Why Is Pinocchio In Aquaman? (spoilers hidden)

We did not expect a specific repeating reference to a fairy tale in the current blockbuster Aquaman (about to hit the billion dollar mark this weekend), yet there it was: Pinocchio. Not exactly the fairy tale you'd expect to get nods in a DC superhero movie, but the references are very deliberate and repeat often enough throughout the film in such particular ways that it's clear there are supposed to be parallels to Aquaman's own story. Who'd have thunk?

Quote from Jason Momoa doing publicity for Aquaman

Just to get this part out of the way, our opinion is that Aquaman is a ridiculously fun and silly adventure that - thankfully - has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek for most of the time, has incredible (and fairy tale-like) visuals, and overall reminds us of kids playing with their action figures, who then grew up and turned those imagination games into something you can now see on the big screen. It suffers a little from an identity crisis, being an odd mash-up of Star Wars under the sea + Indiana Jones + Lovecraft (because why not?) all held together somewhat loosely with Arthur pulling his proverbial sword from the stone, but isn't that what playing imagination games tend to be like anyway? While it is far from perfect, there's no doubt it has the spirit and love of the original comics (and weaves in an astonishing number of DC easter eggs and nods throughout) and still manages to be fun for many who have never cared about Aquaman before. It also has a very blatant ecoconscious message that all by itself had our audience cheering (and likely made them much more forgiving of the movie's imperfections).

Aquaman 2018 promotional hot of the undersea warrior factions

Mondo X Cyclops poster by Jessica Seamans

We're not comic experts here (our focus has been rather narrow in that genre, concentrating mainly on Bill Willingham's Fables) so we don't have the inside track on fairy tales the DC Aquaman comic series has referenced in the past (you may wish to hit up Adam Hoffman on those questions!) but director James Wan wasn't afraid to nod to pop-culture versions of fairy tales when he could slide them in* (see end of post for examples). Wan has also shown a lot of delight and enthusiasm for the variety of Aquaman memes popping up all over the internet. It's clear this project had a lot of joy and childlike play in the creation of it, and that leaks through to the audience very well. This childlike sense of wonder and fun is underscored by the way the film opens and ends with a very fairy tale-like narrative (sadly, a little clunky in execution), so the audience does appear to be invited to consider this a kind of epic fairy tale (or a combination of tales, as Atlanna - Aquaman's mother - clearly has a fairy tale of her own).


Pinocchio, however, was mentioned specifically twice by name. There was even a picture book involved and, using visuals and some props, the fairy tale obliquely underscored Aquaman's journey. While the movie clearly uses the Sword in the Stone legend as a basis for Aquaman's rise to hero (yes, Aquaman's surface name is Arthur, no it's not a coincidence), the Pinocchio theme is (generally) much more subtle**. The rise to hero (more than just-king) happens alongside Arthur learning who he is, accepting himself and, eventually making his own choices rather than being pushed into a role (that is, used as a puppet). It also shows him early on deliberately playing the fool, only to reveal there's much more to him (and his understanding of the world and classic literature and mythology) than first appears. But there are other strong references too - both visually and in the script.

SPOILER ALERT

(highlight incomplete paragraphs below to reveal hidden/spoiler text): 

- Right when Arthur is seemingly defeated, he narrowly avoids death by escaping into the mouth of a whale when he uses his 'speaks to fish' powers (which includes all sea creatures) and asks it to let him and Mera in. The visuals are very specific and the nod to the fairy tale is very clear.
- Extra trivia: if you play the video game Kingdom Hearts you will know that Monstro is both a character and a world that needs to be defeated. Once you conquer Monstro you're finally allowed to go to Atlantica aka The Little Mermaid's underwater home aka Atlantis.)
- Arthur's personal journey, as well as clues to how he might overcome his adversities and enemies, is also foreshadowed in the background when he's a small child. His mother is telling him stories, holding a fork, by the way, and in the background, there's a wooden Pinocchio doll sitting upright.
- When Arthur is taken down to the ruins of old Atlantis and he is convinced to go on the quest, there is a puppet-doll sitting at the bottom of the ocean too, albeit a creepy one as this prop does double duty as a nod to the director's previous horror film The Conjuring, as well as letting us know it's going to get a little Cthulhu-like before there's any real 'win' for Arthur).
- Later, in Italy (of course) during the search for lost-Atlantis (aka the Indiana Jones sequences) a child is at a fountain and is given an Atlantean coin by Mera, which the child uses to make a wish. Mera causes the water to form into dancing dolphins, which delights the child who runs away to tell others and returns to gift Mera with a book, specifically Pinocchio (an illustrated Carlo Collodi picture book, not a Disney one).
- Mera flips through it, sees the whale scene, and accuses Arthur of getting his ideas from a fairy tale. Cue the odd line about "from the movie not from the book" which hasn't landed with the audience as it was supposed to.

END SPOILERS

Quote from Director James Wan, commenting on the creation of Aquaman

The scene with the book is also near a turning point in the movie, in which Arthur truly starts embracing his mixed heritage and finding his unique way through. As whatculture.com puts it: "It's all executed a bit awkwardly, to be honest, but it's nice that the DCEU (Ed. note: Stands for DC Extended Universe) is even trying to be allegorical at this point." (source)

[Side note: We find it very interesting that it's Pinocchio, not Jonah, that is the model here, but a fairy tale allegory likely works better than a biblical one in such an effects-filled fantasy. Jonah isn't generally considered a puppet or pawn, or needing to find his real self (though a case could be made for it). Pinocchio is the clearer - and safer - choice. With the threat of world catastrophe being a solid theme, Jonah would have worked allegorically in this aspect too (in the Bible, God threatens the great city of Ninevah, aka capital of the Assyrian empire - think "ancient equivalent of New York" - unless Jonah goes and warns them and they repent) but it would seem the filmmakers wanted to concentrate on Arthur's personal journey more, which the Pinocchio parallel does well. Another note of interest is that Pinocchio is usually referenced with regard to truth and lies, but that wasn't the focus at all, especially as far as Arthur's character was concerned. It's refreshing to see Pinocchio being a touchstone in a different way. ]

Apart from the fantastic and colorful underwater cities and cultures, the most powerful scenes, visually speaking, are the Lovecraftian ones. (They truly are cinematically stunning!) These sequences too could be considered to reflect some darker aspects of Pinocchio. Interestingly, we noticed some common threads between the semi-successful Speilberg sci-fi updating of Pinocchio, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and this much darker section of the film, especially with regard to themes of loneliness and abandonment. Though Mera makes for a formidable, non-distressed damsel/partner through much of the film, it's clear at this point Arthur has choices he needs to make by himself. Although there's no blue fairy in Aquaman (SPOILER - highlight to view: we think a kaiju blue fairy would make for a very interesting interpretation! And Julie Andrews really does have the perfect voice for that dual role...            END SPOILER), Arthur's final personal challenge before the film's action-packed ending has much of the same atmosphere of soul searching and surrender that Pinocchio and David (in A.I.) exhibit at the same juncture of their stories. It should be noted, though, that Arthur's journey quickly transitions from "I'm a real boy" to being crowned "superhero" and a very crowd-pleasing finale.

Aquaman (2018)  rides a sea dragon

We'll finish on this note of observation. In social media, the response to Pinocchio appearing in Aquaman has been interesting. A good portion of folks are basically saying: 

"Did Aquaman make me want to watch Pinocchio again? Yes. Yes, it did."

We can't complain about that.

*  *  *
Fairy tale art bonus of the day:
Below is the gorgeous Pinocchio painting by John Rowe for Disney Fine Art, that we had a bit of fun with for the header. Kudos to John Rowe who is the amazing artist of this dynamic piece!

Pinocchio - The Wrath of Monstro - Geppetto by John Rowe

One of the many meme posters created from
the original, this one reflecting the
strong eco-theme in Aquaman

Note: You may also wish to check out this article: How Cinema’s New Aquaman Draws on the Mythology of Ancient Sea Gods

Footnotes:

*At a glance: Disney's The Little Mermaid - at least 4 specific ways, more if you're keen - it even begins with a fairy tale-like narration, just in case you were missing the point; in a flip version of The Little Mermaid tale, man finds wounded silent/feral sea woman, rescues her, falls in love; woman eats goldfish in a very Splash like/little mermaid manner, tridents and forks are interchangeable at points, that red-red hair of Mera's and her seriously-mermaid-y outfit; the whole "part of your world" yearning (which may even have been said aloud at some point); an octopus plays the drums, though to be fair, this is actually DC canon).

   Moana - the very Maui-like vibe Arthur/Aquaman plays with [the star, Jason Momoa, has Polynesian heritage too], as well as the visuals like his tattoos which are quite specific, and there's even a giant hook used at one point.

** There is a particular line of dialogue about Pinocchio "the movie versus the book", that has a bunch of the audience scratching their heads over why that was said. We think this was supposed to be rather more sly than it came across, and was really just a clumsily layered joke referencing DC vs Disney, true fans (comic readers) vs new fans (moviegoers), and Arthur playing into Mera's impression that Arthur was a bit of a blockhead (puppet pun intended), though it's quite clear in the surrounding scenes that his upbringing included a good grounding in classical history and literature.

Armando Gutierrez's "Little Mermaid" Movie is Now on Netflix

We've been keeping an eye on this movie since 2016, and were naturally very excited to see it pop up on our Netflix feed this weekend. From the trailer, we knew to expect a circus theme, set in Mississippi, but beyond that, many questions swarmed our mind. The biggest unknown was how strong the film's connection would be to Andersen's tale. It clearly wasn't trying to be a straightforward adaptation, but would it merely use the title for name recognition?


Here's the trailer for those who haven't seen it yet:

The movie's villain, played by Gutierrez himself

The movie starts with an animated short to provide the movie's backstory. A mermaid rescues a man  from a shipwreck and falls in love with him. She becomes human in order to be with him, but her love is not reciprocated. So far, pretty close to Andersen's version (there are also other little details directly pulled from the fairy tale). However, the goal of Andersen's mermaid is to gain a soul by winning the heart of the human prince. Here, mermaids already have souls, and this one (whose name is Elizabeth) bargains it away. When her human does not fall in love with her, the evil wizard gets to keep her soul forever.

While this is a significant difference, I think the change makes a lot of sense for the movie. After all, this is less of a retelling and more of a sequel to the original. Andersen's story has a definitive endings, leaving no reason to revisit the characters again. Gutierrez tweaks the circumstances around to give the plot a reason to continue.

Did you catch the bit about the evil wizard? Yep, this movie follows Disney's lead and adds a clear villain for our characters to battle. Sometimes it's hard to remember that there's nothing truly diabolical about Andersen's sea witch, who doesn't seem to have any agenda, unlike Disney's Ursula. Andersen's conflict stems from the Little Mermaid's circumstances. She is her worse enemy, in many ways, since the choices she make set her up for disaster. But for a 90 minute movie, it's harder to anchor the audience if you don't have a clear opponent for your heroes to fight against. So we get an evil wizard who steals Elizabeth's soul in order to grow his own power. It's a bit simplistic, but it's not a horrible choice.

So what did I think? Honestly, I found the whole package pleasant, but rather forgettable. The actors are solid, the plot doesn't have too many holes, and it's rare for me to gush about beautiful CGI, but the mermaid's tail was truly flawless and believable. I'd say it's one step above what I'd imagine a Hallmark mermaid movie to be like, but most of that step is in the production quality. 

We could be done with this review here. But there is a part of me that started analyze this Little Mermaid from a more critical angle. As a feminist, I can't stop myself from thinking about how mermaids are often objectified, treated as a symbol for male desire and fantasy. Even the darker more dangerous Sirens still embody male temptation. This movie doesn't challenge the mermaid stereotype, although one could argue that Elizabeth is more like a chaste princess in a tower rather than an unattainable temptation. Elizabeth is sweet and beautiful. She longs for freedom and love, but there's not much else to her character. In fact, the younger female protagonist, Elle (human), has more complexity to her character, but that's probably because she's too young to have a romantic plotline.  

Sidenote: Is this why Shape of Water was so revolutionary? Is is because it gender swapped the traditional roles of human and mermaid? 

Now, don't get me wrong, there is something irresistible and timeless about the whole land/sea love story. I can't deny that there's something inherently electric about characters longing for the seemingly impossible relationships. But can mermaids exist outside of this construct? I'd be curious if anyone knows of any mermaid books that really break the mold on this. Please let me know!

Disney's "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" Update

Although we announced the trailer release on Twitter the day it came out, we realize there may not be a handy summary of details, the trailer and screenshots etc regarding this highly anticipated Winter release from Disney, and thought it might be nice to gather them here to bring folks up to date, especially as the film will be released a little earlier than "Christmas week" as originally planned.

We posted at length during the development and pre-production of the film HERE and HERE, explaining the sources being used and the approach (along with the cast list) so we'll just get straight to the synopsis to remind you of where the plot is being hinted at going, and the limited looks so far. (They still have a lot of work to do with special effects etc, which will likely take most of the year.)

Here's the latest on how the production is going:

(In late December), the (Disney) studio announced it was planning a massive 32 days of additional photography on the ballet-inspired fantasy movie, bringing in “Captain America: The First Avenger” director Joe Johnston instead of original filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom. The studio said Hallstrom was unavailable due to scheduling issues — though he has no other projected publicly lined up — but he will be involved with postproduction. (TheWrap)

Here's the official synopsis, released with the trailer in December:

All Clara (Mackenzie Foy) wants is a key – a one-of-a-kind key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless gift from her late mother. A golden thread, presented to her at godfather Drosselmeyer’s (Morgan Freeman) annual holiday party, leads her to the coveted key—which promptly disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. It’s there that Clara encounters a soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a gang of mice and the regents who preside over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), to retrieve Clara’s key and hopefully return harmony to the unstable world. Starring Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy and featuring a special performance by Misty Copeland, Disney’s new holiday feature film “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” is directed by Lasse Hallström and inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic tale. In theaters on Nov. 2, 2018.

Here's the trailer:

No summary would be complete without a boat-load of stills. the fantasy aspect is very apparent, though the responses to the visuals seem to be quite mixed. Some people love them, others are calling it an "Alice in Wonderland reboot". It's early days yet, considering how much still needs to be done, but what do our readers think about it so far? (Note: Pictures shown in no particular order.)

We barely get to see Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger but she's intriguing, even in just a glimpse. And she has a wooden sword...

We get glimpses of Misty Copeland dancing "all the parts" as The Ballerina. 

For your reference, from our post on Twitter in December: 

Misty Copeland on diversity & her 'Nutcracker' princess: "(my scenes are)...kind of a production within..the movie...a performance characters are experiencing...I’m portraying all the scenes in Nutcracker, the snow scene, battle scene, land of the sweets." https://t.co/4doQCz8CkX

— Gypsy Thornton (@inkgypsy) December 5, 2017

While we have no doubt Copeland's dancing will be phenomenal, we're yet to be wowed by this sequence and hope the end result will have more innovation than what's been shown to date. The use of Tchaikovsky's score means we'll definitely be treated to another variation on this beloved suite; definitely a plus.

This sequence where Clara sees a tag on a string, rope or ribbon, then follows it in some sort of Victorian parlour Christmas game, is intriguing. We've seen a couple of games like this in films and TV episodes before (Reign anyone?) and even vaguely remember playing something like this as children but finding information on this game is proving difficult to dig up. We're quite curious about the significance and symbolism it may have with regard to the story and the four realms. Feel free to chime in and share links in the comments, if you find some online resources on this topic.

This tree opening and framing looks really familiar! (Pan's Labyrinth, Once Upon A Time, Maleficent, among others...)

And finally a little bit of odd trivia that folklorists should enjoy, from The Times:

Margaret Thatcher’s influence has been widely felt but few would have put money on the Iron Lady being the inspiration for a Disney heroine. According to Keira Knightley, the puffed-up pink hairdo flaunted by her character, the Sugar Plum Fairy, in Disney’s forthcoming film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, was based on Thatcher’s bouffant, in volume if not colour. “There were a couple of Tory female politicians I thought of,” Knightley tells Variety. “She’s Margaret Thatcher meets Marilyn Monroe.”

Cast

• Mackenzie Foy as Clara
• Jayden Fowora-Knight as Philip
• Keira Knightley as Sugar Plum Fairy, the Sweets Realm Queen
• Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger
• Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer
• Misty Copeland as The Ballerina
• Eugenio Derbez as Flower Realm King
• Miranda Hart as Dew Drop Fairy
• Jack Whitehall as Harlequin
• Ellie Bamber as Louise
• Richard E. Grant as Snow Realm King

This shot of Clara in the toy soldier's uniform is possibly the most intriguing to us; it indicates she's not a passive child-heroine, but an active protagonist. While the other visuals are fine, this is the one that makes us curious. Bring on November!

"I Kill Giants" Gives Us Much More Than (Just) A Female Version Of Jack the Giant Slayer

“Barbara Thorson is your new hero. A quick-witted, sharp- tongued middle-schooler who isn’t afraid of anything. As the only girl in school carrying an ancient Norse warhammer in her purse and killing giants for a living, why wouldn’t she be? I Kill Giants is the sweeping, bittersweet story of a young girl struggling to conquer monsters both real and imagined as her world crumbles at the feet of giants bigger than any one child can handle.”

Anywhere you have a child, or young person, dealing with giants, the comparison to Jack (of giant slayer and beanstalk fame), is inevitable, and with this film, and it's graphic novel source, there is some sense to that. Despite the lack of enchanted, cloud-reaching plants to climb, this world of the bunny-ear-wearing 5th-grader heroine, Barbara Thorson, is filled with all the magic and peril of Jack's, and the metaphors work too, with or without the, er, flora. And with the trailer showing the lines between reality and fantasy being more than a little blurred, the echo of "Jack themes" is stronger than ever.

Take a look at the newly-released trailer. (Note: it's followed by a pre-released scene, with Barbara showing her new friend one of her "Giant traps".):

In Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura’s comic book, I Kill Giants, it’s unclear just how much of young Barbara’s giant-slaying adventures are real and how much are part of an elaborate fantasy world she’s created in her mind to escape from the emotional stresses of her actual life. The new trailer for the film adaptation does a good job of getting that point across. (iO9)

The graphic novel*, and the movie, take the nerdy outcast type and, unlike making her silent and withdrawn as is typical (especially for female characters), Barbara is outspoken, witty and takes no prisoners with her speech and humor, very much like the typical Jack of the various Jack tales (from beanstalks to giant slayings and much, much more). 

Although she's just as brash and energetic (and imaginative), it's clear that, unlike most versions of "Jack" we've seen, she is dealing with a lot of pain. Uniquely, this loner type is a character whom you can't simply pity, despite her situation and life-troubles; she requires the audience's respect as well. It's great to see and, from what we can tell, strikes a fairly rare balance in drawing a girl who is very different from, and still very like, any regular kid, and it's clear that this emotional balance has made loyal fans and readers out of many different people.

Here's a description of Barbara and the graphic novel premise by Joe Kelly, the writer & creator of the comics, and screenwriter for the movie adaptation, from an interview with CBR.com:

“The story follows Barbara Thorson, a troubled but resilient fifth grader who’s a bit of an outcast — Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy and general mopery are her hobbies. But it looks like she’s taking the fantasy thing a little too far. She’s always talking about giants, reading books on giants, setting traps for giants, getting ready to kill a giant. Almost the entire story is told from her point-of-view, so we see what she sees: pixies, critters, and a monster that lives upstairs in her house, so terrifying that Barbara only sleeps in the basement. So is she crazy, or does she know something that we don’t? Does she have an active imagination, or does she see another world? The story kicks off as this fantasy world begins to crack because of some outside forces–a bully, the school psychologist, and her first real friend.” (Joe Kelly, from an interview with CBR.com)

I Kill Giants deals with issues similar to those in A Monster Calls** (highly recommended by the way), of sickness and family concerns, as well as bullying, loneliness and friendship, anger, the very real pain children can have, and a different "coming-of-age", but it also has it's own mark to make, and, might be even more in touch with present societal concerns. In other words, Barbara may just be the heroine many people - girls in particular - are looking for right now.

Does Barbara bring to mind another modern fairy tale-type heroine as well? How about Fionna, (of Fionna and Cake) in the animated TV series Adventure Time? And it's not just the bunny ears. In the Adventure Time universe, Fionna is the hero of the time, and this version of the 'universe' in which she appears, is deliberately gender-swapped. Not only is she not Finn, (of Finn and Jake), she's not a boy. Boys are typically the loners who "go out and save the world" and have tales created around their adventures - their angst, their journey to maturation and their eventual triumphs. In the gender-swapped universe of Adventure Time, it's Fionna who fills this role, much to the delight of audiences*** and fans who loved seeing a weird-but-strong female character saving princes who needed saving, and in I Kill Giants, it's Barabara Thorson who takes it upon herself to save the town and school from impending destruction by giants. It should be noted that the town and school typically view her with either derision or concern and unlike most heroes, she's not given a pass for her quirks, let alone respect. In this respect, a female hero is often more alone than a male hero. At least boys, who are derided for their crazy ideas, are still ultimately respected for 'wanting to be a hero'. In a girl, this quality and the various manifestations of that, is just seen as "cray-cray".

It's great to see this addressed and these issue being given the respect they deserve. Using the lens of a fairy tale is playing a major part in this, and that's no coincidence. Nothing tells us the truth, quite like a fairy tale.

I Kill Giants, directed by Anders Walter and also starring Zoe Saldana and Imogen Poots, hits theaters March 23, 2018.

*The graphic novel has been nominated for a lot of different awards, including an Eisner, and received the International Manga Award in 2012.
**I Kill Giants was apparently pitched and began development around the same as A Monster Calls, but the latter, made with a bigger budget, ended up making it to the screen a year earlier.
*** The debut airing of the Fionna and Cake saw "a dramatic increase in all boy demographics" and "marked a 42% increase in viewers compared to a year earlier". (Source)