Baba Yaga Told With Legos & Other Storytelling Toys

My son (2 1/2 yrs) has recently discovered - and become obsessed with - Lego. He loves watching the stop-motion animation scenarios people have filmed in their homes so, naturally, I set out to see if I could find some non-violent Lego fairy tales for him to enjoy.

The best one I found was Baba Yaga and Vasilisa, which, seeing as it's turning into Baba Yaga day at Once Upon A Blog, is very appropriate. :) I particularly like how the Chicken Legged Hut was constructed.


And since we're on the subject of Baba Yaga toys, I thought I'd share these plushes I found a while back. The plush chicken leg huts at the head and tail of this post are by Melissa Sue and is available through her Etsy shop HERE. The Baba Yaga plush-with-hut comes from the Here Be Monsters line of plush toys by Toy Vaults HERE.

I also couldn't resist adding this Lego-type creation: The Baba Yaga 2050. It's a futuristic Chicken Leg Cottage (found HERE) and has the following description:

The Baba Yaga 2050 Cottage solves many of the problems humanity will face in the future:

- Scarce resources: your cottage will simply get up and walk (or run!) somewhere better.

- Peak oil: that may look like a huge diesel engine on the back, but I assure you that it's hydrogen powered, and those are hydrogen tanks on the side. Ability to deploy windmill hampered by GW's militaristic attitude to spare parts.

- Overcrowding: stacking is possible, aka the Mimas Hopper-parking solution.

- Zombie Apocalypse: see problem #1

I think you'll agree that it also satisfies the first requirement of the future: awesomeness.

Aaaand now we have the 2nd installment of steampunk Baba Yaga story ideas!

Baba Yaga Meets Tamagotchi

I just found this darling Russian animation that puts Baba Yaga in an unusual situation (don't worry - no Russian language skills required to enjoy this piece!).

Somehow, this film blends Russian and Japanese cultures beautifully, without detracting at all from the Baba Yaga myth.There are a lot of echoes from original Baba Yaga tales in the objects and animals around her but I particularly like the homage to Baba Yaga's 'fire-skull fence' by using the street lights. I won't say any more - you'll just have to watch to see what I mean. :)

Enjoy!

Baba Yaga -The Russian Witch (article) & Various Baba Yaga Illustrations

Baba Yaga by Leonid Bloommer

I love the character of Baba Yaga. While she certainly is terrifying in many ways, to me she's more enigmatic than anything else. To some extent, if you can figure out the rules you can not only survive and encounter with her, she may actually help you.

There's definitely more to this traditional Russian fairy tale villain than meets the eye. I've read stories where Baba Yaga has sisters, a lover or a child (and in the story I read, yes, she loves her kid - you don't want to come between this Mama and her baby!), all of which seem at odds with the character as she's normally portrayed.

Baba Yaga
by Ravenari

I found an article posted in the first week of October which discusses Baba Yaga as a 'force of nature' and how this would have had an impact on those listening to the story years ago. The focus was different from the usual a) she's mostly evil or b) she the crone in the maid-mother-crone triad.

Here's a couple of excerpts:

When visitors arrive, Baba Yaga asks them if they came of their own accord or were sent. Smart visitors say they were sent. Coming of their own accord puts them in the witch's power; they are consenting to their own doom, so nothing can save them. They must also actively seek entrance by telling the house to turn its door to them. This concept is similar to the idea that a vampire (also an Eastern European legend) can't come into a home unless invited. The danger is one you bring on yourself. Another way ofl ooking at it, though, is that if you want to get something from nature, you have to take chances...

Baba Yaga
by Himmapaan

...These stories may have roots in Indo-European tales that passed into both eastern and western folklore. A trinity of Hindu goddesses consists of the Virgin, the Mother, and the Hag, and Baba Yaga is sometimes considered a Slavic version of the Hag. (Sometimes Baba Yaga even has two sisters). The versions about Vasilisa and the boy and girl are similar to the western “Hansel and Gretel,” in that wicked stepmothers send children off to be eaten by witches. And when Baba Yaga detects a victim, she often says, “Foo! Foo! I smell a Russian spirit!” This sounds like “Fee fi fo fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!” in “Jack and the Beanstalk."

Hunchback Fairy
by Endling
(additional website HERE)

But some aspects of Baba Yaga tales are uniquely Russian. Siberians placed log cabins on uprooted tree stumps to keep animals away from their food supplies. To remote and imaginative people, tree stumps can easily become chicken legs, and from there Baba Yaga’s horrible home. The doll in the tale of Vasilisa is similar to small household idols that Russians had in pre-Christian times. And a recurring theme is that virtue will protect one, no matter what the danger, whereas, in Western fairy tales, craft prevails. This trust in virtue must have been comforting to people scratching out a marginal existence in a forbidding climate.

The rest of the fascinating article is HERE. The author, Kathleen Murphy (a community college writing tutor) has a writing focused website HERE.

Baba Yaga
by Waldemar von Kazak

(additional website HERE)

You can find more information about each artist by clicking on the image or on their names. The deviantART artists have some interesting things to say about Baba Yaga too, so make sure you check their comments below the artwork.

And isn't that steampunk Baba Yaga fun? Methinks it won't be long before a steampunk Baba Yaga makes her way into a story... ;)

While we're on the subject, I should mention a book released at the beginning of September titled "Dreaming Anastasia" by Joy Preble. It features Baba Yaga quite prominently and I'm curious to read it (despite the cover which would normally make me ignore it).

Here's the part of the blurb that pertains to Baba Yaga:

In 1918, in a Russian cellar, Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov was murdered with the rest of her family. Or so history tells us. Thanks to old magics, Anastasia was rescued by the witch Baba Yaga and now spends her days confined in a tiny hut perched on chicken legs. With only the witch and a doll for company, Anastasia writes letters to her family, and waits.

HERE author Joy Preble discusses how she uses Baba Yaga alongside the prominent maternal themes in the book and has her character be much more than the dangerous child-eating witch she's often portrayed as. She also makes use of a matroyshka (Russian nesting doll or Babushka doll, also known as the 'little mother doll'*) as a 'special object' and as a model for the novel's structure, so I'm doubly curious about this one.

Available at amazon.com HERE.

*This doll was the key to Vasilissa (also spelled Vasilisa) surviving an encounter with Baba Yaga in one of my favorite fairy tales. It was, appropriately, given to Vasilissa by her mother before passing away and is symbolic of her mother's spirit remaining with her and giving her the strength (and the wits) to do the Baba Yaga's impossible tasks set for her. The real villains of this story, though, are Vasilissa's stepmother and stepsisters - not Baba Yaga. The witch keeps her agreement and gives Vasilissa the fire she needs.. Of course, that's only part of the story. You can read more about it HERE. Which reminds me I should do a post on Vasilisa in her role as the Russian Frog Princess... ;)

A Look Inside "The Art of the Disney Princess"

I mentioned in a previous post HERE about an unusual art book coming from Disney, titled "The Art of the Disney Princess". It features different artist's interpretations (in their medium of choice) of different Disney princesses. From illustration to photography the pictures range from playing with realism to metaphoric interpretations and more.

It's just been released in the last week (or so) and some artists have shared their artistic contributions on their blogs.

From the official blurb:

Every little girl has a favorite Disney Princess--and for that matter, every grown-up girl, too! In The Art of the Disney Princess, Disney artists, designers, illustrators, and animators from around the world have re-imagined their favorite princesses and portrayed them in a variety of mediums. Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, and Cinderella are newly incarnated in water color, pastel, oil paint, colored pencil, mixed media, and computer graphics pieces that range from the traditional to the unconventional. This artwork has been created especially for this museum-quality book, which is sure to delight art lovers, Disney collectors, and any prince or princess who ever believed that fairytales do come true.

Photographic interpretation of Disney Princesses Snow White & Jasmine
by Ryan Astamendi
(click for a larger view - recommended)

Pictured above (along with the front of the book) is a photographic interpretation by Ryan Astamendi (whose blog you can find HERE).

Jasmine & the Magic Lamp
(I love this one too)
by Stacey Aoyama

Belle
by Stacey Aoyama
(you can see Stacey's blog HERE)

Here's a number of signed prints I found for sale on EBay during the Disney Expo (close-ups are available to see HERE):
Nice to see Tiger Lily there! Here's a close-up, simply because I rarely see art with her as the subject, plus, it's lovely:

Princess of Never Land
by Cathy Clark

The Little Mermaid 'Movie Poster'
by Eric Tan.

I particularly like his Sleeping Beauty interpretation below.
Sleeping Beauty 'Movie Poster'
by Eric Tan

From Eric Tan's BLOG about the project:

Ever since I started designing posters, I've always had this goal of creating my very own versions for all the animated Disney films. Those classics have had such an impact on my art and my career, that I wanted to do it almost as a tribute to the importance they had on me as a kid. Disney Consumer Products had a cool idea going when they decided to ask a bunch of internal artists to put their artistic spin on the Princesses for a book that was just released, The Art of Disney Princess. You can almost guess immediately what I wanted to do with my pieces. Yup, MOVIE POSTERS!!!

There was an event held, also called "The Art of the Disney Princess", to support the book launch and NERDLIKE.COM had a representative there to report on the show and take some photos to post. From the blog:

The Art of the Disney Princess is exactly what it sounds like, a celebration of the animated empire’s fair ladies. Disney commissioned 10 artists from Disney Global Consumer Products to re-imagine the Disney princesses. The results were dope to say the least. The event, hosted at the Zune LA house/building, was set up like an art gallery. The front room housed a collection of art pieces accompanied by its Disney Couture clothing counterpart. Each piece represented a different princess in the artists own unique styling....

...The second room upstairs was more like an art museum with pieces on the wall. From the abstract to a little weird, each piece retained the essence of the original princess, but somehow set it apart in a way that they felt authentic and real. Gone were the traditional aesthetics of the Disney cookie cutter princess. These artists had introduced the princesses to a whole new world (no pun intended). In addition to the transformation of the princesses, you could see each artists individual style and inspiration. Several pieces even escaped the realm of Disney and looked like pieces anyone would hang on their wall.

You can read the rest of the news about the show and see many more pictures HERE.

It's a real shame the event was limited to a select group and isn't on display for the public. The Disney Couture princess collection from the show will be on display at Kitson LA in February 2010 but this doesn't include all the pieces, of course. Even those who aren't fans of Disney (or who cringe when they hear the word 'princess' like I do) could enjoy a gallery showing like this! At least some of it has been put into a book for us.

You can find the book on Amazon.com - currently at 34% off - and see a lot of page samples HERE.

"Grimm Fairytale Ball" in LA on October 30th

Celebrating Halloween Grimm-style in Los Angeles this year is The Grimm Fairytale Ball - open to everyone over 21 (and costumes are encouraged).From their ad:

Once Upon A Midnight Dreary...

Little boys and little girls stepped onto pages seeped with shadowy ink and maddening dreams, passed through contorted reflections of reflecting brass, gripped breathlessly to groundshards or towering fauna surpassing clouds, titans, and perhaps even gods. Once upon a time, little boys and little girls were haunted, desired, fooled, fought, danced, puzzled, poisened, hunted, lost, and eaten in parables far different than the happy tales with happy endings for happy children today...

Entry is $10 with an RSVP or $20 without. This is one Halloween option for those who prefer the dark side of fairy tales. Complimentary candid club photography provided by Violet Photography - no personal cameras allowed (!).

You can find the details HERE.

PS The LA Weekly is booked to do a write-up on the event so be prepared for at least one reporter and a possibly a newspaper camera too.

Fairy Tale Bridge on 'Terror Trail' in China

Sometimes you have to risk a little for a worthwhile thing. On this incredibly scary-looking trail (which is certainly not for the faint-of-heart tourist), the rewards are the incredible views and a gorgeous bridge while the risk is... real. Everything could be straight out of a classic tale, leaving you breathless - both from wonder and terror. I find the juxtaposition perfect for a fairy tale.

The location: Yellow Mountain, China - a World Heritage Site since 1990.

The Fairy Tale Bridge

A few of the 76 peaks in the mountain range
& part of the trail

The famous "Sea of Clouds"

If you've never seen photos of this location before yet it seems familiar it's probably because the mountain range has been a popular subject for painters for centuries. It's not hard to see why.

The article on the trail, which shows and describes what the experience is like for those brave enough to try, is HERE.

Alice J. Rose's Fairy Tales

Stumbled across this on Flickr the other day - a bit of a different Snow White series - and not a fashion shoot this time.Snow White doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve but carries it around nevertheless. Thinking that may not be the best strategy..The collection of photos can be found HERE.

In the same series is a Hansel & Gretel set (here are a couple of shots)
...and a Red Riding Hood set (links are below).

Done for a solo show called "Fairytales" in 2007/2008, though I couldn't find it at the link she provides.

There are more fairy tale photo sets by Alice J. Rose. I've listed them below with the links:
Fairytales: Snow White - The Seven Deadly Drag Queen Sins
Fairytales: Snow White - The Poisoning
Fairytales: Hansel & Gretel
Fairytales: Little Red Riding Hood

You can see more of Alice J Rose's work HERE on Flickr and HERE at her website.

Le Véritable Histoire du Chat Botté (The True Story of Puss in Boots): 2009 CG Animated Film

I just found this French animated full length feature film version of Puss in Boots that was released to theaters (in Belgium and France) in April this year.

Here's the website (which announces December 2008 in theaters, though I can't find evidence that it actually was released anywhere at that date) HERE. It features artwork, a brief story synopsis, Director's notes, music previews (a warning - this starts automatically once you click on the site!) and more.

Yes, there is a monkey in this movie - that's Puss in the foreground.

Here's the synopsis from All Movie:

For generations, children around the world have enjoyed the classic fairy tale of Puss 'n' Boots (or, in France, Le Chat botté), the endlessly clever granary cat who uses a wealth of clever ploys (and a magic spell or two) to help his master gain fame, riches and true love with a princess. The story receives a new interpretation in this French-language animated feature from co-directors Jerome Deschamps, Pascal Hérold and Macha Makeïeff, with vocal work by Deschamps (as the feline}, Yolande Moreau (as The Queen), Louise Wallon (as The Princess)., and Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat (as Chambellan, the cat's master). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Despite the website, a few different trailers in various languages (including English) and even a coloring book page site HERE I can't find release dates for any theatrical showings in English speaking countries or for release to DVD. Perhaps it's just early days for a foreign film to make the transition (here's hoping anyway).

Here's the English trailer:

And here's the French which shows MUCH more of what the movie is like, the various characters and the cat in action. Although it's in French you still get a good idea of what's happening:


You can find more information about the film HERE (French) and HERE (English).

Fairy Tale Names

Rumpelstiltskin by Jiri Trnka

In the land of Faery names are very important - to know a person or creatures name is to have power over it and so true names are closely guarded. This sensibility is reflected to varying degrees in many cultures too and so we end up with nicknames, honorifics, and even substitute names for infants to mislead mischievous gnomes, fairies or demons from stealing their souls.

But what about fairy tales? Names aren't usually given to all the characters in a fairy tale. Sometimes only one name is used and sometimes that name is really a representation of the character in focus and not their real name at all. Names still have a certain importance in fairy tales, though not having quite the same weight as the concept does in faery myths and legends but the choosing of an infants name is often given great weight and one tale in particular makes it clear that one's name is very important indeed.

Rumpelstiltskin by Kay Nielsen

I'm talking of Rumpelstiltskin of course. This is the tale with the most names mentioned in any fairy tale ever (that I'm aware of) and is part of the whole point of the story. What I find interesting is that in many of the versions I've read, the Queen (who is unnamed in most versions), when trying to guess the little man's name, starts with exotic sounding names, moves to whimsical/nonsensical names then ends up listing common ones before announcing the true name - which is completely unique - and getting herself, and her firstborn, out of a sticky situation. (You can read the story and the names the Queen recites at the awesome SurLaLune site HERE.)

Rumpelstiltskin by Anne Anderson

Rumpelstiltskin is one of those names that, once you know it, sticks in your memory but it's interesting to see the other fairy tale names that have also 'stuck' through the ages and across cultural boundaries.

This page HERE has an interesting list of names - male and female - in fairy tales for people to consider for their children. While a good portion of them are, unsurprisingly, from Disney retellings, there are quite a few unexpected ones too. (Rumpelstiltskin isn't on the list, presumably because no parent would ever inflict such a curse on their child.. here's hoping that assumption is correct!)

Here's a sampling of some unusual ones on that page:

BABETTE — Beauty and the Beast

FINETTE — Finette Cendron

JORINDE — Jorinde and Joringel

TALIA — Sun, Moon and Talia

WINNIFRED — The Princess and the Pea

It's by no means a comprehensive list but it does get the gray matter working a little! It's certainly a baby name category you don't very often, though I think it would be a very interesting little volume to put together - especially if it were multi-cultural.

Fairy Story (Rumpelstiltskin) by Jesus Blasco

Many of the names for the heroes and heroines are 'everyman' names. For example Ivan is extremely common in Russia, just like Jack is in English. The same goes for Hansel and Gretel which, to English speaking countries sounds exotic but to Germanic people is essentially Jack and Jill. When I was researching Jorinde and Joringel for my recent retelling I found reference to the fact that their names were the equivalent of 'George', in both the feminine and the masculine (which makes you think of the tale a whole different way again).

Sometimes, though, the names are special and unique. I'd be very interested to see a collection put together. Anyone up for the job? ;)

NOTE: I should point out that fairy tale character names were discussed on the SurLaLune discussion board quite a few years ago HERE. It mainly discusses the issue of lead character names but has other interesting points too.

Kate Bernheimer Interview on "The Complete Tales of Merry Gold"

I came across this interview with Kate Bernheimer last week, discussing fairy tales and her book "The Complete Tales of Merry Gold" and thought I'd share.

Ms. Bernheimer shares some of her thoughts on fairy tales as well as gives some interesting insights to the characters from her 'trilogy' of Gold sister books - things I don't think I've read anywhere else.

Here's an excerpt from her response to the question "Why is Merry [the main character] so sadistic? She seems more like the villain of a fairy tale than the main character [who tends to be innocent]?":

..meanness is a very important trope in many of the fairy tales that fascinate me. It’s true that while American popular culture has canonized female fairy-tale characters with hearts of gold, in fact the “main characters” of fairy tales are extremely varied: as many stupid, clumsy, boring, mean, ugly, plain, deficient, weird, pathetic, and sad characters as there are “good” ones. So actually, the “main characters” of many fairy tales are cruel. One example, easy to find on the shelves, is Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Girl Who Trod on A Loaf” where the young hero’s hobby is to pull wings off of flies. She suffers in the end, but she is still the story’s beautiful, troubled cold center. She is the bright star in a terrifying and sublime drama. Countless examples of mean girls at the center of story exist in fairy tales from around the world, just as they do in the junior high classroom or [fill in the blank], but in fairy tales they are a lot more interesting to know. I would entreat readers to look at the many, many available translated collections of tales from around the world, to see the existential variety in them.

You can find the whole interview HERE.

As always, Ms. Bernheimer's comments are thought provoking and interesting for anyone who loves fairy tales.

You can find another interview which gives further insight to her style of writing and how and why she prefers to use fairy tales that aren't well known, HERE.

The books mentioned are:
The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold
The Complete Tales of Merry Gold
The Complete Tales of Lucy Gold (yet to be published)All three make use of German, Yiddish and Russian tales that are not well known but those who read a lot of fairy tales will at least recognize some of the tropes, if not some of the inspirations.

You can see a previous post on Ms. Bernheimer's journal Fairy Tale Review HERE.

I should mention also that the two collections she put together and edited ("Mirror, Mirror On the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales" and "Brothers and Beasts: An Anthology of Men On Fairy Tales") remain two books of my favorites. I return to read them often and get something new out of them every time.