Monthly Archives: April 2020

Disneyland’s Haunted Haunted Mansion

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Disneyland Attractions Cast Member
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: 4/28/2020
Primary Language: English

An interview with a Disney Cast Member, KS, about the Haunted Mansion Attraction at Disneyland.

Text:

KS: The Haunted Mansion is the second most Haunted Attraction, the first is Winnie the Pooh. In the Haunted Mansion there is a legend of some old lady. Some dead grandma. These people brought Dead Grandma’s ashes and chucked them on the ride, and we just sweep them up and get them out of there. It’s not our problem. But, anyway, apparently Old Lady decided to stick around in the building ‘cause you’ll see some lady who’ll walk through the queue. You won’t see her in the elevators, but she’ll appear in the hallways. She’s like this old lady in old tiny clothing. I don’t know what era, but old clothing. She’ll go on the ride, wait in the queue, she’ll get on the buggy, she’ll go all the way around and then that buggy will come back empty. We can tell when a buggy was left empty both on accident and on purpose, it’s never either when it comes to the old lady. She’s picked up on the cameras as getting in the buggy, but at some point during the ride she’ll disappear. 

Me: Do you have any experience with the Old Lady?

KS: I work in the loading bay. It’s this little hallway where we store wheelchairs and it feels super haunted. I was standing right in front of that hallway and I felt this cold wind push me back even though there’s no way wind could be there. I started to feel super nauseous. Then the winds came from behind me again, then suddenly the wind stopped and I felt fine. I’m not saying it was the old lady messing with me, but it makes sense to me. Old lady dies, we sweep her up, and throw her away. She see me and is like “oh you got rid of my dust. I’m gonna mess with you now. 

Me: Were you the one, specifically, to get rid of her? 

K: Oh, no. This happened in like the eighties before I was born. We all just look the same. The costumes haven’t changed much.

Context:

I asked a friend who currently works at Disneyland if the Haunted Mansion was actually haunted, and this is what they had to say.

Thoughts:

I find it very interesting that the “Haunted” Mansion, despite having a well known ghost attached to, is not regarded as the most haunted attraction. I’ve heard of the Haunted Mansion ghost, but never of the Winnie the Pooh haunting.

Google Doc meme

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 28
Primary Language: English

Context: 

This piece was collected in a casual setting on a FaceTime call. My informant is a USC Freshman and we are Animation Majors together. They grew up in Sacramento, California. They enjoy drawing, riding their scooter, and making memes. The following piece is a meme spin off they made of another popular meme “template”. The informant’s meme was intended for a specific audience, our Animation cohort, and it was sent in our class’s private group chat (fifteen USC Animation Freshmen). 

Main Piece:

Background: 

The informant created this meme by using the image of the train and adding words to it. Meme is basically saying the creator of the meme is getting a “free ride,” or leaching off,  of their classmates’ “google doc for the final” which we were all supposed to work on together (compile  notes from the class on it) but some people did more work than others. The meme is funny because the informant is basically confessing they did no work, but we can relate because we have all be there at some point.

Thoughts: 

Memes are a great way to make a quick joke that most people can be amused by because they feature funny pictures we can “connect” with, or a short amount of text that does this, and people can use their prior knowledge of other memes to find the meaning and get a giggle out of it. Since memes are so easy to understand and access, it makes sense that so many people make them, share them, or just look them up. Any group, no matter the size, can, and does, have its own folklore, and this specific meme is a perfect example of this since it took another more popular folk piece and switched it up to fit a new meaning ment specifically for the Animation student audience.

Wearing Black for a Year After a Death

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 48
Occupation: Human Resources manager

Piece

EA: You are supposed to mourn someone like your spouse, child, or like parent in like you wear all black for a year. If you don’t then there will be a public hanging of you, no. I mean that is like you don’t care type of thing. 

CA: Is this in Mexico? 

EA: Yeah in Mexico.

CA: Does anyone do it here [United States].

EA: Still like older people will do it here. Like I don’t know if you have seen tia [whose mother recently passed away] she is wearing all black. 

CA: Do they do it for as long?

EA: No, I think now they will do it for a shorter period of time, but I think people like tita [her mother] or like older people will do it for a longer period of time. I don’t know about a year. They will do like grays and black but they won’t put on like loud colors. It’s called el luto. Then also, you are not supposed to go to like a party, a dance, anything that is supposed to be happy and lively for a whole year. See like Papa Javier [husband’s father] didn’t come for your [my sister’s] quinceanera because his brother had just died and like none of his family came because of that reason because we were going to have a party and have music. It is frowned upon like if they come it is like, “did you see that he is here, his brother just died. I can’t believe it either.” The longer the time the better. I would say a good three to six months. I would say after six months maybe people won’t say anything anymore, but the older people will still say something. Especially if it is your spouse and you are like not, then you are talked about that like you didn’t care. 

CA: Is it the same for husbands and wives or is it more frowned upon for one or the other?

EA: Well, yeah most husbands will not do that for their wives. Women have to do it. I mean men, that is a good question it is probably really sexist because it is okay for a man to do it but it is not okay for a women to do it. 

Context

EA is my mother who was born in Southern California, but whose parents are both from Mexico. She and her whole family are Catholic. However, she is not as religious as the rest of her family. She is a Human Resources manager at a small manufacturing company in the San Fernando Valley. The information taken from a casual conversation I was having with my mother about any folklore she had for me while my sister was also present.

Analysis

The luto is an outward expression of grief and how much the loved one that passed away meant to you. This is why it is seen as so disrespectful to break the luto because it is a sign that you did not care about the death. Additionaly, the dark clothes and avoiding parties play on the sadness and loss surrounding death more than the celebration life. The person must have meant a lot to you if you are unable to really enjoy yourself after they are gone.

It would also potentially be a way to release your misery and give yourself a set amount of time to grieve, and after it marks the time when it is appropriate to move on and enjoy yourself without feeling bad about it. With the younger generation it is becoming a more personal decision about when people are ready to start moving on and enjoying themselves. However, this opens you up to more outside criticism and comparison. If everyone mourns the same amount there is no comparison between who has mourned a husband longer than another woman. 

Living by the Ocean Gives you Coronavirus

Nationality: Indian American
Age: 20
Occupation: USC business student
Residence: Southern California
Performance Date: 4/19/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

NA: So his first one was that if you live by the ocean you have the coronavirus automatically because people with corona when you go to the bathroom, when you poo, you pee, wash your hands, take a shower it just goes in the water with it and all that water just gets mixed in with the ocean. Then, it evaporates in the air and then it rains on land by the ocean. So, it is just everything is in the ocean. Um, so basically if you live by the water you have corona. 

CA: And where did he her that from?

NA: I don’t know, What’s App videos?

Context: 

NA is a USC student who comes from a Sindhi Hindu family from India. She grew up in Southern California as an active Hindu going to temple and fasting on Mondays. The information was taken from a casual conversation over zoom with two other friends. We were talking about coronavirus and the conspiracy theories surrounding it when she spontaneous told this story about a conspiracy theory her dad told her about. 

Analysis

It is significant NA was telling the story in a context to emphasis how ridiculous she felt this conspiracy belief was and kind of making fun of the fact that her father believed it. I think it represents the broader frustration many people have towards all the different conspiricies that are coming out of the chaos of coronavirus that seem completely ridiculous and impossible. 

On the other hand, for the people seeking out these conspiricies it seems to be a source of perceived control over the virus. Especially, since most of them are founded on scientific claims that sound intuitive and makes you feel like you understand more about the virus and how it spreads. If you know all the people and places that are more likely to get it then it makes you feel more secure in your position. In this example, since NA’s father does not live by the ocean it might make him feel that other people will get the virus instead of him and that the belief is based on “science.”

Spanish Proverb on finding the pig

Nationality: US
Age: 19
Residence: Santa Clara
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Spanish

Background: My informant is a friend of mine of Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese heritage. His parents are both from Taiwan and are mixed between Chinese, indigenous Taiwanese, and Japanese. The purpose of the call was specifically so that I could gather folklore from my informant, and they were aware about that as well. 

Context: This conversation was recorded on a zoom meeting that we had on a Wednesday afternoon. My informant is a friend of mine, and the conversation occurred in both of our rooms. The purpose of the call was specifically so that I could gather folklore from my informant, and they were aware about that as well. During the call and in between our discussions of different folklore items, we talked socially about how we were acclimating. Thus, this conversation was more casual than the rest of my interviews. The main piece is made up of a transcription of our call.

Main Piece:

There’s, I just got introduced to this like two, three weeks ago, I think there’s a Spanish thing. The translation is: stop looking for the pig, we already found it And it’s used essentially it’s like a slang sort of joke for someone farts and they’re like a pig. And so the idea that in Spain, when someone for instance like really loud and we can hear it makes it, you’re like, Oh, stop hunting for the pig we already found it. I think it’s I think it’s kind of clever.

Me: So like how did you hear about this what was it from?

It was with my mom’s friend. Who helped us move.

Me: Like an adult?

Yeah. And it can be used for burps too. I think that’s what it’s mostly used for.

Me:Can you type it in the chat real quick?

No necesita buscar por el jamón, está aquí.

Thoughts: I found this particularly interesting because it seems to be very similar to what American schoolchildren would call a fart joke. However, this Spanish fart comment can be applied to burps and other bodily functions as well. I wonder if perhaps this indicates that burping is more socially important in Spain than it is in the States. I also found this variation striking because it came from a middle aged adult.