"Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" on DVD/Blu-ray Today (& a sequel on the way)

Today is DVD & Blu-ray release day for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Sad to say, I don't know anyone who went and saw this film. There was a lot of buzz, then it disappeared for 10 months (10!) to accommodate other films (among other things) and when it finally premiered the shine had pretty much gone for a lot of people.

Movie critics called it gratuitous, "a weak story" and violent. Interestingly, horror critics were far more positive (and these guys can be pretty harsh), declaring it to be "unpretentiously entertaining". It went on to become a commercial success overseas and there is now a sequel in development.

Preview of The Witching Hour featurette (behind-the-scenes)

I know a few adults who admit this is either their favorite fairy tale as a child or the most memorable. It's clear it resonates a lot with kids (and the memories stay strong as they grow up too). I completely understand why. This is a dark, dark fairy tale - even a very sanitized version (like the Disney one in which it's clear the witch is pushed into a COLD over and is taken out and sent to jail later - ugh!) makes little eyebrows rise. I recently read one of my favorite illustrated* versions, The Diary of Hansel and Gretel ("by Gretel" and Proved to be Authentic and Real by the Authority of Kees Moerbeek) to my son's Kindergarten class. We always have question and comment time after each book and boy were there a LOT of questions! This version doesn't shy away from some hideous parenting, how dangerous the oven was and or that this witch ended up dead. Or as we said in class "dead-dead-not-pretend-dead-and-will-not-become-a-zombie-dead". They were reassured that there was no chance of this particular nasty person ever making a reappearance. (They also all - boys and girls - adored the little picture of the dead mother in the locket tucked onto the first page and completely approved of Gretel drawing a hideous scary-looking portrait to represent the awful stepmother.)

But back to the movie.

If you (like me) missed a few of the fairy tale related things about this film along the way, here are a few things you may not know:

• Norwegian filmmaker, Tommy Wirkola (who co-wrote and directed) said: "I have a strong memory from my childhood of just how dark and gruesome their tale was and I wondered what would have happened to the two of them when they grew up? They had this dark past and this intense hatred of witches. So as I thought about it, it made sense to me that of course they would be fated to become great witch hunters..."

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - preview of "Reinventing Hansel and Gretel"

• In Wirkola's original treatment, Gretel developed an eating disorder, but that idea was dropped.

• They made some effort to not use stereotypical witch designs, instead trying to communicate the idea that they were "the spawn of the dark places of nature" and tried to have them feel "animalistic". Concept art by Ulrich Zeidler was released around the time the movie premiered. You can see that HERE - worth a look if you're writing or working with witch characters, to see some of the concepts explored here. Some of these actually DO feel they're from fairy tales from different parts of the world. (Others are just a bit ridiculous.)

I honestly wish I had more to share but clearly this film isn't meant to be anything more than an fast-paced and somewhat silly B movie (which is perfectly valid entertainment for people who like that stuff).

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - Making of Edward Troll

The Blu-ray contains the theatrical release version, an uncut-unrated version and three featurettes: Reinventing Hansel and Gretel,  The Witching Hours and Meet Edward the Troll.

I still surprised there's going to be a sequel.

* My favorite retelling remains Donna Jo Napoli's The Magic Circle. I haven't been able to think of the tale the same way since I first read it.

Wicked Lovely Film Back On Track

From faerie and fantasy YA author Melissa Marr on Facebook this morning:

I'm told I can finally share: the Wicked Lovely film is back on track thanks to the ongoing work by my producers (Vince Vaughn's Wild West Picture Show Productions) & the addition of IM Global. (For those following YA film updates, you'll recognize IM Global as the company also behind Richelle Mead's fab Vampire Academy film.)

I can say that we are getting near an announcement of a director for the Wicked Lovely film. I'll share THAT news as soon as I can.

In 2011 the Director was set to be Mary Harron (best known for American Psycho) and before that it was going to be Kimberley Pierce (Boys Don't Cry) so I'm very curious to see who's taking the helm now, being that things are the most solid they've ever been to start shooting. 

Here's a link to Melissa Marr's dream cast - the real one still being a big unknown at this point.

Of Keys & Bluebeards

Bluebeard by Benjamin Lacombe

Why Society Still Needs Feminism
"Because to men, a key is a device to open something. For women, it’s a weapon we hold between our fingers when we’re walking alone at night...

(from a list meme circulating Tumblr, Pinterst & Facebook)

I know. The quote doesn't seem like a Bluebeard reference at all, but bear with me. It has more in common with the tale than it first appears.

Fantasy writer and fairy tale lecturer Theodora Goss published a very interesting post, titled On Bluebeard, on her blog on Saturday (June 8, 2013) about the difference in the way men and women can perceive things and how it relates to Bluebeard.

Bluebeard by Alessandra Cimatoribus

The topic of how men and women view compliments, for example, has come up repeatedly in the media and in various social media circles. Although it's been an issue for feminists for some time, when President Obama complimented the Attorney General (to many minds, inappropriately) in early April, it became the hot topic of the nation (well, at least for a week, but the ensuing conversation ripples are still happening). The weirdest thing about it all, though, is this:

Unfortunately, in the aftermath... it appears that certain men are mega-befuddled about "the rules" of "when" they're "allowed" to compliment women. (from Jezebel Magazine)

As Ms. Goss explains:

Scenario: A woman passes a man on the street. He says, “Hello, beautiful.”
How the man perceives this: “I paid her a compliment.”
How the woman perceives this: “Is he going to attack me?”

Jezebel Magazine did everyone a giant favor and explained "the rules" on when men can compliment a woman, in clear and very entertaining detail. You can read it HERE.(Recommended!)

Because there's this thing: remember Joey? From the TV show Friends? He could make ANYTHING sound dirty...

And this is why it's so easy to get confused. For safety's sake, women will often err on the side of responding with "Back off Creep!", which, if there actually WAS anything irksome in the works, is probably the smartest response to have.

And here's a little bit of information that might help both sides understand all this a little better:

Did you know one of the reasons for homophobia in males is that men are genuinely scared of being viewed (and treated/hit on) by other men the same way they view (and treat/hit on) other women?*

!

(I'll just let you think about that for a minute as it touches on so many issues...)

Bluebeard by biffno

Girls and women are taught from an early age to be cautious: "Stay on the path", "Don't talk to strangers" and, unfortunately, this is still the smart thing to do. "Wolves" are bad enough. "Bluebeards" (and Mr. Fox characters) are downright terrifying. The tale of Bluebeard is, in some ways, a grown up version of Red Riding Hood and, despite a magic key** and otherworldly hair coloring, the story doesn't shirk from the completely horrific and all-too-real nightmare the heroine has committed herself to, nor the equally horrific implications for her future.

To my mind the curiosity caution factor in this tale isn't about unlocking secrets, the dangers of poking your nose into other people's business or even about doing a good background check on your spouse-to-be. It's about not letting yourself be lured by the romance, excitement and/or apparent appeal of a person - or career path - or lifestyle - or any other major decision! - without being prepared to deal with unforeseen consequences. Because, here's the thing:

by Erika Steiskal

You never know the whole story.

Heck, you never know the whole YOU.

We hardly know and understand the whole of our own past (think about how much people come to understand themselves when they find out something about an ancestor, for instance) and we certainly don't know what we will be like if situation 'x' happens to us (eg, Will we run? Will we freeze? Will we fight?), or how we will be in the future, let alone the same of someone - or something - else. We are always changing - even if we try really hard not to.


[Gosh - I never thought to connect Alice and Bluebeard before.]

And all this while falling down a rabbit hole, the type of which you never even knew existed.

[Curiouser and curiouser... ]

The Locked Door - Artist Unknown

There's nothing quite like, for example, having a life long dream, obtaining that dream then finding out it was nothing at all like you expected and you've placed yourself in the middle of a nightmare, without an idea of what to do, or where to go, next. You never completely escape that stain of a destroyed dream.

I could easily segue here into a whole new section on different ways to use keys and how important it is to have your own keys that work for you (not against you in favor of someone else) but this has already been a fairly weighty post and you're likely to come up with a lot of those metaphors yourself, so I will wrap it up for now.

For those interested in the art posted and in artistic representations of Bluebeard in general, you can see much more on my Bluebeard Pinterest board HERE.

In the meantime, I recommend reading Ms. Goss' post. She is far more eloquent on the subject. It should be noted that even with her careful and clear wording some readers still took issue with some of what she had to say. I'm just glad there is, at the very least, an open dialogue on this important subject.

UPDATE: LINK ADDED TO RECOMMENDED ARTICLE BY TERI WINDLING

12:51pm - June 10, 2013 

If you'd like to keep reading on the Bluebeard tale I highly recommend an article by Terri Windling on the Endicott Studio site. It's titled Bluebeard and the Bloody Chamber. You can find it HERE or click on the image above.

* I don't mean to imply it's the only - or even main - reason men are homophobic and I don't intend to lightly regurgitate an Urban Dictionary's tongue-in-cheek definition of what homophobia is. I state this with every respect to understanding that fear and the divide of differences because this IS a very real fear among straight men who are uncomfortable around gay men (& we're not even taking into account gay women here). The statement is not meant to prove anything, other than to illustrate that there is a very real divide between how men generally compliment/treat women and how that's often not taken seriously, or at least misunderstood as to how disturbing that is, until the tables are (potnetially) turned.

**I never did figure out where on earth that key came from. Why did it absorb blood and why did Bluebeard have it? Had he used it before? If so, why wasn't it already stained? Was it a device of his own making or was he enacting an even more sinister incarnation of the snake offering Eve the fruit of knowledge? I'm curious to know... ;)

Historical Disney Villains Debut: Maleficent

Historical Villains: Maleficent (1400's) by Claire Hummel

Most of you are probably familiar with the Historical Disney Princess illustrations by Claire Hummel (aka *shoomlah on deviantArt). As you can see we are about to be treated with a series of Historical Disney Villains (yay!) and Maleficent debuted in mid-May 2013 as the first (official) design.

I've wanted Maleficent to be the first villain in the series for a while now, ever since I made the mental leap between Maleficent's horns and 15th century horned hennins. The time period works out pretty well, actually, since I wanted her to look a little more dated than Aurora's 1480's getup- both houppelandes and horned hennins were all the rage during the early- to mid-1400's, and they make for pretty good analogues to her official costuming.  Sexy stuff.

This proves more than any of the previous pieces that these are adaptations, not improvements. I mean, look at the original Maleficent design- how does one improve on PERFECTION

-C

Maleficent - and her inner dragon - is one of my favorite Disney villains. If only they hadn't watered her down so much by giving her those lumpy, dweeby, witless side-kicks! It seems completely out of character for her and I know her raven feels the same way.. (but that's another topic).

If you could choose, whom would you like to see next on the Historical Villain series?



Today's fairy tale bonus: A wonderfully true* little meme, featuring none other than our favorite slighted scary-fairy, Maleficent.  
* Yes, I am one of those people who shudder when they hear people wish for a fairy tale life, wedding or anything else!

First Look at Christophe Gans' Beauty & the Beast: "I'll Eat You Up I Love You So"

There has been quite a bit of buzz about the different live action films of Beauty and the Beast in the works but it would appear the most anticipated version from critics everywhere (at least to date) is the French movie from Director Christophe Gans (Silent Hill, Brotherhood of the Wolf). And the "first look" image has only whet appetites for more. 

I really like The Playlist's response: 

Now in post-production, Pathé International took to the movie market at the recently wrapped Cannes Film Festival and brought with them a first look that positively glows with romance, or cannibalism. It has Vincent Cassel looking as though he wants to eat (Lea Seydoux's) face off, or maybe kiss it. Or maybe both.

! O.o  That actually sounds... kind of awesome.

They started shooting November of last year (principle photography was shot in Berlin) and it's been a pretty tight set, meaning, not much news, if any, has leaked during filming.

One thing we know is that Alexandre Desplat (a favorite composer on Spotify and other music players with Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, The King's Speech, Rise of the Guardians and many other favorite scores), will be composing or, as one French news site put it: "illustrating the film on a musical map".

Another intriguing tidbit of news is that Gans and Cassel will be utlizing "performance capture" for the Beast's role (most recently utilized in The Adventures of Tintin and similar to the techniques used in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Avatar).

Whatever we know (or don't know) Gans has set expectations high with this declaration while they were still in pre-production:

"Although I will keep to a form of storytelling of this timeless fairy tale that is in keeping with the same pace and characters as the original, I will surprise the audience by creating a completely new visual universe never experienced before and produce images of an unparalleled quality. Every single one of my movies has presented me with a challenge, but this one is, by far, the most exciting and rewarding."

While it will (almost definitely) be darker than Disney's version, Gans' film is aimed at both adults and children alike so I'm expecting some (hopefully subtle) layering in the story and directing, along with some lush new fairy tale images to drool over, er, enjoy.

In the meantime, we have an additional and fairly extensive statement from Gans we can ponder while we (impatiently) wait for more:

"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is the adaptation of a story by Madame de Villeneuve. Published anonymously in 1740 as La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins, it paints a portrait of Belle, a joyful and touching young girl who falls in love with the Beast, a cursed creature in search of love and redemption. In 1760, a condensed children’s version was published. It was from this version that Jean Cocteau and then Walt Disney drew their famous adaptations. Overshadowed, the original version by Madame de Villeneuve has never been adapted for the screen... until now!

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is the story of a family going through a crisis, having lost all of its possessions when the father was ruined. The encounter - at first terrifying, but then voluptuous - with this mythical Beast provides our characters with an opportunity to get back on their feet. I like to think that this film is a metaphor for the situation that is currently afflicting the world. That is one of the advantages of fairy tales, to present an ensemble of values that endure through the ages.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST speaks, among other things, of the power of dreams and love over materialism and corruption - a theme more topical now than ever. It was time to pay tribute to Madame de Villeneuve’s story: an amazingly contemporary tale, in which the poem of love is also a message of hope."

- Christophe Gans

 I can't tell you how curious I am to see what he means by "pay tribute to Madama de Villeneuve's story".  Heidi writes the following on the History of Beauty and the Beast page at SurLaLune:

Villeneuve's version contains many little known elements and does not end with the transformation of the Prince. She spends too much time discussing warring between the fairies, the parentage of the protagonists, and the reason for the curse on the Prince. Also, the transformation from beast to prince does not occur until after the wedding night. Villeneuve's version also contains dream sequences in which Beauty is told by the Prince in his true form to look beyond appearances and rescue him. She, of course, does not understand his message and must fall in love with the beast before she comprehends his full message. 

Hmm. Not exactly child-friendly material so I am very (very) curious as to what elements Gans will be including. This is one of those times I wish I could grab a bunch of fairy tale scholars and friends, go to a well stocked fairy tale library/coffee shop and discuss the possibilities.

The confirmed cast so far are:

• Vincent Cassel - The Beast
• Lea Seydoux - Beauty
• Andre Dussolier - Beauty's father (replacing Gérard Depardieu)
• Audrey Lamy & Sara Giraideau - Beauty's older sisters
• Eduardo Noriega - the "villain" (whatever that might mean)
• Screenplay is by Sandra Vo Anh

Gans' Beauty and the Beast will be released in French theaters on February 14, 2014. (Yep, Valentine's Day, though some sources have said Feb 12 - either way it's the movie of the sweetheart season for France.)

No news on an international release date yet.

 

Additional sources: Moviepilot, RTBF, JeauxActu.com

Is Mattel's New "Ever After High" Just Another Princess Line? Or Is It Even Scarier Than "Monster High"?

Are you a royal or a rebel? Is Apple White's destiny at risk? Will Raven Queen flip the script? Let the page turning tale begin...

No. I did not write the above. (!) These are the teaser quotes for Mattel's soon-to-be-released Monster High spin-off line, Ever After High.

Fantasy writer Seanan McGuire (no stranger to fairy tales) summarized the premise for the new toys this way:

"Ever After High, where the children of famous fairy tale figures go to school as they prepare to take the Legacy Pledge and relive the stories of their parents. Hundreds of generations of Wicked Queens and whiteout girls* passing poison apples back and forth between them like Valentines..."

The story, er, collection begins with two characters**, er, dolls: Apple White (Snow White's daughter) and Raven Queen (the Evil Queen's Daughter), playing out their dueling destinies while attending the same classes. (Dum dum daaaaah!)

They even have "Mirror Blogs" we can follow them on as they comment on events, rumors and more from their (opposite) POVs.

(From the official Ever After High website:)

Raven Queen: "Just found out I'm not rooming with Maddie. My new roomie is Apple White???"

Apple White: "Spellbinding morning - the perfect day for starting a charmed new school year. Consulted my magic mirror, and I'm..." (to be revealed) 

 

OK I'll admit it. I've been rolling my eyes for much of this blog post but the "twisted teens fighting crappy destinies"/"stereotypical fairy tale characters get giant doses of reality" concept is actually beginning to make a bizarre sort of sense to me, especially if the characters are referencing the grimmer details of their parents tales and follow basic logic through. If any of those aspects are allowed to play out I can actually see this being quite "high concept" (*wince* sorry) and catching on... In fact it took me all of two minutes to find other people (mainly teens and therefore the target purchase group) thinking along the same lines and already quite excited about the whole idea.

Take a look at an excerpt from one of the (many) comments in a dedicated Tumblr blog:

"...like how is this premise somehow creepier than the one with monsters
I’m getting over my initial aversion but this is giving me some serious NO REALLY THIS IS F***ING DISTURBING feelings regarding fate and free will and the fact that some of these kids are expected to have no choice beyond ultimately dying in unbelievably gruesome ways (go look up what originally happened to Snow White’s stepmom*. Or Cinderella’s stepsisters. I’ll wait here) is a lot scarier than the franchise is admitting so far.
_____
*You know, on reflection, a woman who’d make her former tormentor dance to death in red-hot iron shoes as wedding entertainment probably is a woman who’d name her daughter after that which almost killed her herself and will eventually almost do the same to said daughter."

Then I (re)realized this is actually about selling (yet another) set of princess dolls and not primarily a story, or a show. Nor is it about providing a tool to deal with grim(m) teen issues (although it would be SO cool if that were the case). Unlike the Monster High dolls and accessories (beloved by many fairy tale afficionados) Ever After High has no cool teen zombie designs with bonus frankenfish or adorable voodoo puppy pet accessories to hook you into the sell. Despite that these princesses have the potential to be pretty dark in nature (Twisted Princesses anyone?) it's not like they'll be at home on the shelves next to Gris Grimley and The Walking Dead swag. They're just too... princessy-looking.

And then this appears on the Ever After High Facebook page:

So... yeah. We'll see. The seeds are there but will they bloom into the greatness of their true destiny or will they wither and die like so many forgotten...?

Ack. Never mind.

The line was officially announced at the end of May and is releasing in July this year.

*aka Snow Whites.

** Characters so far are: THE ROYALS - Apple White (daughter of Snow White), Briar Beauty (daughter of Sleeping Beauty), Ashlynn Ella (daughter of Cinderella), Blondielocks (daughter of Goldilocks, also a royal, kind of - not too 'this' and not too 'that'). THE REBELS - Raven Queen (daughter of the Evil Queen), Cedar Wood (daughter of Pinocchio), Cerise Hood (daughter of Little Red Riding Hood, who's hiding a big bad secret), Madeline Hatter (daughter of the Mad Hatter, roommate Kitty Cheshire, she can also hear the narrators) And there are Prince Charmings everywhere, there's a giant named Tiny and the headmaster (Mr. Grimm) has a brother who is locked in a secret library underneath the school... and arguing male and female narrators.

Annie Stegg's Thumbelina Collection

Thumbelina in the Marsh (from the Thumbelina Collection) by Annie Stegg

 If you love fairy tale illustrations and haven't heard of Annie Stegg, do yourself a favor and go look her up right now. [Her blog and gallery are HERE and HERE - you're welcome. :) ]

Ms. Stegg's work is inspired by folklore, mythology and nature so it was only a matter of time before she illustrated a fairy tale and right now she's currently hard at work on a "Thumbelina Collection". I don't think I could have chosen a better tale for her to focus on.

The Toad in progress (Thumbelina Collection) by Annie Stegg

(If it's been a while since you read HCA's story of the thumb sized girl born in a flower, it's worth brushing up on HERE [link goes to the tale overview at Wikipedia] and be sure not to miss SurLaLune's wonderful annotations [and lots more] on the tale HERE.)

Faerie Queen (Thumbelina Collection) by Annie Stegg

 Though the "Thumbelina Collection" apparently began as a project for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2* Ms. Stegg has been  adding to the series since the event ended (on May 19, 2013) and boy are we glad about that.

On Tuesday June 4, she posted a sneak peek of another piece, "The Duchess of Oak Nut" (shown below) and announced she'd be working on "The Duke" next.

Could this hail a book in the making?! *closes eyes tight and wishes very hard*

The Duchess of Oak Nut - in progress (Thumbelina Collection) by Annie Stegg

Justin Gerard at Muddy Colors got a pre-Spectrum look at the collection a few weeks ago, with bonus interview to boot. Ms. Stegg  discusses her love of Hans Christian Andersen's tale and how it represents, for her, a special childlike wonder people, far too often, lose.

From all I've seen in response to Ms. Stegg's work (on blogs, Tumblrs, Pinterest boards etc) it's clear that one of the special things about her art is that it helps bring that sense of wonder back. ("There's magic in that there paint brush!")

Here's an excerpt from the Muddy Colors interview:

JG: So speaking of your work, you are currently working on a series of paintings based on Hans Christian Anderson's Thumbelina fairy tale. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Thumbelina in the Marsh - sketch & final (Thumbelina Collection) by Annie Stegg

AS: I have wanted to do a series on this fairy tale for a while now. The reason I like Thumbelina has largely to do with the magic and mystery of childhood.

When we are young, the world is so big and magical and I think you lose some of that when you grow up. I like to imagine a place where everything is still a little unknown, and there is so much left to discover. Stories like Thumbelina help you to see your own commonplace world with fresh eyes and you can begin to appreciate just how amazing the world really is again.  It's like being a child again in many ways, and capturing that sense of wonder about the world around us.

The Swallow (Thumbelina Collection - framed) by Annie Stegg

You can read the whole interview HERE and see different views of the various works shown in this post (Psst! Check out The Swallow full size - the colors & details are stunning) and, of course, even more wonderful artwork too.

While Ms. Stegg's pieces reminds me of the work of beloved fairy tale and fantasy artist Kinuko Y. Craft, and, like Ms. Craft's work, shows the influence of Roccoco painters, it is most definitely her own. It's no wonder she's quickly becoming a favorite fantasy artist all over the world. 

You can follow Annie Stegg on Twitter HERE, where she posts regular artwork updates or on Facebook HERE where she does the same. Her official - and gorgeous! - gallery is HERE.

[Hidden Fairy Tale Bonus: If you check the video promotion for guest artists featured on Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2 link you'll catch a glimpse of Charles Vess' Little Red Riding Hood.]

The Toad (Thumbelina Collection) by Annie Stegg

 * Spectrum Fantastic Art Live is a three-day celebration of the art and artists that bring to life the fantastic worlds of (our) favorite science fiction, fantasy, and horror books, movies, and comics. SFAL allows fans and artists to mingle, shop, learn and be inspired through exhibits of original works of art, panel discussions and workshops hosted by some of the most notable members of this artistic community. They can get their personal portfolios critiqued by leading industry Art Directors and revel in the vast creative energy that permeates every facet of the experience. (Their) goal is to honor our industry, celebrate the creators and mentor new talent. (from the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live website)

Pixar's Brave to Change the Fate of Princess Culture?

While it's a given that Brave will be a beautiful film it is interesting to see the smattering of mixed reviews surfacing in its debut week. There are the expected rave reviews and gushing over the lush animation and the feisty red-headed princess but there's been more than a little criticism too.

Why? Three theories:

1) Merida got upstaged
Pixar was a little late to the theater with their feisty heroine this year. Since we've had Hunger Games and Snow White and the Huntsman provide audiences with larger-than-life kick ass girl-women, seeing Merida do much of the same is, sadly, a little like deja vu, despite that this is the first family film in that vein where the others were mainstream (or perhaps teen-stream).

The "Brave" wigs

2) Too much hair
There's waaaay too much emphasis on all this hair! Maria Tatar recently linked to an article and it seems Ms. Tatar has the right of it when she noticed the topic continually returning to Merida's hair. It's what everybody - creators and marketers - seem focused on. Hair! A quick story to illustrate: my husband is currently working in downtown Hollywood and, in his words, this is what he saw:

This morning when I came out of the Hollywood/Highland station I saw, walking down the street in front of me, two women with a little girl and a young boy. Both women had curly, curly long red-orange hair and the girl was carrying a chunk of red-orange hair. This seemed a bit odd to me until I realized that they were walking away from the El Capitan theatre and were wearing "Brave" wigs. The boy was having nothing to do with the females and was walking apart from them. He had no wig.

I think this scene is a good example of the response we're seeing all over. Despite how strong, feisty and brave Merida is, with marketing campaigns like Target's stating: "Look pretty and be brave, too" we've diluted anything important the film may have had to say. But that's not the whole story either.

3) Change your fate. Or not.
Even more importantly, it would appear the entire story has already been told in the promotional fare and there's really nothing more to Princess Merida than we've seen. Although she's feisty and defies convention she doesn't really have a direction or drive once she's able to do all the things she wants. In other words, we have a princess who is behaving like, well, a princess. There's no saving her people, the world or anything else going on. She makes a mistake and has to repair the damage she's done but, in reality, though she grows closer to her mother, nothing much else appears to change.

There's an interesting article in Time published today, titled: Why Pixar's Brave is a Failure of Female Empowerment. Unlike the writer, I don't have a problem with Merida being a princess. Nor do I have a problem that she has to deal with the marriage issue. For the era, that was primarily what princesses were useful for: forming alliances by joining in marriage and producing heirs. How she deals with that is where she has to show her individuality. What is a problem, though, is the lack of both growth and of personal purpose by Merida, beyond the crisis (of her own making).


From the article:

The best parts of Brave are the scenes involving the changed Queen Elinor, now a gigantic bear. But despite a lot of superficial talk of fate — “Our fate lies within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it” — her physical metamorphosis represents the main transformation. Other than deciding her mother isn’t so bad, Merida doesn’t really grow. She’s simply extended her time as a tomboy, another archetype, less a girl than a stereotype of a kind of girl.  “It wasn’t clear to me what her arc was,” Orenstein (FTNH ed: author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter) says. “What is it that we are imagining girls moving toward here? ‘I get to ride around on a horse all day’ isn’t really enough. That isn’t going to take her anywhere. There wasn’t a desire to do something.” 

This wouldn’t feel so vaguely unsatisfying if Brave were just one of many Pixar movies that featured a strong female lead. It’s the absence of others that turns the spotlight on Brave. And having a princess protagonist isn’t inherently bad. It’s just that she is so chapter one of what girls can be — and so many other Pixar movies skipped most known chapters and moved on to whole new volumes. (FTNH: bold emphasis mine)

You can read the whole article HERE.

There's one other issue that appeared in the comments regarding the grilling Brave gets in the article. I feel for the parents who are tired of every movie needing to "be a good example" for their children when all they want is good, clean entertainment. I would wholeheartedly agree except for one major thing: the marketing push and resulting peer pressure from the toy angle (even four year olds will influence their peers with regard to what is "cool"!) really does speak as loudly, often louder, than the most conscientious parents. and that's when a kid hasn't even seen the movie! When the best way for a child to recapture their personal movie experience is through a toy or book with the same images, that's the "message" that will sink in and stay.

What if the marketing for Brave was more gender-neutral, or perhaps aimed more toward tomboy-girls and boys at most, rather than at the princess culture girls? Instead of exiting El Capitan with giant red-orange wigs what if each kid got a sword or bow and arrow? (No floaty blue dresses in sight either, thank you.) Do you think the boy my husband saw would have been keeping himself so carefully separate from his "wimminfolk" then? I don't think so. I think he'd be (happily) trading blows and bruises with his sister, complete with sound effects of turning into a bear of which his sister would no doubt (happily) match him roar for roar.


There is one other interesting observation by a few of the commenters on the article that I want to highlight too. I'll quote the shortest one:

I'd appreciate if films with female leads had adequate male character. I don't understand why "female empowerment" films have the need to portray men as incompetent goofs.

They have a good point and there's more in the comments expanding on it too. The presence of a "strong" female character does not exclude the presence of strong men. The now go-to standard in family films (making the men less competent to make the women appear more so) isn't good for boys, for assertive/kick-ass girls OR for the princess set. I'll let you read the debate (and rants) for yourself.

One thing I do agree with the writer on, though, is that I hope Brave does well - really, really well actually. Why?
1) I would like to see more lead heroines from Pixar. With the marketing force of Disney behind them, Pixar does have a great influence on kids. I'd like to see what other female leads they come up with and hope that the results are as "groundbreaking" as everyone's been hoping Merida would be.
2) I'd like to see more fairy tale fare handled by Pixar (and Disney) story people, especially now that the public view on fairy tales has changed somewhat.

Pixar's "Brave": Release Day

Today's the day. It's the "other" big fairy tale movie of the year, by which I mean the other movie which will have an effect on how people view fairy tales this year and how movie studio and TV series executives will consider spending their money with regard to other fairy tale fare. Personally (and despite all you will read in the next post) I'm very much looking forward to seeing it.

Here's a clip to whet your appetite:

Pretty, yes? And moody in the best way. It's going to look amazing on the big screen.

The clip reminds me of Secret of Kells but then it probably should - and the association is a good one. Brave will be very different in many ways, of course, but there's no doubt it will be beautiful too.

CW's Beauty & the Beast Extended Preview

Playing catch-up...

In case you missed it, here's the 5 minute extended preview of CW's Beauty and the Beast scheduled to premiere in the US in the Fall:

The 5 minutes looks very much like an entire episode edited down to its main scenes, which is disappointing. What's left to tune in for if you've seen it all? Let's hope there's more to it other than "Why was my mother murdered?".

In the premise details, the post-9/11 Iraq War reference (military experiments make a beast out of a man) isn't as completely hokey as expected but I still have major reservations - especially since we end up with a very clean-faced broody guy with a not-at-all-authentic-looking scar placed just "so". Perhaps it's just that the writing is too obvious for me. ("You're like a superhero!") I'm hoping they're not going to state the obvious for the audience every time. Scratch that. I hope they don't do it again. If they want any of the cop procedural demographic they're going to have to write smarter, harder and use far more subtlety. Hopefully the actors are good enough they will get the message across without needing to utter the subtext but it's an important risk to take if you want to be a memorable series.

On the flip side, one of the promos says "All men have a dark side... but not like this" and in this case I truly hope they mean what they're saying. In order to make this show interesting we're going to really need to see the monster inside the man*- and hopefully the monster isn't typical either. The Beast we're seeing just looks conflicted about his transformations, ashamed of his appearance and rather hormonal - ie broody. Not exactly an attractive quality in a leading man (or woman).**

Regarding the actors, it's nice to see a more mature Kristen Kreuk. Except for the flashback, she works better than I thought she would with that little edge to her. I think I even caught glimpses of some character layering in there (fingers crossed). The Beast, on the other hand, is unfortunately rather forgettable. I don't even have the sense that he's had first hand experience of a real war, let alone anything else he's working through. Let's hope that was just due to editing for this clip.

The thing I'm really missing in this preview from the original series? All the underground stuff and that vague sense of fantasy just out of reach. That was what captured my imagination then and makes me remember it now - a whole other world right under our feet. I must admit I had little patience with the series in the 80's - it was too slow and angsty for me - but I kept trying to tune in from time to time to get another glimpse of the hidden world. 

One more peeve - the promo image/poster. Ugh. The actors look like they were shot separately and 'shopped together - no chemistry at all. I know they were directed like that but the result is you can almost overlook the fact that there's a guy standing next to "Detective Catherine Chandler". He looks completely replaceable. And it doesn't say Beauty and the Beast to me at all. 

Maybe I'm being harsh but I expect more from people using fairy tales (I wonder if the writers and creators actually went back to the tale or completely took their cues from the original series?) and also from any type of police procedural or reference to any war we've had friends and family fight in. These are the days post-CSI and 24, which raised the standard for details and suspense. Since almost everyone reading this blog will remember the Twin Towers falling on 9/11, no matter what country you were in, any reference to that has to have substance. It's not a vague historical point in time to hang a plot point on but a very real wound for too many people today. Ironically, this is what fairy tales are very good at helping with but you have to be very smart about it as well as honest while still being respectful. That's not an easy job. While I would sincerely love for that rabbit to be pulled out of CWs hat my expectations will likely remain low on that point.

Right now the only reason I'd be tuning in is because of the fairy tale connection but it's early days yet. There's much more promo-ing to come so hopefully we'll get a real carrot sometime before the Fall season starts. You never know: a rabbit might just appear.

* Eg In Buffy, we saw all this angst and unrequited love happening but it was really when Angel and Buffy finally got together and Angel turned Bad with a capital "B" that things got very interesting - and mythic. For the first time we saw this "person" be truly evil. Although he had the reputation of being the baddest of the bad, we didn't really believe it till he turned into an actual killing machine and became a very real threat to his one true love. Because bad should be BAD and not be sitting on the fence. There's no point to a story if there's no real threat, no conflict. Fairy tales are very clear about that!

**Even the Angel paradox got tiring after a while, despite seeing him get his evil on, first hand.