User:RM395/Course/Encyclopedia comparisons/Katerwaul

Comparing two articles on the ghost of La Llorona - "The Weeping Woman"

--Katerwaul (talk) 00:12, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

For this assignment I chose to compare two encyclopedia articles on La Llorona: one from Wikipedia, and the other from Rosemary Ellen Guiley's Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (Published 1992 Facts on File. p. 190-1). Growing up with Mexican heritage and living in New Mexico gave me two different perspectives on this folk legend, and it was interesting to compare and contrast the different variations of the tale with what I've already been exposed to.

Layout & Composition

Looking at Guiley's article from the Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, it about a full page long, with a list of resources for further reading at the end. There are no accompanying images. The Wikipedia article seems to be a little shorter than Guiley's article, but includes a still from the 1933 Mexican film La Llorona. As of now, the Wikipedia article is marked as needing additional citations for verification, and there are not many ref tags to validate much of the information.

In terms of layout and composition, I'd choose Guiley's article. The references in Guiley's article are all edited books, while some of the references, bibliography, and external links on the Wikipedia page are questionable to me (Grimm and Supernatural episodes?). While the Wikipedia article has the advantage of adding an image to the page, I don't think that image is particularly interesting or informative. I remember reading the legend of La Llorona in school, and it was always accompanied by a creepy sketch of a skeletal woman with long black hair, a description that is consistent in most of the variations of the folktale I've heard. So for the Wikipedia article to include a picture of Adriana Lamar as La Malinche, when that particular variation of the tale is the most common, seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Content

The basic story of La Llorona, that both the articles and what I've heard myself agree upon, is that there is said to be the wandering ghost of a woman who has lost her children. As a result, she wails and cries at night, and thus they call her La Llorona. But the folk story is far more complicated than that, and as a result of so many variations of this folk story, the content of these two articles on La Llorona is almost completely different.

Guiley's article quickly explains the main variations of the legend, before turning to the possible origins of the tale. From there, Guiley discusses the descriptions of La Llorona, and her modus operandi. In the article, it is also mentioned that versions of the tale of La Llorona exist in the American Southwest, but also in Indiana and the Philipines.

The Wikipedia article instead places emphasis on one variation of the story, which is similar to the one I learned while living in the Southwest. Afterwards, the article mentions variants that include kidnapping of children, before and comparing the story to other folk tales and historical figures.

One of the prime differences between these two articles the discussion of whether La Llorona killed her kids or not. In short, the Wikipedia does not entertain the possibility that La Llorona's kids disappeared or were taken. The Wikipedia article seems to have taken the position that La Llorona killed her children, with nothing to substantiate this retelling as the most common one. On the other hand, Guiley's article does mention different beginnings to the myth, some in which the children are not murdered by their mother.

I also found it odd that the Wikipedia article did not have a section about La Llorona in culture, especially considering that the article links to two television episodes and includes a picture from a film adaptation. The Guiley article does not mention cultural references to La Llorona at all, but such information is not missed, in my opinion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think the Guiley article is a more informative article than the Wikipedia article. Though both articles don't cover an exhaustive amount about La Llorona, I felt the Guiley article is informative and specific than the Wikipedia article. What really made this decision for me was looking over the talk page of the La Llorona Wikipedia page, looking at all the interesting suggestions made from people all over the world, and so few had been implemented. The page definitely needs help if it hopes to be as informative as the Guiley article.