New Red Riding Hood Portrait by Soey Milk for "Fiction" Contemporary Exhibition

  "If you’re an avid reader, you know that the best literary characters seldom stay on the page, but rather climb out and wander around, manifesting themselves in whatever medium they can insinuate themselves into." (Emily Temple for Flavorwire on the new Fiction exhibit)

Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco have a new exhibition by contemporary artists, envisioning famous literary characters in new ways. I was very glad to see Red Riding Hood among them. Even more interesting is the title the artist (Soey Milk) gave the portrait: Night Flow. As far as I can find, Ms. Milk hasn't made any comments on why she chose to portray Red this way or the reason it's titled the way it is, but perhaps that's for the better, so we can bring our own thought and stories to it.

Night Flow by Soey Milk

Other literary portraits that may be of interest to fairy tale people are Marcovaldo (Italo Calvino), Alice (Lewis Carroll), Wendy Darling (J.M. Barrie), Miss Havisham (Dickens), Morgaine (Marion Zimmer Bradley) and Coraline (Neil Gaiman) - all pictured below (click on exhibit link below to see larger) - as well as characters from The Tell Tale Heart, Moby Dick, Brida and Siddhartha.

You can see them in more detail and read a brief artist bio for each painting for a limited time at the Modern Eden Gallery.

  

We've Been Promised: No Wandering in Wonderland!

Did you know Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is a LIMITED new series? Meaning, it's not supposed to continue forever but instead have a beginning, a middle and AN END?

*eyebrows raised in an "I'll believe it when I see it" fashion*

Yet we've been promised: there will be no wandering about in Wonderland just for the heck of it.

From OUAT

By "no wandering" I mean, show creators Horowitz and Kitsis have promised there will be NO FILLER EPISODES for Once Upon A Time in Wonderland. (Wut? But these are the Lost boys...)

Apparently they're so happy with the response to a show that hasn't even aired yet that they've ordered more episodes but are crossing their hearts that they "kick their bad habit of unnecessary plot dwindling", as iO9 put it.

(Seriously? These are the creators of Lost... )

So what does that mean? It means the entire story is to be plotted in advance.

Here's an explanation of how it's all supposed to work, from Entertainment Weekly:

When Wonderland was announced as a limited series in May, it received 13 episodes — the standard order for a new drama... But Wonderland creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have a different vision for this show: a self-contained epic romance that’s planned in advance from start to finish — no filler! [Edit FTNH: emphasis mine.] That means there will be no additional episodes ordered for the season beyond the first order, so the showrunners can break down the entire story before the first episode ever airs. That’s why there are more episodes being ordered now-ish, because the writers have figured out how many hours they need.
“We really want to tell the story without having to worry about how to stretch it for five years,” Kitsis tells EW. “The upfront order will be it for the season.” Horowitz adds, “This is not meant to be a 22-episode season. Whatever it ends up being, we’ll have told a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end.”

A Wonderland Romance

But, but... these are the creators of Lost!

Hold on... I have further clarification: "limited" doesn't quite mean what we (would normally) think it means...

Wonderland has been called an “anthology” series and “limited” series. Neither is precisely correct.

I KNEW it!

It’s only “limited” in terms of the first season telling a close-ended story in less than 22 episodes, not because ABC and the showrunners wouldn’t do more seasons (ABC executives may be willing to get a little creative with Wonderland, but they’re not Mad Hatters — a hit is a hit). ABC will renew the show for another close-ended adventure if the show is a success. [Edit FTNH: emphasis mine.]
But unlike an anthology series — such as American Horror Story, which tells an entirely new story each season with new characters — Wonderland is expected to continue using most of the same characters. “If the audience responds and people love these characters, the plan would be to bring it back next year and tell a whole new story,” Horowitz says.
Put another way: Wonderland is sort of like a fairytale version of 24 — a heavily serialized drama with stand-alone seasons using the same core cast (only with fewer rogue nukes, presumably).

Ah. That sounds like the showrunners we're familiar with. *eyebrows return to their rightful places*

Fan made Picspam of Wonderland (incl OUAT)

Article: "Why Haven't We Outgrown Fairy Tales?" (with Maria Tatar)

After having had so many fairy tales invade our theaters and TVs in such a short period of time (the last couple of years),

WHY are they continuing to invade our screens?

From The Washington Post, comes an article on a topic more than a few people have been speculating about recently with fairy tale films, series and spin-offs still being big business, despite having had a slew of them the last couple of years.

Maria Tatar

Seeing Maria Tatar* was weighing in, I thought people would be interested to see what she has to say. It's quite a brief article and seems a little haphazard and sparse but, as always, Ms. Tatar says things well, even in a short space.

The article discusses why fairy tales continue to be popular, what fairy tale characters does Ms. Tatar think are most relevant to us as a society right now and what's the reason for the trend of retelling tales from a darker point of view, sometimes, like Disney's movie-in-production Maleficent will, using the villains POV.

Interestingly, the answer to the question posed at the top of this post isn't really answered. it's discussed why fairy tales continue to be popular but Ms. Tatar doesn't put forth any theories on why there's a fairy tale zeitgeist right now.

(Note: retelling tales in a darker, more gritty form isn't limited to fairy tales - it's everywhere: look at the new, very successful Batman franchise, Man of Steel and any other "reboot" of long-loved heroes. They're all showing their dark side, their struggles and people are can't get enough right now.)

Fan made poster - Disney has now confirmed the release date for Maleficent will be JULY 2, 2014

While the questions are fascinating (and I'd love to see more people giving their two cents on them), there was one question in particular I wanted to highlight, especially as there's a strong resistance to the subject being called a fairy tale at all.

Toney: “Once Upon a Time” has spin-off coming this fall, “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” why “Alice and Wonderland”? 

It’s our story about disorientation, being in a world that feels like nonsense. How do you manage, cope and survive? I think of my fourth-grade teacher sternly telling me that it’s not a story for children. Alice faces a deep existential crisis. She’s assaulted verbally. She’s constantly losing control and having to regain control. 

Tatar: That we’re taking up that story seems really important. Everyone thinks they’re in a world of crisis, especially with new technology. There’s a divide between digital natives and the rest of us. We use tales like “Alice and Wonderland” to teach us how to move forward. They take us to other worlds but also propel us forward to think about who we are and how we think about things in our own time and place and crisis situations.

(Emphasis is mine.)

Fan made OUAT-Wonderland poster

I agree that there's something about Alice that's changed in the last, perhaps, twenty years or so. There's definitely something happening with Alice and Wonderland - not as was written by Lewis Carroll but in the way certain characters and motifs have taken on a life of their own in society and pop-culture. And not just in England, where you would expect, or the US where you would think perhaps Disney had a big hand in making it popular (which he did but not in the way it has become so), but all over the world. Asian countries in particular adore Alice and her Wonderland.

I wrote something briefly about Alice during the Goodreads chat with fairy tale lecturer and author Kate Wolford and am adding it because it's essentially talking about the same phenomena:

On Alice: the book(s) totally creeps me out BUT (and I mean to write an essay on this sometime soon) I think Alice is a prime example of society turning an "idea" (because not that many people have actually read the books) into a cultural/societal fairy tale (I added societal because although the English sensibilities remain in many ways, Americans love the (Wonderland) world, so do Asians etc etc). The images and motifs have been given a life of their own beyond the book and because of such, have become a fairy tale in the true definition which is continually mutable according to the world and people telling it retaining it's motifs and speaking beyond culture and time...

It was written rather hurriedly, stream-of-consciousness style and may not make as much sense as I wanted to, but hopefully you get the idea. The main thing is, we, as fairy tale people, can't afford to ignore Alice, or her Wonderland any longer. Saying "that** isn't a true fairy tale" isn't going to fly any more. Which begs the question: what do we do about Alice?


I recommend a read of the Washington Post article. It's a quick read and only begins to touch on the topics (I wish it had been a meatier interview!) but it should get you thinking and hopefully all of us talking to each other. Everyone else is. Just take a look through the comments below the article - these are people who are seriously interested in the question and for the first time in a while, they're interested in what fairy tale people have to say.

I'm also curious to think what tales you believe will be focused on next. Tatar says "giants" and more male figure stories. What do you think?

*If you're just tuning in to the blog and are unfamiliar with Maria Tatar you'll see she's one of the people who we regularly pay attention to, having written many wonderful resources for fairy tale study and being  a Harvard University folklore and mythology professor. 

** By "THAT" I mean - NOT the book by Carroll/Dodgson but the Alice stories, the motifs, the idea of Wonderland and the character of Alice herself.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland: New Promo

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland is very busy trying to get our attention.

Would you like the new & just released shorter promo version on the Love Conquers All theme...?

...Or the (much!) longer one with the mini-story "Nothing Is Impossible In Wonderland"?
(3:36 mins)

 

News keeps appearing about various characters, Tumblr blogs dedicated to the show are already appearing and there's even a forum already well into discussion and speculation about what's going to happen and how...

I am actually more intrigued than I thought I'd be with the shorter promo as it did grab my attention more than the longer one (although OMG the cheesy FX does kill scenes from time to time!). I'm hoping the editor who worked on the short promo gets to have input on the editing of the show. 

Fairy tale bonus of the day (sort of): As we all know (but easily forget), editors can make or break a movie or show. I will be forever grateful for the editor who revealed the true nature of Mary Poppins in the "Scary Mary Recut Trailer" She did always creep me out as a kid... If you're interested, but worried about the visuals, don't be - you've seen it all before - it's just presented very differently to how Disney does.

The Mad Hatter character in OUAT is one of the more solid and well thought out characters for me (and the actor really knows how to make the best of his lines!) so I'm very curious to see if the established "Once Wonderland" characters will be integrated, or if this is pretty much a separate envisioning. As far as I'm concerned, Hatter can join the party any time!

Phew! I guess Fall is approaching more swiftly than we realized...

"Red Kingdom Rising"

 A troubled young woman must come to terms with her horrific past when she is propelled through dreams into the terrifying fairy tale world of the Red Kingdom, where she encounters figures reminiscent of her memories and fears. 

This new independent film coming out this year combines shades of Donkeyskin and Alice - both in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It's billed as fantasy horror and will be making the independent film/festival circuit as well. Interestingly, the director has stated he's not actually a fan of horror; that it's the subject matter (think Donkeyskin with black magic thrown in) which is crossing this film over into that genre. From the look of the teaser trailer Im going to warn you now: although it does have some beautiful images here and there it's most definitely horror. (You'll notice this post does not have the usual amount of images and the poster above is cropped... for good reason.) If you're wondering why I'm covering this film on the blog at all, it's so you know about it in advance, should it ever cross your path.


From flickeringmyth:

In addition to lining the pockets of the Hollywood studios, fairy tales – with their dark and often violent undertones – are also perfect fodder for the fantasy/horror genre, and that’s the approach that British filmmaker Navin Dev has taken with his micro-budget feature debut, Red Kingdom Rising. Taking inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – and, more specifically, its sequel,Through the Looking-Glass – Red Kingdom Rising centres on a young woman, Mary Ann (Emily Stride), who returns to her childhood home following the death of her father. Mary Ann’s arrival stirs up painful memories long suppressed, and as she begins to confront her past she finds herself swept into a nightmarish dream world, where a young girl dressed as Alice (albeit with her face obscured by a Cheshire Cat mask) explains that her only chance of escape is to confront the sinister Red King – the embodiment of her childhood fears, and her darkest secrets.

The Pineal Eye posted an interview with the director Navin Dev and asked him many questions in relation to fairy tales. Here's an excerpt:

Were you always drawn to fairy tale stories?I grew up on films like Star Wars, Superman and even the 1984 He-Man animated series. The irony is that if you distil those three down to their true essence you have coming of age stories – the path and destiny of the hero. It’s highly evocative of mythology and the traditional tale of the evolution of the hero through fears, hopes and success. This lies in the core of the fairy tale. Fairy tales have always evoked a sense of truth of who we are and how we journey through our own psychosis and development in life. The analytical works of Joseph Campbell and Bruno Bettelheim firmly illustrate that. One of the very first books I read was the Grimm’s Little Red Riding Hood and the imagery told through the narrative struck me. It’s a timeless tale we can all relate to, no matter what our generation and backgrounds are. Red Kingdom Rising, along with keeping to Lewis Carroll’s themes of reality and dreams, divine mathematics and psychological evolution, does adhere to traditional mythology. It tells the coming of age journey of a woman coming to terms with her past through this dark journey in her wonderland. 

Do you plan on exploring others in future works?I indeed plan to continue exploring the fairy tale and mythological structure through the mainstream fantasy genre of film – it’s great to reach out to vast commercial audiences and to share meaningful stories through an entertaining way. 

Do you work in the short film format to intentionally match the stories, or is it just a preferred way of working? Do you have any plans for a feature length film in the future?My short films were mainly built to develop my technical abilities in how to aesthetically tell fairy tale stories in an entertaining way, but yes, they do match the structure and short time frame format of the generic fairy tale. What’s advantageous about the short films is that they use the time efficiently and tell the audience all they need to know within their short form – they’re short, sweet and powerful. Red Kingdom Rising’s story however demanded a bigger canvass, so the story dictated itself to be feature length. I wanted to fully explore the protagonist Mary Ann, along with her fears and her eventual epic sense of closure. I would be grateful to have the opportunity to continue with the feature length format and I do indeed have another story to tell.

You can read the whole interview HERE and see a Red Kingdom Rising teaser trailer HERE. The official website is HERE.

Dev previously tackled the story of Pinocchio in a 9 minute short film titled The Tree Man which is fairly creepy (as it combines the original ending Collodi wrote for Pinocchio in which he was hanged, with the revised ending he added on advice from his editor) so take that into consideration. You can find more information about The Tree Man and see a clip of it HERE.

While this may be an interesting - and even well done - film, I'll be giving this one a miss.

Article: "Once Upon A Time" - What Counts As A Fairy Tale Exactly?

This is interesting. Laurel Brown, a writer at buddyTv.com, heard the latest Once news - that Alice In Wonderland will be a featured tale very soon - and she has a good question:

For Once Upon A Time, what counts as a fairy tale, exactly?

Now, we've had plenty of hints Once writers would be adding Alice characters, both in props used in Rumpelstiltskin's (ahem, I mean Mr. Gold's) pawn shop, a picture in Henry's book and via a passing mention in an interview (if memeory serves). (You can see fan summary and speculation about other items in Mr. Gold's shop HERE and HERE.)

Here's how Ms. Brown's article begins:

Apparently, for Once Upon a Time, the term "fairy tale" is loosely translated as "a story famous as a Disney movie." That's the only possible explanation for the most recent story announced for the fantasy show. Because it is not, by most definitions, any sort of fairy tale. Keep reading to find out the new story coming to Once Upon a Time. 

According to EW.com, a Once Upon a Time will soon take on the classic tale, Alice in Wonderland. The episode, expected to air in March, will be called "Hat Trick" and will feature Roger Daltrey (of The Who) as the voice of a talking caterpillar. 

But Alice in Wonderland is not a fairy tale. 

It is a familiar story, beloved by children for generations and the subject of several film adaptations, but Alice still isn't a fairy tale. What is it then?

Ms. Brown goes on to give a brief history of what the Alice stories are and the connection to Disney, which is worth taking a look at if you're one of the people that keeps reading on fairy tale blogs that Alice isn't a fairy tale and you wonder why.

Just like Once, you'll find more than a passing mention to Alice in Wonderland on fairy tale blogs (like this one!) despite that we know it isn't really a fairy tale. While I don't know if the creators of Once consider Alice a fairy tale or not, it really doesn't matter. In the mind of the public, it generally is. I think it's because of how it's been almost "diluted" in popular culture so Alice really does seem like a fairy tale to most people now.

Roger Daltry is confirmed as playing a talking caterpillar on ABC's Once Upon A Time in ep 1.17 Hat Trick

Ms. Brown does have a good point about a problem in using Alice* - or any of her other Wonderland character friends - as a story component within the premise of Once though.

To her mind, to have Alice appear breaks the contract of the uniquely fairy tale version of "suspension of disbelief" that we've been working with so far. I think she may be on to something with that concern. So far Once has been more successful than I expected it would be in keeping away from the sense that Storybrooke is a demented Disneyland (a fear I had, especially after seeing the first three or so episodes, which appeared a little like a disorganized mash-up at times). With Alice arriving on the scene there's a definite difference in the manner of spanner being thrown into the Once-works this time. Fairy tales are more real than not. They just have Wonder added. Alice is a confusion of imagination on steroids which sucks the entire world around it into it's irresistible - and very mad - rabbit hole. Unless we're about to see Storybrooke's asylum and have Doc Hopper being overworked I'm not sure how this is going to work.

My real question is: what effect will a character like Alice (or any other Wonderland inhabitant) have on the sensibilities of the Storybrooke residents? Even more of a question is, what effect it will have on their fairy tale counterparts?

Curiouser and curiouser...

The Once Upon A Time Alice-themed episode 1.17, titled Hat Trick will likely air in March.

You can read the whole article HERE.

*Note: it appears Alissa Skovbye is set to play Alice but I haven't heard any confirmation other than the IMDB database of that, which obviously isn't up-to-date. Roger Daltrey isn't currently listed in the cast.

Fairy Tale Art by Julie Dillon

Frog Prince

The piece above, Frog Prince by Julie Dillon, is one I've been meaning to post for quite some time now. Apart from being an amazing illustration, it's one of the few in which the actual transformation from frog to man is shown. Plus I ADORE transformation stories and am fascinated by what someone might see if a transformation from beast to man (or man to beast) happened right in front of them.

Treasure From the Deep - not specifically a fairy tale piece but I can think of a few tales this reminds me of

Since Ms. Dillon is also featured on the tor.com website today (with an illustration for a short science fiction story, Uncle Flower's Homecoming Waltz) I thought I'd showcase some of her fairy tale work here too.

Snow, Glass, Apples (Interior) for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's booklet/perfume set with Neil Gaiman's short story. There is a very dark cover HERE as well.

Reassurance - again, not specifically a fairy tale piece but there are a few tales it would work with, including Beauty & the Beast

She has quite a few Alice pieces, both from Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I love the lion and unicorn one.

The Lion and the Unicorn

Alice

Alice and the Queen of Hearts

As you can see, her style lends itself beautifully to both fantasy and science fiction. Her work pops up everywhere, from magazines to covers and more and I think we're only going to see more from this talented artist. 

Surface - not specifically a fairy tale piece but it instantly made me think of The Marsh King's Daughter

Ms. Dillon has a large gallery on deviantArt HERE and her personal website is HERE.

Pageant of the Masters 2011: Only Make Believe

I didn't know about this at the time but apparently this year's Pageant of the Masters theme, from the Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach, CA was Fantasy. Specifically, "Only Make Believe."

[If you don't know what Pageant of the Masters is, it's essentially where they take live people and turn them into famous works of art, on stage for a sit down show/performance. Each actor is made up to blend into the painting - which is also reproduced person-sized, complete with prop pieces to help the actors blend in - and they must hold their pose for 90 seconds at a time while the story of the painting is told to the strains of a live orchestra. Neat stuff!]

This would have been wonderful to see in person. Apart from a simply awe-inspiring show and feat of art this year they apparently had Edmund Dulac's Cinderella With Fairy Godmother* AND Cinderella Sitting In The Ashes (please see note at end of post), along with Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Arabian Nights and many more (the videos show the most variety of pieces.)

 Here's a video with some of the behind-the-scenes work put into the Cinderella paintings/ performances, though this is from 2007. (I'm a little confused - did they duplicate this one for the 2011 show? See my additional note at the end of the post):

From fairies to superheros, here's another to give us a preview (now, a post-view!) of what people could expect to see:

Luckily there are a few photos from around the web to give us some closer and more specific glimpses, though why I can't find some decent ones of the Cinderella pieces is (frustratingly) beyond me.

And because I couldn't get enough glimpses myself (and thought perhaps you couldn't either) this news spot video shows some different works again:

There's so much work that goes into duplicating these paintings and making a 90 minute show. It's quite phenomenal. While I'm sad to have missed this year's works of Rackham, Dulac and many more, the Pageant of the Master's is definitely on my to-do list before I leave LA (whichever year that will be).

Pageant of the Masters happens every year in Laguna Beach, near Los Angeles. Next year's theme (2012) is "Genius".

 

*I've found a weird anomaly of a Dulac Pageant of the Masters photo from an earlier year, though the  program and promo videos and photos clearly showed Cinderella in the Ashes by Dulac happening in 2011. In one of the videos the two painting-performances are shown side by side so I'm a little confused by this one!