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A Filmmaker's Guide to: Folk

Film Studies (Pt.7)

By Annie KapurPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Midsommar (2019)

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Folk

The Wicker Man (1973)

What is it?

'Folk' literally means 'common people' or 'population' and often refers to a small-town population in rural areas. According to stories (such as the term: folklore) this would mean stories gathered from the common people who live there. Oral tradition would mean that they have been passed around and people like The Brothers Grimm would come and collate them. Most of these stories have some sort of sinister message or moral and don't really have a happy ending. For example: the real ending to Little Red Riding Hood shows that she is eaten by the wolf for not listening to her mother. And so, these stories serve as warnings to the young about disobeying parents, not going to pray enough etc.

The rural aspect of the 'folk' stories comes from the fact that these societies which had 'folklore' in their oral tradition normally didn't have what big cities have: policed laws. It was easier to police children in big cities because they all had enough money for home-schooling and were taught right from wrong at a very early age. They could read and write and yet, most people in the rural areas, because of the poverty, were illiterate. This meant that the children who didn't go to school would not be able to learn right from wrong in a book but instead were told stories that their parents were told before them. It goes so far back that we don't actually know where these stories really came from or whether we have the true form of them at all.

The Brothers Grimm

Writers of the 'folk' culture (folklore) include: Charles Perrault, The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. They are not really authors because they didn't make the stories up themselves, they simply documented them. The stories are far older than these writers and when it comes to authorship, we really have no idea how far back it goes.

Later on, the folk revival comes into play with the revamp it gets in the mid-20th century in order to stand for the voice of the common people against the big companies and unfair governments. Most famously, the folk era produced the likes of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Paul Simon and many more. Using the music of a simple guitar and singing about the struggle of the common people meant that this music fell into the realms of what was now called 'folk rock'.

What about in film?

Hereditary (2018)

In film, folk normally deals with the themes found within things like folklore or within the aspects of the rural folk scene. For example: folk horror deals with the nature of curses, morals and often witchcraft (which are all themes found within folklore) and films them in the context of the time and place in which the characters live. These can also include things like cult worship, the apocalyptic nightmare and the 'outsider'. Even though these aren't to do with folklore, they are to do with what people commonly associated with the folk revival age - cults, the end of the world theories and integration of the outsider.

Here's a watchlist which includes, but is not limited to, films concerning the folklore and folk revival themes:

- The Wicker Man (1973)

- Children of the Corn (1984)

- Sleepy Hollow (1999)

- The Witch (2015)

- The Ritual (2017)

- Hereditary (2018)

- Midsommar (2019)

Throughout history, folklore has always been the moralist and warning literature. But in contrast to that we have the tragic folk film that comes from the folk revival and travels through to horror film. Perhaps being the most recognisable folk horror, "The Wicker Man" (1973) does a good job at showing us the difference between one and the other. First of all, in "The Wicker Man" (1973) we have references to folk revival themes of cult and religion, then we have the animal heads and rural atmosphere. Thus, making "The Wicker Man" (1973) possibly the best example of folk horror alongside Ari Aster's "Midsommar" (2019).

Folk is on the rise at the moment and Ari Aster is here to make sure that happens...

Further Reading

  • Andersen, H.C (2009). Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales A Selection. UK: Oxford World's Classics.
  • Bettelheim, B (1991). The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. 2nd ed. UK: Penguin
  • Carter, A (2005). Angela Carter's Book Of Fairy Tales. UK: Virago.
  • Newton, M (2016). Victorian Fairy Tales. UK: Oxford World's Classics.
  • Perrault, C (2010). The Complete Fairy Tales. UK: Oxford World's Classics.
  • Tatar, M (2014). The Cambridge Companion to Fairy Tales. UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Von Franz, M.L (1995). Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales. 2nd ed. USA: Shambhala Publications Inc.
  • Zipes, J (2013). The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre. USA: Princeton University Press.
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    About the Creator

    Annie Kapur

    190K+ Reads on Vocal.

    English Lecturer

    🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

    🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

    🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

    📍Birmingham, UK

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