Maleficent As A Modern Day Mélusine

[Art: ‘Melusine’, from “Les grandes Sataniques de l'histoire de la Légende” by Roland Brévannes, Select Bibliothèque, 1907]

Maleficent (Disney 2014)

Note: This theory/exploration was put together for #MythologyMonday back in August on Twitter*, by our Editor Gypsy Thorton, using the character limited format. We have expanded and reworded some of her tweets for easier reading (starting below our intro and the dragon flanked with stars).

This is a set of linked tweets (known as a 'thread') exploring the possibility of Maleficent (being a dragon-shape-shifter) as a modern variant of Melusine. (When Gypsy contributes fresh content, she will inevitably find a way to reference fairy tales, no matter what the theme is.) We, too, believe there is a fairy tale link to every topic and situation under the sun...

With Maleficent: Mistress of Evil opening in theaters today, we thought it might be fun to expand the thread for a blog post, even though it has no real bearing on the Disney's live-action Maleficent movies... or does it?

Melusine and Raymon by Troy Howell

Who was Melusine? (A Quick Refresher)
(Description via Storytelling Toronto):

Melusine is both a mythic and historical character in French legend. She is best known for her secret: that every Saturday, she had to disappear into the bath, where the lower part of her body took on the form of a serpent. 

Melusine was a great queen and benefactress. Her mother was a “maiden of the wells,” a fairy from the “Lost Isles” of Avalon. Her father was a mortal king, the king of Albany, now Scotland. Melusine became entangled in mortal life, married, and had ten sons who were powerfully gifted and cursed. She was said to have built many cities and abbeys, some of which still exist in France. This mythic queen left her imprint on the physical landscape of France and Scotland, and her baffling story draws us back to early Christianity and the demonization of the enchantress.^

Melusine escaping: Cover of
'The Legend of Melusine' (French)
by Michèle Perret (artist unknown)

As she was finishing her story-thread on Twitter, Gypsy found a recently-published scholarly compilation for which one of the contributors apparently had similar thoughts, including a discussion of the link in their paper. She included mention of the book at the end of her tweets (see end of the post for the title plus a description and relevant excerpts we were able to hunt down) but we had hoped to obtain a copy to read before sharing it all here. Unfortunately, this is one of those uber-expensive volumes (upwards of $100!) so, apart from some interesting sneak-peeks via previews (which we will also share excerpts of below) we're just going to have to keep it on a watchlist.

In the meantime, we remain thrilled that some medieval literature and legend experts had also found a connection to Maleficent, taken their scholarly skills, time and effort to do comprehensive research, then published an exploration of the concept as part of their work. Their discussion of Maleficent's story having included some of the Melusine narrative in a modern form, though, is only a portion of one of the included papers in the book. From the excerpts we've been able to glimpse in previews, all other aspects are just as interesting. We are looking forward to the time we can read it in full. (Details and links at the end of post.)
Enjoy!

* * * * * *

Today's theme for #MythologyMonday (August 29, 2019) is #MythologicalCreatures, so let's talk shapeshifting dragons, female ones; especially one in particular: Maleficent, but not as she's usually considered.

Imagine Maleficent as a 'modern' day Melusine, as some versions of the legend say Melusine was. (Not a mermaid, or typical fairy, but perhaps a type of fairy-wyvern hybrid, which fits with the text).

[Art: The Marriage of Le Belle Melusine, Jessie Bayes, 1914]

Now imagine Melusine/Maleficent as a younger, more innocent creature. One day, when she was happily wandering in the woods, she met -some versions say rescued- a young French lord, Raymond of Poitou, and they fell in love.

Before long they were to be married. He didn't know she was Other and, in love, promised to give her the privacy of a private bath on Saturdays - with no peeking - ever!

[Art: Nataša Ilincic]

Melusine was a prize for the Nobleman; not only was she beautiful, she made him 'lucky'. In reality, she used her dragon-hoarding abilities to attract wealth & built castles for him. She was very fertile, giving him ten children, with not a single hybrid among them to give her away, though they did have unusually large teeth and brilliant eyes...**

[Art: Julius Hübner 'Die schöne Melusine' 1844]

But Melusine's husband (Raymond) had a jealous brother who 'bedeviled' Ray with doubts about Melusine's faithfulness. Eventually (after at least ten children had been born) Ray gave in to his brother's decade-plus of mind-poisoning, and he finally broke his promise to Melusine, spying on her. He discovered her in her marble bath in partial-dragon form and, his mind already set against her, recoiled in horror.

Melusine / Illumination, Flemish, c. 1410–1420, attributed to Guillebert de Mets.
“Melusine s’enfuit transformée en vouivre” (Melusine flees disguised as a dragon).

Betrayed and heartbroken, Melusine spread her dragon wings as she backed away to the nearest window then, with a cry, fled the castle forever.

[Art: The figure of Melusine, at the 16th century sculpture garden of Bomarzo, Italy.]

Though poor Melusine had fled for her life, she was heartbroken and missed her family. It was said she could sometimes be spotted, high above the castle, weeping. (Legend says you can still see her on moonless nights.)

Some say Melusine was a fairy, or mermaid or a serpent but don't believe it - she was a dragoness.

[Art: by coucyi on Tumblr]

Did Melusine end up taking residence in a castle that crumbled to ruin over time and failing fortunes?

Did she become bitter and cynical about true love, vowing to thwart foolish young noble women, cursing them to sleep before they could have their freedom -and their love- betrayed?

[Art: Eyvind Earle concept painting of "Maleficent" as the Dragon from Sleeping Beauty. (Walt Disney, 1959) ]

And did she finally give in completely to her true draconic nature when a young princess, hailed the Dawn of the New Age+, was about to make the same mistake she once had in the woods, only to tragically become a trophy once again, only this time on a Prince's wall?

We'll never truly know. All we can say in certainty is that loving a dragoness is not for the faint of heart.
#MythologyMonday #Maleficent

[To trace more scholarly musings on Melusine, this book may be of interest: "Melusine’s Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth"]

Description:

Melusine's Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth

Editors: Misty Urban, Deva Kemmis, and Melissa Ridley Elmes

In Melusine’s Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth, editors Misty Urban, Deva Kemmis, and Melissa Ridley Elmes offer an invigorating international and interdisciplinary examination of the legendary fairy Melusine. Along with fresh insights into the popular French and German traditions, these essays investigate Melusine’s English, Dutch, Spanish, and Chinese counterparts and explore her roots in philosophy, folklore, and classical myth. 

Combining approaches from art history, history, alchemy, literature, cultural studies, and medievalism, applying rigorous critical lenses ranging from feminism and comparative literature to film and monster theory, this volume brings Melusine scholarship into the twenty-first century with twenty lively and evocative essays that reassess this powerful figure’s multiple meanings and illuminate her dynamic resonances across cultures and time. 

Contributors are Anna Casas Aguilar, Jennifer Alberghini, Frederika Bain, Anna-Lisa Baumeister, Albrecht Classen, Chera A. Cole, Tania M. Colwell, Zoë Enstone, Stacey L. Hahn, Deva F. Kemmis, Ana Pairet, Pit Péporté, Simone Peger, Caroline Prud’Homme, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Renata Schellenberg, Misty Urban, Angela Jane Weisl, Lydia Zeldenrust, and Zifeng Zhao.

* * * * * *

Almost a month after Gypsy's story thread, one of the editors, Dr. Melissa Ridley Elmes, added this tweet for the #FolkloreThursday theme of the week: Mythological Creatures

I can't possibly let a #FolkloreThursday devoted to "mythological creatures" pass by without a shout-out to my darling Melusine, the medieval fairy who becomes a dragon when her husband betrays her by peeking in on her bath! @FolkloreThurs pic.twitter.com/2jvb4eo4v7

— Dr. Melissa Ridley Elmes (@MRidleyElmes) August 29, 2019

Since first finding Melusine's Footprint, we have tracked down some previews and excerpts that include discussion of Maleficent. Here's a small taste:

[From Misty Urban's paper: How the Dragon Ate the Woman: The Fate of Melusine in English:]

... in what might so far be the closest reunion of the dragon and the woman on the screen of a blockbuster film: Disney's 2014 live-action Maleficent, which re-envisions the supernatural fairy enchantress of the Sleeping Beauty legend into a figure much like Melusine. With horns on her head highly reminiscent of the headdress Melusine wears in late medieval and early modern woodcuts, the fairy Maleficent otherwise appears human in form save for a pair of wings, of which she is deprived in the course of the movie by a false lover. The Maleficent of this film harbors strongly protective maternal instincts and is a powerful enchantress with unlimited resources who can physically transform her kingdom at will and who is its recognized ruler. While male betrayal is a prevalent motif, the emotional charge of the narrative rests on the way that the two central female characters lift the curse on each other: Maleficent herself breaks the curse of the death-like sleep she laid on Aurora, and an awakened Aurora consequently restores her wings to Maleficent, who, in a film moment highly evocative of Melusine's final exit transforms into  winged creature, exits the castle that entraps her by shattering a stained-glass window, and then flies about the parapets, screaming, as she sends the malicious King Stefan to his death. [Urban pp. 386]

Melusine - Illumination, French, 15th century.
"Melusine escapes Raymond in Dragon form / Melusine appears to breastfeed her sons". Illustration to the "Roman de Melusine" of the troubadour Couldrette (1401). Ms français 383, fol. 30, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale.

And, an excerpt from the final paper, commenting on what this anthology volume adds to the already extensive scholarship published on Melusine:

Urban's contribution reveals that the decades following second wave feminism have witnessed the return of a polymorphic Melusine in innovative new interpretations. Constrating with premodern tendencies to soften Melusine's hybridity, young adult fiction has endowed the fully serpentine character with an apotropaic role, while the metamorphic, aerial Maleficent, who sits at the heart of a Hollywood fantasy film exploring women's protective and destructive qualities, strikingly revels in her alterity. [Colwell, pp. 398]

You can purchase the book HERE at the publisher's website. This includes a list of the papers included. Each 'locked link' still gives you a limited preview (after clicking on the chapter title), and is great food for thought, even just having a glimpse. Alternately you can find a copy (often cheaper) HERE on Amazon.

And if you go see Melusine, er Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in theaters this weekend, drop us a line, a comment or tag @inkgypsy on Twitter, and let us know your impressions.

^ You can read a more detailed story-like summary of Melusine, including why she had to bathe every Saturday in semi-dragon form, HERE. (Note: the website is in French - Google translate gives you the gist but knowing some French helps!) Otherwise, Wikipedia's Melusine entry has a lot to offer and link you to, if you want to begin a "deep dive".

‘Melusine’, from “Les grandes Sataniques
de l'histoire de la Légende” by Roland Brévannes,

* In case you are interested in joining in on social media and saying 'hi', Gypsy does her best to visit three different Twitter weekly events (even if only briefly, or toward the end of the time frame). They are:
#MythologyMonday
#FairyTaleTuesday
#FolkloreThursday
Just put the hashtag in the search box to find all the tweets. Everyone is welcome to observe, tweet and contribute and each week usually has a theme, though off-topic mythology, folklore or fairy tale information, art, and questions are OK too. You can just search the hashtag and read without posting, or reply and have a discussion, or add a new tweet to the content - whatever you'd like. Just be sure to add that day's hashtag so people can see your comments. Each group has a lot of overlap and all of them are very friendly folks.

** Wondering what happened to those large-toothed, brilliant-eyed children?  Here you go (via Castles, Celtics & Chimeras):
The Ten Children of MélusineMélusine gave Raymond ten sons. But the count, though very proud of having so many children, was not always very comfortable looking at them.
1st: Urian - who became king of Cyprus - was "in every way well-formed, except that he had a short and full face, a red eye and the other person [blue and green], and the largest ears that have never been seen to a child;
2nd: Eudes , had an unquestionably larger ear than the other ";
3rd: Guion , had "one eye higher than the other";
4th: Antoine, handsome and well made like his brothers, except that he wore "a lion's paw on the cheek, and before he was eight, he became hairy, with sharp claws"
5th: Renaud , had only one eye, but remarkably piercing;
6th: Geoffroy , had a 3 cm canine that came out of his mouth;
7th: Fromont , who became a monk at Maillezais, had a hairy spot on his nose;
8th: Horrible , incredibly tall, had three eyes, and he was so ferocious that before 4 years old he had killed 2 of his nannies ".
9th: Thierry , was normal;
10th: Raymonnet , was normal too.
+ Aurora (Disney's chosen "princess name" for Sleeping Beauty, who, in the animated classic, which Maleficent references, grows up being called 'Briar Rose', or just 'Rose' by the three fairies, Fauna, Flora and Merryweather.)

The Three Little Pigs? Or The Three Little "Pigsies" (aka Pixies)?

Henry Justice Ford - The Three Little Pigs: The Fox Carries Whitey Off To His Den - Green Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1892

Sometimes we come across the greatest fairy tale connections in the most unusual places. Looking up the folkloric connection for pixies, to create a more fleshed-out background for a Dungeons and Dragons playable character, we came across a great little video that exposed a curious idea. UK-based YouTuber "Arcane Forge" is an avid player and researcher, who loves comparing and combining folklore and real-world history with Dungeons and Dragons lore and (published canon) history. He casually mentioned an earlier spelling and pronunciation of "pixie" in connection with a well known story...

We're transcribing the relevant section for you below:

Pictured: a pixie. (Artist unknown)
(Also known as pixy, piskie, piksy, pexy, pigsey, or pigsnye.)
Pixie was originally just the Cornish term for a fairy. The exact etymology
is unclear. It's been connected to everything from Picts to Puck.
Anna Eliza Bray's A Peep at the Pixies (1854) uses the word for
all sorts of fairy beings of varying size and appearance:
will o' the wisps, fairy godmothers, brownie-style house elves,
and ghostly phantoms.

"The stories of pixies were often adapted after widespread Christianity, and Christian belief took hold of Britain, and these stories were written/adapted to fit Christan beliefs. It was said that pixies were the unbaptized children who had died, and rather than haunting people like ghosts, because they were children they still had childlike temperaments, and played pranks and tricks instead. Clothes were often burned and as a result they would often need to find natural things to cover themselves in the afterlife.  

A collection of Cornish folktales features
the lore of the mysterious and invisible
tiny spirits as based on stories that
have been handed down from generation to
generation.

But pixies even made it into some of the world's most enduring stories. in the Cornish dialect "pixie" used to be pronounced "pig-zxeez" (or "pizgzees") and spelled p-i-g-s-i-e-s* (or p-i-s-g-i-e-s). It's believed that the story, The Three Little Pigs actually featured "pigsies" rather than pigs. it was only after a dialect shift, and subsequent retellings of the story that resulted in the version that we now all know."

*You may see an in-between spelling used too: "piskies"

We had forgotten all about the pixie variant (or possibly ancestor) of The Three Little Pigs!

There is an English tale (specifically Dartmoor), very similar to The Three Little Pigs, which is known as The Fox and the Pixies. The notes on the linked page mention that "Katherine M. Briggs includes a version of this story in her A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, part A, vol. 2 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970), pp. 528-30." (from D. L. Ashliman's folk texts) It's a pretty delightful read and uses one smart pixie's trickster antics wonderfully in the tale to outwit his nemesis. (Note: pixie is spelled "pixy" in the online text here.)

Then there is the version of The Three Little Pigs in Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book, (which the illustration at the head of the post is from). The antagonist here is also a fox - a fox with a litter to feed. The pigs in this tale all have names: Browney (likely called such because he was covered in mud, was lazy, and dirty, and had a house made of mud), Whitey (a clever but greedy little she-pig [we would say 'sow' but that term is given to the mother who is in the first half of the story, worrying about her piglets], and she gets a house made out of cabbages) and the third is Blacky (who was black, good, nice and the ceverest of them all, and made a house of brick). Blacky not only outwits the fox but goes and rescues his terrified brother and sister from the fox's den at the end of the story too.

So we go from a Fox and Pixies, to a Fox and Pigs (Piggies?), to a Wolf and Pigs. What we really want now, though, is to read a revised, contemporary tale of the Three Little Pisgies that harks back to the tale's rumored roots...

You can listen to Arcane Forge's whole video on pixies HERE (and watch as he draws one too). His approach is so intriguing, we think we may just have to mine some of his other videos on 'monster lore' too, just in case there are more fairy tale connections hidden there too.

Henry Justice Ford - The Three Little Pigs - Green Fairy Book Andrew Lang 1892

An Irish Fairy Tale for St. Patrick's Day: "Jamie Freel & the Young Lady"

Jamie Freel & the Young Lady by Kentaro Kawashima

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Irish have so many fun stories and one of the unusual thing about their fairy tales is that they often have actual fairies (or faeries) or Fae in them too.

Another trait I love in Irish stories is of common people using their wits: farm girls become queens (and show their royal husbands how lucky they are) and ordinary boys trick faeries into giving up their secrets...

One of my favorites, which has a mix of other fairy tales I love too, is Jamie Freel & the Young Lady...

(Note: All illustrations shown through the tale are by Nilesh Mistry from The Illustrated Book of Fairy Tales Retold by Neil Philip. Also, I'm typing this up at midnight, which, although is a good time to tell fairy stories, is a little less kind to the quality of typing and writing...)

*******

It begins on Halloween where each year in an abandoned castle lights are seen dancing about and music of "the Wee Folk" is heard - something most people try to avoid as it rarely turns out well if one invites themselves to a faeries party.

But Jamie Freel, a poor widow's son, one Halloween decided tonight was the night he was going to go seek his fortune there. His mother wasn't too happy about it but Jamie was brave and determined and approached the castle in the moonlight.

When he finally got the courage to peer in, all the Wee Folk were wee indeed, with not one of them over the size of a child of five. Before long he was spotted and hailed with welcomes: "Jamie Freel, Jamie Freel! Welcome, welcome! We go tonight to Dublin to steal a young lady - will you ride with us?" Swallowing his nerves, Jamie boldly replied, "Yes, I will," and was mounted on a fairy horse that rode with great strides through and through the air.

His hosts whooped and swooped about him on their flying steeds, and they rode and rode over thatched roofs and hills, over dales and towns until the shining, shimmering Fae hoard stopped by a fine window of a fine house, where, there, a beautiful girl lay.

Jamie's eyes grew wide, then wider still as Folk swept into the room and stole her right from her bed. In her place they left a stick, which at once took her shape yet remained still, still as death, while the party galloped home through the air with their fair prize.

Tossed was she from rider to rider as they galloped and galloped until Jamie, once again seeing his mother's roof below, gathered his courage and boldly cried, "Do I not get a turn?" Laughing they gave her to him, but at once he leapt from his faery horse, and did his best to flee, girl in his arms, to the safety of his own threshold.

Before he could reach it, the Faeries, no longer laughing but yelling in a rage, turned the poor girl into a black dog, snarling and snapping, into a bar of hot iron, glowing and burning, into a sack of wool, loose and tangled, but Jamie held on and wouldn't let go. Finally, the smallest of the Folk cried, "Let him have her - I will make her no good. I will make her deaf and I will make her dumb!" and she threw some dust at the girl before the host rushed away into the darkness of the rest of the night.

Jamie, tired, took the girl inside but there was nought they could do but watch her cry. She could not hear and she could not speak and now there was one more mouth to feed...

A year passed and Jamie determined he'd pay another visit to the Fae to see what he might do. Just as he was about to enter the castle hall he heard the familiar voice of the smallest Fae say"If only Jamie Freel knew, three drops of my cup would unstop her ears and loosen her tongue!" Thinking fast, Jamie entered and, as before, was bid, "welcome, welcome!" when quick as a blink, he snatched the fairy glass and fled. By the time he reached home, only three drops left, but it was enough. He gave them to the girl and she was restored.

You might guess what happened next. The girl took Jamie to meet her mother and father, who, once they got over the shock of having buried a stick instead of a daughter, gave the young couple their blessing and brought Jamie and his mother into their fine home, where they all celebrated a very fine wedding.

And, I would like to think, that Jamie Freel never visited that castle again...

******

This story has much in common with Tam Lin, including  Halloween, the amount of time passing, and the rescuer having to hold on despite their intended changing from difficult form to difficult form. It also reminds me of Hans Andersen's The Tinder Box in which a sleeping girl is carried off by magical animals in the middle of the night. The changeling aspect is very fairy-like although this changeling is put in place of a grown girl and has no life except to replicate her form completely. As in Tam Lin, again, messing with the Fair Folk is akin to risking a curse of serious illness, possibly death, so all Jamie does is not done lightly. Irish people have traditionally been so seriously superstitious about this aspect of the Fae that it was considered unlucky to even tell stories about fairies during the daytime...

And there I will leave you.

Why don't you pop a saucer of milk outside the door, just in case, and may the luck of the Irish be there with you!

Note: My version is told between memory, a storybook and a glance or three at this text HERE. I have tried to condense my telling and even so a little Irish seems to ha' crept in, as it is wont to do...
My apologies for the low quality images. I couldn't find any from this story in this book online and my scanner isn't working at the moment so pictures it is - but I do love these illustrations by Nilesh Mistry - wonderful story-flowing images..

Maleficent's Magical World - New Creature Concept art (aka Maleficent [& Fairy Tales] for Boys - 1 of 2)

I'm dedicating this particular post to my son, because, apart from the dragon, ("She's a DRAGON! Like Smaug!"*) he is completely enamored of the little creatures he catches glimpses of in the trailers and TV spots. Actually, it's going to be post 1 of 2, focusing on Maleficent for boys - this is the 'art' one and the other will be... well, you'll just have to tune in and see. ;)

(All this really means for you readers, is that you'll get another post of all the other Maleficent stuff that's been released this week very soon too.)

At the head of the post if one of the new character posters, featuring most of his favorite things about the movie (although I do believe he secretly finds Maleficent pretty awesome, what with her powerful wings and then showing serious magical clout).

The rest of the images are a whole lot of newly released concept art, all of which he's asked if they can come and live with us. I kind of wish they could too. About the only things missing merchandise-wise to date are creature sculpts/dolls/toys of these little critters, but more on that in part two...

The other thing my son is fascinated by? The best-buddy raven Diaval, and that he gets transformed into many different creatures (see the wolf above, although I don't know if there's a Diaval-wolf in the final movie), all keeping some of his bird aspects. I think he particularly likes that Diaval is annoyed at getting turned into a human, because he completely relates to that.

Why am I sharing this personal stuff? Because my son, despite having as balanced an upbringing regarding girls and boys things and fairy tales as I can manage (and it's been a priority of mine), he still has a very strong sense of "that's for girls" vs "that's for boys". What this movie is showing him, unlike much fairy tale marketing these days, is that there are aspects of fantasy and fairy tale stories (that aren't mainly focused on wars and knights) that are very appealing to boys. The creatures, the transformations, talking/communicating animals, the danger and the strength - he loves it all. He loves beautiful things too (most little boys I've met love beauty, especially natural/nature beauty), so has no problem with the pretty stuff, as long as there's balance. For example, in Adventure Time, he doesn't mind spending time with Princess Bubblegum story lines because, in his eyes, the candy kingdom is more a boys' idea of candy than the typical girl's representation of all-sugar-and-sweetness and Beemo, who is a very cute girl character, is awesome to him because she's tech savvy, creative, and rocks at video games.

He is not the only one enamored of these forest beings. I recently found a post by ex-Geeky Editor at Buzzfeed, Donna Dickens (@MildlyAmused on Twitter & currently blogging at HitFix HERE) I'm going to quote a ton of because the sentiments are so very similar in our house here (emphasis in bold, and underlined and yelled, politely, in Disney's direction, is mine):

Ignore the right side of the banner. Pretend it isn't there. Yes yes, dark and gloomy. Spiky thorns. Spooky rocks. We've seen it all before. Instead, look at these super cute sentient woodland species! OH MY GOD THEY ARE ADORABLE with their little spines and big noses and rock chins and floppy ears. Who are these tiny, cuddly people? A type of fairy perhaps? Or just more mythological creatures? Doesn't matter, I'm sure they play a part in the big battle sequence implied in the trailers. 

Don't they look as if they'd be right at home in a remake of 'Labyrinth' or 'The Dark Crystal?' NOT that those need to be remade, Hollywood. Back off. Seriously. Even the little malformed ones are so cute and fluffy, which is no easy trick when you don't even have fur!. Look at those sweet doe eyes and weird but precious boomerang noses! And are those noble treants wearing loincloths? How thoughtful to remember the PG-13 rating. 

And then there's these little fellas. The one in the middle is probably grumpy because he got stuck with the two nudists. But maybe the lack of clothes means they're pets and not people? I want an elephant nosed, web-handed amorphous blob pet!. If Disney doesn't turn these two into stuffed animals, their marketing department is missing a huge squishable opportunity.

Read the whole (fantastic) post HERE.

Ah marketing. Disney would totally be taking ALL-MA-MONEH if these creatures were considered toyable. The begging and the big, giant anime eyes a kid of seven can aim in your direction, along with the double whammy of "..it's about fairy tales Mama!" is a recipe for "buy all the toys even though it means we're eating noodles for the next 3 months...". It's bad enough he's already begging me for this pricey little sweatshirt:

While I don't know much about how these creatures shown here are represented in the film, apart from the battle scenes, I can tell you that my son realizing that the idea of "fairy" in fairy tales everywhere (ie not just the stories I choose to read to him but in general knowledge), doesn't just apply to pixies with wings but also to any non-human magical creatures (right through to very powerful representations like the ent-like warrior riding the forest hog), is one of those breakthrough things. Why? It has made him more open to reading ALL the tales. It's one thing for your fairy tale obsessed mother to constantly tell you fairy tales are as much for boys as they are for girls, but when he sees evidence of that in the media, it makes an impact and (get this) sends him back to me to read him more of what I've been reading to him all along.**

The media and advertising are so very powerful and loom large in influencing our kid's ideas of how they see the world. While my son's experience may be more unique because he's already had fairy tales in his life (thanks to me), it still takes the "outside world" to show him a glimpse of the same before he'll truly take it on board. It's taken something like the Maleficent trailers for him to realize that "Adventure Time is kind of like a bunch of fairy tale stuff mixed up with weird and crazy fun stuff.." and that "Star Wars would be kind of like a fairy tale if it had trolls and castles instead of aliens and space ships and light sabers and stuff..."Now he'll even catch sight of some of the images I scroll through on Pinterest, eg a guy with antlers, and spontaneously say, "Maybe that's one of those don't-mess-with-me fairies, like Maleficent is friends with".

I am so happy he is at a "wonder-ous" age for tales and can experience all this social buzz on a fairy tale in his formative years, especially in a way that opens the road to looking back on what he's already been exposed to with delight and the way forward to even more.

Addendum: For an interesting footnote to this riff on the importance of balance, I'll share something else on the "for boys" end of the scale that made me realize this even more. My son and I watched Jack the Giant Slayer together on the weekend (with my hands at the ready to over his eyes for any potential gore) and his comment about the giants was: "Why are they so stupid? You wouldn't think giants that big and that old would be so dumb." and "Where are the nice things the giants have? If they're hundreds of years old you think they would have had lots of time to build awesome stuff and make cool and weird looking houses and forests and stuff but everything is broken and nothing is alive..." Also interesting to note, he thought the Ewan McGregor character (Captain of the Guard?) was really heroic, whereas Jack didn't seem very smart. And we agreed that Jack would make a terrible king. "That's not the Jack you named me after, is it Mama? Because I know I'm smarter than that!" You are SO right kiddo.

*Gosh I hope he's right and she really IS a dragon and it's not just Diaval.
** These reasons, more than any others, have me crossing my fingers and toes that Maleficent will be good.

William Butler Yeats, Briar Rose & Maleficent

From the new official Tumblr page, this is just fascinating. An extract from Yeat's famous "The Stolen Child" poem is posted, along with the above gentle gif. Here's the poem, under the heading "Magical World":

Magical World - Briar Rose

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

with a faery, hand in hand,

for the world’s more full of

weeping than you can understand.

~William Butler Yeats

Now, I will never quite read that poem the same way again...

There's a lot to explore in the new Tumblr already, including things like this:

Magical World - Earth Tones

Heed the wild call of the faerie folk with rustic, animal-inspired accessories.

I'm really enjoying the layering of these reveals, showing the thought process behind the movie and behind the final impressions they wish you to have. It would appear the movie has more substance to it than first appears. *cheers*

Fairy tale bonus of the day:

Have you noticed who the writing credits for Maleficent are being credited to? Both The Grimm Brothers and Perrault are credited, along with a few others... It's pretty interesting.
Here:

If you go to the Maleficent IMDB page, you can click on each of the writers credited for more detail.

New 'Maleficent' TV Spot Emphasizes Fantasy Creatures (Dobby, Is That You?)

I always worry about fantasy films, especially big budget ones in which the creators/directors seem to feel the need to show you  every bit of magic (which, ironically, usually lessens the wonder*). As gorgeous as certain recent large fantasy films have been (are) the storytelling/translation to big screen of the importance and "solid necessity" of 'other'-like creatures tends to get lost. Either it becomes all about the amazing effects and the writing suffers, or the writing is ok but the visuals are cringe-worthy.

Maleficent is looking pretty (damn) great overall to date but I still worry that we're going to be able to watch all these creatures - fairies, sprites, trolls, tree-people and more - without dismissing aspects.

With this latest TV spot, which puts a lot of the magical creatures side-by-side my effects-are-king concerns are rising again. My big concern: does this story REALLY need ALL of that?

I'm really hoping the answer to that is that it does, that all this effort in creating new creatures adds depth and scope to this world of Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent. Unfortunately we really won't know until we see it all in context.

Here's the spot:

 One thing that's been really interesting about the huge - and highly successful - live action Cinderella preview this week is that one thing is clear: though the effects are coming, they are not what will be holding Branagh's Cinderella together. Despite the preview being largely effects-free and not even having final footage for some of the scenes shown, the response has been ecstatic! And yes, I'm a little surprised by that. While a live action version of the animated classic is a shoe-in for a certain built-in fan base, it's not the hard-core Disney fandom-people who are most excited. It's the (usually very jaded) critics.

But I'm rooting for Maleficent. Ms. Jolie has shown some very savvy thinking and is clearly smart about all aspects of filmmaking these days. Gone are the days of signing on to an 'easy film' for her. It's now apparent that she wants all her efforts - whether on screen or off - to be excellent, and to make a positive difference. My thumbs are still up for this one.

Here's the updated and official synopsis:

Crow's Nest Jewelry Maleficent Poster

Maleficent is the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well.

*Although it may lessen the wonder, the merchandising opportunities abound! 

(I admit it: one of my favorite things is a tavern mug from The Prancing Pony.) 

And Maleficent is just getting started. 

There's already a cosmetics line, costumes for kids created by Stella McCartney in collaboration with Angelina Jolie, new Funko Pop! figurines and Halloween costumes in the works. 

Today we also got our first look at these jewelry pieces being released from Crow's Nest Jewelry - starting at the tidy price of $5k a piece and ranging up to $20k...!


Source: HERE