Frozen First-Looks Prompt Artists To Diversify Disney On Their Own

CONTROVERSY ALERT!

My aim today is simply to highlight what others are saying. Please note that I am copying and pasting responses "as is" (typos and all) to show what people are saying and thinking. It does not mean I hold to any of their views, necessarily. What it DOES mean, is that I think this is something we should be taking note of. We are in the tale business and our tales - fairy tales - are alive and morph in our hands. So how are we doing that? What things are we taking for granted in our own writing, art and storytelling the tales? What are we communicating/implying without even realizing?

It's worth thinking about.

 Headlines have started appearing such as the following:

"Frozen Disney Princess Reimagined By Artists" (CBC News)

"Tumblr Artists Imagine Frozen's Lead As Something Other Than  Another White Disney Princess" (The Mary Sue)

"Tumblr Rejects Disney's Billionth White Princess" (The Daily Dot)

"Angry Disney Fans Create Their Own Ethnic Princess After Latest Film Features ANOTHER 'generic' white female"(Daily Mail UK)

"Tumblr Artists Diversify Disney Because Disney Won't Do It Themselves" (Jezebel)

And its all due to an increasingly popular Tumblr account artists from everywhere are being encouraged to submit to, titled:
"This Could Have Been Frozen".

It started with this announcement:

Snow Queens and PoC (People of Color) 

CALLING ALL ARTISTS!!!! Given the lack of PoC in current Disney films and of course in the upcoming feature Frozen. I decided to create a little project if everyone is willing to participate. I want to re-take Frozen and draw our very own “concept art" with PoC as protagonists. This can literally be drawing Frozen set in other snowy places like Mongolia, like the wonderful art done by marydoodler. Or it can be the Inuit as Frozen characters. Or even racebending the Frozen protagonists, Anna and Kristoff. Get creative!The point is to spread across the idea that PoC CAN BE DISNEY PROTAGONISTS and the film could still be beautiful and work...Like the Hawkeye initiative has raised awareness about sexism in comics, I want this project to raise awareness on the lack of representation in films...The goal of this project is not for Disney to change Frozen... but for Disney to consider including PoC in upcoming films.

It's hot on the heels of the "Keep Merida Brave" campaign that Disney took notice of (to some extent) and although this isn't as formal a protest as that was, it's garnering quite a bit of attention in entertainment circles and 'zines and likely to attract more. Change.org and similar petition sites have recently become a powerhouse for the masses to have their voices heard. A plea is launched, thousands upon thousands sign and companies are forced to take notice and respond (the "Keep Merida Brave" campaign has had close to 250,000 signatures added). With Tumblr being such a popular blogging format and excellent tool for disseminating memes, it makes a lot of sense for an "art protest" of sorts. And it's working very well at getting the word out there.

The site’s admin, Alex, is careful to note that their objective “is not to boycott or ‘hate’ on Disney’s current Frozen, but to point out how diversity and PoC could [have] still been done” in the film and to “emphasize [Disney's] lack of diversity.” After all, while Frozen is set in Scandinavia, it’s not like there are only white people there. And it’s based on a fairy tale that has multicultural variations. (Source: The Mary Sue)

You may be wondering why I'm bothering to bring this up at all on a fairy tale blog. The reason is because the response this initiative has stimulated is not only in having people talk about Disney designs but about fairy tales, their origins and how tales cross borders (and whether they should or not). There's more discussion about Andersen, The Snow Queen and similar tales happening as a result of this, than of the announcement that Disney was animating another fairy tale.

The comments on the PoC Tumblr are as interesting as the artwork.

One of the more recent entries (at this writing) is from kikidoodle (deviantArt). She posted her BLONDE (shock-horror-gasp-what?!) version of Anna, explaining how, in doing this assignment they were required to stick to the text (which said Anna was, indeed blonde) but realized blonde doesn't have to be caucasian (Oooohhhhh! It... doesn't????). She explains that she likes being accurate with regard to the story she's illustrating and didn't find the "blonde" description limiting at all. She even gave us a link to a photo reference to further help explain what she meant, in case her beautiful illustrations weren't obvious enough. (Gah! Someone call Disney! Oh, right...):

From kiki-doodle: I read the story and realized that the only description of any of the characters is that Ana is blond.  No description of location or characteristics outside of the fact they ride reindeer.  So I started a series of Children’s book images where The Snow Queen takes place in Mongolia with traditional clothing, and Ana is in fact a blond, lighter skinned Mongolian girl. (strongly based on this http://marielu.org/blond-mongol-girl.jpg)
Not sure this entirely fits here, (on the thiscouldhavebeenfrozen Tumblr) but I can say how disappointed I was when I first saw Ana’s design because of all the places and wonderful locations I personally imagined the story taking when I illustrated it.  Hopefully it shows a way that one can adhere to the idea of a story and still have it not just be about white people.

There's a discussion about Disney adhering to the tale and the problems in doing so and not doing so. One exchange for example:

COMMENT: There is much negativity over the changing story of 'Frozen' from the original tale, but it seems that a faithful reproduction of 'The Snow Queen' would make a confusing and awful movie. The Snow Queen herself has no motivation for her actions or any personality, and can you imagine the chaos of releasing a film with that much inherent Christian symbolism? Or how purists would react to actually displacing the story from it's Scandinavian context? I think we need to trust the creative process -AW
RESPONSE: ??? There’s also another villain that has really no specific motivation for evilness: (inserts Maleficent pic)
What people are really criticizing isn’t the knew inside of the Snow Queen, but really the fact that Frozen is not going to focus on the female friendships (like the original tale) and instead kinda being a recycled version of Tangled just in snow. Obviously the story is contrasting different, but it is really necessary to have radically change the original context of the girl saving the boy?
The original story of Snow Queen is very powerful because of the complete reversal of the hero’s journey. SQ is a heroine’s journey, where in this case Anna should of been upfront and center in her story. People are kinda pissed at THESE changes.

One of the art submissions includes a Snow Queen based on the Japanese folktale of Yuki-onna (shown at left). By their admission, they didn't do a whole lot of research before getting into the drawing but it's still sending ripples of inspiration through the participants with it being rooted in a specific culture.

Another artist suggested setting the story in Greenland during the 1940's (with detailed plot description), while another (popular) suggestion was to use Tibet, complete with traditional - and very colorful - Tibetan garb.

Early Disney development of Gerda, now Anna

By far, though, while imagining the story in a different setting is fun, what a lot of people seem to really want to know is this: if it's set (at least partly) in Lappland with the Saami people, then why didn't Disney portray that? There's nothing much about the costuming, the accessories, tools, architecture.. anything that suggests a specific culture we can hang our story hats on. And I think this is really the crux of it. Although the blog is about PoC (People of Color) not being given lead roles in Disney movies, the real problem people seem to be having is that EVERYONE - even the "white" people - are ridiculously generic. 

(Note: people on the Tumblr blog generally LIKE the Disney development rendition shown at right because the clothing is authentic to the region the story is - partly - based in.) Her "ethnicity" is showing. But while white genericism (new word!) is bad enough (goes the thinking) when it comes to portraying other cultures - eesh! - they're not only generic but stereotypical as well. (And many are saying "Enough is enough. Please address this and represent the diverse world that your audience actually is.")

Ultimately, the complaint is that Disney is not being solid on any front. More than ever, the designs are looking rather wishy-washy and cookie cutter, showing a "type" of preferred princess ready for branding (merchandise) rather than characters we can love and admire because they are unique. (It should be noted that Brave's Merida is praised throughout the blog as a "good" use of a white person - because she's [largely] authentic to her culture and heritage, but of course that's not strictly Disney..).

They also discuss the "what happened to the strong  female friendships" aspects that seems to be missing from the film:

COMMENT: Didn't the girl in the original snow queen also only get helped by women? I'm not trying to sound sexist, but I think for once it would be great to have GIRLS helping each other out in a disney movie. I mean you see it all the time with like... the male characters? Why not two girls?
RESPONSE: Haha you’re not sexist, at all!
Two girls in a journey to save their loved ones (friends/brothers) would be awesome!
Disney needs more positive female relationships.

And another:

COMMENT: can we talk about how the original version of the snowqueen or icequeen or what its called in english wasnt about a princess and a prince or lovers at all?? but two children who were like siblings to each other..?
RESPONSE: Yeah I think it sucks that Disney took away alot of powerful themes in the original story of the Snow Queen.
Friendship, especially relationship between the protagonists, was such a core theme in the story.
I also hate that they made Anna have a companion whereas her journey was done relatively alone (with a help of other folks of course) and was very much dependent on her strength and determination as a person.

Not to miss the "what about the awesome-and-obviously-PoC Robber Girl? Couldn't we at least have had her?" point*:

I used to have this beautifully illustrated copy of The Snow Queen and the pictures of the robber girl had her with brown skin and curly black hair...I think she had freckles, too. And I'm pretty sure the Finn woman had dark hair as well, but I distinctly remember her being rather stout. I'm so sad that I can't find it, because I'd love to send you a scan of either character, especially the robber girl because she was just so damn cute with her dagger and gap teeth.

Then there's the fairy tales cross cultural boundaries theme:

COMMENT: i encourage diversity in all forms but i don't think this is the way to do it. this is enforcing using predominantly WHITE stories and then substituting PoC characters in. why not encourage disney to tell stories from cultures that arent white instead? i think people should focus on finding those stories that never got told because of years of systematic oppression and tell those stories instead. it's not that frozen is white. it's that they never tell any stories that aren't. 

RESPONSE: The Snow Queen is not a white story.
Hans Christian Andersen is not sole creator of the story. There are many similar stories and fairy tales worldwide that are reminiscent of The Snow Queen.
The themes of girl coming of age and friendship are very common in all cultures. Furthermore do you realize that the same thing applies to all Grimm fairytales?
There is an East Asian version of Snow White and the earliest story of Cinderella dates back to Egypt.
All the common European stories appear in almost every culture.You are also ignoring that Europeans are not all white. Poc have existed in Europe since forever.
Just because Disney uses the Grimm tales to excuse a white cast, it doesn’t take away the fact it is a worldwide story.

And then there's a whole bunchapeople who just want a storybook classic come to life that's beautiful, unique, authentic to its roots and (as whomever put the caption on this image below, so aptly said) timeless.

-SIGH-

(Yes, my sigh was very loud.)

And just to mix things up a little more before I leave you with your thoughts, here's a completely different theory on why Disney are doing what they are with the story:

Is Frozen like a prequel to the Snow Queen? Because so far I see none of the original storylines in the plot we know. “Anna wants to search for her sister to stop the evil that is pervading the lands" is so… ugh? This sounds like a backstory to the Snow Queen, and it seems like the events in Frozen will lead to what the Snow Queen was when she kidnapped Kai in the original story. I really loved the Snow Queen. It had some ethnic qualities AND it was about the actions of a girl made that saves a guy.The knight in shining armour thing was reversed. So if Frozen is a prequel, I hope Disney will make a sequel that actually retells Hans’ original story.

Oh no! Another origin story?!

Well, I'd prefer Andersen's story myself but I can understand how such an idea got through into production.

It still doesn't excuse the generic designs of, well everything.

The Snow Queen by Freiheit

*Admittedly, not having the Robber Girl is the part I'm going to miss most.

Breaking News: A Real "Frozen" Trailer (aka the one we wanted to see) Surfaces. In Japan.

This trailer appeared online courtesy of a Japanese entertainment program just a few hours ago. (Please note: I don't have anything against Japan getting a first-scoop look. It just feels like they're being treated as a testing ground in case Disney has to do damage control, which doesn't seem entirely respectful to me.) And, yes, I'm sorry but it is in Japanese. I did hunt down a version without the floating heads-reaction shots for you though.

Take a look:

Yes - this IS the trailer we wanted to see and now I can understand people getting a little more excited about the movie overall. There's some backstory at the beginning of Elsa (who becomes the Snow Queen) leaving a formal looking party and there are implications she gets more and more cold hearted throughout. I'm also getting a good hint of why we have a talking snow man now - not just a weird sidekick but also a foreshadow and/or parallel story for the sisters... Maybe.




Note: Anybody who speaks Japanese is welcome to let us know what's actually being said. We're all more than a little curious to see how many, if any, tale elements are being woven into this film.

Honestly though, I'm still incredibly underwhelmed by the designs. (More on that topic coming tomorrow... hoo boy!) It doesn't look especially epic, (or even Disney, truth be told) just big budget compared to other versions with some very nice animation. Unfortunately, despite having been on the disappointed side with the most recent fairy tale "re-envisioning" from Disney, I still expect more than just top-notch technical proficiency. I expect "new classic." #stillwaitingforthewow

What do you think?

EDIT: Additional comments added 7-3-13

I had to add these, now the trailer has gotten around the web a little more.

There's a good point floating out there, about Japan and their love of cute or "kyutt-o" and this trailer is certainly that. (As one commenter pointed out, "Even their weather forecasts are adorable!") Perhaps that "we-love-it-it's-so-kyutt-o" reaction is the enthusiastic reaction Disney is looking for before they launch things in the US. (Who knows?)

Another set of disgruntled/underwhelmed/meh viewers basically all said: OK, it's another princess movie - we got that. What's next? To which one person replied:

"They'll do Hansel and Gretel and call it Roasted.Then they'll do Humpty Dumpty and call it Scrambled.Then they'll do The Elves and the Shoemaker and call it Cobbled.Then they'll do The Princess and the Pea and call it Slept.Then they'll do Rumpelstiltskin and call it Spun.  "

I couldn't help but snicker just a little...

Source: BleedingCool.com 
Additional comments source: iO9

Disney to Reboot Classic With "The Beast"

Disney's Beauty and the Beast statue & writer Joe Ahearne in the upper right

Let's see, so far as Beauty & the Beast goes, either currently in production or on the small screen, we have: 

Fan made "wish" poster for del Toro's B&tB

• Christophe Gans' luscious looking French live action Beauty and the Beast (based on the original) with a release date of February 12 (or maybe 14), 2014.
• There's the Guillermo del Toro live action version with Emma Watson confirmed as attached to play the female lead (the only news is that production won't happen this year as planned but at Cannes Ms. Watson confirmed that it IS going ahead in early 2014).*
• And don't forget the CW's  hit Beauty & the Beast drama which is heading to ComicCon soon with spoilers & treats while gearing up for a second season (starting Monday, October 7 @ 9/8C)
• Or the Belle/Rumple-beast ongoing story line of ABCs (also Disney) Once Upon A Time.

These are, of course, just the versions currently playing or in production and note I'm just counting reboots here - not replays of classics, or Broadway shows. Or books. Or art... (Is this one beloved tale or what, right now?!)

The CW's drama Beauty & the Beast

But would you like one more?
How about The Beast? By Disney.

Yes. You may have heard rumors about this earlier in the year but there's definitely going to be a Disney live-action reboot of the beloved animated film franchise. Although there isn't a whole lot of news just yet we have a few clues as to how this is going to go. The writer (still unconfirmed) in talks with Disney is Joe Ahearne, whose recent credits include the thriller, Trance. 

From First Showing:

The title alone (The Beast) seems to throw the fairytale nature of the story aside, and bringing on a writer like Ahearne seems to indicate this will be a bit darker. Of course, this is Disney, and they just had a clash with Mark Romanek over his take on Cinderella which was said to be a little too dark for the studio, so they won't be going too crazy with a revisionist take on the story. This just goes to show you that the fairytale revamp trend isn't going anywhere...

And from Slashfilm:

From cartoon to life by Jirka Väätäinen

In short, live-action fairy tale reboots have been good business for Disney so far. So they’re keeping a good thing going by putting yet another one in the pipeline. This new one will be a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast called The Beast, and there’s some indication that it could get a little dark. The studio is currently in talks with writer Joe Ahearne, whose last script was Danny Boyle’s rather twisted-looking Trance.
Deadline reports that The Beast is likely to be in 3D. No plot details have been given at this time, but the title suggests that it’ll center around the Beast, rather than Beauty as traditional tellings usually do. Maybe we can finally get a good explanation as to why the witch in Disney’s 1991 cartoon thought cursing an entire household, servants and all, was an appropriate punishment for a young boy’s momentary rudeness.

Have you noticed one thing? They're all supposed to be "darker than Disney". All. Of. Them. Even the Disney one. (Although, perhaps not quite in the goth update manner shown below...)

As always the big concern is: "WHY?" If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? But people can't get enough of this story right now (as proven in the list above) and if Disney want to do another, they should go right ahead. There's been a trend of rebooting franchises over the past few years (Batman, Man of Steel, Captain America, Spiderman, The Avengers etc) and it's been met with a roaring success from the crowds - the same crowds that swore any attempt at retooling the stories was going to ruin it all forever. So it IS possible to do a good - and fresh - reboot of something people love (for the most part) and not stuff it up. (Not completely anyway.)  ;)

And, it turns out, Disney has a good chance of getting it right on this one too because there's another bit of interesting information quietly out there as far as Disney being interested in retelling THEIR Beauty and the Beast story...

Author Serena Valentino, who has a publishing contract with Disney and wrote the truly wonderful Fairest of All (a retelling of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from the perspective of the Wicked Queen) is working on a retelling of Disney's Beauty & the Beast, titled The Beast Within. Ms. Valentino really knows her fairy tales and is a very gifted writer. To be honest I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Disney having someone retell their blockbuster Snow White from the villains perspective but I was blown away by how Ms. Valentino handled it. (I can't say enough good things about all her writing and stories! I think she must have a "olde" fairy godmother muse with a dark sense of humor and some deep roots in myth. You can read my blog entry on that book, with samples included to give you a taste, HERE.)

Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast

As a result I've been waiting for this book, The Beast Within,  ever since reading Fairest.

From Serena Valentino's website:

I am currently writing a new novel for Disney Publishing based on the Beast from Disney’s film Beauty and the Beast. I am very excited to explore the Beast’s past and what he did to become cursed, while weaving in my own sensibilities, and drawing upon inspirations from Jean Cocteau’s version and a bit of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray for good measure.

I will be interviewing Ms. Valentino shortly so don't want to say too much more right now, but clearly this has been an idea in the works for Disney for quite some time - ever since Fairest Of All was released in mid-2009 at the least, and I'm fairly certain they were looking at a number of movies 9SleepingBeauty included) for the potential to make into "something else" as well. (Hello Maleficent!)

 It's been quite a while now so I had forgotten about Ms. Valentino's pending release until the news that Disney was looking at rebooting their version popped back up. I can't help wonder if the ideas (of book from the Beast's POV and the proposed movie) are related in any way and if Mr. Ahearne will be chatting to Ms. Valentino about his version...

Even if these two (very different) writers don't get to talk about The Beast, the fact that Disney would consider retellings like Fairest of All, under their brand name at all, along with some of the very different things they've allowed on Once Upon A Time, shows me they more open to true retellings** and are branching out beyond being just a sequel studio or repackaging past successes. So I'm just going to sit back and see what they do. (Besides, I like good surprises.)

Belle & the chipped cup from ABC's Once Upon A Time

And of course, everyone will be wondering: Are we going to get a Once Upon A Time movie version of visuals (see above)?

Or a live action version of the animated visuals? 

(Like the Annie Liebovitz version here.)

Or will we be treated to something entirely new? (Note: the Valentino design below is one of a series of "princess dress designs" based on the Disney movies and although you can see Disney in there, more than a few of them are beautifully original "reboots" which I wouldn't mind seeing on a screen.)

My other question is, Cocteau having bodiless, silent candlestick servants is a (very much darker) world away from singing cutlery. I wonder how they're going to handle that?

As far as the movie goes, there is no director attached yet or any rumors of stars being considered for roles but if I hear anything otherwise I'll let you know!

* We do know that del Toro's work load is rather... loaded! He already had multiple projects all further along in development or filming when B&tB was announced so we're not expecting to see anything for a while yet. The next fairy tale we'll see from him will likely be Pinocchio.
** It doesn't mean I like everything they're doing that different - obviously. I have a lot of issues with Once Upon A Time, for example but at the same time, I'm so very pleased to see types being stretched (and combined) beyond what has been typical of Disney in the past.

Fairy Tale for Fall from Ghibli: "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" (A Japanese Thumbelina)

Maybe it would be more accurate to say Thumbelina is a Danish Princess Kaguya since the Japanese fairy tale predates Andersen's by... a VERY long time!

Do you remember THIS POST from waaaaaay back in 2009 about Japan's oldest fairy tale, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter", coming to us soon from Studio Ghibli? Well, we're (finally!) getting close!


From MoviePilot (older info, so the title has changed):

Grave of the Fireflies director adapts the oldest Japanese fairy taleThe legend of princess Kaguya - a pocket-sized baby who was discovered by an old bamboo cutter named Taketori no Okina, while growing inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. With Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter, Isao Takahata is creating his interpretation of the oldest surviving work of fiction in the Japanese language Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter. The story is said to have existed since the 9th or 10th century, and is known by virtually every Japanese child on Earth.

From the Japan Daily Press:

The film is directed by Studio Ghibli’s co-founder Isao Takahata of Grave of the Fireflies fame. [Edit FTNH: the same studio that brought us other fairy tale films such as Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro ] Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari (“The Tale of Princess Kaguya”) is a retelling of an old Japanese folk story, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, in which a princess discovers a baby in a bamboo plant. In the film, a baby girl, Kaguya-hime, the size of a thumb is discovered asleep in a glowing bamboo stalk. The film is set to the style of traditional Japanese picture scrolls.

[FTNH edit: I added a link to the information available on Wikipedia in the above statement if you're interested in the (sparse) details. There are a couple of additions to information such as Producers and the film score HERE as well.]

Although there isn't much to look at yet, we do have a poster! (See top of post.) Interestingly, the tag line apparently reads: "A princess' crime and punishment." That may be confusing to people who intimately acquainted with the tale, like the Japanese are, but it does make sense.

The film was going to be co-released this Summer with Studio Ghibli's other film du jour, The Wind Rises (directed by Miyazaki) but due to some internal story-hiccups Princess Kaguya won't be released now until Fall*. With The Wind Rises still on target for release in July (in Japan), there's a chance we'll be treated to a teaser for Ghibli's new/old fairy tale around the same time. (We can hope!)

The Tale of Princess Kaguya is reportedly in post-production (though how that can be when they were still changing story boards in February, I don't know! Must have an amazing set of very hard working animators!) and last available information still confirms a plan to release in Autumn 2013, but it's still difficult to find out much else about it at this point.

I'll keep my FT news hound nose to the Ghibli wind for you!

*(Quoted from the Ghibli blog) The Japanese film distribution company Toho said Kaguya Hime no Monogatari needed to be pushed back in order to give Studio Ghibli to enough time to make it the best it can be. Toho added that The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which is based on the traditional Japanese folk tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, needs more time than originally expected to work out the plot. While this has no effect on the movies’ release dates for outside of Japan, which haven’t even been announced yet, its sure to disappoint domestic Studio Ghibli fans just a touch.

Frenzy For Hello Kitty "The Singing Bone" Fairy Tale Plush in Singapore... (Wait. The What Now?)

McDonalds "Popular Fairy Tales Hello Kitty series" plush of The Singing Bone, sold out

This story has me so excited, I can't tell you. OK I will try. But first, the news:

Fan made - I just had to include this

From WorldNews:

Tempers have flared and police had to be called in as anxious Singaporeans rushed to McDonald's outlets to buy Hello Kitty plush toys being sold by the fastfood chain as a promotion. 

Hundreds had begun queuing from Wednesday night to get their hands on a kitten in a skeleton outfit, depicting a character from the German fairy tale The Singing Bone.
It was the last of a series of six limited-edition Hello Kitty characters dressed in different outfits from popular fairy tales which were being sold by McDonald's this month.
In some outlets, chaos broke out amid rampant queue jumping as supplies of the toys ran out soon after the stores opened for business on Thursday.

So it's a toy collector crazy crowd, so what? I'll tell you what. It's not because I like Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty is great but get this:

Point 1: McDonald's has released a line of Hello Kitty plushes of popular fairy tales (yay!)
Point 2: One of those popular tales is (the German fairy tale) The Singing Bone. (Not kidding. Check the McDonald's official website to see the title.)
Point 3: I LOVE The Singing Bone! (Yay!)
Point 4: There is an actual FRENZY involving this tale. (Pop-culture alert!)

What this means is that:

A) Having The Singing Bone be included as a popular tale by McDonalds says a LOT more people around the world love this story than I realized (You have no idea how difficult it is to try and find art, essays or writing inspired by this tale. Clearly I need to figure out how to Google in Chinese and Malay!)
B) Because of the crazy, LOTS MORE people are going to find out there is this "popular tale" called The Singing Bone (which they know must at least include a skeleton as this particular Hello Kitty plush is showing her bones). There's a good chance curiosity about the fairy tale will surface, people will try to find out what (the heck?) it is and it will slide away from obscurity and back into the collective conscious (always a good thing for a fairy tale).

But I can almost hear many of you scratching your heads saying "Wut? The Singing Bone? Never heard of it."

And THAT'S what I'm so excited about. I can count on one hand the number of people I've met (who aren't folklorists or fairy tale scholars) who are familiar with this fairy tale.

The (Grimm's) Singing Bone is about two brothers: the younger bravely accomplishes a feat (killing a wild boar) but the older kills his sibling to keep the prize for himself (which, of course, includes a girl/princess). A bone is found later and incorporated into a musical instrument which then sings on its own, telling the tale of the murder and outing the dark deed. The King is told, the skeleton dug up and justice is served, The End.

My favorite version of this is The Twa Sisters - a "fairy tale murder ballad" in which, one sister kills the other out of jealousy, throwing her body into the river to dispose of her, and gets the man. Unknown to her, the sister's bones wash up, are crafted into a harp and the remaining hair twisted into strings. The haunted instrument then sings by itself (sometimes at the wedding...) and you can guess the rest.

(As a total aside: It's beyond bizarre inserting Hello Kitty images in between paragraphs discussing murders... And did you see the McDonalds logo for the heart? That kinda creeps me out more than the tale.)

So does the tale ring any bells yet? If you've seen The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), which included a dramatization of it (with an animated skeleton), it might. Or perhaps if you're a Loreena McKennitt fan the story will sound familiar, as she sang a version of the tale called The Bonny Swans (from the album The Mask & the Mirror). And if you're an American McGee fan you may have seen a version of this too.


Despite the tale having fallen out of popularity in the Western world, it it would seem in both Hong Kong (where this promotion happened earlier in the year) and now in Singapore, The Singing Bone has been included alongside The Frog Prince, Little Red Riding Hood, The Ugly Duckling, The Wizard of Oz (Cowardly Lion suit) and an unnamed, bonus "Mc-Delivery Only Witch".

Eater.com says "The six plush Hello Kitty dolls released were all inspired by different international fairy tales."
So let's see:

• The Wizard of Oz is from the US
• The Ugly Duckling is Danish
• The Frog Prince was popularized by the Grimms but there are many enchanted frog tales in China, Sri Lanka and Korea among other Asian countries (so perhaps Korea?)
• Little Red Riding Hood I'm guessing they went with Perrault's version, so that'd be French.
• and The Singing Bone is Grimm, that is, German.

I have had a Pinterest board dedicated to The Singing Bone for a while and am always so pleased when I find new images and retellings to add. I never dreamed I would be adding a Hello Kitty plush to it though!

Fairy tale bonus of the day: There is a new web comic in development for The Singing Bone! You can find the comic, the progress sketches, the Grimm version of the tale, some history and a brief discussion of The Twa Sisters HERE.

LX Magazine's Tribute for the 200th Anniversary of Grimms Household Tales - Intro & Aschenputtel (Tale 1 of 5)

"Cinderella Tale" An artwork piece by Oona Patterson (Oonapatterson.com)
A sculpture crafted and cut in book and paper

Note: I stumbled upon this by complete chance. I still haven't quite figured out what, exactly, this magazine is, apart from "all things luxurious" (and seemingly from another planet I'll never visit) BUT they posted a simple and effective tribute to The Brothers Grimm in honor of the 200th Anniversary of the first publishing of  Household Tales. I don't know if the multi-media presentation will stay online and remain accessible but thought, either way, it would be worth sharing (in installments) seeing as it's very different from most other tributes at the time. (And if you like "lux" you'll probably like the rest of the magazine as well.) Enjoy.

- FTNH aka Fairy Tale News Hound aka Gypsy

Introduction to Die Gebrűder Grimm - 200th Anniversary Tribute for “Kinder- und Hausmärchen” by "Lx Magazine: Illuminating Luxury" - (fairy tale text is also as posted by Lx)

As a brisk, chill wind gusts and snowflakes fall to form drifty peaks this winter, you may want to snuggle up with your loved ones by the warm glow of a fire and tell a story. This year celebrates the 200^th anniversary of The Brothers Grimm (German: Die Gebrűder Grimm) fairy tales. To celebrate, we have collected images and artwork from amazing talent, paired with translated excerpts from the original book, “Kinder- und Hausmärchen” (Children’s and Household Tales) to inspire you as you orate about magical characters from far away lands, scary villains and princes and princesses that fell in love and lived happily ever after. 

"Cinderella" Photography, hair , makeup, styling by Three Nails Photography

Aschenputtel - Cinderella

“The king’s son, who was waiting for her, took her by the hand and danced with her; and, when any one asked her to dance, he said as before, “This lady is dancing with me.” When night came she wanted to go home; and the king’s son went with her, but she sprang away from him all at once into the garden behind her father’s house. In this garden stood a fine large pear-tree; and Cinderella jumped up into it without being seen. Then the king’s son waited till her father came home, and said to him, “The unknown lady has slipped away, and I think she must have sprung into the pear-tree.” The father ordered an axe to be brought, and they cut down the tree, but found no one upon it. And when they came back into the kitchen, there lay Cinderella in the ashes as usual; for she had slipped down on the other side of the tree, and carried her beautiful clothes back to the bird at the hazel-tree, and then put on her little old frock.

The third day, when her father and mother and sisters were gone, she went again into the garden, and said—”Shake, shake, hazel-tree, gold and silver over me!” Then her kind friend the bird brought a dress still finer than the former one, and slippers which were all of gold; and the king’s son danced with her alone, and when any one else asked her to dance, he said, “This lady is my partner.” Now when night came she wanted to go home; and the king’s son would go with her, but she managed to slip away from him, though in such a hurry that she dropped her left golden slipper upon the stairs.
So the prince took the shoe, and went the next day to the king, his father, and said, ‘I will take for my wife the lady that this golden shoe fits.’ ”

"Sisters" photography and concept Kelly Ealy



You can read the full tale as published in Grimms Household Tales HERE (translated to English) and learn much more about Cinderella's history HERE.

I will post the second fairy tale text & photo in about a week.
(Links to future posts to be updated when the posts go live. I hope. :)

        ♚
*** TALE 1 *** TALE 2 *** TALE 3 *** TALE 4 *** TALE 5 ***

We've Been Promised: No Wandering in Wonderland!

Did you know Once Upon A Time in Wonderland is a LIMITED new series? Meaning, it's not supposed to continue forever but instead have a beginning, a middle and AN END?

*eyebrows raised in an "I'll believe it when I see it" fashion*

Yet we've been promised: there will be no wandering about in Wonderland just for the heck of it.

From OUAT

By "no wandering" I mean, show creators Horowitz and Kitsis have promised there will be NO FILLER EPISODES for Once Upon A Time in Wonderland. (Wut? But these are the Lost boys...)

Apparently they're so happy with the response to a show that hasn't even aired yet that they've ordered more episodes but are crossing their hearts that they "kick their bad habit of unnecessary plot dwindling", as iO9 put it.

(Seriously? These are the creators of Lost... )

So what does that mean? It means the entire story is to be plotted in advance.

Here's an explanation of how it's all supposed to work, from Entertainment Weekly:

When Wonderland was announced as a limited series in May, it received 13 episodes — the standard order for a new drama... But Wonderland creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have a different vision for this show: a self-contained epic romance that’s planned in advance from start to finish — no filler! [Edit FTNH: emphasis mine.] That means there will be no additional episodes ordered for the season beyond the first order, so the showrunners can break down the entire story before the first episode ever airs. That’s why there are more episodes being ordered now-ish, because the writers have figured out how many hours they need.
“We really want to tell the story without having to worry about how to stretch it for five years,” Kitsis tells EW. “The upfront order will be it for the season.” Horowitz adds, “This is not meant to be a 22-episode season. Whatever it ends up being, we’ll have told a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end.”

A Wonderland Romance

But, but... these are the creators of Lost!

Hold on... I have further clarification: "limited" doesn't quite mean what we (would normally) think it means...

Wonderland has been called an “anthology” series and “limited” series. Neither is precisely correct.

I KNEW it!

It’s only “limited” in terms of the first season telling a close-ended story in less than 22 episodes, not because ABC and the showrunners wouldn’t do more seasons (ABC executives may be willing to get a little creative with Wonderland, but they’re not Mad Hatters — a hit is a hit). ABC will renew the show for another close-ended adventure if the show is a success. [Edit FTNH: emphasis mine.]
But unlike an anthology series — such as American Horror Story, which tells an entirely new story each season with new characters — Wonderland is expected to continue using most of the same characters. “If the audience responds and people love these characters, the plan would be to bring it back next year and tell a whole new story,” Horowitz says.
Put another way: Wonderland is sort of like a fairytale version of 24 — a heavily serialized drama with stand-alone seasons using the same core cast (only with fewer rogue nukes, presumably).

Ah. That sounds like the showrunners we're familiar with. *eyebrows return to their rightful places*

Fan made Picspam of Wonderland (incl OUAT)

NBCs "Grimm Season 2" Blu-ray Release Set For Sep 17th [& Why I Like "Grimm"]

Yes. I like NBC's Grimm! I've heard a lot of fairy tale people didn't continue watching the second season because they gave up on the series but I'm so very happy I stuck with it. And here's why: Since Nick "got his Grimm on" (ie gave up being wussy and got a little bad-ass), the show has just gotten better and better. 


Monroe continues with his brilliant deliveries, quotable one-liners and subtle-but-hilarious (and sometimes mute) commentary on whichever scene he's in. Nick's partner, Hank, gets more than an inkling of what he's up against (I can't "un-see that!") and the banter has gotten wittier and makes for some great cops-with-a-difference comedy moments and now slants action scenes very differently to the usual procedurals (yay!). Monroe's almost-girlfriend-and-fellow-Wesen Rosalee holds her own and provides a strong (and much needed) feminine balance to the show, while Nick's girlfriend, Juliette, has a whole other-yet-parallel storyline happening with a modern struggling-and-fighting Sleeping Beauty theme running through this season (don't worry - she's quite awake, she's just juggling worlds in a very unique-to-Juliette way)...

We've gone from a tentative and inconsistent monster-of-the week show to one where the tales, the Grimm and the ensemble balance, have grown in strength and are solidly set on very interesting arcs. In fact we've almost got a Scooby gang now (complete with library, er, I mean spice-shop and Aunt Marie's trailer) and we likes it!*

"But what about the fairy tale element?" I hear you say. Actually I find a quite consistent fairy tale base running through each show. If you catch the on-screen quote at the very beginning of every episode (which are sometimes from less-well-known, some-might-even-say-obscure tales and classics) and keep them in mind while watching, you get a good sense of how the tale and its motifs have been used as a springboard and what scene elements and plot points are important throughout.

I actually find it quite a fairy tale puzzle-challenge at times because unless I've pinned the tale down that the quote came from, I find I miss a lot of the subtleties from aspects like the set dressing, creature design, or seeming throw-away lines, to why they have this scene at all (etc). If I'm thinking "tales" while watching I findGrimm more solidly based on the "olde" tales than anything else out there right now**.


The other thing I noticed is that it's not shying away from using myth and folktale archetypes and/or tales and urban legends either. While it's not like there are Trojan horses and Medusas appearing in the middle of fairy tales (thank goodness), there's definitely a strong tap into world folklore. For me, it blends very well. For others it must feel like it's straying from the fairy tale aspect but it should be noted that NBCs Grimm has, from the start, aimed at the old dark fairy tales and never the shiny, pretty ones. (See ** note at end of post.)

It's not for everyone, for sure. I can't recommend it outright simply because of the genre and occasional gore factor, and it's definitely told through the lens of the police procedural with a good dose of creature-fun, but why not? We haven't seen anything quite like this done as a weekly series, with larger arcs incorporating the dark side of fairy tales - and occasionally myth and urban legends - overall.

I only have one (personal and extremely shallow) gripe about the show and that's this: I can't easily make lots of pretty pics out of screencaps! (Wah! - At least, not without some serious fiddle time.) Unlike ABCs Once Upon A Time, which lends itself really well to fantasy fan art (a couple of screengrabs overlaid with a little quote and you've got yourself a nice little fairy tale image), Grimm just doesn't. It's, well, gritty. And I actually think this might be one of the turn-offs for fairy tale fans. There is very little "fairy tale pretty" in Grimm***. Although it's wonderfully shot and there are beautiful stills that can be pulled from every episode, they don't have that "fairy tale feel" that we've come to expect. Even dark fairy tale images have a certain romance in them for us to call them "fairy tale". But that's because they're not setting themselves up as Gothic tales with Poe-like visions or echoes of Pan's Labyrinth as, for instance, a film version of this might do. Instead, it's filmed incredibly well to do the job - and tell the story - it sets out to, which is a dark supernatural procedural using grimm (including Grimm's) fairy tales.

Although Season 2 will also be released on DVD it's the Blu-ray set that will have all the extra features (of course). Five discs and a whole lot of bonus, including:

• Grimm: Myths, Monsters & Legends: Learn about the ever-expanding mythology of Grimm as producers and cast discuss the richness of the show's storylines, covering this season's terrifying Wesen, the Seven Royal Families, and the mysteries of Aunt Marie's trailer
• Blu-ray Exclusive - Grimm Guide: An interactive book that provides insight into the various creatures
• Blu-ray Exclusive - Extended Episode: "Over My Dead Body"
• Grimm: Creatures and Chaos: Watch as the creatures of Grimm morph and wreak havoc
• Bad Hair Day Webisodes: A fellow Wesen visits Rosalee's spice shop
• Monroe's Best Moments: Revisit the quips and quibbles that makes Monroe our favorite Wesen
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel 

The only thing is: Season 2 finishes on a doozy of a cliffhanger ("Nooooooo!") and Fall seems like a long way away...

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Today's fairy tale bonus: Dark Horse Deluxe (the toy "arm" of Dark Horse Comics) is releasing Grimm collectibles in September.

From the Press Release:Dark Horse Deluxe is launching the "Grimm" line with an assortment of products. The centerpieces of this first wave are sculpted, wearable pin replicas of Nick’s key (see <<<) and one of the coins of Zakynthos.

Nick is bequeathed the key as his dying Aunt Marie introduces him to his destiny as a Grimm, warning him to guard it with his life. The key is revealed to have a map carved on the outside, which is etched into the replica pin’s surface. Two small loops on the key allow the wearer to easily convert it from a pin to a hanging pendant. 

The mysterious, ancient coin of Zakynthos has a long history of bringing a bad end to its possessors, although the Grimms seem strangely immune. While its purpose remains a mystery, various dark forces are seeking it and will kill to attain ownership of it. 

An embossed, heavy-gauge, litho-printed, classic tin lunchbox, a sixteen-ounce pint glass, a deluxe coffee mug, and an embroidered skull-design patch round out the initial range of collectibles. 

Dark Horse will continue to offer more "Grimm" products, including busts, journals, and playing cards, and some very cool lenticular items.  

"The production team has been most accommodating, inviting us to visit the sets, examine the props, and meet with the key design and VFX staffers to help inform our line. This kind of cooperation is rare, and it has ensured a great accuracy down to the smallest details."

Accuracy on the key? So you can ink your own fairy tale map? Tempting... Journal? With all the Wesen illustrations and stories?! Yes please. Lunchbox? Mebbe not.

* I think series incorporating multiple myths and/or tales do best in a true ensemble format (like Buffy). Grimm didn't begin this way but now that it is, a much-needed balance of personalities and energies goes a long way to handling stories (tales) and issues in a way we can enjoy in different ways and have more interest in following over the long term.

**While ABCs "Once Upon A Time" is also based on tales, it's really the more commercial impressions of tales that are the launching pad (or straight up Disney version of tales) rather than the ones that were passed down. Or even ones that were written down! Not that there's anything wrong with that. Grimm just hails from a different sensibility of what fairy tales are and I like it for that. Once has a very different appeal. To compare the shows properly is actually very difficult because they don't come from the same place at all.

***The pretty thing, yes. I must admit I am not a "soap" person so Once Upon A Time gets hard for me to tolerate at times. OK a lot. BUT, apart from feeling like I need to keep up with what's happening to fairy tales in pop-culture, I have to admit to some curiosity as to what it's going to look like: eg What will  Neverland look like? How will this part in Snow's story get staged? What will Sleeping Beauty wear when we (finally get a flashback) and see her pre-sleep phase? etc And then seeing how fans use the images in the coming days and weeks to tell their own versions/impressions of the story is wonderful to me too. That just doesn't happen on Grimm. The Hansel & Gretel episode - though quite amazing in the retelling - didn't have the type of candy house you'd find in a book. It had the sort of bad candy you'd find in life (or a nightmare). While that's brilliant, it's not pretty. OUAT, however, has that fantasy world we cut to every now and then. It's also the sort of fantasy world we read about in books too - it's not all singing furniture and pixie dust, it has a little more of a King Arthur tone that that. Despite the world usually falling short of my imagination via cheesy FX etc, (which I'm dreading for OUATinWonderland) it is fun to see, and occasionally I AM delighted in something (eg the Darling family & Shadow Man business was quite wonderful) so, despite the previous episode thoroughly frustrating me, I watch the next one. Because the OUAT writers and directors follow much of the pop-culture/Disney ideas of what the popular fairy tales should have (eg. you knew Snow White was going to come across a bad apple at some point!), I know there's a good chance that an expected moment might, in fact  be "magic". But I have to admit, I'm usually multitasking and need to rewind when that happens...