king to kill the Chimera, a monster which threatened the kingdom. A soothsayer advised him that he would need to ride the legendary winged horse Pegasus to be victorious. On his advice, Bellerophon slept in the temple of Athena, where the goddess visited him in a dream and gave him a magical golden bridle. The hero then traveled to a blessed fountain (pool) in his hometown, and won Pegasus' trust and the right to ride him. Together they faced the Chimera, and ultimately won when Bellerophon affixed a block of lead to his spear and rammed it down the monster's throat. When the Chimera tried to breathe fire, it melted the lead and suffocated itself. Bellerophon then returned to the kingdom and married the princess.

Hiccup's village is threatened by the dragons, but guided by his instincts, he wins the trust of Toothless, the legendary Night Fury. Using what he learns from his new friend, Hiccup builds a saddle and harness so that he can ride the dragon. In the end, they fly into battle against the boss dragon and defeat it by firing a bolt of fire down its throat. Then they return and Hiccup eventually marries Astrid.

Further, in some versions Bellerophon and Pegasus are brothers, both born from the death of the Medusa. Hiccup and Toothless need one another, and are presented as two of a kind, signaled by their matching injuries and interdependent flying system.

Hiccup also experiences a Heroine's Journey, with his father representing his Wounded Masculine and Toothless representing his Missing Feminine.

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Ooh very fascinating!

Roman Holiday 1953? And/Or Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961? I love those two 🥰

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

For my full thoughts on Roman Holiday, check out the Thunderquack podcast, where host Mike was kind enough to invite me on to gush about one of my favorite movies:

But in short, Roman Holiday is an incredible, beat-for-beat example of a Swan Maiden tale! The basic format for this tale is that a magical bride descends from the otherworld and is captured by a mortal man, usually by means of him taking her clothes/animal skin OR by placing his own clothes on her. They live together happily for a time, but eventually she retrieves her pelt and returns to the otherworld, leaving her earthly husband behind forever.

In Roman Holiday, Anne is a princess who longs to escape her royal world, so she flees into the streets where she is effectively captured by Joe Bradley, who then lends her his pajamas to sleep in. In this sense, he has claimed her as his bride by placing his own clothes on her, and letting her sleep in his own bed. They then have many adventures together, but in time Anne realizes she must return to her royal duties, and the couple separates. Remarkably, in her final scene, Audrey's costume (particularly her headpiece) actually resembles Odette's in most productions of Swan Lake:

The behind-the-scenes story of this film is just as fascinating: director William Wyler was one of five Hollywood filmmakers who documented World War 2 (mostly for Allied propaganda), and he was present at the liberation of Rome, so his perspective of the city bleeds through his film. Further, he had lost most of his hearing on bomber runs during the war, so his post-war work leans heavily on visual language; it is easy to follow the entire story without sound. Wyler would go on to direct Ben Hur, which held the record for the most Oscars won by a single film until Titanic surpassed it in 1997. I strongly recommend the Netflix documentary Five Came Back if you're interested in learning more.

Thank you again for the wonderful prompt!

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So I'm rewatching Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck and it's definitely another Swan Maiden story. Good grief, is everything a folktale retelling? 😱

Should I write the full essay?

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Poor Echo, honestly

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Mixing things up a bit and doing some literature, so if you know you know I guess lol

With the amount of allusions in this book I’d say this was definitely intentional

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