FTBC--Jack the Giant Killer

Here’s my earliest memory of Jack the Giant Killer:         Confusing, huh?Mickey didn’t set out to kill a giant in either case, and to be honest I don’t think he did. I vaguely remember a giant trussed up like a turkey or maybe hog tied like a calf (don’t get me started on my childhood confusion about hogs tying up baby cows).Anyway, those two stories became conflated in my head. Mickey handles the giant, gets the princess (Minnie) and I suppose they live happily ever after in a G rated sort of way.Later, I saw the NBC miniseries of Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story starring Matthew Modine (2001). It was more of a re-telling, casting the original Jack, Modine’s something-great-grandfather, as a villain who stole from and killed the giant, Thunderdell, who was kind, if a little too trusting. I really loved this story because it was a true happy ending—Jack repents for his ancestor’s wrong-doing, peace and prosperity return to the kingdom in the clouds, and he and the very capable, independent “princess”, Ondine, live happily ever after.It wasn’t until much later in life did I realize that there was another story. A more gruesome story.The original story of Jack the Giant Killer has Jack killing at least six giants (or seven, depending on how you count two-headed giants). One three-headed giant is robbed by Jack and King Arthur’s son. The giant gives Jack gifts for sparing his castle (and him, presumably) because Jack’s reputation is becoming legendary in the giant community. The last giant he kills was to alleviate boredom and wins himself a duke’s daughter for a bride.As a rule, I try and find something to say about a story that relates to feminism or how it speaks to a modern reader. This story is too confusing to find anything in it. It borrows from so many stories, that were themselves popular, that reading it had me constantly stopping for odd moments of literary déjà vu. I can say the duke’s daughter is clearly an afterthought. There’s some Lady who isn’t given a name either and is under the thrall of Lucifer. Jack beheads him and then the Lady marries King Arthur’s son.Mostly, the Jack in Jack the Giant Killer comes across as some bro-dude who just likes killing giants. And clearly I wasn’t the only one who had a problem with the story and just said, “To heck with it,” and mixed Killer and Beanstalk.  How about you, FF reader? Did this story leave you as confused as me?Come back next month, and we'll discuss The Golden Goose.See you then!