Folklore is a subject that a few people might not find to have a large impact on society or hold such a great significance, but a folklorist may beg to differ.
Dr. Greg Kelley, a media instructor at the University of Guelph-Humber, recently released a book titled ‘Unruly Audience: Folk Interventions in Popular Media’, which examines the fine detail of storytelling, popular culture, and folklore.
Kelley said in an interview via Zoom there are plenty of life lessons embedded in folklore for people to learn, “It can help understand and explain why humans behave the way they do. We can learn a lot about how humans deal with crises, how they express their affections and manage the entanglements in life.”
Examples of this can be tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Pinocchio, two stories that children can learn valuable and strong lessons from folklore.
When students at Guelph-Humber were asked about folklore and storytelling, they expressed mixed feelings.
Vanessa Caputo, a media student said she grew up off of folklore and enjoys it still today. “When really looking at it in-depth, a lot of these folklore stories are associated with deeper messages. These tales like Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella have actual lessons for us to learn from.”
“Some people don’t even know that they’ve been affected by folklore. A lot of popular movies nowadays aren’t original and are recreated from folklore.”
Kelley says folklore goes ‘hand-in-hand’ with popular culture. They share a natural connection because they both revolve around communication. “As folk culture becomes mediated, then it is entering the realm of the popular. It’s not a defined line between one and the other.”
He says a prime example of this is the Cinderella story. It has been around for hundreds of years and different versions have been made with tweaks to certain details. The commonly known version by Walt Disney is not the original as some may assume, but actually based on Charles Perrault’s version, a French writer.
Kelley says Disney actually did not come up with a majority of their stories originally, they came from folklore in fact. He adds they put their own stamp on long-told traditional tales. “They had every right to do whatever they wanted with these stories, it’s not a holy manuscript that’s not to be added to or removed,” he says.
Although individuals from the media field may be ardent about folklore, not all students at Guelph-Humber can agree. Alvera Pols, a justice studies student said she just doesn’t get it. “I love non-fiction but there is a time and place for it,” she says, “I couldn’t revolve my day-to-day life learning about it.”
Kelley said his book is geared towards academics as a scholarly work but can also serve a very broad audience, “It can be for anyone who is interested in humor studies, in legend or just generally in media studies.”
Kelley completed his book in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which he did face some challenges. He notes he has written more compact, research pieces in academic journals. “For the longest time, I never thought I would write a book. I didn’t necessarily think I had the aptitude for the big, long, loopy argument of a book.”
With the help of his partner, who is also a folklorist, they were able to overcome any challenges they were faced with. Kelley said, “She is my best friend and best editor.”