INTRODUCTION (Draft)

Chapter 1

Introduction 

The Urban Legends and the Society

A Research Paper Presented to

Mr. Dustin Celestino of The English Resource Center

Asia Pacific College

Magallanes, Makati

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Course

RESWRITE-Research Writing

Pamela V. Palada

February 2013

A. Background of the Study 

From the word Urban that means “city” and Legend that means “story from the past,” Urban Legend is an apocryphal, fictional story that is asserted whether it is real or not, although there are stories that are convincing enough to be considered as real. It can be also defined as a modern myth, a common folklore, which is the teller insists that it is true despite that the teller does not have an evidence to prove it. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-urban-legends.htm)

It is usually passed down through generations, person-to-person, and with the help of technology and media, however; as people recite the said legend to other, the story changes person-to-person. The teller usually claims that the story happened to a friend or a friend of their friend that sometimes leads to “FOAFlore,” and FOAFtale.” That is why it is hard to know where did the legend came from and its origin, and whether the legend is a hoax or not.

Despite on its name, an urban legend, sometimes, it does not necessarily come from an urban area. Rather, it is used to differentiate modern legend from the traditional folklore, and for this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the name “contemporary legend.”

The term Urban Legend has appeared in a print since at least 1968 by an American folklorist, Jan Harold Brunvand, and also a professor in English at the University of Utah as he introduced the term to the public by publishing a series of a book in the beginning of 1981. One of his books, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings (1981) shows that legend and folklore does not partially occur traditionally –but can also happen in our modern times. (http://www.tafkac.org/)

Urban Legends, has different kinds of category: Horror, humorous, there are some about health, embarrassing and sometimes, ironic.

Nowadays, people still tend to spread Urban Legends, but some of it became ghost stories. One example of it is the popular “Bloody Mary,” wherein almost of the people knows it, it was a popular legend among teenagers and students since students usually dare each other to do the certain ritual to summon Bloody Mary. Up until now, you can still hear a number of people talking about Bloody Mary even though the legend about her was started many years ago in England. This indicates that, no matter generation we are, even in the future, Urban Legends will not disappear easily.

And because of its popularity, a horror movie was made about urban legends. In Urban Legend (1998), it was about a serial killer who uses the method that is based on Urban Legends to kill the victims. One example is when Brenda tried doing the “Kidney Heist” legend on Natalie. There were also two sequels of the movie which are Urban Legends: Final Cut and Urban Legend: Bloody Mary which is also related about serial killings, using the method of Urban Legends.

On the other hand, we also have our Urban Legends here in Philippines. They are quite abundant and most of our local urban legends are made to warn, and frequently used by the elders to scare their children and to teach them a lesson. One example that has become popular in the midst of 80’s was about The Robinson’s Half-Human and Half-Snake, living under the mall (or the basement) which some says that there was a hidden room. It is said that there are tons of camera hidden inside the mall and if the Snake has set an eye to a young woman, he will just push and switch a button that will enable the floors, or the walls to open and bring the girl to the snake for him to eat –or just have fun. At first, the rumors spread fast and it became a controversy that people became afraid to go shop in there, nevertheless, as the time went by, the rumor suddenly obscured like nothing has happened but the awareness of the people were still there, but today, even though many years have already passed, the urban legend is still circulating not only around the people, it is also circulated around the internet.

“Factual or not, when an urban legend is told, it’s meant to be believed. The teller is apt to rely on skillful storytelling and/or reference to putatively trustworthy sources – e.g., ‘it really happened to my hairdresser’s brother’s best friend’ – in lieu of actual proof or evidence” (http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/urbanlegends/f/urbanlegends1.htm)

B. Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer this question:

   People are interested in Urban Legends in fact that they know that some of the myths are not real. Why?

      

C. Significance of the Study

Enthusiasts: This research will be able to give more information about urban legends to the enthusiasts. It will also help them learn on what they are actually believe and give their interest to.

Future Researchers: This will help the future researchers if they ever found this topic interesting. This study might help them to gain more idea and information about this certain topic especially when they are given the same task and format as we have.

Authors: This study might help them gain more knowledge if they are interested to write something about this particular topic.

Others: This study gives information and ideas about Urban Legends that they can use for their leisure and entertainment, as they can accumulate ideas that they can share with their friends.

D. Scope and Delimitation

The objective of the study is to know why people still have their interest on reading and researching about Urban Legends, despite that they know some of the urban legends were just hoaxes. The study will discuss minor information about Urban Legends and will only limit few examples; however, the main focus of the study is about the way how Urban Legends gives interest and can make other people believe a certain legend aside from it being a hoax and can be possible that it is related to a human’s psychological manner –or if it is because on one’s way on how to proclaim a certain legend that to make it look credible.

E. Materials and Methods

This research will give informative and descriptive information about Urban Legends, for the readers to have more idea about what they are reading. It will also help them have an additional concepts and perceptions for them to have their point of view on the topic.

The information may be based on the surveys of the enthusiasts and non-believers as they recite their opinions about on Urban Legends and how and why are they interested on those myths although they know that some of them were not real. In addition, I can get further information with the help of medium (any kinds of media) and other online resources.

F. Definition of Terms

Apocryphal – An adjective word that means questionable authenticity or fake.

Myth – A traditional, sacred story, typically revolving around the activities of gods and heroes, which purport to explain natural phenomenon or cultural practice.

Folklore – The traditional beliefs, practices, of a person that is transmitted orally.

Hoax – A humorous or malicious deception. It can be also a false, a fake imitation and not real statement or others.

Heist – Is an action of robbing or stealing.

Legend – A non-historical or incredible story, handed down by a tradition to the present generation.

Humorous – An act of being funny, or a one, being laughable.

Ironic – Using words to tell a meaning that is the opposite of the real and literal meaning.

Rumor - A story or a statement that has circulated around in a certain place without a proof or a confirmation.