What if legend and belief are not as tightly connected as we assumed? Can a legend motif be popular in tradition, even if the text and context indicate that it is less believable or not believable at all?

Fairy motifs, for example, persist in today's popular legend traditions, most commonly in fabulates about aliens from outer space - nowadays they connect to superior technology not magical power. Werewolf motifs are told for entertainment, not as debates over reality, and therefore don't fit the definition of legend. But they nevertheless connect to real-world fears.

Reading

Estimated time to read: ~30 minutes

Linda Dégh, UFOs and how folklorists should look at them. Fabula 18,1 (1977), pages 242-248.

UW Library : Permalink to UFOs and how folklorists should look at them

Kvideland & Sehmsdorf, (1991)."12. Werewolves and Man-Bears" in Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend, pages74-80.

UW Library : Permalink to Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend

...and American werewolf stories, in Harry Potter and the Twilight series.

Rationale: Examples of legends about alien spaceships and werewolves demonstrate how these stories, even if only remotely believable, nevertheless connect to the tellers' real-world fears. This connection to fear can continue even when the story is not a legend (because a motif's believability is not debated). Examples include werewolf motifs in entertaining movies and books.

Lecture

In this lecture keep the following questions in mind:

Why do people tell and repeat fabulates? By definition, these stories are "far" from the teller's world-- neither the teller, nor anybody they know has experienced the legend that they retell. But the legend debate continues... How?

For American audiences, the werewolf motif is hardly believable. But still it feels "scary" to popular movie audiences... Why and how does this "unbelievable" motif resonate with real-world fears? Please also read excerpts from the books on which these current werewolf films were based: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban; and New Moon.

Bonus

Here's a link to the article mentioned in the lecture, about parallels between fairy legends and alien abduction stories:
Thomas Bullard. (1989). UFO Abduction Reports: The Supernatural Kidnap Narrative Returns in Technological Guise.
The werewolf motif was popularized in American culture by the classic horror film, Wolf Man (1941). The film connected werewolves and magical powers of the Roma, a discriminated ethnic group (the word "Gypsy," used in the film is nowadays derogatory):
Brent Stypczynski shows how Professor Lupin (in Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban) connects to current American fears of a disease, AIDS (2010). Wolf in professor's clothing: J. K. Rowling's werewolf as educator. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 21(1), 57.

UW Library : Permalink to Wolf in professor's clothing: J. K. Rowling's werewolf as educator

Have some thoughts or questions? Why not join the conversation... Legends & Beliefs forum