ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 6710 Views
Share It!
Description:
The title is pretty ironic when you consider how little sleep you'd be getting if you had a headless horseman chasing you.
Transcript
- 00:01
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow a la Shmoop. Ichabod Crane is about two hundred years old,
- 00:09
but that hasn’t stopped the old coot from being a staple of pop culture.
- 00:13
He’s been played in the movies by Johnny Depp, and is even the subject of a 2013 time-traveling
- 00:18
TV show.
- 00:20
What is it about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow that's made such an impact on American society?
Full Transcript
- 00:25
One thing that keeps it in high demand is the simple fact that people love scary stories.
- 00:29
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its terrifying headless horseman, is one of the original
- 00:33
scary stories to tell in the dark. People are always passing along creepy tales...
- 00:40
Like how that friend of your friend’s cousin’s half-brother’s aunt once put a hamster in
- 00:45
the microwave…
- 00:46
Similarly, they’ve been telling and retelling the Legend of Sleepy Hollow for two centuries.
- 00:53
While Irving didn’t up come up with the legend of the headless horseman, he glammed
- 00:56
it up, which helps the story’s longevity.
- 00:58
It’s surprising he didn’t come up with the idea to turn Hansel and Gretel into gun
- 01:02
toting action heroes. You say scary stories aren’t your thing?
- 01:10
People who aren’t big fans of scary stories enjoy Sleepy Hollow for a different reason…
- 01:14
its protagonist, Ichabod Crane.
- 01:16
We can all identify with Ichabod…
- 01:18
He’s no Hercules or Superman… he’s a skinny nerd with fast feet and quick wits
- 01:23
in place of rippling muscles. And, judging by how often we hide under the
- 01:26
covers after a scary movie, we also identify with his fear.
- 01:32
Even if you’re not that big into frights, or don’t give two shakes about Ichabod…
- 01:35
…you can’t deny the fact that, as a culture, we Americans love to fantasize about supernatural
- 01:41
stuff.
- 01:44
Things that go bump in the night can be anything from vampires and werewolves….
- 01:47
…To Bigfoot, El Chupacabra, or even UFOs circling overhead looking for something or
- 01:52
someone to… probe. Irving takes advantage of our love for the
- 01:57
unexplained by leaving it open to interpretation whether or not the headless horseman is actually
- 02:03
real.
- 02:04
Imagine reading this story, then hearing a snapping twig in the woods on a dark night.
- 02:09
You’d be liable to think that it could be the diabolical horseman, looking for a head
- 02:15
transplant…
- 02:18
So why has this story made such an everlasting impact on American storytelling?
- 02:22
Is it our love for scary stories?
- 02:24
Our soft spot for the underdog?
- 02:26
Or our fascination with the supernatural? Shmoop amongst yourselves
Up Next
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Related Videos
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
