Showing posts with label swans in FTales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swans in FTales. Show all posts

Friday, August 7, 2015

"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.

Monday, February 6, 2012

On Swans, "Snow White" and OUAT

Now that Once Upon A Time is headed to the UK, articles outside the US are starting to pop up to promote the series and explain the premise of the show for newbies. While there isn't much I haven't read before I though I'd post excerpts of a couple of things that caught my eye agin yesterday.
The first talks about swans in fairy tales and Emma's name, of which her surname is, very deliberately, "Swan".

From stuff.co.nz (New Zealand) February 6, 2012 (remember they're a day ahead of US folk):

Every detail of the plot has been carefully thought out, down to Emma's surname – which producers are quick to point out is no connection to Twilight's Bella Swan. 
"I didn't know that that was the last name of the woman in Twilight until two weeks ago," says executive-producer Edward Kitsis. 
Character Emma Swan in a key scene from the OUAT pilot
 "If we knew, I don't know if we would have named her Swan! But we loved the idea of what a swan is to fairy tales." 
"They're very meaningful creatures and especially with how they're establishing Emma in the story – she's the link between fairytale and reality," Morrison says. "Often in literature and in religious references, swans are the unity between divinity and humanity. So it seemed a great symbolic fit for her to have that name, not even realising that she might be the link."

Photographer & subject unknown. Source
I'm not going to add anything on the fascinating subject of swans in myth and fairy tale, as it's a thesis-worthy subject (and I don't have the room or the time!). Instead I'll focus on the Once-specific use to say that apart from the link Emma is supposed to be, I wonder what else the use of Swan might imply in her name? Although Emma is no ugly duck, she certainly fits the Andersen story in being misplaced from birth, being unable to find her home, being bullied about by various creatures and (we assume) eventually finding where she belongs. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

(There's a nice detailed character bio of Emma Swan HERE with facts known and important story moments along with a nice family tree chart.)

The second thing is about why this premise (fairy tale characters losing - and trying to find - their "happily ever afters" in the real world) and why now, and I'm going to highlight the sentence that caught my eye the most here:
Magic and mythology aside, Kitsis says ultimately he hopes the show will convey an underlying message of hope in today's often-dark times. 
"I think we can all agree that right now, everyone's scared shitless at what's going on in the world. 
"We wanted to write about hope because it's the one thing that's really missing right now and that's why we're seeing so many fairytales and Snow White movies – there's a reason Snow White originally came out during The Depression. (Emphasis mine.)

"People like fairytales for the same reason they buy lottery tickets – so you can tell your boss to go to hell and retire to an apartment in Paris. 
"That's what a fairytale is; one day you're doing laundry for your evil stepsisters and the next your fairy godmother says, `Go to the ball,' and your happy ending comes. Our goal is for one hour a week to get people to sit back and be transported into a place that leaves them a little more hopeful about life than it was an hour before."
Snow White With Apple by Regina Alphonso 
For some reason I never before thought to link the popularity and success of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* in being released in The Depression, now 75 years ago, with the current fairy tale zeitgeist/demand happening in the all-too-present depression! 

(OK, for all those who are saying "Well, duh!" you can all stop rolling your eyes now.) 

More than Cinderella, which is a story capitalist America has loved and revered as "their fairy tale" for a few generations now, there is something about the Snow White story which speaks of hope in dark times. No matter if you think of the Disney version or the Grimm Brother's Little Snow White, something about being able to survive all life throws at you - even death - is very appealing.

*For all things Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Filmic Light: Snow White Sanctum is THE blog to go read. It's huge, extensive, well researched and has the best collection of Snow White facts, behind-the-scenes and development images as well as anything merchandise related. You name it, it's there!
**Swan fairy tale inspired image at head found HERE.