One Tin Soldier

As a child, I remember my sister, Cathy’s fondness for the folksong, One Tin Soldier, a tale about the peace between people, Mountain people.  However, since I was so little at the time I didn’t understand that it was an anti-war song.  The other day I was in Publix grocery shopping when I saw the movie, Billy Jack,  that featured the song.  Somehow, all of this made me think about the folktales and legends that we have been discussing in class.  So I grabbed the movie and came home to watch it.  Billy Jack, a half-breed Navajo Indian and Vietnam War hero, defends college students from the townspeople who do not understand or like the hippie counter-culture.  The movie tells a tale of oppression and racism that occurs among the Navajo tribes.  Angered and outraged, Billy Jack, strikes back. 

Go ahead and hate your neighbor; go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of heaven; you can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowin' come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after, one tin soldier rides away.

Movies, stories and music are powerful rhetorical artifacts. Audiences have been persuaded to examine their beliefs as well as give into their emotions while watching, listening and participating.  Storytelling, folk tales, poetry and spoken word traditions are the roots of our rhetoric today. Songs, like One Tin Soldier remains as powerful today as it was in the late sixties. The irony of its longevity is that it is still relevant.  Bands like U2 continue to use the seeds of folktales and rhetoric to influence culture today.

On the bloody morning after, one tin soldier rides away...Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

Bad Words - SPOILER ALERT

 

I’ve been studying about competition and storytelling slams.  Over the weekend the movie, Bad Words came out in the theatres.  It is a story about Guy Trilby, a 40 year old middle school dropout who seeks revenge by attempting to win a televised spelling bee.  After finding a loophole that all contestants must not have graduated the 8^th grade by the date of the National Spelling Bee, Trilby proceeds to advance to the end.    Throughout the movie I am reminded that competitions aren’t always about winning, but are about honing your skill set.  One character, Chai, the young kid that befriends Trilby reminds us of this.  Struggling with finding a friend in real life, Chai enjoys the intelligent sarcastic and often black humor of his immature genius friend. 

In addition to the friendship that develops, another side of competition rears its head – aggression.  Not only do the staff members show the ugly side of agon, but the parents do as well.  In one scene, the Director of the National Spelling Bee fixes the competition, disgracing the event and honor of competing.  In her office, a host of angry parents ridicule her for allowing Trilby to compete and request her to resign should he be allowed to continue to compete.  Parents horrified that Trilby continues despite the measure taken to eliminate him, behave irrationally, displaying non-sportsman like behaviors.  Chai’s father, in an attempt to gain a competitive edge, tells his son to befriend his enemy so Trilby cannot beat him when the time comes.  At one point the entire crowd chats, “ Kick him out, kick him out" forcing the head of the Bee to aks for respect to the honor of the competition.   Trilby responds by spelling his word accurately - disgracing the honor of the competition and the man that began the program.

I enjoyed the black comic nature of the film. It was interesting to me to see that there are those parents that fight for equality with “No Child Left Behind” wanting all children to earn awards fighting against the agony of defeat  and those that fight like gladiators in the ring, until death.  The film Bad Words demonstrates that arête and philotimias are required components of agon, or competitions.  

Here Be Dragons

 

This past week I gave a speech on the myth of audience studies, paralleling the myth of dragons to the ubitquitous words of what constitutes an audience. In ancient times,  uncharted regions on maps gave fearsome legends of dragons to ward off persons from the dangers of the unknown, or undefined, allowing words to quantify, keeping everyone satisfied with a rational explanation of what lay beyond.  The myth often takes on a life of its own, and the facts from the original event, if they existed, become lost.

One tale or urban legend that comes to mind is folk song and poem , Puff The Magic Dragon.  The lyrics tell a story of an ageless dragon, Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper.  Jackie grows older and loses interest in imaginary friendships while Puff mourns the loss of innocence.  Urban legend has suggested that Puff the Magic Dragon is a story about drugs, not the hardships of growing up.   Written during the sixties, many speculated that Puff  told a tale of drug abuse, giving a new interpretation. 

Dragons are wonderful creatures of our imagination, and are forever etched in history. The myths, folk tales and legends of dragons offer explanations for the unknown and make heroes out of ordinary men and women who tell their tale.  And as each generation shares their tales, new interpretations will occur and legends will develop. 

Blue Apple Players

This week, mom and I were going through old magazines from home- Louisville, Kentucky. One magazine, Today’s Woman, a free magazine in the area that mom had kept featured a story on storyteller and playwright, Geraldine Snyder co-founder of the Blue Apple Players.

The Blue Apple Players began in 1976 when I was in elementary school. My mother remembered that my school, Middletown Elementary, took a chance on two storytellers bringing the Blue Apple Players to our school for their inaugural event. I still have vivid memories of their performance. I remember sitting on the cold gym floor huddled with my classmates, hanging on every dramatic moment as they share a tale of American history. While the Blue Apple Players lean more towards acting than storytelling, they told the story of “Johnny Appleseed”, a folk hero and American legend that introduced apple trees to farmers across the new nation. At the time, I thought it was a simple folktale. Almost 40 years later, I understand the complexity of the oral tradition of narrative and how it impacts the American Identity. Johnny Appleseed was only a character in a story to me then, but as an American legend and folk hero, his story was passed along through the ages, allowing one to sees how storytelling forms our identity - the American Identity. The Blue Apple Players continued to perform at Middletown Elementary, I saw numerous dramatic interpretations, but the story of Johnny Appleseed remains my favorite.

Today, the Blue Apple players still perform for over 70,000 children in the Louisville area. They also visit four surround states and have played in the Parker Theatre in Miami. This year they merged with the local Walden School in hopes to continuing to provide a strong arts education for creative young people using the power of dramatic storytelling. I feel honored to have been a part of the initial success of something so powerful.