There's a new book out (released December 9, 2009) of fairy tale retellings in which the stories are told in comics with a rather grim version of a funny bone.
The author/illustrator is Erik Bergstrom and the reviews are using phrases like "homicidal whimsy" and "joyfully morbid masterpiece" so this won't be everyone's cup of tea. From Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing:
The book consists of a series of extremely nasty comic-strips telling the aftermath of the classic folkloric fairy tales. For example, one running gag has Pinnocchio telling polite social lies in panel 1, while panel 2 depicts his sprouted nose gouging out the eye of some innocent (i.e., "Cute baby! -- stab").
These running gags are pretty funny, but the really standout moments are the longer strips, especially the "What a Witch" strip, in which two witches standing over a cauldron extol the virtues of Kiddee Flakes, which are much more convenient for kidnapped-child-fattening than candy-houses. This is good, wicked humor at its finest -- if you loved Fractured Fairy Tales...
Congratulations Aubrey! Your prize is being prepped for shipping as I type. A sincere thank you to London Particulars for making this giveaway possible. NOTE: Although Aubrey's name is cannily similar (ok, the same) as The Professor's, Aubrey swears she is no relation (that she knows of) to the aforementioned character - nor to his cat Happiness, though she does admit to having happiness of her own as a result of winning this contest. Aubrey's winning email entry was chosen by random.org and had nothing to do with her name. We can only put it down to 'destiny' (which may be the name of Aubrey's future cat - or not)... :)
The story of "The Elves and the Shoemaker" by the Grimm Brothers takes place around Christmas and used to be much more well known than it is now.
Here's the fairly straight retelling from Golden Books (plus an annoying cuckoo that kids seem to love), which includes at least some nods to the Christmas aspect:
I found a lovely trio of illustrations by Steve Morrison which succinctly tell the story in just three panels.You can see more of Mr. Morrison's lovely work HERE. (He's currently showing pen-and-ink style illustrations he's done of A Christmas Carol.)
Strangely, there don't seem to be a lot of similar tales across cultures but I wanted to point out that one of them "The Hand With the Knife" is now available to read online HERE. The similarity lies in the good hearted being helped by an elf but there's no thankfulness or Christmas in sight.
I also found a panel from an apparent book in progress and there's a familiar visitor to the Shoemaker's shop in this one...You can find more by artist Kasia Dudziuk (a.k.a. Kasiacreations on deviantArt) HERE. She's done illustrations for a number of other fairy tales too.
We also have The Muppets to thank for keeping fairy tales in the public consciousness. Muppet Classic Theater which is both out of print and has never been released on DVD (!) retells six fairy tales in true muppet style, "The Elves and the Shoemaker" being one of them. (The other five are: Rumpelstiltskin, King Midas & the Golden Touch, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Three Little Pigs.)
The clip below starts from the beginning of this story rather than the beginning of the overall presentation so it appears as though you're starting in the middle of something, but you're not missing anything important from the tale.
You could definitely argue that the story and traditions surrounding Santa are a modern-day folktale so I think it's appropriate to draw your attention to a new featurette (about 25 minutes) now available online from Disney.
It aired on ABC on December 8th but now you can watch it ('with limited commercial interruption') in HD online.Now: I've known about this for a while and the promo posters and artwork I saw didn't interest me at all BUT I finally saw this yesterday and found this short to be very sweet, full of heart, (lots of great and gentle humor that doesn't try to be too clever (most of the time) and doesn't veer TOO much into the 'self-referential' realm, very Christmas-sy (nodding to more Christmas traditions than you may realize we include in our Holiday celebrations) and, overall, possibly one of the best things to come out of Disney features in a decade.So take a look. It's free to view HERE (and I strongly suggest full screen so you can properly enjoy it).
I'm including a preview below, just in case ABC takes it offline (I know they're planning to air it yearly from now on, so in all likelihood it will disappear sometime soon). It doesn't quite give the sweet feeling that the actual short manages to capture but it explains the premise (not necessary to know to enjoy the short by the way). If you just watch this promo/making of and it still doesn't appeal, give the short a go anyway. I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe you will be too. :)
I mentioned I was going to focus on Christmas/Yule/Winter Solstice appropriate tales over the remainder of the Holiday season so it makes sense to start with "Nutcracker"."The Nutcracker" is possibly 'the' fairy tale most think of when it comes to Christmas time and I'm often surprised to hear of the types of people that make going to see a 'Nutcracker" ballet production a yearly tradition. People who don't normally think about fairy tales or follow ballet often grew up going with their parents so it's become something Christmas wouldn't be complete without.
Since a lot of you follow the SurLaLune blog too I won't repeat much about E.T.A. Hoffman's story, the many books which beautifully illustrate it or the traditional ballet. Instead I have two Nutcracker offerings you may not have come across before, both by ballet companies. The first is Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker and has a few twists to the story, although it remains a family-friendly ballet with a strong positive Christmas feel.Here's a summary from The Royal Sadler's Wells Ballet Company - a production that's quickly become loved and a new tradition itself:
This delicious theatrical feast has family-sized helpings of Matthew Bourne's trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy. Nutcracker! follows Clara's bittersweet journey from a hilariously bleak Christmas Eve at Dr. Dross' Orphanage, through a shimmering, ice-skating winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland.
There's a whole website especially about Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker too, with tons more information - you can see that HERE.Here's a montage/promo:
It's also available on DVD HERE.
The second is a more adult ballet, choreographed by Graeme Murphy for The Australian Ballet Company and is called "Nutcracker - the Story of Clara".Here's the summary:
This is no ordinary Nutcracker; it is a quintessentially Australian reinterpretation created by the incomparable Graeme Murphy, who was for many years the driving spirit of the Sydney Dance Company. It is a reinterpretation that celebrates the history of ballet in Australia, and of the Australian Ballet itself with its links to the great Russian ballet tradition. In this version, Clara is not a child but a frail Russian ex-ballerina, reliving her illustrious career (Edit FTNH: through feverish dreams) on a hot summer night in Melbourne (Edit FTNH: Christmas is, of course, blisteringly hot in Australia!), and looking back on her St Petersburg days with a group of her fellow expatriate dancers. In the course of this career we see child Clara on her opening night, Clara at the height of her career, and the older Clara looking back.
Here you can see the film that's projected onto the back scrim during a key sequence - "Graeme Murphy's Nutcracker is set on a sweltering Melbourne Christmas Eve in the late 1950s. Clara is not a child but a frail ex-ballerina, reliving her rich and eventful life in one night of feverish dreams. This film segment is projected over the whole set; it sets the scene for the start of the Russian revolution. The Bolsheviks are now portrayed as rats and our heroin is woven amongst this extraordinarily well shot footage of Siegei Eisenstein's Oktiabr (October: Ten Days That Shook the World), which was - incredibly! - filmed some 80 years ago..." (from the video description):
You can learn a lot more about Graeme Murphy's Nutcracker ballet and see lots more images HERE and/or get a copy of the production on DVD HERE.
Both use Tchaikovsky's score, are beautiful and are undeniably 'Nutcracker', albeit in different ways. If you love the Nutcracker ballet or dance and ballet in general I highly recommend them both.
Just a little note to say I'm running behind - way behind! - in answering email.
If you've written to me and I haven't gotten back to you yet, hang in there. I'm not ignoring you and I haven't lost your mail (I don't think!). I'm slowly getting through my inbox... but I've got a ways to go.
[Don't worry - the "Pursuit of Happiness" contest is a priority. I'll be doing the drawing for the lucky winner on the 21st as originally planned.]
Thank you for all your comments and mails. Knowing people enjoy the news, art and posts gives me extra incentive to try to post daily, no matter how busy things are.
May you find time to enjoy the season and to explore a little more of the world of fairy tales with me.
(And thank you for patience as I wade through to the top of my inbox!)
*White Rabbit by the talented H. Kyoht Luterman who does a lot of folklore based art. You can see her website HERE and see even more on in deviantArt gallery HERE.
Dreamworks has done very well with the Shrek franchise, despite general agreement that the installments following the original movie were... 'not as good'. But they're making another one - the 'last' one - and it's coming in May 2010. (Actually there will be one more if rumors are correct, but perhaps that will be confirmed only if/when the numbers from this movie come in...).
The trailer for the fourth Shrek film has just been released and it appears that Shrek is basically getting the It's A Wonderful Life treatment, with the fate of his kingdom dependent on how he manages in this alternate universe.Here's the plot summary from Empire Online:
In the fourth outing for the fairytale spoof adventure, Shrek is seemingly tired of his domesticated life with wife Fiona and the kids, and pines for a time when his mere presence could send villagers scattering.
But when he strikes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to try to regain his mojo, the beardy trickster (Edit FTNH: where's the beard?) makes his life magically hell, transporting him to a version of Far Far Away where he never existed.
There, he finds Donkey reduced to cart duty, Puss In Boots as a lazy slob and Rumpelstiltskin ruling the place....
Here's the trailer:
I'm sure we'll see more before May. The question really is, is this a good way to bring the magic back?
This is a completely random find (found HERE) and I just had to share as it's so rare to find anything to do with this fairy tale. Germany has great love and respect for the Grimm tales though so I'm not surprised this is where the stamps originate from.
These stamps have scenes from the story and tell most of it comprehensively in only six panels.
If you don't know the story you can read it HERE at SurLaLune or read my steampunk retelling by downloading a FREE PDF from HERE. You can also hear a complete recording/podcast of my story with music and sound effects. :) The links to the parts are HERE.
Here's a little treat for the season - especially with my focus for the coming week of Christmas/Yule stories. Just announced today, for a limited time over Christmas you can see a new animated short online about a very sweet little girl and a creepy toyshop. It's not specifically for Christmas but fits with the current focus on Winter (in the Northern hemisphere), children and toys. This short film is already busy winning awards all over the place.While it is kinda spooky it doesn't have any truly scary images - it's more the concept. But it's very in keeping with fairy tales - especially those by E.T.A. Hoffman (Nutcracker anyone?).Here's the announcement from Cartoon Brew:
For a limited time during the holidays, Rodrigo Blaas has made his spooky CG short Alma available for viewing online. Blaas is an animator at Pixar who took time off from the studio and returned to his native Spain to make this independent film. His brother, Alfonso Blaas, served as the film’s art director. The film’s official website is AlmaShortFilm.com.
I'm posting the teaser so you can a) have a preview and b) when the video is no longer available, people visiting the blog can still have a taste of this wonderful short.
The teaser:
The full short - for a limited time only during Christmas 2009:
There's a new book out (released December 9, 2009) of fairy tale retellings in which the stories are told in comics with a rather grim version of a funny bone.
From Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing:
