Article: "Out Of the Bottle" (aka I Have An Article in La Vie Sirene's Genie Issue Today!)

Scheherazade by DrawingNightmare

Look! Joy Siren made very kind noises about my article idea and found room to sneak it into Siren Life, aka La Vie Sirene, today. Even though my title - "Out Of the Bottle" had already been used by another lovely writer, hopefully you still get the idea... It's all about genies this month, except my article is more fact than fiction... 

The image at the head of the post is of Scheherezade, one of my favorite female fairy tale characters. She was strong, resourceful, resilient and her weapon was stories (including those about genies). Scheherezade was a 'bomb girl' of a different kind and she would have related to the struggle I discuss in the article very well.

You can read the whole article HERE and scroll back through the month for lots of information, stories and whimsy on genies (as you might imagine, our favorite Jeannie is a regularly featured).

Big thanks to Joy Siren for making room for my unusual little article.

Enjoy!

Article: OUAT Creators Defend "Disneyfication" (& the Horowitz-Kitsis-fication) of Fairy Tales

This is an interesting report from The National. I've rarely heard OUAT creators, Horowitz and Kitsis, refer (even obliquely, like in this article) to NBC's Grimm since both shows premiered, let alone comparing the darker, more traditional side of fairy tales (or their compatibility with procedurals, urban fantasy and horror) with the Disney/ABC "dark" touch that people talk about OUAT showcasing. (The "dark" touch being taking Disney characters and giving them backstories, making their characters more gray than black-and-white good or evil.)

The article is is definitely worth reading as I think they share an important point of why people like Disney versions of tales, indeed, why people like "predictably happy" versions of fairy tales.

It also suggests that the "dark" in tales that some people are looking to explore (especially right now) is different to both the Brothers Grimm's nice-ified-for-their-time versions and current available, more explicit versions (eg how NBCs Grimm uses tales).

Excerpts fro The National article:

The malleability of fairy tales to adapt to their times has kept them as vibrant as pixie dust for centuries, so it comes as no surprise that Once Upon a Time is still swinging its magic wand like a Louisville Slugger bat... 

Shows such as Grimm, where mythology fuses with police procedural, demonstrate how readily the fairy tale can meld into a hybrid, while the youth fuelled CW network’s new foray into the genre, Beauty and the Beast, casts a female detective as the beauty. Cynics take note; all three shows have already been renewed for the 2013-2014 seasons. 

Whereas the origins of fairy tales are bathed in dark curses, cautionary tales, death, lost love and spilt blood — the “Disneyfication” of all of the above, with its de rigueur happy ending, has brought positive messages of hope, inner beauty, romance and self-empowerment to shine more warmly over the magical firmament in the 21st century. 

“These fairy tales always have an element of darkness and, for us, there’s a big distinction between darkness and unpleasantness,” (says) Adam Horowitz...“And we never want to go there. We’re never going to be a serial-killer show. We want to touch on the darkness and the scariness that are inherent in these stories. We also try to never lose sight of one of the guiding principles of this show, which is hope.” 

We’ve witnessed this through the second season as the Evil Queen/Regina (Lana Parrilla) – who ripped out the Huntsman’s chest and killed her own father in season one – now reveals hints of inner goodness and random acts of kindness as she fights to save Storybrooke from the doom of the encroaching forest.

(Emphasis in bold is mine.)

There is an implication in the article that shows like Grimm are unpleasantly dark and that they don't contain - or maintain - hope, but I don't think that's true. I think the hope in Grimm shines very brightly, perhaps because it's contrasted by the obvious dark.

However, different shows - and types of stories - appeal to different people. And that's as it should be. Would you rather see more true implications of what "ripping out someone's heart" would be (such as is made more explicit in the fan made image collage below, which, in this presentation, looks closer to something out of Hannibal that it does OUAT)? Or would you rather the implication that someone who regularly rips out people's heart "isn't necessarily all bad" when they "do an act of good"? (Which, when you apply that to real life is a little disturbing!) Although real people are shades of gray, which makes these OUAT fairy tale characters more relatable to many people than they have been in the past, when it comes to ripping out hearts, I don't think a judge and jury in our courts would be very lenient...

I know, I know. It's supposed to be a metaphor - or at least symbolic. But that's my point.

Because, you see, either preference is just one POV. Neither invalidates OUAT's way of telling stories. Or Grimm's. Some people need to hear the tales told that way in order to relate them to their lives.

I think we need both versions - or retellings - of tales. The only problem happens when one form of storytelling attempts to eclipse all else. Then people only have one option for exploring stories and issues and that's completely the opposite of what fairy tales are for.

So: I want both please. Or all. I want them all!

ALL THE STORIES! ;)

The article also discusses the melding/crossing over between fairy tale and fantasy worlds that OUAT has become known for and is gearing up to do bigtime in Season 3 as they head into Neverland.

They also speculate on how "merging mythologies" of Neverland and fairy tale character histories will develop... something which I am curious about too because it's become clear that whatever aspects OUAT melds together will forever change the way this generation (at least) will view those individual tales and characters forever.

You can read the whole article HERE.

Article: Fairy Tale Villains (from Worlds Rise)

I have been keeping this tab open at Worlds Rise for the longest time to make sure I go back and read this post! And I'm so glad I did. It's a great breakdown of villain types and very inspiring for story types to get their heads around. Without further ado, I will give you a teaser then send you over to Worlds Rise to keep reading:

Note: I had some major issues in trying to copy over a portion of the text so resorted to a screencap for a teaser. The text at Worlds Rise is normal text you could use as a resource for writing if needed.

The other villain archetypes discussed are:

- The Rampaging Villain
- The Deceived Villain
- The Devil
- The Rude and Lazy Villain
 -Evil Stepmother and Domestic Witch

You can read about all these and the complementary post on Hero Types over at Worlds Rise HERE.

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.

Jack Zipes Weighs In On "Snow White and the Huntsman:

 What would the Brothers Grimm think of the current box office hit Snow White and the Huntsman?

We'll never know, of course, but asking fairy tale scholars may give us some insights and HERE The Smithsonian talks to Prof. Jack Zipes for his take on the question.

So many reviews talk about movie making, visuals and Hollywood impact and it's difficult to get more than a line or two of consideration on the actual fairy tale aspects, despite it being the whole premise. Thankfully The Smithsonian asks some of the questions we've all been wanting answers to and Prof. Zipes concentrates on how the Snow White tale is told and what he sees regarding the contemporary relevancy of this particular retelling. He also weighs in on how he believes popular culture is doing in telling tales of the common people (grim!) and how that's one of those difficult things about fairy tales. We have to let them go and watch how they evolve, even when it's not what we would choose or hope for...

[More in this in the next post - which should be up shortly. Hopefully. Life has been a tad unpredictable the last few months.]

In the meantime, go read The Smithsonian interview HERE (I recommend it) and get a "Grimm review" on Snow White and the Huntsman.

Article: Why Snow White and the Huntsman wasn’t instead titled Bad-Ass Evil Queen

From the ever-sassy (and very fun to read) reporters at io9, here are some excerpts from an interview with the director of Snow White and the Huntsman, talking about Snow vs the Queen and about fairy tales and fairy tale films:

If you've seen the spooky dark magic trailers for Snow White and the Huntsman, then you too might think that Snow White will be eclipsed by the awesome Evil Queen's (Charlize Theron) kick-ass soul-sucking and milk-bathing.

We asked this dirty fairy tale's director, Rupert Sanders, why this movie wasn't called Evil Queen: Unhinged, and just how much screen time Snow White has.  

This movie makes us think about Eighties fantasy flicks like Willow and Beastmaster, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal — did you revisit a lot of these films?I didn't actually. I actually tried to, but I don't know, they belong to a different era. I revisited Pre-Raphaelite paintings, Victorian fairy painters who had been locked up in mental institutions. I revisited the Grimm's fairy tales and a lot of the other Hans Christian Andersen tales. And just tried to immerse myself in the real fairy tales. "Black fantasy" is very different from "black fairy tales." Fantasy films are here and fairy tales are here. There's definitely a very thin dividing line. But a fairy tale film is very different, to me, from a fantasy film. 

From the look of the trailer, it feels like this movie should be called Evil Queen not Snow White. How much is Kristen Stewart in this film?She's in it, ironically, more than the Evil Queen. I think when you market a film you have to kind of create something that people grab on to, a very simple story line. Our film has so many characters we chose one thing that people would understand and that's the villain. And I think you will see, as the marketing gets closer, you'll see more of Kristen woven into that.

You can read the whole article and interview with director Rupert Sanders HERE.

Best line in there? "...just tried to immerse myself in the real fairy tales..." With those ten words I am more encouraged to see the film than by any (awesome) behind-the-scenes featurettes on spectacular costumes, though, that certainly helped boost my enthusiasm, I admit. :) Now I really hope there's a behind-the-scenes book of this film!

Article Catch-Up: More on Modern Snow Whites, Fairy Tales on TV, Arabian Nights and Pullman's Grimm Retellings

As always, I have a list of posts I haven't managed to get to and since a few of these were going to comment on articles I thought I'd list them with links and teaser excerpts so you don't miss them:

Q&A With ‘Once Upon a Time’ Showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Spoilers)

How has Once Upon a Time evolved? Has it gone the way you always envisioned or become something you didn’t originally think it would?Edward Kitsis: Our dream was to tell certain stories like, why Grumpy became grumpy. Why does the Evil Queen hate Snow White? Tonight it’s why the Mad Hatter is mad. What’s great is through those shows you get to know everyone...
Other things revealed in the recent Wondercon panel:• With no word on renewal, both remain hopeful but do have an idea of how the story will end. They’ve given themselves the flexibility and freedom to manage that ending given their cloudy future, but don’t want to commit to something specific in the event that they change their minds as the series evolves. 

They do mention some spoilery things including fairy tale characters we'll be seeing before the end of season 1 - so skip it if you want to be surprised. The whole article is HERE.

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Snow White becomes a girl-power icon

Linked to from fairy tale blog The Dark Forest, this article gives a little history of Snow White tale variations, especially quoting Ruth Bottigheimer. All current film versions of Snow White are discussed (ABC's Once Upon A Time, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman) and the differences in character are compared to the tale variations (and to Disney's version too).

“Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders takes the princess-as-rescuer theme further, making Stewart’s Snow White into a literal warrior. But he insists he’s not trying to fashion her into a kind of superhero.“She wears a suit of armor, but she’s not suddenly Bruce Lee’s adopted sister,” he told IFC.com. “She is wearing armor for protection and she has to kill a queen. It’s very instinctual, it’s defensive. She knows she has to kill someone, and that sword lies very uneasy in her hand.”

The article finishes by discussing the tale itself, as opposed to the current pop culture versions:

“The classic Snow White story has lots of appeal,” says Haase. “It includes some very vivid characters and motifs — like the magic mirror, the poison apple and the dwarfs — and it deals with some intense emotions and drama, like the mother-daughter relationship, jealousy, murder and rebirth.”Plus, says Silverstein, “Snow White is the perfect fairy tale. You’ve got the good girl, the pure Snow White, and the bad girl, the Evil Queen. Which is pretty much the box that all women get put into.”

The whole three page article is HERE and Dark Forest's excellent post questioning aspects of it is HERE. Note: The article mentions Disney has axed the live action version of Snow White, by which I presume they mean Order of Seven. I have yet to find confirmation of this, especially since recent activity (reported around Feb 10) on the project would suggest a ramping up, not an abandonment.

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Are you Team Snow White or Team Evil Queen?

Discussing the compelling evil of the Wicked Queen in Snow White:

That kind of evil is not easily forgotten. The queen in Disney's 1937 animated "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has become an icon of wickedness.
On American Film Institute's list of the top 50 villains and 50 heroes, the queen of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" ranks as the No. 10 villain (Dr. Hannibal Lecter/"The Silence of the Lambs" is No. 1). 

Professor Zipes is quoted and the complexity of the queen's character is discussed and is contrasted with the newer, more heroic, warrior woman, versions of Snow White coming to us in film this year, bringing us back around to the question: In a real showdown between the two, who would really win? Snow White or the Evil Queen and why?

The queen is more complex, Zipes notes. "We really don't know too much about her - where she gets her powers. She's mysterious."The aging beauty also knows deep down that she will be replaced by a younger woman. "That is still today for a lot of women a great concern," said Zipes, University of Minnesotaprofessor emeritus.

Not to be missed, a side bar lists some interesting Wicked Queen facts:

Mirror doesn't lie
In "Annie Hall" (1977), Alvy (Woody Allen) says that when he saw Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," he was attracted to the Evil Queen. Here are seven more queens Alvy may find entrancing:
Arpazia: The evil queen gets a back story in Tanith Lee's novel "White as Snow" (Tor Books, $16.99).
Queen of Fables: A Justice League villain decides Wonder Woman resembles Snow White in the DC Comics series.
Evil Queen: The queen (Diana Rigg) plots to kill Snow White in the 1987 musical.
Queen Elspeth: Miranda Richardson plays the insecure queen in "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All" (2001).
Claudia Hoffman: Sigourney Weaver plays the stepmother in "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (1997).
Evil Queen: Olivia Wilde poses as the queen in photographer Annie Liebovitz's image for the Disney Dream Portrait Series. Alec Baldwin is the face of the mirror.
The Queen: She tells a different version of her encounter with Snow White in Neil Gaiman's short story "Snow, Glass, Apples."

You can read this whole article HERE.

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Under the spell

Now that NBC's Grimm has debuted in the UK there are quite a few articles introducing the series and talking about the premise. This article has a couple of extra tidbits:

“Fairy tales in general are just kind of great ideas to do for a show because one of the things that is very common among fairy tales is, I feel, there’s a very innate psychological need for a safe haven that’s like inherent in all humans. So, in a lot of fairy tales, you have this protagonist who’s fighting to return home or something. I think that’s a great format for each episode as you have this sort of quest of sorts.“In our world, a fairy tale often has a lesson attached to it – whether it’s a warning or as a tale of hope. At the very last layer of that message is a problem, usually revolving around a family.

...Tulloch started poring over these tales and legends after getting the part in the show, although she is the most normal person in it. Answering a question about which of the stories is her favourite, she pickedCinderella. and it’s a story she hopes that will be explored in an episode of the series.She explained: “That story is rather gruesome; the sisters end up having their eyes pecked out by crows. So, I think that one would be really cool. The Frog Prince would be kind of cool to do, I think.“One of the most interesting things I came across when I was doing research was ­ – and now I’m like completely outing myself as a little bit of a nerd – but I was reading PhD paper that I found online that deducted that (The Grimm Brothers) weren’t writers, but were sort of cultural researchers and kind of forefathers of forensic psychology, which I thought was really an interesting way to look at it instead of being profilers.“And that’s kind of what Nick has, this innate ability to profile people.”

If you remember the "sexy-dead" promos for Grimm before the series started in the US (that's another post I never finished!), you'll remember there was in fact a Cinderella like character and one that alluded to a frog prince gone horribly wrong (as per the image shown above) so she may get her wish. You can read the whole article HERE.

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Marina Warner’s Stranger Magic Reconsiders the Arabian Nights

Discussing the latest book by fairy tale scholar Marina Warner, this article has me intrigued. I really hope I get to read this book, and soon.

The format (book-about-a-book) fits especially well for trying to pick the locks of Arabian Nights, itself a collection of boxes within boxes of twice- or thrice-told tales.Warner helpfully intersperses 15 paraphrased versions of the jump-the-shark stories Shahrazad interrupted each dawn so that her plot-driven husband would keep her alive to finish the next night, his moment of satisfaction infinitely receding: “The City of Brass,” “The Prince of the Black Islands.” She astonishes with the granularity of her accounts of the impact of these stories on their original European readers: inspired by the Arabian literature craze, as well as by the Persian poets Hafiz and Rumi, Goethe took to wearing a caftan and turban, known as “turning Turk” in the 18th century, while writing his West-Eastern Divan. Much of the narrative machinery of the original tales, such as Solomon’s flying carpet on which entire armies could be transported, both predicted and were then perfected in silent movies, especially the Hollywood “Easterns,” often prequels and sequels to Arabian Nights, beginning with Douglas Fairbanks’s lavish The Thief of Bagdad (1924), as well as musical theater and Walt Disney animation.

...(Warner) hangs her (our?) hopes on the circular ways that our heroine, not a warrior like Achilles, but a wily storyteller, speaks both truth and imagination to power: “to give the princes and sultans of this world pause. This was—and is—Shahrazad’s way.”

You can read the whole review HERE.

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And finally a few articles discussing Philip Pullman's soon-to-be-released (in September) retellings of 50 of Grimm's tales in honor of the 200th anniversary of Household Tales:

From The Independent: The Blagger's Guide To ... Grimms' fairy tales - Scaring children everywhere for 200 years

Pullman has long counted himself as a fan of the stories, and has been working on his own versions for some time. Last year, he told the fansite bridgetothestars.net: "This isn't a book for children only. I'm telling the best of the tales in my own voice, and I'm finding it a great purifier of narrative thinking, rather as a pianist relishes playing Bach's preludes and fugues as a sort of palate-cleansing discipline."
Pullman's collection will include many of the best-known fairy tales – "Rapunzel", "Snow White", "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood" – as well as other, lesser-known works. His favourite, he says, is "The Juniper Tree" – a sordid tale of an evil stepmother who murders her stepson and makes him into blood puddings. He has also included "The Three Snake Leaves", "Hans My Hedgehog" and "Godfather Death".

From The Guardian: Grimm outlook: Philip Pullman's fairytales to arrive in September

(Pullma) is retelling them in "clear as water" new versions, complete with commentary on each story's history and background.

From Huffington Post UK: Philip Pullman's Fairytales To Launch in September

The Grimms' tales aren't known for their child-friendly nature - in which evil sisters lose their toes, evil stepmothers dance to death in red-hot iron shoes and evil, well, anything, come to a sticky end - but we're not expecting Pullman to sweeten any pills either. After all, scalping, poison and soul-severing all featured heavily in His Dark Materials. No doubt come September we'll be reading it with the lights on.

 And while we're on the subject here's a note from Pullman from his website:

Books with pictures and fairy tales

I love looking at good illustrations. The best of them are not only a pleasure for the eye, but a real addition to the text. I've had the privilege of working with some wonderful illustrators, and I hope to write many more texts for illustration in the future. Actually, I've got a not-very-secret ambition: I want to write and illustrate a picture book all by myself. But I'll have to do a lot of practice, and even then I won't ever come near the skill of a Peter Bailey or an Ian Beck or a John Lawrence – to name some of my favourite illustrators.However, the next best thing is to enjoy their pictures alongside my words. And that'll have to do, for now.

There's been no mention of illustrations in this new collection of retold Grimm's tales from Pullman but considering books like Clockwork, Or All Wound Up (one of my favorites!) I would hope we're in for some new illustrative treats as well.

Article: The Better To Entertain You With My Dear (aka Fairy Tales Are Outdated)

Red Cap American McGee Wine Label by Ken Wong

In this article posted by the New York Times, we have the writer arguing this:

The world from which fairy tales and folk tales emerged has largely vanished, and although it pleases us to think of these stark, simple, fantastic narratives as timeless, they aren’t. Thanks to video games, computer graphics and the general awfulness of everyday life, fantasies of all kinds have had a resurgence in the past few years. But the social realities on which the original fairy tales depend are almost incomprehensibly alien to 21st-century sensibilities; they reek of feudalism. And the lessons they’re supposed to teach our young don’t have much force these days. Kids learn to be skeptical almost before they’ve been taught anything to be skeptical of.

Really? This sounds like someone who was raised on a diet of Politically Correct (remember those?) and Fractured Fairy Tales without having the benefit of a classic canon collection to compare them with.

I think it's the first time in a while, particularly in this time of pop-cultural fairy tale focus, that I've seen fairy tales being called outdated and useless. It's not a new accusation. It's the argument I've heard throughout my life as to why my time would be better spent pursuing the study of other things. (Obviously, I don't agree.) I do hope the normally more balanced and critical NYT follow up with an article from someone who argues the opposite (and with more substance).


The writer's concern seems to revolve around how cringe-worthy so many "fairy tale films" are and while I understand his point I think he's actually missing the real one. He says:

...the characteristic tone of fairy tales and folk tales, which is derived from oral storytelling traditions, is awfully difficult to replicate on screen. 

Rapunzel American McGee Wine Label by Ken Wong

Films that try to put a specific fairy tale on screen often do have problems in translating the wonder aspect of fairy tales (note I didn't say "fantasy aspect") into a visual, filmic state that's as believable and substantial as the one that happens in your head when you read (or are read) them. We inevitably place the stories in a specific time period and outfit them with supposedly magical special effects that often can't live up to the imagination. But it doesn't mean films are unsuccessful in communicating that "characteristic fairy tale tone". Think of Pan's Labyrinth, Like Water for Chocolate, Freeway and The Secret of Roan Inish among many others.You do feel as if you've entered a fairy tale but the real world connection is still very evident. (I'm leaving out animated films here - that's a different conversation.) As I see it, there are fantasy films (think Legend), fairy tale fantasy films (The Slipper and the Rose, Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood) and fairy tale films (see above examples). It's the latter that appeals to me most as they communicate the feeling of being absorbed in fairy tales the best. Fairy tale films that have a fairly straight retelling of a specific fairy tale tend to fall into the fairy tale fantasy arena (though not always) and there aren't that many that are succeed from a storytelling or box-office point of view. So, while I see the writer's point, I think he should have been more specific.

It also would have helped to define the "characteristic tone" he's talking about. I don't think he means the wonder aspect of a tale, which is what actually makes it a fairy tale, but that is the elusive thing. Fairy tales aren't magical stories full of unicorns and pixie dust. That's fantasy. Fairy tales are everyday stories with an element of wonder. The focus is different and it's that wonder factor amid the mundane that makes all the difference. The tough thing is that people tend to retell (resell?) fairy tales as fantasies so it gets confusing.

Snow White American McGee Wine Label by Ken Wong

I'm not thrilled by the lack of deeper research (specifically with regard to supporting the writer's argument) in the article. The whole point of the piece is the argument that "fairy tales have nothing to offer audiences of today" and yet it ends with how popular Grimm and Once Upon A Time are, how many fairy tale films keep coming out and how the target audience will likely very much enjoy Mirror Mirror.

When I got to the comment in parentheses: (Was there really so much insult humor in the Middle Ages?) I had to shake my head. Because yes, there was. There really (really!) was. Apparently the writer missed his Shakespeare and Chaucer classes.

There is, however, one interesting sentence I wanted to point out, even though it's rather throw-away in the body:

The TV series “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time” are, surprisingly, more thoughtful than any of the recent fairy-tale movies have dared to be. Maybe the succession of weekly episodes more closely approximates the regularity and one-thing-after-another quality of bedtime stories.

Bedtime stories. Hmm. I think there actually might be a connection there, just not necessarily in the way the writer implies. Fairy tales aren't chapters in a novel in which they all go "Into the Woods" so to speak, but there is a definite feeling of accessing a unique world just out of sight from story to story, even if Rapunzel is not ensconced in the same woods Red Riding Hood's grandmother lives in (although this is part of the premise of both Once and Grimm). What do you think? Is there a connection between the qualities of having fairy tale bedtime stories and watching weekly installments of fairy tale TV shows?

You can read the whole article HERE.

Article: Mind Your Business - Fairy Tales In the Office

What fairy tale characters really carry in their pockets... by Radiant Crust

Here's a fun use of fairy tale metaphors I thought some of you might be interested in.

Apparently this website is dedicated to helping people start and maintain their businesses and they've noticed that it isn't the inspirational stories that get the most attention, it's the ones about mistakes. Interestingly, this is one of my favorite things about fairy tales - that they show you the reality of the woods, paths you shouldn't take and paths that will bring you safely out the other side. These are far more useful to me than just wishing for (or envying) happy endings.

From Business News Daily:

Maybe our "mistakes" stories serve as modern fairy tales – warnings of customer service wolves and evil accounting witches lurking around every corner.

Here's a teaser of the types they discuss:

Here are a few common fairy tale characters to watch out for at your business. 

The wolf in disguise. – Whether it's a wolf in sheep's clothing or one dressed like your grandma, in modern business that wolf represents employees or business partners who are not showing their true colors. They behave like angels in front of you, but once your back is turned, they're up to no good. It's possible to tame the wolf, but first you have to know who it is.

(Edit FTNH: Ha! Met more than a good share of these. The worst thing regarding at least half these wolves is they actually believe they are "your grandma" or angels, or whatever and not the wolf at all. They believe their own smooth talk and somehow justify to themselves actions that, when done by others, seem reprehensible. Now there's a Red Riding Hood story I haven't actually seen yet...) 

The wicked witch - (see article for details)

The naïve innocent. – In fairy tales, it's usually a young girl that naively end up in trouble – Goldilocks, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood. In real life, though, it's anyone in your office who doesn't have the good sense to look at the bigger picture and understand their role in making things work. While it might be harmless for a while, the employees that don't look beyond their own cubicle are the ones that will get into trouble if you ever need to send them out into the forest on your behalf.

(Edit FTNH: I'm glad they added this one!) 

 The fairy godmother. – (see article for details)

The knight in shining armor. – If you own a business or manage one, you probably fantasize that this is you – the person who comes to the rescue and saves the day. More likely than not, though, it's probably the person who gets the least attention. In fairy tales, no one talks about the prince or knight until the end. At your business, it may well be a person who sits in the back office who doesn't get much attention until times get tough and everybody needs rescuing. Make sure you recognize your "knights" and reward them handsomely.

(Edit FTNH: I wanted to cheer when I read this one. Usually it's the little people working hard, staying late with no OT that help a company meet deadline and look good. Businesses need these people and will be stronger and better if these knights don't feel abused or taken for granted.)

You can find the whole article HERE. And while we're on the subject of fairy tales in business, check out their Cinderella stories "a list of some of the most unlikely and inspiring stories of individuals who have overcome hardships and beat the odds to craft successful careers as entrepreneurs" HERE.

Interestingly, again, this is just how I view the Cinderella story - not as a love story (even though there might be love involved) but as a savvy business plan. Check my two-part article for Valentine's Day a couple of years ago on True Love and Fairy Tales HERE. You'll see what I mean.

Fairy tale archetypes really are everywhere... ;)

PS Don't you love the business cards shown here? The links to the creators are in the caption below. Please show them some love.

by Tanglecrafts

Article: Fairy Tales Return to Their Horror Roots

Yay! Here's an article which I expected to be essentially more of the same sensational complaints every other article about "scary fairy tales" seems to have at the moment. This one, however, actually makes some good observations and asks an important question.

We find past common issues like child abandonment, losing limbs and being eaten by sneaky creatures so horrific that so many people feel a knee-jerk reaction ("take them away!") is required as an appropriate response to tales that include such things. As a result our children in particular end up with sanitized, "shiny" versions of tales that do little more than distract momentarily to entertain us...

From thinkprogress.org:

Mirror, Mirror looks like an anachronism precisely because it’s so pristine. These aren’t dark woods so much as they’re a Hollywood set, or an incomplete CGI rendering. It’s hard to be terrified of a world where people’s teeth literally sparkle, and curses turn people into adorable simulacra of puppy dogs. These people are plastic: even if you cut them to the quick, there’d be no blood or guts to spill into that snow.

... But even as many protest details brought to light on finding out the darker origins of favorite tales, when times get tough we can't help but look to darker tales in the hopes of finding our way through our own. Even the obvious "shiny" Disney echoes in Once Upon A Time are proving to have a different meaning now. I'm particularly thinking of this past Sunday's episode where we see Snow White sweeping and singing... (Note: emphasis in bold is mine.)

(also from thinkprogress.org):

Once Upon a Time has a bit of that shininess problem, though conceptually, it’s gone darker. There’s a girl who turns into a wolf, and an actual heart in a box that’s been identified as belonging to a character we’ve gotten to know. That’s upsetting, even if we don’t see the organ itself. Grimm, which recently got a second-season pickup, and has improved by focusing on the core relationship between the detective and the werewolf, has been horrific from the beginning: we’ve got stolen organs, fights to the death, and incredibly ugly acts of murder all of them. The premise of the show itself is deeply unnerving—that there’s something else hiding under the skin many of us present to the world.  

And Once Upon a Time and Grimm are nodding at a question it’ll be important for fairy tale storytellers to consider if this trend is to continue. In the absence of the dark woods, the arbitrary nature of feudal lords, the horror of high infant mortality rates (at least in the developing world), the wolves that steal the sheep, what are our terrors? And which stories are the best matches for telling them? The persistence of crime dramas would suggest that the big city has replaced the big woods, that serial killers are our ravening beasts. But I’m not sure we have myths to embody the new fears generated by a world that’s much larger than the village, or the disembodied terrors of the digital age.

You can read the whole article HERE.

I feel like congratulating writer Alyssa Rosenberg for finding a relevant (and helpful!) angle on a very tired and (usually) under-researched hot-button issue.

You already know how I feel about this. I don't know what I would have done without fairy tales as a kid. What I have to wonder is: what would horrify someone from, say the Grimm's time (pre to mid 1800's) about our world? I would suggest our modern society isn't quite as different as we'd like to believe. People dress differently, connect and travel differently and technology is different but the same essential issues plague us today as much as they ever did. Predators of all kinds troll both our streets and online paths, con men stoop to taking advantage of the poor, the elderly and even children and where does the most child neglect and abuse in the world? Right under our noses. (I've blogged on this before - see additions to the post in red, including the links - but it bears repeating.) Currently the US leads the developed world in deaths in children as a result of child abuse. (See HERE for some scary recent statistics which I gather have not improved since the time of publishing, including a link to a news report which lays it out clearly.)

When you look at the tales in this light how can people think fairy tales have nothing to offer people, especially children, today? This is a very sad reason for the tales to be told, I know, but if they give hope and help save lives, that alone should be reason enough to keep sharing them. Though I sadly don't think this will ever go away there are many other reasons to keep telling fairy tales as well. I can only hope all your reasons are good ones too, but just in case they're not, and just in case it helps, you can be sure I'll keep telling these fairy tales with both the darkness of the woods and the hope of the way through that they offer.

With that said, I'm going to share this 5 minute animation, also included in the article and first seen on Cartoon Brew. It's a silhouette retelling, simply called Red, and is being described in various places as "a very dark version of Little Red Riding Hood." I have to wonder what isn't dark about LRRH, even in it's most benign form. Maybe all the cute wide-eyed girls in storybooks today have rewritten the tale in people's heads more than you would think. As far as this short goes, I would rate it as a solid PG13 - not for little kids but mainly because you see some of the violence. It's beautifully done:

Red is a modern day silhouette film based on the classic fairy tale. Directors Jorge Jaramillo and Carlo Guillot, with musician/composer Manuel Borda, explore the drama, horror and realism of the story in a beautifully stylized way. (Cartoon Brew)

RED from RED on Vimeo.

One final note: the premise of the article is that fairy tales have their roots in horror. I would argue that, that isn't actually the case. They have their roots in dealing with the realities of the time, which because the gore is often so "seen" then, we regard it as horrific. Unfortunately one of the main differences between then and now is we're better at hiding the gore (both visceral and psychological) from plain view. Just because we don't see people bleeding in front of us every day doesn't mean it isn't happening and it doesn't mean there isn't horror present. Fairy tales just tell it like it is. I find that very refreshing. It helps me know when a wolf really is a wolf. There's nothing quite like a heads up on that.

Note: In case it wasn't clear, the images throughout this post are from the short silhouette film Red as well.