Transformation Information

Cassi Clampitt's displaced fairytale mentioned a TV show I happen to like, which is why it caught my attention, then I looked into it. In Cassi's story towards the end, "Jake made the Verizon Wireless nerd watch an all day marathon of What Not to Wear." This show, although a classic reality TV show, is all about transformations which is a fairy tale notion of taking the ugly and making it beautiful. Here is an episode of What Not to Wear - Cristina Hernandez for an example, the woman is transformed from her old frumpy self to someone who is 'fabulous' by Stacy and Clinton. Just looking in our book of fairy tales I counted 5 tales that have an obvious transformation: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Frog King, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, The Ugly Duckling and I'm sure there are more that illustrate this transformation. Even in Alice in Wonderland doesn't the caterpillar smoking the pipe transform into a butterfly and take off? And if anyone has seen The Swan Princess the princess is a swan by day princess by night until her prince can save her from a sorcerer. An example of this dramatic transformation in real life is a caterpiller making his transformation into a butterfly. As I serached the internet for information about transformation in fairy tales I stumbled upon an online article Classic Fairy Tales for Maidens, Matrons, Crones
Review: Spinning Straw into Gold by Joan Gould © Megge Hill Fitz-Randolph which said that "Spinning is a metaphor for transformation." More transformation information! Then where do we see spinning in fairy tales: Rumplestiltzkin, Sleeping Beauty, and probably more. I was reading Taylor Moorman's blogs and in the blog, "There in the warp and the woof is the proof of it..." Taylor talks all about spinning and weaving and says, "Spinning and weaving become, not just a tedious task, but a way to transform oneself from a poor miller's daughter to a queen." And there is quite a bit more information on spinning in Taylor's blog post, you will have to see for yourself.