Opening the Shoe Box

Rushabh Doshi

Jake Weisman

China and Shoes

Abstract:

Our entire lives revolve around what society implants and says is correct. But what does society say about shoes? We really wanted to focus on China and how the Chinese culture has affected fairy tales. We felt that exploring footbinding and the color red would help our overall perspective on the implications China has in fairy tales. We had known there was a connection for footbinding, but we did not know what it was. Due to the massive controversy of how red signifies a whole slew of different things, researching the implications it had in China brought us closer to our answer. Through research, almost entirely through the John F. Kennedy Library here at California State University, Los Angeles, as well as some Peer-reviewed articles and Ebooks, we were able to answer our question to the best of our ability. The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen and Cinderella (several different variants) served as focal points for us. In the end, our research has given us a broader understanding of the overall reasoning for foot-binding, and clearer view on the color red in Chinese culture, ultimately allowing us to answer our question to the fullest of our capacity.

1. We had actually started a bit late so it had become difficult. Although you may not take this advice just as we hadn’t, we know realized how much easier it would have been. We had to force ourselves to finish it quickly so we could get Professor Jenny’s input on our paper. The paper is not as hard as it may seem. What we did was we got a lot of evidence and then tried to string it all together. Some advice that could work: Just keep on writing as much as you can. The more sources you read, the more you’ll realize that everything can be strung together, no matter how difficult it is. A lot of times, we found some really cool evidence. However, don’t incoporate evidence just because it is “cool”. Only keep evidence that is relevant to your argument or conclusion. Also, don’t be afraid of changing your focus and broadening your narrowing your scope throughout the process. Good luck!

2. During the critical literacy assignment, we found a book called The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales Volume 3. We went and found this book in the library and took pictures of the pages that were important to us because it was a reference book and we could not check it out. The primary database we used was JSTOR, and we found most of our journal articles that way. We figured that since there probably are not a lot of books published on shoes and fairy tales, we right from the start concluded that journal articles would be our best bet. We also found a lot on google, however, make sure to focus on using academic sites as much as you can unless you have no other site.

Ko, Dorothy. Every Step a Lotus: Shoes for Bound Feet. Pp. 164-173. California.

Cheu, Johnson. Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability, Maine, 2013, Print. Pp. 152-3

Namioka, Lensey. Ties that Bind, Ties that Break. New York. Laural Leef. 1999. Pp: 213-7 Print.

Andersen, Hans Christian. "The Red Shoes." (1845): n. pag. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.

Davidson, Hilary. "Sex and Sin: The Magic of Red Shoes." Sex and Sin: The Magic of Red Shoes. Academia.org, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.