For my first ever blog post, I apologize if it seems a
bit jumbled, I hope to get better as the semester goes on. To start I wanted to
talk about magic. While reading the Kieckhefer book I giggled and laughed at
some of the things people believed in the past. Then I started to think about
whether we were far off from them, in our own beliefs about magic. That is when
I realized some of us still hold on to that fundamental belief in magic. While
we may not make potions to cure our lameness or find love via hitting someone
over the head with a hazel stick (caveman style…. Though we might still do it
today if it was not considered assault with a deadly weapon….) we do show our
belief in things that we do or not do.
For example how
many of us see a coin on the ground, but hesitate even if only for a second to
check if it is heads up? Or even on campus, who does not split the pergola
poles? Lucky socks anyone. I guess the point I am trying to make is that I
think most of us still believe in magic deep down. True some people may say
that it is not magic it is superstition, but don’t they go hand in hand? You
can take superstition and create a thread line to magic. Superstition: Black cats are bad luck, why?
They are associated with witches. What do witches do? Witchcraft, what is that?
MAGIC!
Now that I am an adult,
I always hear the phrase “magic is for children” or “Only children believe in
magic”. My question is, why? I think that it is small minded to not believe in
magic, even a little bit. The world seems like a barren place, magic can give
people hope and I think that is worth something. After all, it is as Roald Dahl
said, “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”.
Nicely said, Sarah. I love that Roald Dahl quotation. It's interesting how magic has changed from something "evil" to be shunned ... to something delightful that is intended for children!
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a really interesting point. Even the stories we saw in movies have been tweaked and revised to fit this idea. If we look at the story of The Little Mermaid, the version we are told as children is that the witch is evil but the woman over comes this and keeps her magic legs, while the original story is completely opposite. The original story is that the prince never falls for Ariel and marries some other woman, meaning that they never kiss and the sweet little mermaid turns into sea foam. This change from evil magic that ends in sad consequences to happy little children's stories contrasts so sharply that I wonder what the catalyst for this change was.
ReplyDeleteI like the superstitious reference to magic. Like you said, most people will say they don't believe in magic, but then some of those people may believe in superstitions and the two are much closer related than we realize.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. We often try to put magical ideas behind us as adults, and isn't that sad? Wasn't the world more exciting when we believed in magical beings like the tooth fairy or monsters in the closet? It is interesting how some of those ideas of magic stay with us (like the penny) even if we try not to acknowledge it. It's strange that we teach these magical ideas to children, and claim that they do not use their imaginations enough, but when they get to adulthood, we expect them to put those ideas and stories behind them.
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