Ouachita Baptist University Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita Honors Theses Carl Goodson Honors Program 2011 From the Middle Ages to Modernity: The Intersecting Supernatural Worlds of Melusine and Today's Popular Culture Sarah Stark Ouachita Baptist University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses Part of the American Popular Culture Commons, Folklore Commons, and the French and Francophone Literature Commons Recommended Citation Stark, Sarah, "From the Middle Ages to Modernity: The Intersecting Supernatural Worlds of Melusine and Today's Popular Culture" (2011). Honors Theses. 73. https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/73 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Carl Goodson Honors Program at Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Stark 1 From the Middle Ages to Modernity: The Intersecting Supernatural Worlds of Melusille and Today's Popular Culture While some may scoff at fairy tales as juvenile, primitive, or superstitious, they have always held a special fascination for me, and I am not alone in this- stories about magicians, monsters, and mythical creatures have captivated their audiences' imaginations for thousands of years. Feeling myself consistently drawn toward this type of story, I began several months ago to study supernatural tales from the medieval era as well as those popular today, and I have since discovered numerous worlds in which the natural and supernatural coexist. Creatures seemingly human are, in fact, sometimes more-or less, depending on one's perspective. Families are cursed, friendships and romances spring up among mortals and fairies, vampires, and other fantastic ilk, and things are rarely as they seem.