Micechat Discusses Perrault's "Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" (I Know!) & "About Sleeping Beauty" by PL Travers (yes, of Mary Poppins fame)

Dornroschen (Briar Rose) - Brothers Grimm

On Thursday, May 8, one of the prominent Disney fan blogs, Micechat, posted the full Perrault tale of Sleeping Beauty in the Wood AND included a little analysis of it at the end. (I nearly fell off my chair in excitement, when I found this.)

Thank you Cory Gross! (He wrote and posted the article on Micechat, illuminating a whole slew of Disney fans that there has always been a whole lot more to the fairy tale (even if it is bizarre and confusing at times) than Disney chose to show.

I did always find it interesting that Disney, when asked, credit Perrault with the story, rather than the Grimm's, as the Grimm's version is just the first half and completely light and sweet (very unlike Grimm's actually!) than Perrault's version. Nevertheless, I really like that in doing so, they send people back to this version every now and then as a result.

By the way, the images throughout are by Charles Keeping, from a book by P.L. Travers, titled About the Sleeping Beauty (yes, that's the same Travers who wrote Mary Poppins!). More about those and the book below. (After Micechat.)

La Belle au Bois Dormant (The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood) - Charles Perrault

Here's how the article begins:

With the excitement over the upcoming revisionist fairy tale Maleficent, I thought it might be interesting to revisit the original story published by Charles Perrault in 1697, with just a bit of commentary at the end. Most of us are familiar with the first half of the story, in which the princess (who is nameless in this version) is cursed by the aged fairy and slumbers for a century before being awoken by her predestined prince. This translation from the original French was by Charles Welsh, for the publication of The Tales of Mother Goose in 1901. I’ve also included the illustrations by the unparalleled French engraver Gustave Doré, published in 1867.

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, who were very sorry that they had no children,—so sorry that it cannot be told.

At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There was a very fine christening; and the Princess had for her godmothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom (there were seven of them), so that every one of them might confer a gift upon her, as was the custom of fairies in those days. By this means the Princess had all the perfections imaginable.

Sole, Luna, E Talia (Sun, Moon, and Talia), an Italian folk tale

It goes on, as you would expect and then it includes the second half of Perrault's tale, with a little, ahem "warning" preceding it:

Though the princess is nameless in Perrault’s version of the fairy tale, the French name of her daughter is “L’Aurore,” meaning “The Dawn.” From this point in the story, there is an entire second half that most people are not familiar with. It is pretty wild as well, and I would have paid for this direct-to-video sequel!

The Queen spoke several times to her son, to learn after what manner he was passing his time, and told him that in this he ought in duty to satisfy her. But he never dared to trust her with his secret; he feared her, though he loved her, for she was of the race of the Ogres, and the King married her for her vast riches alone. It was even whispered about the Court that she had Ogreish inclinations, and that, whenever she saw little children passing by, she had all the difficulty in the world to prevent herself from falling upon them. And so the Prince would never tell her one word.

Delicious, yes?

And then some commentary:

This second half is so different from the first that scholars are of the opinion that it may have been tacked on from another fairy tale. The connection between these two stories may have originated with Giambattista Basile’s 1634 version of the story, titled Sun, Moon, and Talia. In that version, Talia is not cursed by a fairy, but simply predestined to fall asleep after getting a splinter of flax under her fingernail. During her slumbers, she is found by a king, and nine months later gives birth to twins. One of the twins suckles the splinter from under Talia’s fingernail and wakes her. The queen finds out about all this, and orders that the children be cooked and fed to their father. 

The Queen of Tubber Tintye - a myth from Ireland 

Thankfully they are rescued by the cook and it is the queen who is punished instead. Arguably that makes more coherent sense than Prince Philip’s mother being an ogre, and it is understandable why the Brothers Grimm would separate the latter half into its own story, The Evil Mother-in-Law, when they appropriated Little Briar Rose for their volume of fairy tales.Despite making some strange script choices (like having Aurora comatose for about a half-hour instead of a century or more), the Disney version does highlight the deep seated religious metaphors intrinsic to the story. Allow me to defer to the great Edwardian apologist of fairy tales, G.K. Chesterton:

But I deal here with what ethic and philosophy come from being fed on fairy tales. If I were describing them in detail I could note many noble and healthy principles that arise from them. There is the chivalrous lesson of “Jack the Giant Killer”; that giants should be killed because they are gigantic. It is a manly mutiny against pride as such. For the rebel is older than all the kingdoms, and the Jacobin has more tradition than the Jacobite. There is the lesson of “Cinderella,” which is the same as that of the Magnificat—EXALTAVIT HUMILES. There is the great lesson of “Beauty and the Beast”; that a thing must be loved BEFORE it is loveable. There is the terrible allegory of the “Sleeping Beauty,” which tells how the human creature was blessed with all birthday gifts, yet cursed with death; and how death also may perhaps be softened to a sleep. But I am not concerned with any of the separate statutes of elfand, but with the whole spirit of its law, which I learnt before I could speak, and shall retain when I cannot write. I am concerned with a certain way of looking at life, which was created in me by the fairy tales, but has since been meekly ratified by the mere facts.

What Chesterton points to in Sleeping Beauty is a powerful Christian metaphor, an allegory of the human condition and of human salvation buried amidst the dragons and fairies and noble daring.  What is latent in other versions comes right to the fore in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Some of the images are painfully obvious, such as the Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue gifted to Prince Philip, which is a muddled reference to Saint Paul’s admonition to don the “whole armor of God” in Ephesians 6:13-17. Maleficent graduates from Carbosse’s status as simply a vindictive fairy to being the Mistress of All Evil who proudly commands all the powers of Hell. 

"The Petrified Mansion" from “Bengal Fairy Tales.”

On the one hand, Aurora can be decried as more of a plot device than an actual character. On the other, she is a poetic metaphor for the whole human race. Though uniquely gifted with sentience, self-awareness, reason, and spiritual wakefulness, humanity is also cursed with awareness of its own impending, inexorable descent into death. Our efforts to avoid this destiny are like so many burning spinning wheels. No matter what we do with all our time, money, and industry, our fingers have an inevitable date with a spindle.

There's quite a bit more but I will leave it to you to go and read it. You can find the whole post, including the entire Sleeping Beauty in the Wood text, HERE.

Regarding About the Sleeping Beauty, in the book, Travers includes her own Sleeping Beauty tale, along with an "afterword" explaining her tale. Traver's story is set in the Far East (that nebulous place) so no giant dresses for her story's illustrations. The illustrations below is of the barren queen (in this case, a sultana). Below her is a depiction of Travers' own "Sleeping Beauty".

Barren Queen/Sultana from P.L. Travers’ story

Travers' Sleeping Beauty sleeping

The rest of the book includes several traditional "sleeping girl" tales from around the world, including a couple we're pretty familiar with here in these parts. To my mind anyway, these illustrations (so wiry looking!) are perfect for communicating the tenseness in absolute rest involved in each of these tales.

You can find information on About the Sleeping Beauty HERE at Goodreads and it's also available second hand via Amazon,

Burton's Poppins Movie Rumor A Viral Publicity Stunt (April Fools!)

Is anyone really surprised, despite that it happened a couple of days early? (You can read about the reason behind the stunt HERE.)

t certainly confirms the trend of people wanting backstory-stories though, not to mention the odd-mother thing. Maleficent is certainly not your average fairy godmother, is she? And Helena Bonham Carter is giving Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo a new flavor too. Even if the enormous response/buzz hasn't swayed Disney toward something else Burtonesque, I have no doubt the response will help the company solidify some decisions on their Descendants movie and possibly other projects in the potential pipeline as well.

In the meantime, please return to your regularly scheduled Poppins. ;)

Breaking News/ Rumor Mill: A Tim Burton Poppins?!

Note: Before the purists roll their eyes at my posting on Mary Poppins, please note: Poppins is a magical caretaker/late revealed otherworldly godparent/magical meddler - a type of character which is common in fairy tales, so it's not too much of a stretch to be discussing her type and iterations of her in a fairy tale news blog.  But yes, I agree: Mary Poppins doesn't fit the base definition of fairy tale.

All it took was a single tweet, a fan made poster and vague memories of Disney talking to Burton about something like this and the social media networks set to buzzing like crazed insects this past weekend.

The poster (yes, it's fan made - not from Disney) is at the head of the post. And here's the tweet that sparked the crazy:

And the article* that followed it:

Today, (March 29) Tim Burton announced on his Facebook page that he will be teaming up with Disney to create ‘Poppins’. It will continue the story of Mary Poppins.
The poster looks like we should be expecting a different side of the Mary Poppins universe, a much darker side.
It should be hitting theaters November 2016. We’ll keep you updated!

Whatever the case of true or not, the response has been interestingly polar. Comments are basically "cool", "aw YISS!" and "perfect fit!" then jump to the other end of the spectrum which reads "no, no, NO" and "Burton, step AWAY FROM THE POPPINS!"

Interestingly, I scanned a variety of social media, looking for key words rather than fans for or against,and the scales are definitely tipping toward the "we like this idea" end.

Problem is, I'm fairly certain (in the 80 to 90% range of certain) that this is pure rumor and speculation. At this point anyway. I DO think, however, that there's a good chance this rumor was gently encouraged to spread to see what the response would be, prior to approaching the idea for real. (Call me cynical - it wouldn't be the first time, nor the last.) Considering we've just had Saving Mr. Banks, I'm a little surprised at how much credence this is being given, but then people are quite aware there's nothing like milking a franchise either. Perhaps it was the addition of Winona Ryder's name being added to the possible-Mary's list..? The internet definitely has it's own version of Chinese Whispers.

A reason someone could put any stock in the possibility at all, is because of some not-too-ancient-history sort of information being dug up and quoted like this (from two Italian papers in the last couple of days, for some odd reason - also, translation is auto, not mine):

A Jolly Nightmare by Brianna Garcia

Johnny Depp  and  Helena Bonham Carter  will star Poppins , the new film by Tim Burton made ​​in Disney announced for 2016.  

It 'a few years ago that Disney thinks of a remake of Mary Poppins. In 2011, it was reported on the decision to entrust the direction of the brilliant and unpredictable Tim Burton, and then, though, he's talked more. But what it means to have been abandoned. In fact, things have gone pretty far. And now here come interesting news. The film's release has been announced for the end of 2016, the protagonists are two actors quite dear to Burton Johnny Depp in the role of Chimney Sweeps and Helena Bonham Carter (who is also his wife) in the title role. 

Based on the series of novels written by Pamela Lyndon Travers, the first version of Mary Poppins in 1964 and was directed by Robert Stevenson, the main character was given to Julie Andrews (who won an Oscar), while it had the Chimney Sweep appearance of Dick Van Dyke.Before Burton, Disney and Rob Marshall had thought he had mentioned the name of Nicole Kidman for the main part. Then, however, have changed the cards on the table. 

The screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton ( Alice in Wonderland ), which kept the London setting of '900 and has focused mainly on the mysterious origins of Mary Poppins adding those dark elements so dear to Burton. 

" We're really excited  - he said some time ago the president of Disney's Rich Ross -  of this new collaboration with Tim Burton. The competence and vision put into play with Alice in Wonderland made ​​us understand that it is the right person to bring this great story to the movies with the help of latest technology. It will be a spectacular film. And Helena Bonham Carter is just perfect in the multi-faceted role of Mary Poppins . " 

The film will be shot in  native 3D  with a budget of $ 150 million, and will result in a large deployment of special effects not only to rebuild the London of 1910, but also to recreate the magical world where Mary Poppins leads the young protagonists, and that in the original film had been created in 2D animation, with one of the first successful mix of animation and live action.Mary Poppins  will then become the next Tim Burton film after  Dark Shadows , which starts shooting this month. All other projects in which the director was working on, including The Addams Family  and the retelling of  Sleeping Beauty  by Disney produced their own (named  Maleficent ), will then be postponed. 

(Source HERE)

Mary Poppins by Matt Howorth

There seems to be a bit of mixed information here, some old, some adjusted for new information (did they mean Dark Shadows 2?  - which I haven't heard about - Or did they mean the original Burton Dark Shadows and that's the context for some of this?) and some sort of magical speculation for the rest. Where that Disney quote came from (and who said it) remains a mystery. We'll just have to see if Disney have anything at all to say about the hype this past weekend caused.

Depending on how long you've been a reader of this blog you are, or how consistently you catch up on the posts you may (or may not) know that Mary Poppins is one of those movies (and characters) that always creeped me out as a kid. As an adult it didn't get any better. P.L. Travers' books don't give me the same heebejeebies but the Disney film? Nightmarish. When the Scary Mary recut trailer appeared I felt vindicated that someone had finally seen my point of view.

Here's a post I wrote in an old blog (Remember Live Journal? Yeah, that old!), from 2008:

A character that's always bugged me is Mary Poppins. From the first time I saw that Disney film I was disturbed by this apparently perfect, almost emotionless, amazingly powerful woman with an agenda that's never revealed. She seemed alien to me and not at all comforting. if she'd been my nanny I would have had nightmares. As it is I just find her disturbing. Even with all that singing and dancing I was always aware of the ice in her eyes and the strangely perfect precision of all her movements and actions. I felt like Bert was under a spell, and not a good one. Oddly enough her arrival in the sky with the umbrella was like a black cloud appearing and it didn't go away until she blew away too. Despite this, umbrellas - and their potential to fly you away to distant places - are a wonderful image for me, as are dancing on chimneys and sidewalk paintings you can jump into, but my enjoyment of these is greatly disturbed by the shadowy, threatening presence of Miss Poppins. It's the cold perfection that I find completely inhuman and ultimately dangerous. I'll have to read the books to see if I can get a different sense of her but I always felt that she was really a personification of the Snow Queen and that the film was only ever Act I of the story. Act II, in which her sinister plan is revealed, was never completed and I was quite happy that we never saw her again.

So there's my Mary admission.

Although, I will also admit, I would LOVE to see a steampunk version of Mary Poppins and Tim Burton would be high on my consideration of directors for that sort of a take. (Steam-powered umbrella transports and talking umbrellas for the win!)

Regarding this Burton-to-make-Poppins rumor, however, I have to admit it has me wanting to take out my red pen and put question marks and suspicious circles around a whole lot of the 'legit' info. Unless Disney are sending out social media lures to test the waters, I can't see there being anything more substantial to it than that. For now. ;)**

What's your response? Fistpump, headdesk or eyeroll?

*First of all: I couldn't find ANY Facebook announcement from any Burton source saying this. Secondly: this is not a pro poster but a fan made one. Thirdly: there is no hint on IMDB or any other "in production" website that mentions this project in development in any form so a release date - even a tentative one, can't be quoted. It doesn't mean it won't happen but it means the article above is full of crap unsubstantiated comments.
** If something DOES happen, I'm going to guess the umbrella will have more than one line...

New Poster: "Saving Mr. Banks"

Ta da! No real commentary here because there isn't a lot to it. But simple is nice. :)

D23 To Present OUAT: Behind the Fairytale

Not listed in their previous event line-up, Disney has announced that Once Upon A Time will be showcased at D23 as well. Although much may be a repeat of Comic-Con, you know Disney will have it's own few exclusives.

I find it interesting that the OUAT team are presenting "Behind the FAIRYTALE" and not "Behind the FAIRY  TALE"... but perhaps that's what they'll be talking about - the idealism behind the show, rather than fairy tale content/influence.

Press release:

Executive Producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz will be featured at a panel titled ‘ABC’s Once Upon A Time: Behind The Fairytale’ on Saturday, August 10 at 1:00 p.m. at Stage 23. Eddy and Adam will talk about exciting developments for season three of their hit series ‘Once Upon A Time’ as well as their new fall series, ‘Once Upon A Time In Wonderland,’ which takes place in the Victorian England of Alice and the strange new land that exists on the other side of the rabbit hole. The Q&A with the executive producers will be moderated by D23’s Jeffrey Epstein. 

Guests on the D23 Expo show floor are invited to come aboard the Jolly Roger for a swashbuckling good time with some of your favorite fairytale characters from ABC’s hit series Once Upon A Time. Explore the famous pirate ship and feast your eyes on original props from the set. You will also find Snow White, Prince Charming, the Evil Queen, Captain Hook, and Emma Swan (and Emma’s red leather jacket). Every pirate who boards the ship gets to visit the Evil Queen’s vault. And a surprise awaits when you unlock a box from Regina’s wall of hearts. No pirate will leave empty handed! (Edit FTNH: That means, every one who goes aboard and visits the Queen's vault of hearts will come away with a souvenir.) Don’t let this exciting adventure sail by without you! 

In addition, as previously announced, guests will be able to get an up-close-and-personal look at some of the elaborate costumes from Once Upon A Time inside the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit located on the second floor of the Convention Center.

They won't be the only "costumes" on display either. The designer princess gowns will be getting window fronts as well:

There is an amazing display of exclusive gowns inspired by Disney’s Princesses making their U.S. debut at the D23 Expo inside the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit. These designs by top designers will be available for viewing, August 9–11 at the Anaheim Convention Center. These Dresses are inspired by the stories of the Disney Princesses by Ralph & Russo (Tiana), Versace (Cinderella), Elie Saab (Aurora), Marchesa (Ariel), Escada (Jasmine), Missoni (Mulan), Roberto Cavalli (Pocahontas), Jenny Packham (Rapunzel),  Valentino (Belle), and Oscar de la Renta (Snow White).

 

The stunning dresses were first showcased in a set of window displays at Harrods, the luxury store in Knightsbridge, London, during the 2012 holiday season.

There's also word of "exclusive screenings" which would, if they got the wording right, means they're going to screen something they didn't already show at Comic-Con but I haven't heard any speculation (or excitement) about what that might be since I think the reveal stage is pretty much done now. Still, we may be surprised.

The Saving Mr. Banks presentations have been slightly expanded in description as well but it's all still a little vague (possibly on purpose!). We do know the film already has a PG-13 rating, suggesting it's both complete and been before the required review boards so there's a good chance any Saving Mr. Banks screenings will have a decent amount of footage (possibly all - sometimes there are such surprises kept on purpose).

Sources: StitchKingdom, Chip&Co, PressEnterpriseBloggers, TheFutonCritic, 

OUAT, OUATinWonderland, Frozen, Saving Mr. Banks on Disney XD & at D23 Jul 30/Aug 1/Aug 9

Snow White & the 7 Earth Benders* (Disney's Avatar Princesses) by Robby Cook
You can see more HERE

Disney's fairy tale (and associated) properties will be getting some TV specials and showcasing during the end of July and beginning of August, including at the annual expo D23.

Here's a summary of the relevant information from the recent announcements:

Disney XD (TV):

July 30, 2013
8:00 PM – "On The Red Carpet Disney Fandom Edition" (Disney Fandom premiere)
"On The Red Carpet" host Rachel Smith and Disney XD Insider and Radio Disney on-air personality Morgan Tompkins give fans at home an all access pass to San Diego Comic-Con. On The Red Carpet Disney Fandom Edition at 8 PM will include looks at Marvel's Phase Two films, Disney's Frozen, Pixar's Planes and ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

August 1, 2013
8:45 PM – "Once Upon a Time: For the Fans" (Disney Fandom premiere)
"Once Upon a Time: For the Fans" is a television premiere hosted by Lee Arenberg ("Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, "Once Upon a Time") featuring never-before seen interviews with ABC's "Once Upon a Time" cast, a profile of Captain Hook ("Sincerely Hook") and a special look at the families of Storybrooke and how they're intertwined ("A Fractured Family Tree"), along with a preview of ABC's new fall series "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland."

Disney Fandom will broadcast from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. on July 30, July 31 and August 1. On Tuesday, July 23, Disney.com/Fandom will offer special looks, a printable schedule, news and polls, among other features.

You can find additional details HERE.

Expo event:
Disney's Annual Expo D23

Starting August 9, 2013
Location: Anaheim CA (across from Disneyland)
Disney's own expo, D23, will give sneak peeks of Frozen (Fri, Aug 9), along with other animated features while a live action presentation will happen the next day, including a first look at Saving Mr. Banks (Sat, Aug 10).
Both presentations will feature exclusive clips, behind-the-scenes footage, discussions with filmmakers and surprise celeb appearances.

More information HERE.

* You may be wondering why on earth (heh) I used an image of a Snow White/Avatar mash-up. The reason is two-fold: 1) it was made by a Disney fan and 2) it reminds me of a project I'm very sad isn't going to see the light of day in the foreseeable future - Disney's The Order of the Seven:

'The Order of the Seven' takes the idea of the seven dwarves and transforms them into seven highly skilled martial arts masters, each from a different part of the world. Set during the 17th century, the disparate international masters are all part of a centuries-old order who have lost their way when a chance encounter with a fleeing Englishwoman and an unrelenting evil that pursues her gives the men a chance at redemption and a new path to follow.

Another description:

Order of the Seven initially was set up by producer Andrew Gunn as a live-action kung fu take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but later evolved into a fantasy-action adventure tale. The story centered on a young woman in 19th century Hong Kong who escapes her wicked stepmother and takes refuge with seven men belonging to an ancient order dedicated to fighting demons and dragons. 

"Saving Mr. Banks" - More Than A Spoonful Of Sugar (& Why I Report What I Do Here On OUABlog)

This hasn't been on my radar at all since I don't go looking for Mary Poppins related things but I stumbled across this, was intrigued and I think you will be too.

(And yes - this DOES relate to why I post the articles and stories I do here on Once Upon A Blog. My intent is to do far more than entertain you and put up pretty pictures, as fun and valid a reason as that is, but I'll get to that in a bit...)

Yes, Mary Poppins isn't a fairy tale but there is a lot about that character - and the story of how she saves the family - that is weirdly folkloric. The more you look at her no-nonsense way of going about things, the more it seems like she might be a cross between a domovoi and a fairy godmother (the ones you shouldn't mess with) with a good dollop of Nanny McPhee - whose fairy roots are more apparent - thrown in. Ultimately, she's more like a guardian over the family than anything else (including, but not limited to, the children) which is very fairy tale like (or maybe she's a Time Lord, but that's a whole other topic!).

Of course, that's not what this movie is about. It's about P.L. Travers resistance to allowing Walt to make her very dear character into a cartoon, a sparkle-loaded fantasy and dismiss her creation's importance. In some ways you could say this movie is about two very different views of magic, they way they (initially) clashed and how they found common ground.

Take a look:



✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Ashes and Diamonds—Santa, Cinderella & Bert (Article)

I came across this interesting blog entry which looks at the magic of Christmas and uses fairy tale examples to explain the ideas. I think you'll find it interesting.

Here's an excerpt:

Of all the ways that presents and good things might come into one’s life, the chimney would, at first glance, be a bad plan—dirty, likely to be filled with fire, narrow and uninviting. A chimney is where we turn wood into smoke, and what exits by way of the chimney is of the least value to humans—soot, ash and greenhouse gas. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, the burned down remains of the hearth’s fire would seem to be the end of the road, and yet they mark the scene of a new beginning.

The blogger, Bruce from Privilege of Parenting, then goes on to discuss Cinderella, Bert from Mary Poppins and Rumpelstiltskin and how we often find worth, in things and in people, in the unlikeliest of places, including the ordinary dirt - and dirty faces - of home.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.