Advertising: Fantasy & Legend Help Sell Adventures in Mammoth Lakes

We just saw these commercials for the first time and felt we had to share. Although Mammoth Lakes should need no additional help in selling its beautiful locations to potential vacation-adventurers, it certainly amps the 'must go there' slot in one's mental notes!

Note: the commercials share a number of scenes, but each also has unique creature scenes too, so check them both out.

We shared this with the Carterhaugh Summer Legends course since this is pretty much exactly on topic. If you want to know more about people's connection with the land, famous spots, legendary creature sightings, specifically in the UK and in the US, folklorists Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto are the ones to track down and ask. The Summer Legends long course (happening right now) is highly recommended if you are interested in these sorts of topics (legends, location-based folklore, creature-specific lore - eg fairies, sea legends, etc - and cryptozoology), which, of course, have many ties to fairy tales.

And may we just say - the conversations held among participants are wonderful: intelligent, insightful, intriguing and FULL of stories!

Breaking News: 'Mulan' Gets Fast-Tracked for Disney Live Action Remake

Mulan by Heather Theurer

It has certainly been a week for Disney live action  news! Mulan has been on the live action slate for a while but announced late yesterday (Tuesday) she's heading for a 2018 Winter release date - November 2nd 2018 to be exact.

Though Mulan is not a fairy tale - it's based on the legend of Hua Mulan, the girl who disguises herself as a man to go to war - Disney's treatment added that touch of wonder and magic that people associate with fairy tales so it's in the public consciousness as such. Mulan's even been named a Disney Princess, though she's royal not by birth or by marriage, and so the "fairy tale" continues in that regard as well (by "fairy tale" we mean adding to the invention by way of the wonder factor and the spinning of a tale, not necessarily the falsehood it also implies).

Mulan by Veronica Art

The great news is that Disney had embarked on a global search for the right actress to play the Chinese legend and lead character.

Though a director has yet to be hired, the script by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin is “a more nuanced and elaborate adaptation” of material “combining the legendary ballad and the 1998 animated film,” according to reports. (source)

Also good news is that the team be accessing the original ballad more than the original animation (which, we will admit, was still an impressive tribute, especially considering how things could have been changed under the Disney banner). The script is going to take a bit of work, as is evidenced by the numerous attempts at a spec (see details HERE) but they must be getting close, otherwise they couldn't confidently set things in motion. Disney is well aware there will be a lot of scrutiny on representation and authenticity (relatively speaking) and reports are that they intend to do honor to the legend in the live action film as well.

We look forward to watching this develop.

Fan art poster from a few years ago