Advertising From the (Unpublished) Vault: Sky Broadband Fairy Tale Commercials & Fairy Tale Times

We don't think we ever posted these from 2010, a few (!) years ago, but they're worth a repeat viewing either way. We like that the theme of change (linked to transformation in fairy tales) is used so inventively. We do remember posting The Boy Who Cried Wolf ad from 2011 though. (You can find that HERE.)

The Princess and the Pea

The Frog Prince

 Little Red Riding Hood

Aladdin

Pretty fun take on fairy tales we think!

We also recently found these Fairy Tale Times pages for Sky Broadband, which we hadn't seen before. Looks like the advertising team had a lot of fun with these! We've included full sizes of each page where available, as the text really is an enjoyable read.

               

           

 We love the variety of tales included here! Kind of makes us wish we could subscribe to a fairy tale newspaper.

Hulu Adapting Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Anna and Elena Balbusso for the Folio Society

If you're familiar with Margaret Atwood, you're also familiar with her use of fairy tales in her work. The Handmaid's Tale, while more obviously referencing Red Riding Hood in key phrases in the book, the often used motif of the isolated woman, or Rapunzel syndrome, is also part of the it too. There are other subtle fairy tale references throughout, such as to Cinderella, The Red Shoes and The Girl Without Hands, a constant, underlying presence in Atwood's work. There are nursery rhyme references too, (eg. The Spider and the Fly), all of which blend together, seemingly naturally, in Atwood's hands.

Now that Hulu is working on a 10 episode series, we're curious to see if any of those references and allusions are included. With Atwood as consulting producer and reportedly very happy with how the script and production are developing, we are optimistic there will be:

"I am thrilled that MGM and Hulu are developing The Handmaid's Tale as a series, and extra thrilled that the very talented Elisabeth Moss will be playing the central character.  The Handmaid's Tale is more relevant now than when it was written, and I am sure the series will be watched with great interest.  I have read the first two scripts and they are excellent; I can hardly wait to see the finished episodes,” said Atwood. (source)

Here's Hulu's press description of the production from a few months ago:

Adapted from Margaret Atwood’s influential and acclaimed novel, THE HANDMAID’S TALE is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted religious fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead — all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.

Golden Globe winner, Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) will play the lead and title role of Offred, the 'handmaid', and in August, Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) was confirmed to play the role of Commander Fred Waterford.

Fiennes will play Commander Fred Waterford, a founding father of the totalitarian society of Gilead. A powerful, high-ranking official, Commander Waterford rules the household where Offred (Moss) is a handmaid. This marks a returned to scripted television following his role in the second season of “American Horror Story” in 2013. 

... Reed Morano will direct and executive produce the first three episodes. The cast also includes “Orange Is the New Black” alumna Samira Wiley; “The Leftovers” star Ann Dowd; “The Mindy Project’s” Max Minghella and “Hemlock Grove’s” Madeline Brewer. 

The series is scheduled to begin production in Toronto this fall for a 10-episode order, slated to premiere in 2017. (source)

While on the subject of Atwood, we wanted to highlight this book which sounds intriguing as it combines all creative aspects of Atwood's expressions - from art to writing. We haven't yet had the chance to read it, and it has mixed reviews, are curious all the same. The title is Margaret Atwood's Fairy Tale Sexual Politics by Sharon Rose Wilson.

Here's the description:

An intriguing investigation of fairy-tale images in Margaret Atwood's haunting fiction, poetry, and artwork 

Sharon Rose Wilson's analysis of Margaret Atwood's sexual politics through a study of fairy-tale patterns offers a new reading of Atwood and a fresh appreciation of the traditional fairy tale's ability to illuminate modern literature. 

Not only is this the first study to explore systematically Atwood's fiction and poetry through fairy-tale images, but also it occasions the first time Atwood has allowed examples of her artwork to be published in a book. 

In relating Atwood's fragile, mysterious paintings, collages, linocuts, drawings, and cartoons to her writing, this study shows how such fairy-tale images-along with myths, the Bible, history, film, art, and popular literature-reveal archetypes in her work. The engaging writing and the eerie visual art of Margaret Atwood braid together fairy-tale themes from Grimm and Andersen with the feminist concerns for which this internationally acclaimed Canadian author is well known.  

In The Handmaid's Tale, for example, she presents her version of Little Red Riding Hood facing patriarchy's wolf. In almost all her novels she explores the "Rapunzel Syndrome," in which women experience internalized isolation. In joining Atwood's literature and her artwork, Wilson challenges feminist assumptions that fairy tales limit gender roles. To the contrary, fairy-tale motifs in Atwood's works are a liberating force. Indeed, Wilson discloses how the genius of this fascinating writer perceives the fairy tale to be a means of transforming the constricting images that tradition has placed upon sexual identity. 

Sharon Rose Wilson is a professor of English and women's studies at the University of Northern Colorado.

You can get a really good preview via Google Books HERE and the book is available for purchase HERE and HERE.

Little Red Body Shames Grandma

At first glance this comedic video that's making the rounds, seems like a one note joke but it quickly develops into a reflection on Princess Culture and "fairy tale expectations".

It's worth a look.

From Huffington Post:

When you think about it, Little Red Riding Hood is rather mean to her grandma, body-shaming her features the second she walks in the door.
Excuse me, Red? Maybe instead of waltzing into someone’s home and judging them on their personal appearance, you should spend more time worrying about the wolf that’s going to eat you right now.
Comedy writer Taylor Cox creates a very modern take on this old tale. Sorry, didn’t mean to call it “old” and age-shame it.

(Warning for small amount of language.)

It's kind of satisfying that the Wolf takes the old path at the end though, don't you think?

TILT "Spin Tales" To Release Interactive Fairy Tale Bedsheets

Sleeping Beauty by Lucy Levenson

Technology meets textiles in startup company TILT's new line of fairy tale bedding. The announcement was made to the public at The Toy Insider's Holiday of Play event on September 21.

Note: None of the quilts shown in this post have anything to do with TILT or the interactive bedding. 

Here's the details:

Quilt or wall-hanging featuring Little Red Riding Hood,
made by Ukrainian woman Olga Basylewycz in a
displaced persons camp in southern Germany, 1946. 

Bedsheets and rugs are common household items yet a startup textile franchise called TILT has found a way to turn these unassuming items into playthings that will entertain children and foster their imaginations. Launched in 2016, TILT—which is under the umbrella of the larger Welspun group—is dedicated to the formation of “start textiles” which work with tablets and smartphones to bring colorful patterns and prints to life. This cutting-edge and creative franchise is known as “Spin Tales” and the brand has released a bedspread depicting the fairy tale themes of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs and a rug featuring jungle themes.

And from the public announcement:

Hopeless Romantic by Barbara Zuazua

TILT by Welspun is an innovative smart home textiles company that creates interactive experiences through seamless integration of smart technology with home textiles. TILT will be launching their product line, Spin Tales, the first ever interactive bedding for children with a focus on storytelling, user experience and AR technology. The Spin Tales classic duvet and pillow case set allow readers to join Little Red, Three Pigs and Jack from Magic Beans on their adventures, or join Milo and friends in the Spin Tales Jungle rug to explore and learn about life in the jungle, by using an app that brings characters alive in 3D images. Spin Tales creates a unique bonding experience for children and parents; it draws them into an immersive world of stories and fosters learning in an interactive environment that is truly magical and playground cool. This is the first in a series of smart home textiles products that TILT is creating.

Here's the press release on the patent and technology, describing how an interactive bedspread would work:

Jack & the Beanstalk by Ellen Anderson

Welspun, a conglomerate that specializes in home textiles, is thrilled to announce that it has secured the "Interactive Textile Article and Augmented Reality System" patent, which protects Welspun's new product line TILT. The patent covers a system that has textile material with a design motif and an augmented reality software application. The software application is designed to allow a user to scan the design motif on the textile material, and enter an augmented reality portal that is thematically related to the design motif. TILT by Welspun is a new brand that focuses on seamlessly integrating technology into textiles. The first product, Spin Tales, is an interactive and innovative bed set and rug for kids aged three and up. With innovative technology, a free app designed for the duvet cover and rug allows the user to experience adventures in augmented reality and engage in interactive games. Spin Tales is the first of many smart home textile products that will be introduced under the TILT umbrella. 

We're not sure what we think of this new technology. It obviously has a lot of possibilities but we can also see the downside of this. Hopefully someone will see positive aspects and develop those.

In the meantime we support "portals into other worlds" by way of time honored bed time stories.

Book in the Works: "Mother Goose Refigured"

Consider this an official 'heads-up" from us, for your fairy tale studies and folklore libraries:

Coming in November from Wayne State University Press is a fascinating new book on a topic that has had quite a bit of attention in the past coupe of years. It's titled Mother Goose Refigured, written by Christine A. Jones, and, unlike most people's impressions that Mother Goose is a nursery rhyme figure only, the character and archetype often made appearances alongside fairy tales as well, especially in the French fairy tale salon era, of which Charles Perrault was a member. His collection of fairy tales was actually titled Stories or Tales from Times Past; or, Tales of Mother Goose (1697). This book looks at the translations and adaptations of this volume and how that affected the tales themselves.

About the author, who is no newbie to critical writing on fairy tales (we still have our eye on Feathers, Paws, Fins and Claws: Fairy Tale Beasts!):

Christine A. Jones is a specialist of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France at the University of Utah with interests in the luxury trades and the fairy tale. She has authored Shapely Bodies: The Image of Porcelain in Eighteenth-Century France as well as numerous articles on trade history. With folklore scholar Jennifer Schacker, she has coedited Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives and Feathers, Paws, Fins, and Claws: Fairy Tale Beasts, illustrated by Lina Kusaite (Wayne State University Press, 2015).

And we must mention: we adore the cover with Red in the wolf-en forest!

Here's the write-up. Included are two images from the book:

Charles Perrault published Histoires ou Contes du temps passé ("Stories or Tales of the Past") in France in 1697 during what scholars call the first "vogue" of tales produced by learned French writers. The genre that we now know so well was new and an uncommon kind of literature in the epic world of Louis XIV’s court. This inaugural collection of French fairy tales features characters like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Puss in Boots that over the course of the eighteenth century became icons of social history in France and abroad. Translating the original Histoires ou Contes means grappling not only with the strangeness of seventeenth-century French but also with the ubiquity and familiarity of plots and heroines in their famous English personae. 

From its very first translation in 1729, Histoires ou Contes has depended heavily on its English translations for the genesis of character names and enduring recognition. This dependability makes new, innovative translation challenging. For example, can Perrault’s invented name "Cendrillon" be retranslated into anything other than "Cinderella"? And what would happen to our understanding of the tale if it were? Is it possible to sidestep the Anglophone tradition and view the seventeenth-century French anew? Why not leave Cinderella alone, as she is deeply ingrained in cultural lore and beloved the way she is? Such questions inspired the translations of these tales in Mother Goose Refigured, which aim to generate new critical interest in heroines and heroes that seem frozen in time. The book offers introductory essays on the history of interpretation and translation, before retranslating each of the Histoires ou Contes with the aim to prove that if Perrault’s is a classical frame of reference, these tales nonetheless exhibit strikingly modern strategies. 

Designed for scholars, their classrooms, and other adult readers of fairy tales, Mother Goose Refigured promises to inspire new academic interpretations of the Mother Goose tales, particularly among readers who do not have access to the original French and have relied for their critical inquiries on traditional renderings of the tales.

Beware of Playwright With Axe to G̶r̶i̶n̶d̶, er, Wield

Douglas Gordon with taxidermied wolf

I barely know how to title this news, or how to comment. This reaction by the writer/director/actor of Neck of the Woods (loosely based on Red Riding Hood), says so many things, none of which qualifies as an "artistic statement" (though it's clear he wishes it was taken as such).

From ArtNetNews:

After critics axed Douglas Gordon's play, "Neck of the woods," the 1996 Turner-Prize winning artist took an axe, literally, to the newly-opened theater complex in Manchester where the play was staged, taking out a chunk of wall. He then drew what appears to be a claw around the damaged part—and signed it... 

The play—which premiered last weekend as part of the Manchester International Festival (MIF)—is conceived as a re-telling Little Red Riding Hood, and designed to be as frightening to adults as the original story is to children. Little Red Riding Hood is saved from the belly of a wolf by a woodcutter, so the show features several axes. The axe used for the attack is believed to be a stage prop. 

...But the critics weren't impressed. The Daily Telegraph said the play had "the unmistakable whiff of a vanity project,"... 

Meanwhile, the Guardian described it as a "humourless and sedate Red Riding Hood retelling" that "takes itself very seriously" and is "so old-fashioned you wonder if Gordon has any familiarity at all with contemporary theater."

So it didn't turn out as expected. (There's a post, on what seemed to be a promising play, HERE.) That happens all the time. People - and plays - get bad reviews all the time, and, yes, it's tough, but it's part of the business. If this was for publicity, it was a very expensive, largely ineffective stunt, which adds up to bad business all round.

(So tempting to talk about the "imitation" of life here, what with taxidermied wolves in the mix too...)

I'm disappointed that someone who apparently immersed themselves so fully into the Red Riding Hood fairy tale as well as peeling back the dark nature of man and the true nature of wolf, would resort to such a thing. Apart from anything else, it's not very creative and really just says "tantrum".

Beware indeed.

Forest Rogers Wins Gold Spectrum Award!

Venetian Harpy  by Forest Rogers

The 22nd Spectrum Awards (for science fiction and fantasy art in all mediums) were recently held and one of my favorite fairy tale illustrators and sculptors, Forest Rogers, won a gold award in the Dimensional category, for her stunning and amazing Venetian Harpy (see above).

Congratulations Forest!!

Note: I should also mention that Scott Gustafson, who has illustrated many a fairy tale picture book, received the Grand Master Award!

Though Forest Rogers doesn't exclusively work on fairy tale subjects she has made, and continues to create, many memorable fairy tale-based pieces, and from little bits I pick up around social media, she's looking at continuing/completing the Vasilissa illustrations she began many years ago (before she got into sculpting) and, off and on, has been researching The Crane Wife, as she'd apparently like to create a sculpture based on the Japanese fairy tale as well. (!!)

Below are some of her other fairy tale works to date, and perhaps you can see why I love her work so.

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga's Hut

Vasilissa with her mother's doll

Baba Yaga (still being dressed) & Vasilissa

Baba Yaga, Vasilissa and the Chicken-Legged Hut together

Snow Maiden as she melts

Banshee

Yuki Ona - snow spirit

East of the Sun (inspired by Kay Neilsen's illustration)

East of the Sun (2nd sculpt)

Swan child in progress

Hans Andersen's Little Mermaid

Silvershod (aka Silver Hoof) & his friend Cat (Russian tale)

Red Riding Hood in progress

Red Riding Hood & Wolf
(Something about this evokes Perrault and Dore and other early illustrated versions of LRRH to me.)

Vasiliss'a Mother gives her a doll before she passes away

Vaslissa enters Baba Yaga's forest

Baba Yaga tasks Vasilissa with impossible tasks

Vaslissa talks to her doll (and the doll talks back)

Baba Yaga in a rage

One of the horsemen Vasilissa sees on her journey

 You can see much more of Forest Roger's work on her website HERE and follow her on Facebook HERE and Twitter HERE. She also has a great set of boards on Pinterest HERE.