Reflection Week 3: Defamiliarization

This week we discussed the idea of "defamiliarization," or: the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, changing their perception of the things that they "know." I know I discussed a musical on this blog last week, but I would like to discuss another great musical that I think does this really well; that being Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Into the Woods is a musical that takes place in a magical kingdom, and the main characters are the Baker and his Wife. The Baker and his Wife are desperate for a child, however the Baker's father (unbeknownst to the Baker) had a curse placed on him by a witch many years ago, making their family tree forever barren. The Witch tells them the only way she will reverse the curse is if they bring her, "a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold." Obviously, these are all items from old fairytales like Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. The musical goes on to include characters from all of these stories and more, even going so far as to combine them by the very end. By the end of the musical, a giant is wreaking havoc around the kingdom and many of the characters are dead, keeping the same dark tone as the original fairytales, but defamiliarizing the stories we have come to know and love. This retelling basically then becomes its own "fairytale" with its own lesson in the end, teaching each character that, "No one is alone." 

Here is a link to the part of the musical where all of their stories combine: 

                          " Your Fault / Last midnight" Into the woods - Broadway original cast