Hero motifs in fairy tales

Clare (Loeb) Spark introduces Dr. Harold Stone, clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, and they discuss the hero motif in fairy tales. Stone first expounds on the place of fairy tales in our culture, and how they illustrate the dreams and consciousness of a culture. He tells the myth of “The dragon’s teeth” about Europa and the bull, who is actually Zeus in disguise. He pauses to show how the story falls in line with his theorem, then continues on with the story. In the second part of the program, Stone and Spark discuss the lost art of telling a story from memory, the desires of drug users to have peak experiences, and what we need from our fairy tales in contemporary society. Stone then relates the dream of a patient of his, a member of a leftist organization, about an encounter with a Frankenstein monster. Contains background music throughout for ambient effect.