The Summer Program of 'Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic' Illustrates Why Fairy Tale Scholars Study Legends (And Now You Can Too!)

Carterhaugh is where it's at for Summer folklore and fairy tale studies this year! (Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic, that is.) And time is running out to sign up!

Did you just need a little reminder of the awesome awaiting you to complete that registration?

Go directly HERE to sign up BEFORE MIDNIGHT this FRIDAY.

Need some more background before you commit? Happy to help.

We highly recommend CarterhaughSchool's courses but why do we love Caterhaugh's founders and professors, Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto (and their sometimes-guest-lecturer Shveta Thakrar) here at Once Upon A Blog? It's not just because these ladies are passionate about all aspects of fairy tales, combining formidable scholarly-chops and research with accessibly-lovely whimsy and humor (because they most definitely do!), but because they make their courses appeal to a wide range of folks. They're inclusive and lay-friendly, while remaining challenging and engaging for the experienced scholar as well. Their materials combine the best of old world research and resources, with the tech-savvy and visual eye candy that appeals to critical, yet hungry contemporary fairy tale folk. They're fresh yet grounded, and have helpings aplenty of brains and beauty in the presentation and the content. Best of all, they specifically encourage personal development along an individual's chosen 'path' (scholar, writer or artist) for the final assignment so you can make your study relevant to your personal life and journey. Like folklorists tend to do, the study becomes part of the student's actual life and experience.

Here are Sara and Brittany doing some 'field research' for the Legends course about to begin (which they turned into a fun commercial):

These ladies are a hoot! We love that they're prepared to jump into fairy rings!

Image by Comfreak at Pixbay

And may we just say: don't be fooled by all the prettiness coming your way via Caterhaugh. While they admittedly love (and are in favor of) beautiful fairy tale things, these ladies are the real deal and fully qualified to give your brain a good work out too. (They just have also been blessed with good aesthetic taste as well!)

To give you a sense of where it's possible to go with them in discussions and study, we recommend listening to their awesome interview and discussion on inclusivity in fairy tales with the for Hugo Finalist SF/F podcast The Skiffy and Fanty Show. You might be surprised at the depth they go to in the hour long show - which we recommend making time to listen to, even if you have to do it in sections. It's too good to miss and inclusivity is something we need to be especially aware of at this point in time.

But back to Caterhaugh's current offerings - WHICH ARE STARTING UBER-SOON.

This time around these fairy godmothers of folklore and fairy tale studies are bringing us a long course (ten lessons over ten weeks) on LEGENDS. But wait: why are fairy tale mavens teaching a whole course on legends? Legends aren't fairy tales, right?

Ah - but they have so many delectably overlapping features, you'd be hard pressed to find a fairy tale scholar who doesn't also do their fair share of reading and study on legends simply because they can't help themselves! Brittany and Sara wrote a short and delightful article to explain. It's titled:

Scary Fairies, Sexy Vampires, and Techno-Ghosts: Or, 5 Reasons Fairy-Tale Scholars Study Legends Too

And we also highly recommend their 10 Reasons to Study Folklore - (two words: 'ceiling cat') which should provide a good bridge into the upcoming course on Legends as well.

We'll wait while you check it out... *whistling, rocking back and forth on toes, more whistling...*

Arthur Rackham

You're back? Great!

Here's a taste of what's to come:

"We’ll look at supernatural legends, urban legends, and historical legends, leading you through the woods beyond King Arthur’s court and into a fairy’s grotto and out again into the haunted synapses of the internet. "

Now that you're convinced, here's a peek at the (tentative) course schedule, broken into three awesome units:

July 1st – Introduction to Legends

Supernatural Legends UnitJuly 8th – Fairy Legends
July 15th – Vampire Legends
July 22nd – Cryptozoology Legends
July 29th – Sea Legends

Urban Legends Unit
August 5th – Ghost Legends
August 12th – House Legends
August 19th – Internet Legends

Historical Legends Unit
August 26th – British Legends
September 2nd – American Legends & Wrap Up

Do you feel your eyes getting bigger with each section? We do! 

But then we read 'Cryptozoology'. Gah. That settles it. The FT Newsroom Little Leaguers are going to be mighty upset with us if we don't get on board this train! (And if Gravity Falls is mentioned and they're not allowed to participate, there might just be a mutiny!) We'll have to triple check we can do this course on the road. (Brittany tells us: as long as you have regular access to the internet, you can!)

So guess what we've just added to our Summer program?

Just like with the fairy tale long course, you can read a summary of how it works around your personal schedule HERE, with a list of the dates of each set of materials being sent and the lectures and additional teaching material becoming available, as well as your unique Carterhaugh keepsakes (in the form of beautifully designed Grimoire pages for you to build your own magical book of knowledge). 

You can register HERE but it must be by midnight, June 30th 2017, EST - THAT'S THIS FRIDAY MIDNIGHT EST FOLKS!

Here's the info on The Legend long course from the website:

The course will be conducted through video lectures that will be accessible on the dates listed below, but all the materials will be yours to download and interact with whenever you choose (so don’t worry if you can’t play on those specific dates!) The price for this 10 lesson class will be $200, payable in one, two, or four installments. Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on June 30th at midnight. Aside from the videos you will also receive the PowerPoint presentations featured in the video lectures, a beautifully made PDF “grimoire page” summary of each lesson, and any supplementary reading. This material is yours to keep and download for personal use! 

There will be a final assignment prompt for which you may choose the path of the scholar, the path of the writer, or the path of the artist. Personal feedback on completed final assignments is available upon request – we would love to see what you come up with! 

Dates: July 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, August 5th, 12th, 19th, September 2nd – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to download everything and watch whenever is most convenient to you. 

Total Number of Lessons: 10 

What’s Included: Welcome Letter, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired 

Any Additional Materials Needed: No 

Registration Closes: June 30th at Midnight 

Price: $200 – you can pay in one, two, or four installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on June 30th.

Disney Plans On Bringing My Childhood Nightmare To Life

I realized, in the recent round-up list of live-action movies Disney is working on to-date, that I'd left one off, since I was unable to blog when the news broke, and being more folklore than fairy tale, it ended up further and further down my catch-up list... apologies!

At the beginning of June it was announced that Disney would now be bringing a sequence from the original Fantasia to life.

*collective ooh and bright eyes*

Yes, that was my reaction too, until I read the words: Night On Bald Mountain.

*mass hysteria and uncontrollable sobbing on behalf of my five year old self*

Yes. I am not joking. This is the sequence where the giant GIGANTIC demon Chernabog, complete with a slew of ghoulish specters raised from the grave and howling witches (I'm talking the worst and most feared stereotype) that bring every form of fear to a small town at a midnight hour with demonic revels.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney is conjuring up a live-action movie based on the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from the studio's animated classic  Fantasia. Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless will write the script for the project — which is in early development at the studio — based on the 1940's animated film. The hot writing duo is also executive producing the film. 

The "Night on Bald Mountain" section of Fantasia centered on a dark winged creature who raised spirits from the dead. They dance, fly through the air and enjoy an night of mayhem until they fade away as the night ends and the sun begins to rise. 

Sources say the live-action take will be similar to what Disney did with Maleficent... 

Sazama and Sharpless are a good fit for a dark fantasy tale as they've been building up a solid career based on work that fits into this genre, and have recently grown into a go-to team for this sort of world creation. The duo wrote the script for Universal's Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans, which hit theaters in October. Along with Cory Goodman, they wrote the screenplay for The Last Witch Hunter...

This sequence (which may come close to one of the most nightmarish animation sequences put on film of all time - or at least the most nightmarish kids would see) was followed by another sequence which I will also never forget: Ave Maria. In the rays of dawn, Chernabog and all the forces of hell are beaten back by the light and eventually banished as some pious (and to my young mind, very brave) monks, walk in procession trough the cathedral of trees, singing Ave Maria.

It's a brilliant, brilliant pair of sequences and the animation for each still holds up as stunning and remains impossible to forget. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look (though you may want to keep small children, five and under, otherwise occupied while you watch (sorry it's split into the two parts - I couldn't find a seamless video):

 

As you can see for yourself, despite this concept's brilliance, it is, indeed, the stuff of nightmares, and I have zero desire to see this nightmare brought to life.

And Once Upon A Time's recent 'guest appearance' by a live action Chernabog only amplifies that zero, with an added, heaping dose of cringe.

(See image at right. > > > > > >)

I know the fan forums seemed to love the idea and wanted more but this was not the Chernabog of lifelong nightmares. In fact it was sort of embarrassing. :/ And kind of disrespectful to the original achievements in both storytelling and art on film.

Perhaps the final product will be so far 'left' of the original that the two won't be compared (which is sort of how I feel about Maleficent - it's more it's own film and story with an homage to Disney's animated Sleeping Beauty than a remake of the original). I don't know. Reading the rest of the announcement feels like being set-up for a B-movie, unless it's done seriously and extremely well. Once again, it's difficult to predict.

There hasn't been any further official news on the project but if we hear some, we'll pass it on.

Dancing Ghosts and Haunted Shoes in Fairy Tales (+ The Most Adorable Little Short!)

A little ghost Singin' in the Rain (fan art) by Cellsai

Are there ghosts in fairy tales?

The answer isn't as straightforward as you might think. The dead - and symbols of someone dead (especially beloved dead) are fairly common in fairy tales (eg the help Cinderella receives from birds in the Grimm version are symbolic of her mother watching over her) but actual ghosts, not so much. Unless you're talking Irish fairy tales. Or Japanese. But then these are more often "spirits" than the ghost of someone people/the characters knew passed on.

There is a whole category of folktale categorized as The Grateful Dead (and Heidi of SurLaLune is busy working on a collection of these! I can't wait!) but usually these aren't classic ghost stories in the usual sense either.

Enchanted - or haunted - objects appear every so often as well but not usually in the modern sense of the word haunted. I often wonder, though, what on earth happened to those red shoes, once they were cut off Karen's feet? Did they continue dancing through the ages? Did they change form and haunt other people who had to dance or they felt they would die?

OK, I admit it. I don't have a well researched and deep article on this topic for you. It's really an excuse to bring you this completely delightful little animation I saw for the first time today. It will at first puzzle you, then make you smile wider and wider the longer you watch. Full disclosure: I had to watch it over again immediately when I first saw it, so consider yourself warned. ;)

Lovers of musicals, prepare to fall in love again:

義足のMoses from ががめ on Vimeo.

Seeing a short like the one above makes me wonder: what if one of the Twelve Dancing Princesses was caught in that limbo or underworld land because she loved dancing so much and was doomed to wander and dance alone for the rest of her days? What if that princess found her way to the abandoned stage of a musical?

Or, what if the spirit of Karen (the girl from The Red Shoes by HCA) was forced to walk, er float, upon the earth (considering her feet were cut off). I would think that perhaps the saddest thing for her would be not necessarily that she was dead, but that she couldn't dance. And what if she found some shoes that continued to dance by themselves, long after their owners stopped? What would her response be?

I should go look up that Ferragamo exhibit o shoes again (The Amazing Shoemaker - Fairy Tales and Legends About Shoes and Shoemakers), which JUST GOT EXTENDED THROUGH TO MAY 18, 2014! No doubt the topic of ghosts or shoe haunting will be addressed there in some form...

{Aaaand this is how my hooked-on-fairy-tales brain works, much of the day... be glad you don't live inside my head. }

As always, feel free to add your own crazy thoughts and/or studied insights in the comments below. The whole topic is pretty fascinating and I'm sort of surprised there isn't more literature available on it regarding fairy tales in particular. Folktales however, I'll bet some of you have entire shelves just devoted to those, and we'd love to hear about it.

Now, I'm going to go watch the short again...

Note: I'm sorry I don't have much information on the animator. All I know is that they're Japanese and I can't access the websites they appear on without an account. Your best shot is to go to the Vimeo address and leave a message, or follow up via that way. Good luck!

Yogurt-Ghost Fairy Tales by Natalie Eve Garrett

The Juniper Tree (Yogurt-Ghost Fairy Tale) by Natalie Eve Garrett

Yes. Fairy tale art in yogurt. Some artists, visionaries, oracles, call them what you will,  work in tea leaves, others in eggs, some in entrails but this one sees visions in yogurt.

Red Riding Hood by Natalie Eve Garrett
Heh - she's in a hot sauce cloak! Great pun. And more of a challenge for the Wolf methinks. ;)

Apparently fine artist Natalie Eve Garrett not only works in regular paint media but also (it appears) in soy sauce, molasses and Sriracha (hot sauce) with a pinch of this and a pinch of that for details...  but primarily it all begins with yogurt. You could say these are kitchen-inspired fairy tales, edible tales, consumable tales, transient tales and interestingly also you could say they're corruptible tales... because these are, quite literally ALIVE!

Goldilocks by Natalie Eve Garrett

Swirling her condiments into wonderful little tales, she regularly posts her edible art on one of my new favorite online places to visit, The Hairpin, and has (happily for us) created a two-part series (so far) of fairy tale yogurt surprises that she shared.

The Willful Child by Natalie Eve Garrett

The ephemeral nature of these little pieces makes us want to consider these tales in a different, more direct manner than usual, way. And this is especially so considering the ones she's chosen to create: Goldilocks, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, The Juniper Tree, The Willful Child, The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid by Natalie Eve Garrett

The visceral nature of the tales becomes self-evident when you see them portrayed in a medium that spoils so quickly and is, in truth, breaking down to it's elements before your (very) eyes.

Juniper Tree (detail) by Natalie Eve Garrett

Whatever the case, this art definitely has an expiration date so we're very grateful for cameras to capture the awesome so we can share.

Rapunzel by Natalie Eve Garrett

I highly recommend clicking on the links - HERE for Part I & HERE for Part II - to see the detail photos (it's really quite amazing). A different perspective (and serendipitous reflection) on a close-up on Rapunzel gives you a whole new insight to the story:

Rapunzel detail by Natalie Eve Garrett

There's another very cool thing about this medium I wanted to share. Like sand animation (but more messy and less forgiving) certain stories can be illustrated with a vibrancy a static painting just doesn't hold.

Like this, in The Siamese Hair-Twin Ghosts (read the captions for the story):

Once upon a time there were two ghosts connected only by their hair. They got along well, and mostly didn't mind being bound together. 

But sometimes one wanted braids and the other wanted to wear her hair down, and they'd silently shriek and pull their hair...

... until they were all tangled up in knots.  

About herself and her work Natalie says:

I'm interested in making work that conveys a sense of humor and magic, with a disarming twist. 
I grew up outside Washington, D.C., and was influenced by tangles of woods, The Brother's Grimm, the Blue Ridge Mountains and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After studying art at Yale, I went on to receive my MFA from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. Currently I live and work in a little town outside D.C. along the Potomac River. My art can be seen regularly on TheHairpin.com and in private collections.

I highly recommend browsing her posts on The Hairpin for other yogurt-surprises. She has a sharp yet whimsical sense of humor and it's just delightful to see.

Snow White by Natalie Eve Garrett

And I want more. ("MORE??!?") Yes! Please?

(I will also NEVER look at my condiments the same way again...)

Natalie's website is HERE, her Etsy shop is HERE and The Hairpin, where she can often be found, is HERE.

PS Aw- snap! I see Neatorama JUST postsed these today. (At this writing.) Never mind - the more people see Ms. Garrett's condiment creativity, the more she'll be inspired to do (we hope!). If you like her work, be sure to let her know.