This piece was told to me by one of my neighbors of Armenian descent. I came home one night to find my neighbors having a celebration to honor those who had died during the Armenian genocide from 1914 to 1923. Around the last few weeks of April, it is apparently a tradition to celebrate Armenian pride in honor of those who were killed. I was curious to hear more about the culture and took the opportunity to ask about some stories of Armenian folklore. I found myself talking to one of the older gentleman at the party, who was the uncle of my neighbor who lived at the house. He was very happy to indulge my curiosity about Armenian folklore and told one a second tale that he remembers hearing from an early age.

This story is about a traveling wizard who goes on a vacation around the countryside. My informant stated that “he was old, and bored, and wanted an adventure…so one day he got up and just left!” The old wizard met a number of people of his journey who he helped for their kindness. There was a woman who shared water with him and invited him to spend the night in her home for shelter. The wizard repaid them “with food plenty!” They woke up the next morning with full cabinets. He met a shepherd that was having a hard time making a living and magically made his flock larger. Then, a farmer, whose vines were not producing. The wizard magically made his vines full of grapes. “A year had gone by and the wizard wanted home again,” my informant said. On the way back, he met each person he had helped along the way, but in the time he was gone they had forgotten that his kindness was the reason for their success. The shepherd said he had to pay for meat and the farmer refused to spare him any produce because he hadn’t worked for it. Only the kind woman who had given him water welcomed him back into her home. “For that, she was repaid with a full bag of gold under her cabinet every day!”

Clearly, the folk tale is one to teach about the moral obligations of charity, kindness, and respecting those who help one out. To me, it was interesting that the wizard in the story needed so much help all of the time, which when I asked my informant he laughed and shrugged the question off. I am assuming it was because the folk tale wants to present the wizard as a humble person who is grateful for the kindness of others. The woman who is the kindest to him is rewarded the most, bot with food and money at the end of the story. This also demonstrates how gifts are not always monetary, as they can be food and help with one’s business. Still, the gift of the gold is the highest prized within the story, as it is only the woman who acts out of kindness twice that receives that.

Source: Garen Bedrossian

The 2003 film Big Fish was an amalgam of a number of different American folktales. Directed by Tim Burton, the film uses innovative imagery and cinematography to give new life to old legends. It aims to connect some of the most widely loved folk stories of the United States in a compelling, but realistic story about a man’s life.   The plot centers around the life of Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman known for his tall tales. At the end of his life, he recounts some of the biggest tall tales to his son, which allows his son to connect with him on a deeper level. The film is a series of flashbacks as Bloom tells his son his outrageous stories, and this is where the audience gets an on-depth look at some of America’s most iconic folk stories.

The story I want to discuss here is the one that starts the film and the one that Bloom has told many times to his family and friends. This is the one about how he caught the biggest catfish in history with his wedding ring on the day that his son was born. It was a giant “uncatchable” catfish that had become a legend at the local lake for decades. According to Bloom, the catfish is what kept him from being there for his son’s birth, as it took him hours to reel it in. But at the very last moment, the catfish got off the line and Bloom lost the biggest potential catch of his life. The story opens the film as Bloom tells it to his new daughter in law, as well as ends it, as the one of the last scenes is the giant cat fish spitting out a wedding ring.

This story is reminiscent of folklore found in fishing and outdoors culture across the United States. Nearly every fishing town or major lake that attracts anglers has its own “Larry the Lunker,” a giant fish that outsmarts everyone who tries to catch it. The fish is so old and experienced, it can outwit even the most capable anglers. Yet, fisherman talk about how they almost catch it or see it often in the lakes like it is some sort of Loch Ness Monster. The film pays homage to this image with Bloom almost catching it but then loosing it at the last second. However, the catfish seems to represent more than just an angler folk legend. It comes to represent the excitement and story-telling aspect that folk tales play. They aim to help provide moral lessons, but most importantly that aim to entertain. That is exactly what Tim Burton achieves in the iconic film thanks to figures like the giant catfish.

Source:

Burton, Tim. (2003). Big Fish. Columbia Pictures.

The 2003 film Big Fish was an amalgam of a number of different American folktales. Directed by Tim Burton, the film uses innovative imagery and cinematography to give new life to old legends. It aims to connect some of the most widely loved folk stories of the United States in a compelling, but realistic story about a man’s life.   The plot centers around the life of Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman known for his tall tales. At the end of his life, he recounts some of the biggest tall tales to his son, which allows his son to connect with him on a deeper level. The film is a series of flashbacks as Bloom tells his son his outrageous stories, and this is where the audience gets an on-depth look at some of America’s most iconic folk stories.

The second folktale from the film I want to add to this collection is the myth of werewolves. As the main character, Bloom, is working at Calloway Circus for the ringmaster Amos Calloway in order to learn details about a young woman Bloom fell in love with. The circus itself is reminiscent of carnie culture that was popularized in the United States, but it is the character of Calloway that is the focus of this manifestation of a folk tale. Werewolves are supposed to be human-wolf hybrids that turn into their wolfen form during the days of the full moon. This is a folk tale that goes back to medieval European traditions but has also been popularized in American culture and traditions as well. After three years of Bloom working with Calloway, he discovers the dark secret that he is a werewolf, which prompts Calloway to give up more information about Bloom’s future wife in order to pay for Bloom’s silence.

The exposition of Calloway as a werewolf was actually quite different than the traditional folklore surrounding them. Yes, Calloway turned into a werewolf on the nights of the full moon, which is when Bloom goes to confront him. The clown even has a gun with a silver bullet ready in case they need it to kill Calloway as he attacks Bloom, which harkens back to the myth of how to kill a werewolf from older folk tales and Hollywood films.

However, Calloway is portrayed more as a pure wolf than as a type of hybrid. In many ways, this makes the myth even more terrifying, because there would be really no way to tell who a werewolf versus a normal wolf was. It is also interesting because throughout the whole film, Tim Burton goes over and above to deliver outrageous looking creatures with impressive computer graphics. Yet, Calloway is just replaced with a real wolf, which lacks some of the fantasy involved in the construction of the other myths. Even more interesting, Bloom pacifies Calloway by playing fetch with him, also demonstrating how this image of a werewolf is more like an energetic dog looking for a playmate than a vicious man-hunter. Bloom later recounts, “it was that night that most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely and lacking social tenacity.” I found this an interesting performance of the werewolf folk tale that was probably used as part of the comedy of Bloom’s stories, making them look even more ridiculous than reality. It also helps use the werewolf not as a source of fear, but to promote a moral lesson to nit be judgmental about things you do not understand.

Source:

Burton, Tim. (2003). Big Fish. Columbia Pictures.