Chapter IV. Urban Legends: The Evolution of Folklore
Urban legends are stories that have the designation of being ?too strange to be true? but are based in reality. Despite these fables being a touch on the strange side most people that hear them understand them as being true. Through generations these tales seem to happen to our friends, family members, or even distant relatives. Unlike fairy tales which are meant to be cautionary yet fictional, urban legends represent some form of truth. Think of the creation of urban legends like the children?s game telephone, this is a method referred to serial reproduction. The story is told from one person to the next, however because it is being told verbally there is tone and bias that moves from person …show more content…
(Smith 28). Both of these emails had different intentions however they both resulted in creating a whirlwind of activity.? They created an immense and immediate response from the public and spawned numerous spinoff tales. While these two tales preyed on different emotions such as sorrow, pity and greed, there are other tales that use the fear that parents have for their children. Caring for a child is scary enough with all the genuine dangers that lurk around each corner looking to threaten your child. From pedophiles, dangerous toys, car accidents, and child abductions, who needs urban legends to scare us? Most of the time as parents we have to worry about how we put our children to bed in fear they might die in their sleep. As parents we know that we will take care of our children regardless, but what about the caretakers we hire to watch them when we are not around? This is where many of our fears stem from, the idea of strangers watching our children. One such tales centers on how nanny?s in the early 1900?s used to get their children to take a nap when they were being fussy. The story goes that two nannies are sitting on a park bench in London complaining
Urban legends are stories that have the designation of being ?too strange to be true? but are based in reality. Despite these fables being a touch on the strange side most people that hear them understand them as being true. Through generations these tales seem to happen to our friends, family members, or even distant relatives. Unlike fairy tales which are meant to be cautionary yet fictional, urban legends represent some form of truth. Think of the creation of urban legends like the children?s game telephone, this is a method referred to serial reproduction. The story is told from one person to the next, however because it is being told verbally there is tone and bias that moves from person …show more content…
(Smith 28). Both of these emails had different intentions however they both resulted in creating a whirlwind of activity.? They created an immense and immediate response from the public and spawned numerous spinoff tales. While these two tales preyed on different emotions such as sorrow, pity and greed, there are other tales that use the fear that parents have for their children. Caring for a child is scary enough with all the genuine dangers that lurk around each corner looking to threaten your child. From pedophiles, dangerous toys, car accidents, and child abductions, who needs urban legends to scare us? Most of the time as parents we have to worry about how we put our children to bed in fear they might die in their sleep. As parents we know that we will take care of our children regardless, but what about the caretakers we hire to watch them when we are not around? This is where many of our fears stem from, the idea of strangers watching our children. One such tales centers on how nanny?s in the early 1900?s used to get their children to take a nap when they were being fussy. The story goes that two nannies are sitting on a park bench in London complaining