Lotte Reiniger's Fairy Tale Style In Vogue Again

Anyone who's anyone in animation these days, now knows the name and work of Lotte Reiniger, if they didn't already, and not a few households are becoming familiar with her this year as well.

Not only were we treated to a most beautiful, hand-created Google Doodle, commemorating her work and 117th birthday on June 2nd this year, but Rebecca Sugar, the first 'solo woman creator' of an animated TV series at Cartoon Network, Steven Universe, referenced the style of Reiniger in a special episode, titled "The Answer" earlier in the year.

But let's have a quick look at the Google Doodle first:

 While I thought it was lovely, I didn't have full appreciation for it until I realized it was created by "doodler" Olivia Huynh, in the same manner Lotte Reiniger herself used: with paper, scissors, many, many hand- crafted puppets and a unique camera rig to take photos frame by frame.

(Reiniger made over 40 short films this way, as well as the feature length The Adventures of Prince Achmed.) Here's a fascinating look behind the scenes of the the Lotte birthday tribute Google Doodle:

And here's Lotte Reiniger herself, telling you how you can do the same at home. This is amazing and enchanting footage. (Note: if you take Lotte's advice, you may need a saw to cut a hole in your dining room table...):

Going back to present day TV pop culture, creator Rebecca Sugar has created quite a buzz with her own achievements. (You can hear an interview with her HERE in NPR's On Point.) In an special episode, The Answer, which deals beautifully with love, Sugar stated:

We wanted to give Garnet the ultimate animated fairy tale love story, with imagery inspired by all our favorite animated fairy tale love stories of all time. We started by drawing influence from Lotte Reiniger, creator of the oldest surviving animated feature film, “The Adventures of Prince Achmed.” The film is done with Lotte Reiniger’s signature silhouette animation technique and the compositions are stunning.We referenced the silhouetted characters, but also the dense, lush, ornate background compositions in the film. (Source)

Steven Universe, popular not only with kids but many others, including Emmy-watchers, is pushing a lot of conventional boundaries, not only in how it was created by Sugar (and how big a win that was for female animators and directors everywhere) but also in the deep messages it presents.

The show has gained a big following beyond its target demographic for pushing the boundaries of LGBTQ representation, as well as diving into themes like self-discovery and healthy relationships. “It’s very important to me that we speak to kids about consent, that we speak to kids about identity,” creator Rebecca Sugar said at Comic-Con last month.”I want to feel like I exist, and I want everyone else who wants to feel that way to feel that way too.”  (Source)

Sugar has stated many times that she's not only great admirer of Lotte Reiniger's aesthetic and overall animation work, but the way she pushed boundaries, doing what no one in the world had really done before in creating, not only animated films but pioneering such a beautiful style that has rarely been surpassed even today. That legacy lives on, not only in how much illustrated and paper cut silhouettes seem to automatically echo Once Upon A Time, but also in how she told fairy tales, inspiring others to approach their own unique obstacles with all the determination, hard work and ultimately, beauty that Reiniger's fairy tales have as a signature.

It's not the first time we've seen film and TV inspired by Reiniger's fairy tale work (see a still from Michel Ocelot's 2011 film Tales of the Night below) but it may be the biggest pop culture exposure she's had in quite some time.

A huge admirer of Reiniger's work and fairy tale films, (which were greatly influential in her lifetime and continue to be so today, in fairy tale books, films and various methods of storytelling), I couldn't be happier to see her name entering popular consciousness again and becoming a well-known name - and fairy tale influence, in the best sense - among animators and filmmakers in the industry today.

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

Lotte Reiniger discusses her process for creating films, as well as her career, in this rare recording, just recently made available via the USC Hugh Hefner Moving Image Archive website.

You can listen to the 45 minute recording online HERE.

Disney Parodies Snow White & Other Fairy Tales in "Wish Upon A Coin"

Once of the best things coming out of the various Disney animation studios at the moment are the new generation Mickey Mouse Cartoon - Disney Shorts. The original spirit of Mickey is there, along with some needed sweetness (which Mickey has been known for since the parks opened) and it's one of the best uses of excellent comedic timing that Disney has ever done with Mickey Mouse (I cannot watch the old Mickey shorts - their comedy timing is awful and irritates the heck out of me).

One of their newest Mickey shorts, however, is a bit of a surprise. I wasn't initially surprised to see a send-up of Snow White and parodying different aspects, but I was with some of the paths it went down! Despite the borderline issues it may have, it's still one of the better parodies I've seen and still manages to be sweet in the end.

Take a look:

Not quite what you expected but still rather satisfying and funny-sweet, no?

What's MOST interesting to me, though, is the commentary on how the Disney studio currently regards fairy tales and fairy tale tropes, including their own versions. It's a good barometer for telling you where the studio is at today, sensibility-wise, as well as current pop-culture, since the "arm" that produces these shorts is rather separated from the TV series studio and the feature animation studio. To help mark these little (or not so little) things, I'm adding a hashtag: #FTBarometerCheckpoint (and if I get time/remember will add the tag to older posts that are a good pop-culture and societal "pulse check" with regard society's current thoughts and views on fairy tales).

Additional note on coins and wishing: it's interesting to me that throwing coins into a well or fountain remains such a strong superstition and/or tradition and has been adopted the world over. It's a direct link to folklore and belief in local deities and fae, as well as various tales and isn't hidden by much commercialism or "watering down" as other traditions and superstitions have received over the centuries. Interestingly, it's not fear motivated, like many superstitions are, nor is it truly greed oriented but more of a petition for additional luck to the powers that be. There's a little article HERE if you'd like to read more. I couldn't finish without mentioning Britain's amazing "wishing trees" (more pics and history at this link HERE) in which people have, over centuries (!), pushed coins into the bark for luck and good health.

 

"Once Upon A Time"'s Dark Swan Season Teaser

Before I get into a discussion which, I promise, is not spoilery, nor is it "down" on OUAT, take a look at the promo.

I like the echo of the twisted thorns that surrounded both Snow White and the Evil Queen in the promos for the first season. Those twisted black branches always felt like an incarnation of the curse to me. Now Emma is in the middle of twisted black, er, ribbons? Slime? Dark matter?? Whatever, the concept echoes the first season, and from the extended Snow White monologue promo for season 5, (which you can see HERE) which implores Emma to remember who she is, right from an actual "Once upon a time..." narrated beginning, complete with harking back to season one imagery and more, it may even be solidifying the mythology and original themes somewhat. That would be a good thing.

Though a Light Swan/Dark Swan concept isn't new to fairy tale folk (or ballet folk.. or people who watched critically acclaimed films of the past few years.. ahem) it may seem a very different idea for many and I've decided to stop griping about the regurgitation of ideas and just let them be discovered by a whole new generation of society/folk.

I have to admit, sometimes things that feel, to me, to be "done to death", really are new ideas to younger people. This generation didn't/isn't grow/ing up with every little girl being sent to ballet and knowing Swan Lake, just like they're not a generation that got beautifully illustrated fairy tale collections as a standard part of their standard childhood library. From a story perspective, it's incredibly sad, but it also provides an opportunity to revisit tales and to do it in a different, more contemporarily reflective way, than they might have, had the tales been passed on in "full form". (It also means, for storytellers and anyone working with tales, that when you see pop culture and general society sucking up this stuff so greedily, that there's an awesome opportunity for using your creativity and craft to bing stories back.)

Aside: I have a theory that this 'tale vacuum' that a large section of generation X grew up in, helped provide the  opportunity to successfully publish Schoenworth's collection, contributed to the intense popularity of Willingham's Fables, and, currently, supports the Disney live-action retread of classic films. It likely also contributes to keeping OUAT alive, despite it's many shortcomings. People are thirsty for traditional tales and when presented with them - especially if they believe them to be "new" or at least "fresh twists" (eg Tale of Tales film or Schoenworth's collection - tales from both of which have really been around for hundreds of years, just in relative obscurity to Grimms and Andersen's)- will lap them up and ask for "more!")

Above: Up on the left, the only time I have seen this poster is in a search so I suspect an excellent fan made job (and if it is it truly is excellent!). I particularly like the swan neck being the hook. Further down on the right is a fan made image calling back the idea of the thorns and the curse surrounding Emma, as well as the Dark One being able to be 'summoned' by whomever holds the dagger.

But back to OUAT's coming Dark Swan: One thing OUAT does well, is provide ample fodder in the way of visuals, one-liner summaries and fairy tale concepts that fans then take and make their own in the form of memes, fan art, cosplays, fan fiction and so much more (see image above for an example). The visuals (via screencaps and more) are easy to work with because they're fairly typical in their presentation so, while lack of originality in framing and filming might seem annoying at times, it gives fans tons of opportunities to run with their personal ideas and make new forms of expression (especially with all the awesome free graphics and filter programs available on the web for free these days. Anyone with a solid idea and some creativity can produce some really gorgeous and interesting images to share, express feelings or to tell the story - or stories - their way, as they see them.)

Though it's been a while since I added to it properly to cover the series, I have a board on Pinterest of interesting fan art inspired by Once Upon A Time HERE and it's worth a look. Why? Because this is people retelling the stories - and fairy tales! -, in their own way, with their own creativity, putting their own spin on the tropes and spreading those stories through popular culture, with the undeniable thumbprint of the present embedded as well.

This coming season promises MANY fan made stories circulating the internet via images, memes and heart-felt sentiments. I'm actually looking forward to seeing what the fans focus on, and what tales - and forms - become popular as a result.

Thoughts On Word Trails & No Longer Seeing the Forests for the Trees

I saw a wonderful scene this week. Bear with me as I share it and hopefully I'll explain what I believe it has to do with fairy tales:

The scene was from the show The Americans*. While I'd be hard pressed to relate this show to fairy tales generally, it makes interesting observations about the human condition, love, despair and choices. The following scene is of the main male character, Philip, with his KGB handler, playing scrabble. Philip, at this point in his journey, is questioning the wisdom of orders given to him and his wife, feeling that it is compromising him as a basic human being - as a father and husband:

[Scene: Philip and his Handler playing scrabble.] 

H: Stuck between a geode and a hard place. (shuffles tiles) "Amatory" -(counts points)  24 yes, - 24 -loving , devoted,adoring. 

Philip: Where do you come up with this stuff? 

H: I love words. They leave a trail. For example, amatory is from the Latin word for 'love'. While wedlock - the condition of being married - is Norse, Norwegian: wed, lock. Which means perpetual battle. 

Philip: Your point being? 

H: Love and marriage in many ways are antithetical: one is a bolt of lightning, an epiphany, and the other is planting, tilling, tending. It's hard work. 

Philip: (glares at H) I'm trying to concentrate here. 

H: Oh sorry. 

Philip: (puts down scrabble letters)  

H: (reads) "sphinx" - excellent. 59 - bravo.**

Such a great exchange.

He's right. Words leave a trail.

At Myth & Moor yesterday (Terri Windling's wonderfully mythic and inspirational blog) Terri talked about the sense that our stories are disappearing, like many of the world's forests. She was quoting the book Tales Of Faerie and I have started discussing (From the Forest by Sara Maitland) and began by referencing a passage that caught my attention too - about the frustration parents have with the lack of response when they ask their children what happened in their day, ie. "Nothing." My reaction when reading this was so strong I went and grabbed a pencil, underlined it and bookmarked it to read to my husband later.

It finishes by explaining: "... but the 'nothing' is a cover for "I don't know how to tell a good story about it, how to impose a story shape on the events.' "

by Banksy (one of my favorites!)

Using words to tell stories is hard now. We're not only out of the habit, most people don't grow up with this; it's not as common a developmental skill as it used to be. For many, there just isn't time. At least, not to tell stories in that form. For others the gap between everyday expression and "word "smithing is just overwhelming and intimidating. Since oral stories (and general yarns and tale telling) have fallen out of everyday use, being able to tell tales is no longer a common-man thing to do. Whether or not it is true, to many it feels like telling stories are the territory of "true writers" only, so people just... don't. (Using myself as an example, Myth & Moor is full of beautiful, inspirational and thought provoking writing - I highly recommend it - and the comments on Terri's posts range from articulate to poetic - so much so, I often feel unable to comment, certain that I have nothing to add, even though I've always been made welcome there. And this is from someone who does write every day, adores words and has a rudimentary understanding of Latin and other base languages.) As a result, the people who understand those trails of history and stories within the words seem to be fewer and fewer every day. When it comes to tales, people not only get tongue-tied, the stories they stumbling-ly tell, lack vitality, the tales become muddied and, in some ways, they start to die.

The Grimms were motivated to write down fairy tales because they felt their language and tales were disappearing rapidly in the cultural clime. And they were right. Their work in stopping this from happening altogether is often underestimated but we owe them much.

Today we have the same sense, that stories and tales are disappearing, along with our language. Forget correct grammar, people don't even use full sentences anymore. (See? Just like that.) We resort to catch phrases, memes and emojis to communicate and express sentiments. We summarize in infographics. It's alarming in many ways but the lack of words doesn't mean language and stories are disappearing. It means they're changing shape.

In an age of the internet, in which we need to navigate the constant press of information overload, we've turned the bulk of the words off altogether and begun processing everything the fastest way possible - visually. And it works. After all, visuals are processed 60 000 times faster in the brain than text. We now live in a visual culture and there's no escaping it.

What tends to happen as a result though, is that WE DO LOSE STORIES through the gaps. And tales, and those word shapes with their trails. So what do we do?

"Knock Knock" by Hilary Leung

This is something I've been looking at seriously for a good couple of years now - the impact of visual communication and visual consumerism on storytelling. In many ways, this new form of language has opened up new forms of stories to people who weren't interested in telling tales before (for whatever reason). People who always responded with "Nothing" now fill their Tumblr accounts and Pinterest boards with fan-made images and quotes, blending ideas and sentiments, suggesting avenues of thought and inspiring conversation.

by Raquel Aparicio

"The hyper-visualisation age is now upon us, where any visual media object can act as a portal to other media." (source)

A truly interesting thing (and hidden treasure) is this: the best forms of these new "stories" (however fractured and incomplete they are) lead to words. And more words. The image shorthand is being used like a filtering system in an age of information overload. And the best, most useful "filter caught" images, usually use words too.

Sometimes trying to find what you want is like opening a Matroyshka doll - layers within layers within layers... and sometimes it seems more like hunting Koschei's soul which was hidden inside of a needle, inside of an egg, inside of a duck, inside of a hare, inside of an iron chest,buried under an oak tree, on a island, in the middle of the ocean... but ultimately, the words - and the tales - they're in there.

(There are hundreds of articles explaining to business people and marketers just how important the use of images with the right phrase is.) But it can't be just any words. They specifically use 'the right ones', the succinct ones, the ones that, in conjunction with the image, tell a spare story with a lot of resonance; very much like fairy tales always have.

People are drawn to the life in words (and trees), to the history in them but it's hard to know, when there is so much in front of us demanding our attention, what we should pay attention to. (Why should we care about this tree here when there are so many more?) 

Images help filter. Not too surprisingly, when you figure out it's not really 'words' people don't like, it's the tidal wave of text that feels impossible to process, people can start to sort out just what it is they want to pay attention to - and they go word hunting. Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and many other publications still do exceptionally well publishing multiple page essays. Novels are devoured in print and ebook form alike - perhaps more than ever. People want to read. They want words, and stories and forests and tales. They just want to choose their path so they don't feel so lost.

But how do we get people to the start of these paths and tales so they choose to walk them, themselves and, in doing so, keep them alive?

More specifically, what is a writer to do? How do we preserve our beloved fairy tales from becoming distant memories, footnotes in essays or forgotten tales in out of print books? 

The answer is simple. We have to find new ways to tell them. 

That also feels exceptionally difficult to figure out how to do. 

(The reason this post has taken as long to get up as it has is due to my search for appropriate visuals to include - and I'll be the first to admit, this whole post would have been better received had I been able to present it in a much more visual manner. I wish I had the skills to pull together reaction gifs and create "visual poems" to capture the essence of what I'm trying to communicate but I didn't grow up that way and don't have those skills... yet.)

Interestingly, dealing with this exact issue in their own times is, I believe, exactly why the Grimms, Andersen, Perrault and Wilde are still known today. (I have a post on this coming on this shortly - how these fairy tale writers made their tales truly live.)

We know, in principle, that fairy tales are very much a living thing. It's ironic that writing them down to preserve them serves to help them stagnate, almost as if they "solidify" in their written form. Often, it requires these coma-like story forms to get a jolt, usually from another media source, to wake up these 'sleeping beauties' and have people notice and love them again. And perhaps some savvy use of available tools in this "visual era" can help.

I know. It sounds exhausting and I'm right there with you. Can't we just sit in our corners and write our words and have them there ready for when people want them? I wish we could. But if we want to be part of making sure tales stay alive we need to be active as they're being redefined and retold. We need to be part of the 'telling'. The best historians don't just dig into the dusty past and tell us what happened, they explain why things happened the way they did and show us the direct connection to ourselves, how we can learn from history to learn about the world as it is now and to make a better future. Otherwise why bother with history at all?

Eventually, when the noise of the world is sorted and people know what they want to focus on, words become even more precious than before. It's then that they ask for more words, more tales. 

People will continue to come back to words. The trick is to keep the trail visible.

____________________________________________________________________

For those looking to learn more about this 'visual era', here's a short list (really!) to get you started, The ones with the orange stars are super quick, informative skims. The purple stars are recommended reads over the rest if you're short on time:

The Guardian: The New (Visual) Culture: how to produce quality in a world of quantity
*WallBlog: Turning advertising into a service: brands must embrace the hyper-visual landscape
*Social Media Examiner: 4 Businesses Leveraging Storytelling With Images
* Business 2 Community: Why Image Trumps Everything in Today's Visual Age
FastCompany: The Rise of Visual Social Media
Marketing Magazine: Brands Should Take the Visual Web Seriously, says Facebook's EMEA Boss
* Cyber Alert: Visual Storytelling Campaigns That Inspire, Motivate and Generate Action
MindFire Communications: It's A Visual World. Show Your Story
* LinkedIn: Market Researchers: Do you Speak Visual?
* MDG Advertising: It's All About the Images (Infographic)
* Wishpond Advanced Lead Generation Marketing Blog: 10 Reasons Visual Content Will Dominate 2014
SteamFeed: Why Visual Content Will Rule Digital Marketing in 2014
NeonTommy: Visual Poetry Collection 'Kern' Meshes Literature And Art

* It's one of the few shows I think is brilliantly done in every aspect and which I do my best to keep up with, even if I can only see 10 minutes of a show at a time. It's very brutal at times but I love the juxtaposition of a couple working on their relationship and raising an American family against the background of being KGB spies in America.

**  I thought the riddle response was a great touch too.

Article: Discussing NPR's "A Girl, A Shoe, A Prince: The Endlessly Evolving Cinderella"

Cinderella illustrated by Katerina Shtanko
All illustrations in this post are from the book shown above
(via http://www.fairyroom.ru/)

First of all I want to say: GO READ THIS ARTICLE by Linda Holmes for NPR. The whole thing. I want to discuss it a little and wish I could just copy it all and paste it here, but you'll have to do with teasing extracts until you go eyeball the whole piece yourself. It's a wittily written, guide through Cinderella's transformations from one version to another. Still not convinced? It starts like this:

"Woman gives birth to a gourd." 

This is the opening to the description of an Italian variant of the Cinderella folk tale — or, really, a relative of one of its relatives — taken from a book called Cinderella; three hundred and forty-five variants of Cinderella, Catskin, and Cap o'Rushes, abstracted and tabulated, with a discussion of mediaeval analogues, and notes, written by Marian Roalfe Cox and published in 1893. In this version of the story, the heroine is born inside a gourd and accidentally abandoned in the forest — understandable, given that her mother has just brought forth a squash from within her person, and the last thought she's entertaining is probably, "Hey, I'll take that with me." 

Our heroine is discovered by a prince, who finds the talking gourd and takes it home. If nothing else, perhaps it has a future in show business. At some point, she presumably emerges from it — the details offered in the book about this particular folk tale are limited — and she becomes a servant... 

The tale is, of course, Zuchinetta, one of Cinderella's many, many ancestor-cousins. The immediate reaction when I bring this version up? "So pumpkins.. not such a new concept then?" (Perrault, you sly little writer you! Gourd, pumpkin... not such an out-of-the-blue choice after all, was it, Sir?
                            
Cinderella was always a gourd girl... (I know - it almost hurts it's so bad..)

Then Holmes discusses the variation that includes a little chewing out of the relatives... sorry. That's chewing ON relatives.. (yikes):

One begins with Cinderella, her two older sisters and their mother agreeing to a whimsical bet: First one to drop her spinning spool will be eaten by the others. When Mom proves clumsy, the sisters indeed eat her. (A deal's a deal?) Cinderella decides not to eat her mother, but to wait until the killing and eating is over, then bury her mother's bones. You know, out of respect. Fortunately, her mother's bones turn into coins and beautiful magic dresses. It's no fairy godmother, but you don't look your mother's gift bones in the ... mouth, I suppose.

Ba-dum-bump. OK, so Cinderella wasn't always such a "gourd girl". And this isn't the only version in which she does some.. less than "good girl" things.

It's not really that far a leap from bones to an oft-visited grave, though, is it?

But for all the weirdness and downright "heck-no!" factor in the more gruesome variants, Holmes explains how, somehow, Cinderella, the basic story, is still recognizable and remains as durable as ever.
                             
From there she goes on to discuss what a Cinderella story actually is and discusses one of those things I wish more people understood: the great differences in how people use language with regard to fairy tales - something which mixes up a lot of messages. For example, the use of the word "fairytale" (wish fulfillment/idea state) is completely different from the phrase "fairy tale" (a wonder tale) which, now that people are once again looking back to see where these stories came from is beginning to get mixed up with "folktale" (a traditional tale or legend that's considered false or based on superstition) all over again. Holmes discusses how the phrase "Cinderella story" is actually a different entity altogether from discussing "the story OF Cinderella" (or a Cinderella tale-type) and 'why' and 'how' they're an interesting reflection of the time period in which they were made (including all those spins and spin-offs).

All of this is walked through step by step with much humor, pithy historical recaps and some interesting social commentary until she ends up at... Captain America. Yes. The super hero. Like this:

If it's just a rescue of a deserving underdog from an ordinary life and delivery to an extraordinary one, then... to be honest? — Captain America is Cinderella. Lots of our current stories are. What is a fairy godmother, after all, that isn't also present in the idea of being bitten by a spider and gaining the ability to climb buildings? What is that pumpkin coach but ... the Batmobile? And not to return to the tone of cannibalism and murder, but what consideration of unloved pop-culture girls whose evil mothers won't let them to go dances is complete without Carrie? 

Too far afield? Sure. But this is folklore, and it doesn't end, it just takes new forms...

This is why I feel it's important to follow fairy tale news. Not that I will be posting on SpiderGodmother or the BatPumpkin anytime soon, but maybe this will help people understand how some of us see fairy tale connections EVERYWHERE. Sometimes they're overt (I try to put those here in the blog, to point out conscious uses of the tales) but mostly they're not (and sometimes I might nod in that direction as well) but the point is, tales are being told - and retold - continuously. We influence them just as much as they continue to influence us.

How did Holmes get from gourds to pop-culture edginess being (possibly) just another version of another fairy tale? You'll have to go read it, but she ends on one of my favorite subjects. To continue from above (emphasis in bold is mine):

It isn't as if folklore goes up to 1900 and then stops, and everything after that is "pop culture." The production is different and the financing is different, but the appeal of stories that overlap and wind together, and the appeal of stories told and retold in different forms in different voices and variations, is not only a function of greed. It's also a function of instincts to tell and share and revisit stories you've heard before, not because they're new, but because they're not.

Now go read it all. It makes you feel extremely glad (and possibly a little ahead of the curve), to know that we love one of the most cultural defining and describing (and predicting!) subjects of all time: FAIRY TALES.