Showing posts with label social issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social issues. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Film: "In the Mirror" Retells Snow White In An Age of Selfies and Social Media

The most frustrating thing about In The Mirror is that we have no idea when we'll be able to see this intriguing retelling of the fairy tale. In this time of a pandemic, with social-distancing and lockdowns, when we are forced to experience much of life outside our homes through a lens, it's very timely to see a fairy tale being retold with this focus. (The film is, however, Latvia's official Academy Awards selection for the coming year, so fingers crossed it will be available for the general public to see somewhere online soon.)

The award-winning, Latvian film director, Laila Pakalnina, who also wrote and produced the film, had the idea of retelling Snow White through the lens - literally - of the selfie, after spending a lot of time getting messages from her distanced daughter and realizing its potential as a very different form for creating a feature film. Pakalnina also realized that using the communication form of social media - while generally thought of as a film and photography medium - is actually very different from film in general and provides a very unique set of technical challenges to create film quality selfie-stylizations, as well as making for a very interesting reflection of current societal values - a theme that dovetails perfectly with Snow White. 

From an interview with Cineuropa:

Cineuropa: How did you start developing In the Mirror?
Laila Pakalniņa:
 At first, I had the idea of exploring selfies as a form. Somehow, my daughter started communicating with me through selfies – she wasn't sending me still portraits, but short video messages. Then I understood there was something to dig into there. But working with mobiles wouldn't have been interesting enough for me. For sure, I knew I needed professional cameras, horizontal framing and, most probably, anamorphic lenses because I like to work on the mise-en-scène, not just on someone's close-up. I realised it was a very interesting form that could be used to communicate and show people the world through a self-portrait. The next idea that came to me was a fairy tale, Snow White. I somehow realised that what this stepmother was talking to was a mirror, so it was already a selfie! I wanted to offer that tool to all of my characters

Using selfie-culture for a narrative is just as much about what the screens capture in the images as it is about what's actually being said in any dialogue, perhaps even more so, and it requires a completely different mindset and approach from regular filmmaking. It's a bold experimental film, playful and contemporary, which requires the audience to give up their usual way of watching movies and to see the story unfold largely via "selfie shots" (think stills/photos as well as short Tik-Tok-length videos) with the actors talking directly to the camera, but even more intimately than one would see in a documentary. In this film, the actors were required to be in contact with the camera (and the Director of Photography), almost hugging it as they delivered their lines or hit their marks, or, for example in the case of running, having the camera attached to them.

It effectively uses the stark contrast (and fairy tale appropriate) colors of black and white, all while the actors deliver their dialogue as directly to the audience as anything ever done before. There's no doubt the audience is being made to feel uncomfortable on purpose, with the high stylization, but it underscores the story it's telling so very well.

From the Cineuropa interview, again, essentially commenting on how black and white is a great shorthand for retelling a fairy tale in film:

What about the choice of filming it in black and white?
Usually, when you film in black and white, it's easier to organise framing, as it's not that chaotic. We weren't looking for an easy way to do things, though. But this is a fairy tale, and black and white leaves the viewers some room for fantasy. I believe that when you watch something shot in black and white, perhaps you see it as it is for the first few minutes, but then you can unleash your imagination and see the colours.

Take a look at the trailer - and remember: there will be selfies! (it takes a bit of an adjustment on first viewing):

Pakalnina also chose to set her contemporary take in a gym, of all places, which, at first, sounds absurd, until you begin to realize all the implications of fitness, body image, youth-obsessed culture, and our continual preoccupation with self-image now that smartphones and social media are central to much of society. The cast she chose is full of athletes, dancers, body-builders, extreme sports players, and other non-professionals, all making for a "carnivalesque" atmosphere. Snow White herself is played by Elza Leimane, a renowned prima-ballerina in Latvia, something Pakalina says (in her Q&A for the film festival) was invaluable in having to take her challenging and very unusual direction for this approach to filming.

In The Mirror is billed as a darkly comic fable, which has shown to make for lively screenings at festivals. Here are some notes from reviewer Stephen Dalton at The Hollywood Reporter, who attended the Black Nights Festival in Tallinn, a.k.a. PÖFF24 (which we assume was social distanced, considering all the interviews and presentations were done via zoom and similar tech - something Pakalina commented on as being oddly appropriate and on theme when being interviewed!):

Smartly using a 200-year-old folklore story to satirize the narcissism and body fascism of our social media-saturated age, it consistently breaks the fourth wall in witty and inventive ways.

... this Latvian-Lithuanian film (Ed. - created with English subtitles) is mostly shot on agile hand-held cameras and clothed in lustrous monochrome visuals. Even if the storytelling is disjointed at times, In the Mirror never looks less than ravishing, while kinetic editing and a pulsing techno score help to keep energy levels at a maximum.

This foray into fairy tales is not the first for filmmaker Pakalnina. The summary on the PÖFF24 festival film site explains a little more of her approach to combining tales with social commentary:

Fairy-tales are stories which we are told as children and which we recognise in all sorts of characters around us as adults.

With her creative works which determinedly experiment with the language of film and the narrative, director and screenwriter Laila Pakalniņa has become renowned both at film festivals far away and right here at PÖFF last year with her documentary "The Spoon". Her film "The Shoe" intertwined fairy-tales with social criticism at Cannes as early as in 1998. After "Cinderella", she this time takes on "Snow White" We can all remember the evil stepmother whose sinister nature manifested in boundless self-admiration as she demanded daily praise from her reflection? Today, people talk to their reflection regularly multiple times more than the evil stepmother ever did throughout the entire fairy-tale.

...In this story, everyone talks to their reflection, which playfully comes from the perspective of the viewer. What does a person who only looks at himself see and what goes unnoticed on the background of all that? "In the Mirror" proposes answers at a high artistic level, while also daring to use the piquancy of absurd humour.

 And expanding a little on how the filmmaking style reflects the tale, in the review from THR:

Pakalnina and her cinematographer Gints Berzins consistently conjure up arrestingly surreal images: a team of strongmen lugging a burning car through a blizzard, a man asleep under a giant rock, the underside of a squirrel perched on a glass roof. Even when they make scant narrative sense, these quirky tableaux serve as dreamlike symbols in the spirit of Fellini, David Lynch or Sally Potter. Berzins also makes dynamic use of depth of field, shifting dramatic emphasis by switching from crisp to blurry focus. But most of the film's striking close-ups were actually shot by the actors themselves using digital cameras mounted on a custom “selfie stick,” a bold new kind of collective collaboration. 

The film reportedly follows the fairy tale narrative fairly closely but it's more how it's told that surprises and makes it fresh, rather than how the plot is modernized. Here's an example of how the tale is told via Cineuropa:

Overall, the piece works on two levels. On the one hand, it arouses the viewer’s curiosity to find out how certain aspects of the original fairy tale will be staged (and manipulated) within the bizarre characters’ world; on the other, it prompts an obvious reflection on the pervasive role of smartphones in our life, ready to document every single moment (even a successful round of burpees), to ramp up our levels of narcissism and to make our emotions appear more spectacular. In this respect, one of the initial scenes – the one set at the funeral following Snow White’s mother’s passing – is a good example of said dichotomy, as we see the father filming his own despair with the coffin in the background, followed by a number of relatives and acquaintances approaching him one after another and almost glad to be in the frame.

The Q&A with the filmmaker (spoken in English for PÖFF) is definitely worth a watch. Pakalnina explains her inspiration and challenges in creating a film this way, which is unusual at least, and possibly groundbreaking, and provides much food for thought. It certainly makes us want to hunt down her previous reworking of a fairy tale in The Shoe*. Scroll to the bottom of the Festival page and hit the play button under the Q&A with the filmmaker (right above the social media icon links). 

(For extra-interested fairy tale film-buffs and filmmakers among our readers, click HERE for a brief, but informative, behind-the-scenes peek at the filmmaking on Instagram. We also recommend reading the rest of the Cineuropa interview for specific filmmaking techniques used for the "selfie-aesthetics".)

Good news for US audiences: Los Angeles-based Oration Films signed up world sales rights ahead of the film's Tallinn premiere. We'll be keeping an eye out for this one!


DVD with English subtitles available for purchase in the US! Summary of the film HERE along with an interesting interview with Writer-Director Laila Pakalnina, and her very different Cinderella.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thanksgiving 2020: A Day of Remembrance

by Guinevere von Sneeden

This year's Thanksgiving in the US is not usual. This emotive illustration says it all: in memory of those who cannot be with us today - absent friends and family who are staying separate to keep their loved ones safe, and the too many we've lost this year that have left an empty chair at our tables.

May fond memories sustain us all over this season.

Forever in our hearts.

Friday, November 20, 2020

A Timely (and Gorgeous) Red Riding Hood PSA

 

Look at this beautiful and timely PSA created by award-winning filmmaker Lisa Stock! 

Lisa is a long time fairy tale friend, whose work we greatly admire, and we are always blown away by the unique use of fairy tales and myth in her work. She was kind enough to answer some questions for us about this wonderful PSA. 

Read on for a wonderful example of how using fairy tales today can be impactful and empowering, and how an artist who truly understands the bones of a fairy tale can re-envision them effectively to be both timeless and relevant today.

Hi Lisa! Thank you so much for answering our questions today. We were so thrilled to see this gorgeous PSA and can't wait to share it and encourage others to do the same.
Thank you for including my PSA on Once Upon a Blog! As numbers rise and holidays approach I wanted to create something that would inspire - a reminder to take care of ourselves and others - not just Covid, but flu, colds and anything else in the air.

Your PSA is so very timely! What was your inspiration?
This has been such a challenging and exhausting year - finding energy to push through a bit longer can be overwhelming. With holidays (and travels) coming, I wanted to create something imaginative - letting Genre take us outside ourselves to reinforce a much-needed message.  We're getting there!

The figure is clearly a Red Riding Hood character while at the same time very contemporary, but also wonderfully artistic. We know you're a long time fairy tale aficionado and have often referenced various tales in all your mediums. Why did "Red in a pandemic" seem appropriate for this project?
Yes!  I've always associated Red with a journey. We've all been on our own journeys this year into the big, bad wood. At the same time - many are traveling more, either to see family for the holidays or going back into the office for a day or two a week. But mostly, Red's a fighter. She takes on the wood and the wolf by using the wisdom her grandmother taught her to persevere. 

We like how instead of giving the DANGER- WARNING!! signals you could have used with a Red Riding Hood character for a fear-inciting PSA, that instead you show her as assertive and unafraid; much more of a "be smart - take back the narrative" message. There are so many ways Red can represent us and, after a lot of negative and fear-based messages in social media, it was, frankly, a relief to see Red representing a bold positive. Was that something you envisioned straight away, or something that developed as you were working?
You said it - her being assertive and looking the viewer in the eye with her mask on, as if to say "No big deal".  Those three guidelines - wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing are small things to ask to help ward off a debilitating illness and keep everyone healthy.

Your model is the perfect contemporary fairy tale figure. How did you find your Red Riding Hood for your shoot?  
That's the wonderful Kayla Klatzkin!! We first met when she auditioned for a part in TITANIA. Those who follow my work will recognize her from the TITANIA Winter Scene (and she'll be in the larger project too). She can morph into any character I give her - it's nice to have a muse like that. She's also appearing as "Glass" in my upcoming experimental take on Cinderella, and will be seen as Dorothy in an Oz-inspired panorama I'm shooting in Dec. It helps that she lives two blocks from me, and is game for anything - but truly, Kayla gets the fantasy world and how to make it seem very natural, this is why I think she pulls it off so well. 

What precautions did you (have to) take for the various aspects of this project?
Thank you for asking. Production was allowed to return to NYC in late July. My pre-production meetings take place over zoom and so far, I've only done outdoor shoots. I wear gloves, a mask, keep my distance, and have plenty of wipes and hand sanitizer. If Kayla can't fix a hair out of place, I'll approach her and she will wear a mask until it's time for the photo - though for the PSA she could keep it on. Kayla did have an indoor shoot later that week and told me they required her to have two negative Covid tests immediately prior to shoot day (the production company scheduled the tests and paid her for that time).  For upcoming larger or indoor shoots - it's testing + one team at a time on set or with the actor. We're making it work!  It's just so great to be back at it!!

We totally get fashion shoot vibes but love how we just want to look as classic, chic (and a little bit badass, boldly and smartly going places) as she does, rather than (just) want the coat and hat. Was that intentional? If so, how did you find that balance?
Yes. We have so many opportunities in mythic/fairytale photography. I certainly appreciate the beautiful dresses and magical locations I see on Instagram, but I always look for/yearn for the story. Just one small element can make your point and move the image from fashion to foretelling. I'm not changing the message - wear a mask, wash your hands, social distance - I'm wrapping it in a mythic skin and giving it a new perspective - one that I hope will catch everyone's eye anew. 

We're loving the homage to Magritte. How did that come about? What made you connect Magritte with Little Red and/or a pandemic? Can you explain a bit about your inspiration in his work? (Ed. - for those who aren't familiar with his paintings, motifs, and location use - I'll put a little reference set of pics at the bottom for folks, as you did for your announcement)
Thank you! I so love Magritte. Once I had the image of her looking straight at the viewer in mind, Magritte's painting "Son of Man" popped into my head. Instead of an apple, it was a mask. Instead of a black bowler hat, it was red - bold, Fall-like colors, changing seasons, change - so many changes this year. But endurance too. I'm a huge Magritte fan and decided to continue the theme throughout the PSA as his symbols lend themselves beautifully to journey and to fairytale. What really inspires me about his work is two-fold: 1. The clean, direct use of symbols and metaphor, and 2. How he places his subjects into their landscapes/roomscapes - they often become one. Anytime I'm creating (film or photograph) I consider how the surrounding environment is also a character or subtext for the story.  To that end - I'll let you and your readers in on a little secret. I purchased the red bowler hat in these images a few years ago for a Magritte inspired project that will one day still happen - hopefully in the next couple of years.  (wink)

For our fairy tale film fans, do you have any fairy tale projects you're currently working on that you'd like us to keep an eye out for? Has the pandemic caused you to consider your work with fairy tales differently? 
Yes to all. Using genre to heighten reality and let each viewer place themselves in the story has become more profound this year. Currently, I'm working on:

  • ASHENSONG - an experimental short film based on Cinderella. Set in the 1970’s and following a photographer as she explores the themes of Glass, Ashes, and Midnight. Ultimately, they will lead her to confront her own demons and voices from the past - and a doppelganger trapped in the woods. Covid has directly hit this production with one of my models being split between NY and Hong Kong. After our initial production meeting in late February, she returned to Hong Kong and hasn't been able to get back to the U.S. Rather than wait for all travel restrictions to lift, I've found a wonderful photographer in Hong Kong who is going to photograph her images for the project there. But I look forward to having us all under the same roof for the film's premiere in 2021!
  • THE TOWN - this is a series of fantastical moving images, or video portraits that highlight the townspeople (and what lies beneath) where Titania exiles herself to heal. TITANIA will be moving forward in a new way - the narrative and the roll out to audiences will be in groundbreaking fractures of art and narrative. I'm very excited about how this will unfold and we'll launch it at a live TITANIA event in NYC in 2021. Then online @TitaniaFilm 
  • FRIDAY NIGHT THEATER & the AMERICANA MYTHIC SERIES - My wonderful patrons on Patreon see everything first and I have quite a few mythic exclusives lined up for them starting this month! I'll be continuing in the style of the PSA by blending genres, artists, ideas to give a slice of Americana, myth and current situations. For instance - once I hit 50 patrons on Patreon I'll be creating a microfilm that mixes the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog with two iconic mid-20th century figures addressing our willingness to trust someone's true nature  - even if harmful. I've assembled a really amazing group of actors, an historical consultant and costume designer and others to help bring these microfilms to life! Come join us - www.patreon.com/LisaStock - subscriptions (in which you see all final projects) start at $1.
The PSA is so very eye-catching; beautiful but also very clear in its message. Where can we expect to see it? 
The PSA was done on my own. I'd be delighted to have people share it - I and the PSA can be found on social media @LisaStockFilm.

Thank you so much for your time today Lisa. We hope many people see your PSA and are encouraged to boldly care for themselves and others this Thanksgiving and holiday season.

You heard her folks: go spread the images!
Use Lisa's PSA to encourage and inspire people to live their best - and healthiest - lives.

Lisa Stock is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York City. Called “a skillful alchemist at work” by Faerie Magazine, her films have been featured in festivals and screenings around the world including London, New York, Austin, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Sydney, aired on PBS, and chosen as a Project of the Day on Kickstarter. Lisa’s work combines the spontaneity of myth & magic with the more somber side of reality to paint vibrant portraits of healing and personal truth. (Bio page: https://www.lisastockfilm.com/about)

Sunday, November 15, 2020

TODAY at 7pm EST and 4pm PST: Profs And Pints Online Presents: "Fairy Tales of French Salons" (& A Note on the 2020 Revival of the Literary and Fairy Tale Salon)

Our apologies for not posting this well ahead of time!

But... I Will Miss/Have Missed the Live Lecture!

Don't fret! We know a lot of our readers won't see it until tomorrow morning after the live lecture has happened BUT, like all Profs and Pints lectures, this one will be recorded and available to view afterward for all current ticket holders, as well as for those who purchase access after the event (only $12). The Profs and Pints events are aimed at adults and college-level learning, so these lectures are one of the most affordable, yet high-quality self-education tools online today. While viewing the recording after the event means you won't be able to live chat with the other attendees or the lecturer and can't propose questions for the Q&A at the end, the entire chat and Q&A portion remain part of the recording so you can see the community involvement and responses as it was happening. Once you have purchased a ticket, the event is available to view at any time after the lecture, and as many times as you wish! 

Fairy's Banquet - John Anster Fitzgerald

The Rise of the Fairy Tale Salon, 2020 Style

Today's lecture is exceptionally timely. With the pandemic showing no signs of ending soon, people are starting to figure out ways to connect digitally and literary salons are once again on the rise. Though they can never be the same as the intimate gatherings fueling conversations, encouraging ideas, and getting feedback on everything from writing to art, it does make the events more accessible to people from different locations across countries and around the world, and is proving to be a new way to build communities of like-minded people and providing support during an isolating time. Fairy tale salons, especially, are beginning to pop up here and there around the world, all-digital, all experimental, and all eager to connect folks who love to study tales and reference them in their own writing and other works. 

It's a brave new world and, as will be discussed today, reflects the desire people had, and still have, to push against established ideas and systems and find new ways to move forward both in thinking and expression - something especially prevalent in 2020. Salons are primarily fun, of course, but at the heart of the movement is a desire to make the world a better place, and to do that with other like-minded people. The Fairy Tale Salons of France in the late C17th (and the lesser-known German Fairy Tale Salons during the Romantic movement in the C19th) were revolutionary in form and function and, in true subversive style, enabled conversations of resistance and the exploration of revolutionary ideas, all coded within the deceptively simple form of the fairy tale. These people, mainly women, are considered the Fairy Godmothers, or Fairy Godparents, of the Fairy Tale (the literary form of the oral folktale and wonder tale), and their stories have survived and remained popular to this day. 

Fairy Banquet - Arthur Rackham

Seeing Beyond the Magic While Still Reveling In The Wonder

What's lesser-known is that we can still see and access the rest of the work done in Salons, via the vehicle of those surviving stories, despite that it's usually hidden under the magical clothing of the contes des fées - a term coined by the French Salon, which is where we get the term "fairy tale". 

It's high time we saw beyond the sparkly exterior of these fanciful stories and take a look at the serious - and invigorating - work of the literary fairy tale. The revival of the fairy tale salon in 2020, albeit digital and online, is no coincidence!

That doesn't mean we can't continue to enjoy fairy tales or revel in (or escape into) their magical possibilities. If anything, this gives more reasons to embrace them in all their Once Upon A Times. Fairy tales aren't just for children; they are for everyone and understanding how literary versions of fairy tales came to be, helps explain why. It also gives us every reason to celebrate their wonder and to enjoy them. 

So come along with your notebook and extra glitter on your hands or just sneak in the back to listen - there's room for all here to play and to connect as we make the world a better, more wonder-full place.

The Fairy Girls Make the Carpet (Polish Fairy Tales)
by Cecile Walton

What's Being Talked About Today? (summary info from Profs and Pints Online below):

Profs and Pints Online presents: “Fairy Tales of French Salons,” with Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, former instructors at Ohio State University and co-founders of the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

[This talk will remain available in recorded form at the link used for tickets and access.]

It’s easy to think of fairy tales as light-hearted, simple, even frivolous tales for children. But that’s only a small part of the story.  Fairy tales can be serious business. They can be subtle messages that convey warnings under the noses of the powerful—or even poke fun at them--especially if written by women.

Modern Fairy Godmother Styling
by Camilla (Very pricey, as would have suited
the social station of the original Salonnieres!
Thankfully, the Salon revival isn't as dependent
on privilege; in fact, that's one of the
institutions it rebels against.
Vive la 2020 Revolution!)

Such was the case in the fairy-tale salons of seventeenth-century Paris, where ladies (and some men) gathered to tell each other stories that definitely were not for children. 

Designed to be a space where people could break free of strict aristocratic confines in the service of art, the salons let creators discuss anything so long as it was couched in the form of a fairy tale. The stories that resulted tackled everything from actual love in a marriage, to the importance of education, to the enormous social inequalities faced by the women of the age.

As the air gets crisp, fix yourself a warm drink and join Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, two favorites of Profs and Pints audiences, for a look at the beautiful and bizarre fairy tales that emerged from the literary salons of France during his period.

We’ll swim with a great green wyrm, a terrifying sea serpent. You’ll travel with a woman who dresses as a man in order to save her family, and converse with a witty princess forced to wear the skin of a bear.

These fairy-tale salons were the first of many great literary groups, from the Bloomsbury circle in London to the meetings of the Beat writers of San Francisco.


This online discussion of them might end up feeling like a similar gathering of the curious and subversive. 

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Old Tales In New Clothes: Once Upon the Internet

The sorts of wolves Perrault warned about still exist today.
Beware of chat and friend-requests from people you don't know... We're all susceptible to being preyed upon by strangers pretending to be something they're not. The internet and the woods have a lot in common these days.

There is this idea that fairy tales are old and irrelevant. If you're reading this blog, we're thinking you might not believe that. If you're a regular reader here, you know we don't believe that either. In fact, the whole reason for this blog is to show how very actively people are using and re-using fairy tales today. Fairy tales have this magical ability to stay recognizable, even as they adapt to be relevant to the person, society, or culture making use of them. (It's something we love to track!) 

For most people, however, it can be difficult to see how such old (ancient, really), tales could have any use today. We have a tendency to believe our predecessors were less evolved - or at least less enlightened - than we are, so how could such old things possibly have any relevance now? Turns out, people haven't really changed at all.

Did you know you can actually ask your Amazon Echo (Alexa) or Apple's Siri this question in real life and get a real answer? (Try it!) There are even actual "smart mirrors" you can talk to and get information from while you are getting ready. And yes, they give beauty tips...

One company, GoCompare, wanted to see if these tales would still be recognizable if reframed in today:

"Hidden amongst magical imagery, mystery and wonder, fairy tales offer an allegory for real life. Mapping the transition from childhood to adulthood, a young hero or heroine is often faced with obstacles they must overcome to achieve their heart's desires, while learning right from wrong. They're tales as old as time, but what do they look like in the modern world?" - From the Title page of GoCompare's Once Upon the Internet campaign. *

*Sadly, the campaign was in 2018 and the page is no longer active. We got additional information from the illustrator and designer, Elizabeth Howlett (also known as Beth Creates) who was hired to create scenes showing how different fairy tales might "adapt to the modern world". We think she did a FABULOUS job!

No need for making the best of a pumpkin; thanks to companies like Uber and Lyft, you can order your own carriage to go with your ball outfit. (Apparently, the Prince got tired of dating apps and decided to try an old-fashioned party - though these days a masked party might add some twists to that story too.)

Unfortunately, it looks like the "tale retelling" story portion of the campaign has been lost to the internet void, but even if you only vaguely know these tales, you immediately get what's going on.

There's something in these tales that shows us, even when we're told "old versions", that we recognize ourselves in them. This campaign goes a long way to showing why that is. These are the same old tales; they just use different tech. These are still our stories.

Enjoy.

Puss in Boots as Social Media Influencer and promoter of "cancel culture" on Ogres of all kinds. And he's a cat - so of course he would go viral on Instagram.
Got wi-fi? You can figure out how to do almost anything yourself these days with Instructables, or get collated advice from the enthusiastic Reddit community! (The only question here, is "which sub-reddit" to ask?) (Illustrator Howlett warns of Rumplestiltskin sliding into your DMs...)
Bitcoin has made millionaires out of ordinary Jacks, but there are definitely risks; at least as much risk as magic beans
Shopping online can be hazardous, especially when it comes to fashion. "BNWT" stands for Brand New With Tags but sometimes the online promise (and picture) is too good to be true. Until you put it on, you have no idea that you've just been swindled by some clever, lying tailors.
Poor Three Bears; looks like their AirBNB income just took a hot with a bad review from an unfair customer.
Ah the Snapchat filter: creating glimpses of your possible future. Thanks to the selfie filter obsession that makes so many different transformations possible, we don't even know what most people really look like anymore!

You can check out more of Elizabeth Howlett's work on her Behance portfolio HERE.

Saturday, November 7, 2020

The Curse Is Broken

Today we saw people of all affiliations defend democracy.
Today we saw Americans arm the Sword of Truth.
Today we saw the Sword of Truth break the curse.
A new chapter begins, this time in blue. 
We know there is a LOT of work to do.
But for today, let us rejoice and may the healing begin.

NB: All animation/Sleeping Beauty images are owned by Disney. The artists for both wallpapers (book, and butterfly on books) are unknown.

Thursday, November 5, 2020

The U.S. As Sleeping Beauty Right Now... (Thursday, Election Week, 2020)

It seems apt that Sleeping Beauty is taking center stage as the fairy tale representative for the USA right now. The whole world is watching a too-close battle for the next Presidency while the US wakes up to just how divided the "United States" actually is. 

But for these few days, everyone is focused on colors... and the "dress", rather than who will be wearing it and what it really will look like when it's "being worn".  (Independently green Flora, isn't being much help either.)

No matter what happens, there's a lot of work to do.

(Click on the embedded short videos below for a light-hearted summation of the current election #mood.)



"Make it blue!"

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Fairy Tale Cartoons in Pandemic Time - 2020 Roundup

Artist: Casey Drake

It's a big week with the US election coming up, so we thought we could all use a fairy tale humor break as we look back on the year that was 2020. 

Enjoy!

Artist: Mark Lynch
Artist: B. Rich


Artist: Michel Cambon
Artist: AldoArts
Artist: Casey Drake
Artist: Michel Cambon

Artist: Tom Gauld

Artist: Michel Cambon
Artist: Michael de Adder
Artist: Dan Reynolds
Artist: Jeff Stahler
Artist: Dan Reynolds

Artist: Gary Varvel
Artist: Casey Drake
Artist: Paul Wood
Artist: Paul Wood
Artist: Graeme Keyes
Artist: Casey Drake
Artist: Brooke Bourgeois
Artist: Michel Cambon
Artist: Marty Bucella

Artist: Brooke Bourgeois
Artist: Kieron Dwyer
Artist: Tom Gauld
Artist: Unknown

AND ALSO BELOW: NOT A JOKE - MORE ABOUT AVOIDING TRICKS...

Trick: Animated #govote jack-o-lantern to keep away the ghosts of low voter turnout.

Treat: Tell your friends to visit rockthevote.com to find their polling station! (animated gif by Bruce Willen)