Finnish Artist Creates Humanly Possible Anna & Elsa

So this is not normally the type of thing I post on the blog, especially when I'm so behind on all the regular fairy tale happenings around the globe but when I saw how this artist had transformed Anna, I felt like the character of Gerda could be in there, and had to share. It's not a reaction I've ever had, not with all the cosplay, nor with Once upon A Time's 'humanization' (let's just say that's a word, OK?) of the Frozen sisters. (Despite how wonderful an acting job the actresses who portrayed Anna and Elsa did on OUAT, never did I not feel like I was watching some extended Disneyland promo.)

While the result is clearly "not human" the images are hugely more realistic than any of the drawn characters and do give an interesting interpretation of what these characters might look like in life. I quite like that they are sort of human-like illustrations. Not being perfectly human gives them that otherworldly storybook quality and keeps them out of the "bad-cosplay" zone, something that appeals to me personally.

I had to add Elsa because it's weird seeing one sister without the other when they're getting any 'treatment". She finally has realistic body proportions (and still looks great) but she doesn't look as related to her sister as I'd expect.

You've seen this artist's work before. Jirka Vinse Jonatan Väätäinen is a native Finn, currently based and working in Melbourne, Australia. He's been around for a while now, transforming Disney princesses into something approximating real life girls and doing an amazing job. He works in graphic design, illustration and photo manipulation and it's via his realistic portraits of Disney girls that he's gained world wide fame.

- Images are created by combining small elements, textures, and features several tens of real photos. In addition, this "photo compositing" technology and image manipulation in addition to the process also includes a digital painting, says the artist. (Source)

I also had to add his Merida, whom I don't remember seeing before. Interestingly, this version isn't so very far from Pixar's original take on the character, though in comparison to her "doll reincarnation" (the one lots of people got upset about - and I don't blame them), she's completely different. What does that tell you?

You can find Väätäinen's website, with all the characters to date, HERE, along with his other impressive work. (To see his other Real Life Disney, click on the title of the same name, under the Pocahontas picture on the site.)

Historically (Closer To) Accurate Disney Princesses

A neat little diversion that popped up today: people making an effort to have some of the Disney Princesses more accurately reflect the time period Disney (seems to have) their version of the story in, with regard to their outfits.

Disney creates fictional worlds for their princesses to live in, drawing on historical and mythical inspiration to create beautiful fairy tales. We wondered what the princesses would’ve looked like if they’d existed in the real world, so we used context clues from the films to determine, as specifically as possible, the time and location of each Disney princess’s story.
*based on the Disney films, not the original source material.

Take a look at the video:

You can find the whole post over at Buzzfeed HERE, which outlines the "context clues" that helped the costume people decide which way to dress each character. The comments are particularly interesting below as well, "discussing" the various time periods, what culture did what etc It's worth a look.

"Disenchanted" Goes Off-Broadway

A brief announcement from Broadway.com:

Who needs princes or glass slippers anyway? After a successful limited engagement off-Broadway over the holidays, fairy tale musical lampoon Disenchanted! will return to New York for an open-ended run. The comedy will begin performances on March 16 at Westside Theatre Upstairs. The cast and opening night will be announced shortly. 

Featuring a book, music and lyrics by Dennis T. Giacino and directed by Fiely A. Matias, the tuner features your typical “princess posse” in a show that’s anything-but-typical. Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and more toss off the tiaras and get real in a not-for-kids musical where fairy tales will never be the same.  

And here's a couple of excerpts from a comprehensive overview to give you an idea of what this is about, in case you haven't heard of it before:

In the Disney movie, Pocahontas is hot. She has flowing, silky hair that reaches her waist, which is as big around as her forearm. She has large breasts and wears a short, tight dress. When she meets John Smith she falls instantly in love. In real life Pocahontas was a hero. She bravely saved people's lives and died very young. She was not especially attractive. When she met John Smith, she was 10 years old. 

In a song in the middle of "Disenchanted," Pocahontas sings about that disparity. Why, she asks, was such a life story not good enough? Why did Disney have to turn the valiant child into a curvaceous adult? 

It's on of the most substantial and poignant moments in "Disenchanted," with a beautiful performance by Lulu Picart as the "real" Pocahontas. The rest of "Disenchanted" is a lot sillier than that song, but the entire show is smart, very funny and even subversive. 

...The idea behind the show is that a bunch of iconic female characters from fairy tales, folklore and history are unhappy with the way they're been portrayed in pop culture. They're tired of being depicted as helpless Barbies in distress who are just waiting for their prince to come.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/02/16/4993751/review-disenchanted-is-huge-fun.html#storylink=cpy

You can read the rest of the review, along with more pros as well as it's cons as a show still in the making, HERE. 

This is scheduled for an "open-ended run" off-Broadway, which says a lot about how successful it was. I'm curious to see how big a press covering it will get in 2016 when it is scheduled to start touring nationally. International shows are currently in development too so that will be interesting to keep tabs on as well.

Dear Ursula (Women of the World Poetry Slam 2014)

The Little Mermaid (The Sea Witch) by Nadezhda Illarionova

In the Hans Christian Andersen tale the Sea Witch does, indeed, advise the Little Mermaid how to enchant the prince. Although the mermaid is beautiful and good hearted, she is naive in the ways of love and language. It's the Witch who tells her what to do when she cannot use her voice.

When the Little Mermaid visited the Sea Witch and was given advice, there was definitely an "ah ha!" moment for me as a girl. Although Princes culture wasn't as pervasive then as it is now, I still somehow had this idea of what an attractive fairy tale girl was like, and I knew I wasn't it. Of course, I loved Clever Kate, the princess who served her father Meat Without Salt and Tatterhood but I always felt unless I was being actively witty or daringly brave, there wasn't much going for me. The following passage opened my eyes to the fact that those weren't my only options:

“But if you take away my voice,” said the little mermaid, “what is left for me?”
“Your beautiful form, your graceful walk, and your expressive eyes; surely with these you can enchain a man’s heart. Well, have you lost your courage? Put out your little tongue that I may cut it off as my payment; then you shall have the powerful draught.”
“It shall be,” said the little mermaid.

You know what? It DOES take courage to put yourself out there this way. When you're not exactly princess-y, being confident in a culture of pretty-and-petite-rules is intimidating (seriously - I'm a size 2 to 3 and I feel like an overweight lump in LA! How ridiculous is that?). And this is one of the big things the Little Mermaid needed to learn. She had to mature and take charge of her whole self, and not rely on nature-given gifts.

When this descriptive scene from Andersen's story (see HERE to read the many details) was put on screen by Disney with a larger-than-life Ursula, shaking her, um, "head" at the naivety of the little Ariel, ("...BODY LANGUAGE! HA!") is it any wonder that Ursula resonated with so many? As I watched the movie, as a still-not-small-enough-or-pretty-enough girl, it was one of those moments that brought home to me, the fact that it wasn't ALL about beauty, perfect hair and a gorgeous (especially singing) voice. Ariel had a lot to learn, as do many pretty girls who have gotten by only on their looks (something we all have to contend with one way or another as we get older, looks or no looks).

Not only was she worldly-wise but she was confident and knew how to use her full body in all it's glory. I could easily see how such a character would illicit a cheer from full-figured girls. In Ursula's song, Poor Unfortunate Soul, she vividly demonstrates just how to use curves and wiles, while using her forceful presence to intimidate Ariel into doing exactly what she wants her to do right there and then.

When the Disney Dream Portraits series featured Queen Latifah as Ursula there was a strong rumble of approval from the internet and beyond, as the Sea Witch got even even higher notch on her sexy-icon status.

But then, a redesign:

In 2012 Ursula (Ursula!) got a princess-ish makeover and lost half her curves for the Disney Villains Designer collection doll line. (!!!)

I wasn't surprised to see outrage on the internet. I was right there with everyone. (See HERE, HERE and HERE for starters.) The redesign trend onDisney dolls and marketing images outrage, continues from character to character for various reasons (Merida, Mulan and even Snow White) but while Disney has responded (albeit, cagily) to the outrage over Merida (which, it should be noted, has people riled for similar reasons), I haven't found any response to the Ursula madness. That doesn't mean it's gone away though.

One poet, Melissa May, who always saw Ursula as somewhat of a personal hero, decided it was high time to air her outrage at the Women of the World Poetry Slam this year (2014) and it's one performance I think is worth seeing and listening to, despite a small amount a strong language. (FYI she placed 7th.)

Highlighted recently on UpWorthy, a website that is dedicated to bringing uplifting things to their readers and making the world a little bit of a better place, here's what they had to say about this:

Ursula (the sea witch from "The Little Mermaid") has always been considered a villain, but after listening to this, I'm thinking she's kiiiiiiind of a hero. To more people than you'd think. 

"Sure, Ariel had her itty-bitty seashell bikini, but Ursula "made back fat f*cking sexy." 

And we need more of that kind of bravery in pop culture, if you ask me.

*LANGUAGE ADVISORY*

(Transcript below*)

And it should be noted, Ursula herself would probably have something to say about this too, as in, speak up about things that matter to you, like this... because you can.

*In 2012, Disney released a line of villain dolls depicting Ursula, the classically full-figured Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid as a designer, couture, size zero.

From one rolling midsection and tameless will to another, my sweet Ursula — I cannot imagine the sick flip of your stomach, to see your image dissected, chins shaved waist cinched, your silhouette robbed of every ounce of delicious curve.
To find after two decades of existence that your evil was more worthy of preservation than the iconic body that held you, you — big lady, were the only Disney character who ever looked like me.

And while you may not have had the waist-line of a princess I'll be goddamned if you didn't have the swagger of a Queen.
The way you sashayed around your lair in full makeup black flamenco number cut so low in the back that your every twist and shimmy displayed the gorgeous tuck of your rolls.
You made back-fat look f*cking sexy.
You made living in this body a little less like a curse.
I wonder how they told you, did they sit you down over tea, delicately frosted cakes lining your chipped porcelain? Explain it as a marketing technique, a vehicle to make you more palatable to a culture that demands perfection?
I hope you crushed the f*cking teapot in the clench of your fist.
I hope you grew a thousand feet tall and drowned them in the whirlpool of your rage.
I wish I could have watched you suck the voices from their tiny, breakable throats.
But I know you wept, I know you licked the icing from each and every cake, I know you broke, like a slow burn.
Wasn't it enough that they made you a witch? That you were already beyond the bounds of their franchise royalty? They expected little girls to recoil from the wicked inside your laugh, when instead, they worshiped your honesty.
Ursula, I don't want you cut down into bite-sized pieces.
You weren't easy to swallow for a reason.
I want you larger than life, flaming red lips, black flamenco dress — I want the thick of your tentacles, your conjurer's hands, the jiggle of your ample bust. I want you dressed to the nines on a runway, I want every little girl to see a heroine in a size 24.
Ursula, Queen of the Ocean, you were never just a witch to me. You were perfect — every pound, every inch, every swell, perfect.
And I pity the poor, unfortunate soul who would dare paint you as anything less.

'Descendants' Movie Mirrors 'Ever After High' (We Hope...)

It would appear that the profitable 'Ever After High pie' has Disney drooling for a piece of their own.

Enter the 'Original Disney Movie, Descendants'. The show's development has certainly been boosted by the high anticipation surrounding the live action Maleficent as well. Clearly, the trend of villain stories and anti-heroes isn't going away any time soon for Disney. While it's been in development for a few months already (it was announced in December, I believe), we now have a release window and format: it's heading straight to Disney Channel, in live action form, and is set to air sometime during 2015.

The Descendants is going to be Disney's original movie that will feature the now teenage children of the heroes and (more specifically the) villains. 

Beast and Belle (of Beauty and The Beast) rule over an "idyllic kingdom" with a son of their own, who's waiting to take over the throne, according to Entertainment Weekly. In his first proclamation, the young prince looks to give some redemption to his not-so-well-behaved classmates Carlos (son of 101 Dalmatians' Cruella De Vil), Mal, (child of Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent), Evvie (daughter of Snow White's the Evil Queen) and Jay (son of Aladdin's Jafar).They all attend the kingdom's prep school with offspring of other Disney favorites like The Fairy Godmother (from Cinderella), Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan.  

The children of Disney's villains are about to face a dilemma of whether to take the evil steps laid out by their parents or to follow the goodness in their hearts.

The famous High School Musical director will be directing Disney Movie Descendants with the script written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott (The Starter Wife, Runaway Bride). Mark Hofeling, another High School Musical veteran will be in charge of the production design for the Disney movie "Descendants."

Disney Channel, despite some decent animation series in their offerings, doesn't have as stellar a track record with it's live action shows, other than High School Musical. Despite the credits of those involved being noteworthy, I still have my doubts about this. My guess is, if the movie does well, it may have the option to branch into a series.

The movie's redeeming factor - and the one thing that will set it apart - is that it will be focusing on the Disney VILLAINS' offspring, rather than all the possible offspring. It has good potential using this emphasis, but I'm very leery of the live action approach in comparison to the other Disney live action shows. Kitsch is just too easy a trap to fall into with whatever formula it is they use, but we'll see. Hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised.

But why, do you ask, am I hoping that Descendants will mirror Ever After High? (At least, in some respects.)

Far from first impressions, Ever After High is, to coin a phrase from critics of The Lego Movie*, "far better than it has any right to be". Seriously. The designs are crazy-girly, the animation has a lot of flash bopping about but the characters, their development, the writing and the story lines are ridiculously good. Even the designs have far more to them than first looks imply. It's yet another one of those things I've been dismissing, only bothering to give it another look because respected fairy tale author, Shannon Hale's name remains attached.

I'm really glad I did.

Here's the premise (from Wikipedia), in case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

The Ever After High storyline is based on the lives of the teen children of famous fairytale characters who are destined to follow in their parents’ footsteps in order keep their stories alive through the generations. If they do not, these stories will cease to exist and the characters will disappear. 

The main characters are Raven Queen (daughter of the Evil Queen), who is unhappy with her destiny, and Apple White (daughter of Snow White), who is destined to "live happily ever after." Raven would prefer to create a new destiny for herself, while Apple White believes that if Raven changes her own story. this will put her own "happily ever after" in jeopardy. The school gets divided into "Royals and Rebels". The Royals are supporters of Apple who also know they will have a "happily ever after" and are content (even enthusiastic) with their fates. The Rebels are supporters of Raven who prefer the idea of creating their own destinies. Many disagreements and fights result between the groups.

When I finally took the time to have a proper look, I was truly surprised that something so 'fluffy looking' had so much real fairy tale soul. In fact, I would bet that there are a LOT of fairy tale references in the dialog, plots and designs that are completely missed by those not up on their slightly-more-obscure fairy tales reading. And I LOVE that! For the EAH fandom (which is growing fast) who are really getting into the characters (and they really are!) there's always more to mine and if you take time to peruse the EAH fandom Tumblrs you see the discussions border on 'Buffyverse depth' at times (if you're not Buffy-savvy, that means it's a good thing).

The fandom are getting into the ideas so much they're looking up the 'original' tales for themselves so they can better speculate motivations, among other things, and discovering other lesser known tales they'd like to see explored as well. Here's an example in 'Ever After High Confessions' format:

I want a child of the princess and the pea, and I want them to either have insomnia or be a sleep walker. I feel like it’d work with the princess and the peas story line.You could even make that character constantly worried that because of his/her insomnia or sleep walking, they won’t be able to follow their parents story right. It’d be a super intense storyline. I’d LOVE IT! (Source)

HERE's my original post about the toy line and series before it premiered. You may notice the bit about "is it 'scarier' than Monster High?', meaning, are little girls everywhere in for another disturbing dose of pop-sexism? Surprisingly, the answer is 'no, they're not'. In fact, those 'out there' concerns, commented on by Tumblr people when they heard the announcement of the dolls (eg, "...this is giving me some serious NO REALLY THIS IS F***ING DISTURBING feelings regarding fate and free will and the fact that some of these kids are expected to have no choice beyond ultimately dying in unbelievably gruesome ways..." ), are specifically being addressed - smartly! - by the writing. And all this effort is primarily for A TOY LINE.

Clearly, someone understands just how influential dolls can be and has chosen to not only give them what they think they want (sparkle, girly, glitter, pink, SHOES!), but dose it liberally with real issues and embed it with some meaty tale explorations.

Thank you Ms. Hale!!

I discovered this by realizing I hadn't really given the series the time of day and that Ms. Hale's work deserved better attention than that so set up the Ever After High Valentine's Day special to record as a reminder. Cleaning out the DVR last week I let the special run while I was doing other things "just in case there was anything worth noticing, fairy-tale-wise". Boy was there ever! I went back to watch the whole thing without distractions and, although I couldn't stop wincing at the over-the-top sparkly-curlicue designs (and the thinness - although they are not as thin as the Monster High dolls - and the crazy high shoes) I was amazed at how layered it was.

How they/Ms. Hale, struck this balance, I have no idea. It feels as ridiculous on the surface as the 'pinkest' shows out there (I know, you know what I mean) and yet... we have a truly girl-empowering show (and - surprise - boys too!) that sneaks in really solid fairy tale motifs, themes, plot lines and archetypes with many a modern twist. While 'choose your own destiny' seems like a simple enough premise at first, the Ever After High treatment of the (very large) topic has more gravitas than much of what I've seen come out of Once Upon A Time on the same theme.

Take, for instance, the True Hearts Day special, in which Valentine's Day celebrations have been banned because of the danger that the kids might consider people other than their 'destined partners' as potential mates. This all comes across as 'our fun party has been sabotaged by the meanie school principal' but you look closer and realize a key antagonizer in this episode is Odile, the 'false', black swan from Swan Lake and you start to get an idea of the layering.

At the end:

-- SPOILER ALERT!!!!--

 (highlight the space below to read the text)

The kids are able to give their (physical) valentine tree hearts to the person of their choice and while it's completely expected that Cinderella's daughter (Ashlynn), who is in love with a 'rebel' (the Huntsman) instead of her destined Prince Charming, finally gets the courage to stand up to her friends and choose him no matter what their response will be, the surprise is that Apple White (Snow White's daughter, who has a serious problem with the Evil Queen wanting her own destiny instead of ending up Evil and thus guaranteeing Apple's preferred happy ending) gives HER valentine heart to her friend, Cinderella, saying "although I don't always agree with your choices, it doesn't mean you're not still my friend."
Gasp! I did not see that coming. Nicely done, Ms. Hale!

--END OF SPOILERS--

(Once again), I feel embarrassed by my initial dismissal of the show but even if it's too sparkly for your taste to sit through, you can be comforted in knowing that any girls (and boys) watching, will be getting good content. REALLY good content. And that the main things the girls buying these dolls are thinking about are not so much fashion and make-up but the issues of free will, destiny, responsibility and choice.

If you'd like to read more, you can currently get ebook samplings of the writing for free for the Kindle HERE by downloading various character stories (one link hooks you up to the others. There are six different character stories available for free download. To catch up you can watch the webisodes (which have already aired on TV) HERE (note: as girly as it looks, you may want to pay close attention to the various designs used. There's been a lot of research and thought about story going into all that as well), and, as of this week, you can also read the first two chapters of the second Ever After High novel, The Unfairest of Them All, for free on your Kindle HERE (the whole novel will be released on March 23rd).

Whether or not Descendants has any of the same type of substance as Ever After High has proven to have, remains to be seen, but we are hopeful... After all, once you start taking a closer look, fairy tales are rarely as dismissible as people are led to believe.

Additional source: HERE

*If you haven't yet seen The Lego Movie - see it. It has mythic aspects to it and is a wonderful, affirming ride to the land of make-believe.

Disabled Disney Princesses

I'm not feeling up to writing a huge essay on disabilities in fairy tales, or the idea that princesses and heroines need to be "restored" to whole bodies and minds by the ends of fairy tales (feel free to link us to a good article if you know of one), but it's no secret that, along with POC (people of color), disabled people feel under-represented by Disney (and most everyone else) with regard to princesses and recognized heroines. And a recent set of images, showing just that, recently went viral.

It's one of the reasons I ADORE the How To Train Your Dragon movie - they didn't shy away from disability, nor make it an excuse for lack of heroism, but instead, used it as an opportunity for a different form of heroism.

But, in this case, it's Disney being under-fire for not providing a decent example to little (disabled) girls in the form of princesses-with-differences and one Italian artist, aleXsandro Palombo, took it upon himself to both bring the lack of representation to people's attention and, in a way, to change that.

"I have decided to portray disabled Disney's characters because they never create a disabled character and I think that they should consider that there are so many disabled people in the planet, it's a fact," he wrote (to The Huffington Post). "Two years ago I had a rare form of cancer and some parts of my body are now paralyzed after surgery to remove it," the Italy-based Palombo continued. "I am now a disabled person, and every day I have to deal with all forms of discrimination and humiliation. Through this series I wanted to give visibility to this problem. I think that disabled people doesn't [sic] match Disney's standards of beauty so my message is very simple: Disabled people have rights and are part of the world."

I do like that the National Disabilities Organization has not only responded but had some good things to add. As reported by the Daily News:

Experts say the artist’s campaign is much-needed.
“One out of every five Americans has a disability of some kind,” Carol Glazer, president of the National Disabilities Organization, told the Daily News.
“So when you portray popular iconic figures, like Disney princesses, without any of them having disabilities, you’re cutting out 20% of the population.”
Glazer applauds TV shows like “Push Girls” and “Glee,” which put stars who use wheelchairs in the spotlight, and slammed the suggestion the shows are exploitative.
“People who call that insensitive are not really seeing the whole picture of disability,” she said. “All you’re saying is that there’s a broad range of people in this world. And that’s an important message.”
Susan Stout, interim president and CEO of the Amputee Coalition, said she would love to see one of Palombo’s princesses on the big screen.
“We want everyone to know it is possible to live well with limb loss,” she told the Daily News. “A Disney Princess would help raise awareness and, in turn, acceptance of limb loss.”

Interestingly, I expected Ariel to be in a wheelchair with a tail, among these images but although she's seated in a chair, there's no tail (which makes me think the artist isn't considering disabled people stories so much as disabilities being represented in icons, if you follow me). It's a shame as I think it's a missed opportunity. Especially considering the banner of "Do You Still Like Us?" written above the group in one of the pics.

One of the first "photos" of a mermaid I ever saw as a child was of one in a wheelchair and it immediately brought home to me how a) difficult it must have been/be for the little mermaid to get along in our world and b) how brave she was to do it anyway, even when it was easier to stay home in the sea.

I'd like to see Marissa Meyer's response to this, particularly the picture of Cinderella with her false/robotic leg. It's very much like her Cinderella cyborg, Cinder, from the Lunar Chronicles series, a Cinderella perspective I feel has a lot to say to this particular concern of "lack of representation among princesses and heroines".

Interestingly, I didn't hear a lot from the NDO (National Disabilities Organization) when How To Train Your Dragon not only hit the big screen but was a great success. I think that portrayal of Hiccup, in such a straight forward manner, is the approach needed, should a Disney (or Pixar) princess ever have special needs - just the facts and the story, together.

Hiccup's false foot (How to Train Your Dragon)

In this vein, it would be interesting to see some fairy tale retellings that used the hero or heroine's special needs (or disabilities via illness or accident) as part of the story the way Ms. Meyer did or Dragon did.

You could actually say that Elsa has "special needs". But she wasn't portrayed as such specifically and I have a feeling it's gone right under the radar of anyone who might like to feel it represents them. Instead her "different-ness" has become a flag for gay rights and equality - another leap in interpretation I find interesting, since the born-differently/disabled parallel is more literal.

What does that say about society - and us - then?There is one excerpt I want to finish with here - part of a post in which someone did some deeper thinking about what various aspects of princesses and characters portrayed by disney might represent, but focusing on Elsa, who most clearly DOES have a disability.

From The Word/ copycollective:

Disney has depicted a range of characters with disabilities in Princess films over the years, namely
·         Seven men of short stature in Snow White (achondroplasia or dwarfism is a recognised disability)

Ariel - The Little Mermaid (C) Disney

·         Ariel in Little Mermaid (at times she can’t walk and at others she can’t talk)
·         Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (she’s in a coma for much of the film and may have brain injury)
·         the Beast in Beauty and the Beast has a debilitating disease that causes dysmorphism or physical malformations
·         Pocahontas believes she can talk to animals, commune with spirits and understand unknown languages, which makes her a savant, possibly on the autism spectrum or she may be delusional
·         Cross-dressing Mulan is very clumsy and may be living with ataxia, a movement disability
·         Tiana in The Frog and The Princess believes she turns into an animal. This may be psychiatric therianthropy or delusions associated with schizophrenia.
·         Rapunzel in Tangled clearly had a form of polycystic ovarian syndrome that resulted in excessive hair growth
·         Merida’s mother Elinor from Tangled and her brothers Harris, Hubert and Hamish all turn into bears – a similar dilemma to Tiana in The Frog and The Princess. These may be just delusions created by drug abuse but they also may be symptoms of mental illness. 

These disabilities are usually “inflicted” on the characters by a “wicked witch” or a “curse” and are often resolved (cured) at the end of the film by true love (a different form of magic). 

Yet it is in Frozen that we see Elsa, the character with a disability that is both a “power” and a “curse”, as being the subject of two very different treatments as a result of her condition. 

Elsa has a condition that makes things she touches become frozen, which can be a good thing – she can create ice castles in the air – and causes problems (she accidently puts ice into her sister’s brain).

Elsa the Good, (C) Disney

Her parents’ response is to lock her away, to not let anyone see her, to have her learn to control her emotions and to be a “good girl”. She and her family become very isolated. 

It reminded me of how families with children with disabilities would put them in institutions, send them to special schools (we don’t see how Elsa was schooled) and generally cut them off from mainstream society. Both Elsa and her sister, Anna, suffer loneliness as a result of Elsa’s isolation – much in the way that families with members who had a disability did in the past. 

Elsa runs away to the mountains and embraces her condition and the power it gives her. Interestingly, when she does so, she becomes much more womanly. She sheds her “good girl” clothes and walks with a wiggle; she creates a beautiful palace and becomes more queen-like.

Elsa - the Snow Queen (C) Disney

However, she is even more isolated than when she was shut in a room by her parents. In her room she could talk through the door to her sister or the servants. In the ice palace, she is alone except for the snowman and a Yeti-like beast that she creates. Clearly, in the Disney cosmos, disability is a reason to isolate people in the most extreme way. 

Anna, when she learns of Elsa’s “power” (curse) wants to investigate what can be done, she wants the condition out in the open and she wants to use relationship to address it.
It seems odd to me that Elsa’s parents don’t ever try to get help for her to learn to control her emotions (psychiatric treatment) so that she can manage her condition. They seek advice from a troll when she is a child but no further intervention is sought until she comes of age. 

The intersection of sexuality and disability in Elsa’s life is like a double threat and echoes the experience of many women with a disability. The disability may be tolerated when they are children but when they become women the disability needs to be dealt with more strictly. In extreme situations (in real life) this has resulted in many women with intellectual disability being sterilised. In Elsa’s case, she has to run away to become a woman but is seen by some as a “monster”.
Anna works to get Elsa to return to the city so that it can be removed from the permanent winter she accidently created by letting her emotions loose. By Anna’s self-sacrifice – she takes an injury meant to kill Elsa – Elsa’s heart melts and she is now able to control her condition. She uses it to create beauty.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

There's so much more I would like to write on this  - like the athlete/model who has those beautiful false legs and the disabled sports heroes and service people of all kinds who keep serving in new ways , despite serious and permanent injuries but I simply don't have time. (If you're inclined, feel free to add your thought in the comments - I'm sure many people, though quiet and unlikely to comment in return, would be interested to read them, particularly on this topic!)

I have a feeling if Disney purposed to do something about "disability representation" it may be too specific and focused, making it seem more unusual, in a way, than it is. What do you think? How would you like to see Disney deal with representing disabled peoples?

Additional sources: HERE & HERE

You're NOT A Princess! (Mercy College Fights Princess Culture to Get Girls To Further Education)

It's gone viral and it's easy to see why. With Princess Culture pervading American society, in particular, these days, would you dare to tell a girl "You are NOT a princess?"

The campaign works well, by grabbing your attention this way, as in, "How dare they tell me/my girl that you are not/should not aspire to be a princess?!" Then it tells girls "you are more", "rescue yourself", among other strong girl messages. the "prepare for life tagline included on all the posters makes it clear the emphasis is on empowering rather than destroying dreams (because, if you're smart, you can have those too.)

It's being called a feminist campaign, although a more accurate term might be pro-girls-education campaign. Mind you, Mercy College is an all-girls college prep-school so it makes sense for them to focus on a female-centric message rather than just a pro-education, but it should also be noted that it's a Catholic school, so this is a pretty progressive stance.

Although we wish this was the norma and didn't need to say it at all, we still think Mercy College should get kudos for this gutsy move.

Here's a nice summary/commentary from Adweek:

A tiny, all-female Catholic college-prep academy in Kentucky has created a curious ad campaign, via agency Doe-Anderson, that flies in the face of all my assumptions regarding Catholic education. The deeply feminist campaign tells young women, "You're not a princess" and "Life's not a fairytale," and advises them: "Don't wait for a prince." The tagline is: "Prepare for real life." 

Let me explain why this is so cool. Is this a new message? No, it's many decades old. Is it a common message? Sadly, also no. This type of talk is not only still new to a lot of people, it's particularly timely as the Disney-princess empire continues to expand by dainty leaps and fierce bounds. What's most remarkable is that a Catholic preparatory school is taking a view of women's education that doesn't end in a prince. Lord have mercy, but Mercy Academy has a progressive view on women's role in the world.

What was your first reaction? And what was your second?

Perhaps I should point out the fine print below which reads:

You're not a princess.

BUT YOU CAN STILL RULE THE WORLD.

Where's the "love" button?

"Art of Frozen" Review by Artist/Illustrator Chris King (alt book title "This Could Have Been Frozen")

Note: Chris King's review is posted here in full by permission.

I asked Mr. King to repost this review here as it articulates a lot of how I feel about the movie and the concept art (which I had the privilege of seeing a little of, during one of the phases of it's lengthy on-again, off-again development). It's a book I'm very much looking forward to reading, to see the (mostly unsuccessful) journey in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale for the Disney animation "machine" as well as how and why they changed it from being a fairy tale into a fantasy adventure film (albeit a beautiful and fun looking one).

Now that I've seen the 3rd trailer, I do think there is more going for this film than any of the previous marketing had indicated, including a positive spin on female leads in feature animation, but I still believe it would have been revolutionary (especially for the current Princess Culture criticisms) had they managed to translate the essence of the fairy tale into a Disney film.

Happily, it seems as though the "tackling a fairy tale" aspect of the development and concept art is included (and discussed) in this book so I will add it to my library as soon as possible.

Here's the review from Christopher King, posted Thursday, November 7, 2013:

As a life-long animation fan, I fear that the Disney studio is currently stuck in some kind of creative lull. With each new feature I find myself less and less engaged, and have come to the conclusion that it’s all the fault of the homogenizing effect of CGI. While films like Brave and Wreck It Ralph are certainly technical feats (nor without any visual merit) to my old-fashioned 2D sensibilities they are lacking a sense of independence in their design that made 
Disney’s early output so beautiful and ultimately timeless. 

Which is why, when I first saw the impressive concept art contained within The Art of Frozen, I was encouraged to see the return to some of that magic. A return to traditional storytelling routes with a fairy tale based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, and a design ethos that (to me anyway) clearly references the incredible work of Eyvind Earle in Sleeping Beauty. It’s colour theory, folk art references, bold geometric landscapes and fantastic character designs from Bill Schwab all give promise of a particularly good-looking film to come. Michael Giaimo and Brittney Lee also feature with stand out with work that shares my taste for classic Disney. But as the shots from the finished film reveal, much of the charm is lost in their computer equivalent, leaving characters and ultimately a film without a visual language of its own. 

I have faith that Disney will return to more experimental visuals once the current trend changes (you can see something brewing in the great Paperman short) and viewing the brilliant work in The Art of Frozen only encourages me further. For what ever might be lost in the film I’m glad this book exists to allow a chance for this otherwise unseen work to shine. 

The Art of Disney’s Frozen by Charles Solomon 

Chronicle Books 

Hardback 168 pages

Thanks for the repost permission Mr. King!

You can find Christopher King's personal website and (seriously amazing!) work HERE. He's also posted a great review of Taschen's Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen book, complete with some great pics, HERE.

I very much agree with the comment regarding "the homogenizing effect of CGI". Despite all this incredible work coming to the big screen, everything still ends up looking and feeling rather the same. Disney's "female leads have to always look pretty" clause, has led to something rather like a formula for beauty, especially with regard to CGI, and still they pushed the design of the two sisters even further to make sure they stayed in the pretty zone. Apparently it's made them stand out - in a "not good" way - from the rest of the film. One of the criticisms of the film by media reps who have been treated to a full preview is that, despite liking the movie and appreciating the more feminist take than expected, the two female leads appear even more "plastic-y" than the rest of the characters and take quite a bit of getting used to as a result. :/

How beautiful are these pencil drawings?! Unfortunately, much of the subtlety is lost in the final film.

This speaks to one of my main beefs regarding Princess Culture: while playing make-believe is fun and princesses can  - and should - be part of that, the current Disney emphasis doesn't allow for any other type of strong heroine other than a (Disney version of a) princess. And there's been more than a little discussion around the interwebs about why Disney felt the need to push the characters into the royal zone to start with. For a country that prides itself on not being accountable to royalty, the obsession is a little bizarre, especially considering all the truly powerful female heroes the US has in their history to date.

Have you seen the parody one artist attempted by turning real female heroines into Disney princesses? It was his reaction to the "princessification" (apparently that's a word now) of Merida of Disney's marketing department, post movie-success. Unfortunately, the result of "princessifying"(also a new word) real life heroines was... not altogether successful. It's supposed to point out the absurdity of making all female leads fall within the Princess Culture model. In the artist's own words:

"I wanted to analyze how unnecessary it is to collapse a heroine into one specific mold, to give them all the same sparkly fashion, the same tiny figures, and the same homogenized plastic smile. My experience of female role models both in culture and in life has shown me that there is no mold for what makes someone a role model, and the whole point of Merida was that she was a step in the right direction, providing girls with an alternative kind of princess. Then they took two steps back, and painted her with the same glossy brush as the rest. So I decided to take 10 real-life female role models, from diverse experiences and backgrounds, and filter them through the Disney princess assembly line. The statement I wanted to make was that it makes no sense to put these real-life women into one limited template, so why then are we doing it to our fictitious heroines?"

While it's an excellent point, unfortunately the images began touring the interwebs WITHOUT the statement and the context got completely lost. Many people got confused and others began making disturbing statements talking about how cool it would be to have a line a dolls... Just bizarre. There's a good discussion on the whole subject - which is directly relevant to the heroines of Frozen - over at Jezebel. The comments below the article especially, show how confused people got over this. (Note to the artist: We love what you were trying to do, however, next time, please make sure the context can travel with the image.)

Why I bother bringing this up in a fairy tale news blog is because 1) the princess culture has a HUGE effect on how society views fairy tales and 2) to remind everyone that fairy tales have so many heroines who are not princesses - and Anna used to be one of them. Then she was put through the princess machine because, apparently, little girls wouldn't be as interested in dressing up (read buying "all the stuff") unless she could wear a crown. :(

In the meantime, despite the disappointingly plastic results and the loss-in-translation of the initial design work inspired by HCA's fairy tale, hopefully, as Mr. King says, this book will bear witness to the truly beautiful bones behind the film*, reminding us that there's more to this tale - even this movie - than will ultimately meet the eye in theaters.

If you're looking for the book in the store, the cover looks like this (see below). Pre-orders are available via Amazon (as usual) but you won't find it in stores until after December 3. Still, it would make for a very nice Christmahanakwanzikule present! ;)

*Does make me want to title it "This Could Have Been Frozen", though. O.o