Fairy Tale Treehouses

There's a Scottish company called "Treasured Dreams" that builds tree houses and retreats that are the stuff of storybooks and wishful thinking. Designed by Gordon Brown, these treehouses are not (just) for kids but are functional spaces to escape to and entertain in (for a price of course).

From their website:

After a severe lighting strike destroyed the largest limb of a 500 year old Cedar tree, the owner was looking for an interesting way to fill the sizeable gap that remained. Our solution was to create a stunning and unique structure that could be used as a fantasy Treehouse for children, but which could also keep the adults thoroughly entertained.

Standing at the end of a long driveway on a grand Scottish estate in Fife, this imposing Treehouse stands at over 45 feet tall, with the large natural Cedar shingle roof blending in not only with it's surroundings, but also with the copper clad fairytale turrets.

Sunlight streams through the stained glass windows and doors - the top floor being a secluded space reached by a ladder making it an ideal place for an exciting sleepover.

Across a suspended bridge sits a large treedeck under the shelter of an attractive Copper beech.

The company has just put out a book on (their) tree houses in the UK and been profiled on the Scottish BBC news.
From the History tab on their blog:

Many famous people have built Treehouses; John Lennon had one overlooking Strawberry Fields Orphanage and Winston Churchill constructed a Treehouse twenty feet up a Lime Tree at his home.

There are many more interesting tree house facts to read on the blog, showing just how fabulous an idea people, through many ages, have considered tree houses to be.

‘Treehouses seem to fascinate everyone, children think they’re a makebelieve land, men view them as adventurous and women as romantic."

"Treasured Dreams" has just expanded, opening a Southern office in Birmingham and also into another niche market: making 'Escape Lodges' for hotels. While not as lofty, are treasured retreats now highly sought after by couples for a romantic getaway.

I just wish they were local...NOTE: Gordon Brown and his Treehouses are also on Twitter. You can read his updates and follow him here.

Grand Ole Bestiary - Classically Photographed 'Anthropomorphs'

Perhaps Beatrix Potter wasn't seeing things!

These anthropomorphic animals are so prim and proper, they could have stepped out of a classic tale. Or perhaps they'll inspire some new tails, I mean, tales.

From the Grand Ole Bestiary Etsy shop:

The Grand Ole Bestiary is a collection of faux-antique, anthropomorphic, mythological curios that were recovered from an ancient archival vault found buried deep inside the core of a metaphysical holy mountain.

These are actual, bona-fide, photographs exposed with light on a digital enlarger and developed on archival quality, Kodak archival photographic paper.

A brief description of the character/s is included (if such details were 'unearthed' along with the photographs discovered).

Adelaide Gazelling

The genteel and worried wife of Rufus Gazelling, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Hortence J Pacadorf

Founder and proprietor of Pacadorf Industries, introduced many useful household products including a sticky-paper mouse trap made from peanut butter.

Madame Bella Van Lioness
Proprietor of Madame Lioness' Den of Debauchery and Spirits, was under an ongoing investigation for the disappearance of Rufus Gazelling, a frequent customer of hers.

Brotherhood of the Ram
Founded by The Three Grand Elder Rams, was an exclusive gentleman's club for the co-mingling of ideas, general merriment and occasional butting of heads.You can see many more 'Manimal' characters here.

Visualizing Red Riding Hood (a paper)

I found this interesting paper from a 2006 issue of Moveable Type - a publication of the Postgraduate Society of the Department of English Language and Literature at University College London.

The post-graduate student, Sarah Bonner, takes a look at how society is interpreting the tale of Red Riding Hood through visual means and incorporating it even more into society's make-up.

From her paper:

In recent years contemporary artists have been appropriating and re-inventing traditional fairy tales. Subverting and interrogating received meanings, artists are challenging the traditional parameters of tales which convey ideas of gender role and racial identity. The fairy tale is being translated from literary text into visual culture. The artists recoding the tales address shifts in cultural attitude, engaging predominantly with issues of identity and discrimination. In this paper I examine the visual development of “Little Red Riding Hood,” investigating the manner in which the literary tale has been adopted by contemporary artists, how the visual responds to the textual, and cultural attitudes embedded in reiterations of the tale.

This is a pretty fascinating exploration for anyone interested in fairy tales being interpreted in a visual medium. While academic in tone, it's still very readable and looks at everything from advertising and fashion to artistic renderings.

You can read the whole paper (with some pics throughout) here.

She also cites her references - a handy list, should you wish to do some more study on the subject.

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UPDATE: APRIL 29, 2014

Apparently the article has gone out of date where it was originally hosted but I've found it again HERE, complete with references. As it gave me the option to embed, I am doing so below. Hope it's helpful!

Visualising Little Red Riding Hood

In recent years contemporary artists have been appropriating and re-inventing traditional fairy tales. Subverting and interrogating received meanings, artists are challenging the traditional parameters of tales which convey ideas of gender role and racial identity. The fairy tale is being translated from literary text into visual culture. The artists recoding the tales address shifts in cultural attitude, engaging predominantly with issues of identity and discrimination.

Read More or Download

Don't Let Our Forests Become Once Upon A Time...

As the traditional fourth of July fireworks and festivities get into full swing I thought this Smokey Bear PSA was very timely as well as perfect for the blog.

Did you know Smokey Bear originally came about in response to using Disney's Bambi as a 'Prevent Forest Fires' poster?

From the History of Smokey Bear:

Walt Disney's motion picture, "Bambi" was produced in 1944 and Disney let the forest fire prevention campaign use his creation on a poster. The "Bambi" poster was a success and proved that using an animal as a fire prevention symbol would work. A fawn could not be used in subsequent campaigns because "Bambi" was on loan from Walt Disney studios for only one year; the Forest Service would need to find an animal that would belong to the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign. It was finally decided that the Nation's number one firefighter should be a bear.

Here's an early PSA using Bambi footage combined with an animated Smokey Bear. As it's from 1964 it's in black and white but there was no doubt it reached people:

The Walt Disney Company has since allowed the use of their characters from Bambi (see campaign poster & ad at start of post) and is currently employing Sleeping Beauty to help spread the message of fire safety. There are two approaches. One is the more gentle, 'protect our friends in the forest' which you can see below:

The other is more dramatic, letting us know most fires are caused by humans and could be prevented:

You can see both Sleeping Beauty PSA's at the Smokey Bear website here. In addition to resources for children's education in fire safety, the website has many tips and resources on how to prevent wildfires.

The Power of Stories in Childhood - New Book by Maria Tatar

There's a new book out by renowned fairy tale and folklore scholar Maria Tatar.

This one,

"Enchanted Hunters - The Power of Stories in Childhood",

explores what happens when children are read fairy tales (and other classic fantasy) as part of their growing-up experience.

From Amazon:

Highly illuminating for parents, vital for students and book lovers alike, Enchanted Hunters transforms our understanding of why children should read. Ever wondered why little children love listening to stories, why older ones get lost in certain books? In this enthralling work, Maria Tatar challenges many of our assumptions about childhood reading. Much as our culture pays lip service to the importance of literature, we rarely examine the creative and cognitive benefits of reading from infancy through adolescence. By exploring how beauty and horror operated in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, and many other narratives, Tatar provides a delightful work for parents, teachers, and general readers, not just examining how and what children read but also showing through vivid examples how literature transports and transforms children with its intoxicating, captivating, and occasionally terrifying energy. In the tradition of Bruno Bettelheim’s landmark The Uses of Enchantment, Tatar’s book is not only a compelling journey into the world of childhood but a trip back for adult readers as well.

Here's a short video in which she talks about why she wrote the book and what it's about:

Enchanted Hunters by Maria Tatar

And in the link below, John J. Miller from 'Between the Covers' at National Review Online talks to Ms. Tatar about her book.

Maria Tatar on Enchanted Hunters Talking to 'Between the Covers'

There's also an excellent, in depth, review here by Michael Dirda for The Washington Post, which takes you through her approach and the contents of the chapters.

Maria Tatar recently (in the last few years) released her "The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales" (shown above) & "The Annotated Brothers Grimm" (shown below) which touch on some of the same issues, though in a very different way. Both volumes are beautifully presented with classic story texts, a gorgeous variety of fairy tale art and lots of fascinating annotations throughout. There's a lovely review of the "Annotated Classic Fairy Tales", from the Harvard University Gazette, here, which I completely agree with.

I've never regretted adding Ms. Tatar's books to my library. Although her academic prowess and respect in Harvard circles and beyond is formidable, her books are very lively, fascinating and accessible reads - not to mention a wonderful resource/reference to have handy.

I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of her latest offering and read it for myself.

NOTE: I also just discovered her blog! I'm adding it to my Fairy Tale News Sources section. No doubt she'll give us a 'heads-up' on many interesting things...

"Top Secret" Behind-the-Scenes Peek at Disney's "The Princess and the Frog"

There's been another special behind-the-scenes program, this time by The Disney Channel, in which the hosts get a sneak-peek of many new scenes from the feature.

But before I show you that, another destined-for-DVD-preview aired as well called "The Inside Line". It has directors Ron Clements and John Musker discussing what makes a great fairy tale for Disney to animate.

Here 'tis:

The 'Top Secret" behind-the-scenes program includes almost an entire scene (final and uninterrupted by other visuals), and is the most we've seen of the movie to date.

Check out the movies below:

And if you didn't notice, there are some new images from here for your enjoyment today too. :)Hooked yet? I am!

Fairy Tale Inspired Fashion Sets

Here's a lovely idea: take a fairy tale and assemble an outfit inspired by it!

Polyvore.com has assembled a number of sets exactly like this on their blog (unfortunately the Cinderella set appears to be missing). When you click on the images there you're taken to a page that isolates the different pieces with more information about each. Pretty neat!

Here are
The Princess & the Frog:

Little Red Riding Hood:

The Princess & the Pea:There are more lovely fashion sets available to see on the blog.

Fairy Tale Chanel No. 5 - Red Riding Hood

It's not unusual for advertising to turn to fairy tales for inspiration. The SurLaLune blog has recent posts on two campaigns being run right now: a German Burger King commercial set and the US's own current AT&T's Hansel & Gretel TV commercial. Click on the names to go check them out.

In the meantime, remember this fairy tale fragrance ad?
It still looks trés chic to me...

The model/actress is Estella Warren and the ad you probably remember is actually the second version of Red she played for Chanel No 5. This particular one is stunning and stands the test of time. Plus I never tire of this gorgeous music from "Edward Scissorhands"!

The earlier Estella-Warren-as-Red-Riding-Hood for Chanel is below. Not as lovely as the one above but still worth a peek.

Home Depot's Self Sufficient Fairy Tale Femmes

There's a new advertising campaign for Home Depot to promote their new 'Do-It-Herself' Clinic, the idea being to encourage women to take basic home improvement classes, and it's a nice twist on the usual fairy tale damsel-in-distress advertisers normally use. The designer, Sarah Riddle, has these femmes being truly self-sufficient.

From Trendhunter Magazine:

The campaign features reworked fairytales in which the heroine did a little DIY home improvement to thwart the bad guys. There’s Little Red Riding Hood, who’s just installed locks to keep out the Big Bad Wolf; Rapunzel, who successfully made her own ladder to escape; and Little Bo Peep, who put up a fence to keep her sheep where they belong. Fantastic work!

The direct mailer 'invitation' has a little story about a needy girl who finds her answer by helping herself (thanks to Home Depot of course) ......and the posters show fairy tale heroines taking charge of their situations and looking very smug as a result.This gets a 'bravo' from my book. I do like the combination of urban fantasy meets fairy tale - it's a very satisfying combo.

You can see more of Sarah Riddle's ad campaign work here.

Belle's Library

What's in Belle's library at Walt Disney World in the Epcot France Meet & Greet Pavilion?


Photographer Scott Thomas got a good look, snapped it and shared it in a post.

From his post:

Books from left to right are Little Red Riding Hood, Grimm (as in the Brothers Grimm), Perrault (Charles Perrault, the Frenchman who wrote many French fairy tales including Cinderella - he's the reason we have the glass slipper - it's actually a mistranslation from the old French) and King Arthur. Research done by my Disney trivia lovng and French honor student daughter, Krystal.

Go check out the rest of the details at his blog.


Note: The above photo is from one of the shops in the Epcot France 'district'.