"Art of Frozen" Review by Artist/Illustrator Chris King (alt book title "This Could Have Been Frozen")

Note: Chris King's review is posted here in full by permission.

I asked Mr. King to repost this review here as it articulates a lot of how I feel about the movie and the concept art (which I had the privilege of seeing a little of, during one of the phases of it's lengthy on-again, off-again development). It's a book I'm very much looking forward to reading, to see the (mostly unsuccessful) journey in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale for the Disney animation "machine" as well as how and why they changed it from being a fairy tale into a fantasy adventure film (albeit a beautiful and fun looking one).

Now that I've seen the 3rd trailer, I do think there is more going for this film than any of the previous marketing had indicated, including a positive spin on female leads in feature animation, but I still believe it would have been revolutionary (especially for the current Princess Culture criticisms) had they managed to translate the essence of the fairy tale into a Disney film.

Happily, it seems as though the "tackling a fairy tale" aspect of the development and concept art is included (and discussed) in this book so I will add it to my library as soon as possible.

Here's the review from Christopher King, posted Thursday, November 7, 2013:

As a life-long animation fan, I fear that the Disney studio is currently stuck in some kind of creative lull. With each new feature I find myself less and less engaged, and have come to the conclusion that it’s all the fault of the homogenizing effect of CGI. While films like Brave and Wreck It Ralph are certainly technical feats (nor without any visual merit) to my old-fashioned 2D sensibilities they are lacking a sense of independence in their design that made 
Disney’s early output so beautiful and ultimately timeless. 

Which is why, when I first saw the impressive concept art contained within The Art of Frozen, I was encouraged to see the return to some of that magic. A return to traditional storytelling routes with a fairy tale based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, and a design ethos that (to me anyway) clearly references the incredible work of Eyvind Earle in Sleeping Beauty. It’s colour theory, folk art references, bold geometric landscapes and fantastic character designs from Bill Schwab all give promise of a particularly good-looking film to come. Michael Giaimo and Brittney Lee also feature with stand out with work that shares my taste for classic Disney. But as the shots from the finished film reveal, much of the charm is lost in their computer equivalent, leaving characters and ultimately a film without a visual language of its own. 

I have faith that Disney will return to more experimental visuals once the current trend changes (you can see something brewing in the great Paperman short) and viewing the brilliant work in The Art of Frozen only encourages me further. For what ever might be lost in the film I’m glad this book exists to allow a chance for this otherwise unseen work to shine. 

The Art of Disney’s Frozen by Charles Solomon 

Chronicle Books 

Hardback 168 pages

Thanks for the repost permission Mr. King!

You can find Christopher King's personal website and (seriously amazing!) work HERE. He's also posted a great review of Taschen's Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen book, complete with some great pics, HERE.

I very much agree with the comment regarding "the homogenizing effect of CGI". Despite all this incredible work coming to the big screen, everything still ends up looking and feeling rather the same. Disney's "female leads have to always look pretty" clause, has led to something rather like a formula for beauty, especially with regard to CGI, and still they pushed the design of the two sisters even further to make sure they stayed in the pretty zone. Apparently it's made them stand out - in a "not good" way - from the rest of the film. One of the criticisms of the film by media reps who have been treated to a full preview is that, despite liking the movie and appreciating the more feminist take than expected, the two female leads appear even more "plastic-y" than the rest of the characters and take quite a bit of getting used to as a result. :/

How beautiful are these pencil drawings?! Unfortunately, much of the subtlety is lost in the final film.

This speaks to one of my main beefs regarding Princess Culture: while playing make-believe is fun and princesses can  - and should - be part of that, the current Disney emphasis doesn't allow for any other type of strong heroine other than a (Disney version of a) princess. And there's been more than a little discussion around the interwebs about why Disney felt the need to push the characters into the royal zone to start with. For a country that prides itself on not being accountable to royalty, the obsession is a little bizarre, especially considering all the truly powerful female heroes the US has in their history to date.

Have you seen the parody one artist attempted by turning real female heroines into Disney princesses? It was his reaction to the "princessification" (apparently that's a word now) of Merida of Disney's marketing department, post movie-success. Unfortunately, the result of "princessifying"(also a new word) real life heroines was... not altogether successful. It's supposed to point out the absurdity of making all female leads fall within the Princess Culture model. In the artist's own words:

"I wanted to analyze how unnecessary it is to collapse a heroine into one specific mold, to give them all the same sparkly fashion, the same tiny figures, and the same homogenized plastic smile. My experience of female role models both in culture and in life has shown me that there is no mold for what makes someone a role model, and the whole point of Merida was that she was a step in the right direction, providing girls with an alternative kind of princess. Then they took two steps back, and painted her with the same glossy brush as the rest. So I decided to take 10 real-life female role models, from diverse experiences and backgrounds, and filter them through the Disney princess assembly line. The statement I wanted to make was that it makes no sense to put these real-life women into one limited template, so why then are we doing it to our fictitious heroines?"

While it's an excellent point, unfortunately the images began touring the interwebs WITHOUT the statement and the context got completely lost. Many people got confused and others began making disturbing statements talking about how cool it would be to have a line a dolls... Just bizarre. There's a good discussion on the whole subject - which is directly relevant to the heroines of Frozen - over at Jezebel. The comments below the article especially, show how confused people got over this. (Note to the artist: We love what you were trying to do, however, next time, please make sure the context can travel with the image.)

Why I bother bringing this up in a fairy tale news blog is because 1) the princess culture has a HUGE effect on how society views fairy tales and 2) to remind everyone that fairy tales have so many heroines who are not princesses - and Anna used to be one of them. Then she was put through the princess machine because, apparently, little girls wouldn't be as interested in dressing up (read buying "all the stuff") unless she could wear a crown. :(

In the meantime, despite the disappointingly plastic results and the loss-in-translation of the initial design work inspired by HCA's fairy tale, hopefully, as Mr. King says, this book will bear witness to the truly beautiful bones behind the film*, reminding us that there's more to this tale - even this movie - than will ultimately meet the eye in theaters.

If you're looking for the book in the store, the cover looks like this (see below). Pre-orders are available via Amazon (as usual) but you won't find it in stores until after December 3. Still, it would make for a very nice Christmahanakwanzikule present! ;)

*Does make me want to title it "This Could Have Been Frozen", though. O.o

William Shatner's Twisted Tale Toons (NOT for kids!)

Seems like everyone is hopping on the dark-side-of-fairy-tales wagon. These are... definitely twisted. I'm alerting fairy tale folk, mainly because people throughout social media are loving these! Alternately they're disgusted. They feel as if Mr. Shatner, gave in to the media parody of himself and let his "dirty old man" out for air. (Can you tell which category I fall into?)

Admittedly, the site and videos DO say "not for children" (thank goodness) because it would be easy to confuse these with kids videos if you weren't paying attention. It's a narrator-told set of animated fairy tale shorts, which, at first glance, look quite benign, but they don't remain that way.

Somehow, William Shatner sounds more elegant than your average dirty minded old man, but that doesn't mean he's any less of one. Here, his take on a classic tends to veer off script quite a bit, and by the time he's referring to Red Riding Hood as "Riddled Tit Groin Hole" you may wonder about your sanity. (ToplessRobot)

Here's GOLDILOCKS (aka an anagram that says something I'm not going to type here):

See? Don't say you weren't warned. So far there are retellings of Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood available for viewing, while we can soon expect to see Shatner's version of Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Yay?

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" Comes to Life (Live Storytelling. With Paint! You Gotta See the Video - Just Amazing)

Being performed this weekend at the Sydney Opera House (in Australia) is a live storytelling - in words and paint (!) - of The Steadfast Tin Soldier by the German puppetry company Thalias Kompagnons. Instead of just using puppets though, this time around, the main storytelling medium is paint. Real, drippy, wet, squishy, live, colorful and amazing paint. This is the art of storytelling with Art!

I dearly wish I could take my son to see this. Actually, since I'm trying to incorporate a little storytelling in as I teach Art Appreciation to my son's class, this would be perfect to take all the kids to. (If we didn't have to pay for 26 return tickets to Oz, that is.) This would be a perfect introduction to the power of painting and art, as well as be an incredibly dynamic way to hear/see experience a fairy tale coming to life and discover the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. 

Although it's obviously a poor substitute for the live performance, there is a video, showing some of how the story is told. Take a look - it's quite amazing (and now I want to go paint!):

I get the strong feeling Hans Andersen would have LOVED this!

The promotional material about the performance reads:

In this delightful and imaginative retelling of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale, our storyteller brings The Steadfast Tin Soldier to life with his vigorous live-painting techniques. 

On a large clear canvas, the story unfolds as a child’s nursery is sketched, coloured and painted. It’s here that the tin soldier steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina.  But all too soon, the peaceful scene is interrupted by the red goblin, and as the colours begin to fly, the adventure begins! 

In this unique performance, German company Thalias Kompagnons creates a joyful introduction to the creative techniques of both modern painting and live theatre. Enthralling, exciting and not always neat and tidy, The Steadfast Tin Soldier is sure to inspire the artist in all of us! 

On the company website I found this summary of the play, which explains why they chose live art-in-the-making as the medium for this performance:

On the play
	Painting is the art form which seems to be closest to children. They pick up crayons naturally and start using them, creating their own world, filled with a great variety of things. Who would not want to join them in this sphere of dreams? The fairy tale painter sketches a large nursery, decorating it with wondrous toys and figures. But as happens in painting – the image starts to develop its own life. Here a tin soldier who is the worse for wear steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina. The red goblin interferes. The image comes apart at the seams. Will the painter be steadfast and, together with the tin soldier, find a new path back to beauty? A joyful introduction to the creative techniques of modern painting which is not always neat and tidy. With his painted theatre productions, Joachim Torbahn has succeeded in creating an internationally admired novel synthesis between visual art and the theatre. He was invited to perform his homage to Paul Klee "What does Red do on Thursdays?" for children over four, at many festivals, including productions in Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, Russia, Corea, Japan and Australia.

As you might expect - the reviews are excellent. You can find more information about the company and the sort of shows they have HERE and read some of the reviews there too.

For those lucky enough to be local, you can find more information about times and tickets (which are very reasonably priced) HERE.

The presentation reminds me of seeing shows in shopping centers and malls when I was just beginning "big school" - a wonderful way to introduce the public to the power of storytelling and theater - and of turning up to dark mysterious theaters with no idea what I would see, only to be thoroughly entranced by what followed. Those experiences marked me for life in the best way and I wish there were more traveling and available I could take my son to experience (he's just started "big school" this year so it's very much on my mind).

Maybe one day there will be enough Once Upon A Blog readers in close proximity that we could actually put together something amazing ourselves (to be filed under "Big Dreams I Will Never Give Up On").

Kaguya-Hime Gets A Full Trailer (And It's Beautiful!)

This is one film that shouldn't disappoint. Everything about the trailer, from the brushwork style, to the iconic scenes in the 10th Century tale, to the scroll-like artwork, to the very human moments, evoke a beautiful and beloved story - and show a film that does it's best to uphold all that people love in the legend, bringing it to life as best they can.

Miyazaki has always held the title as the fable keeper of Ghibli, while Takahata has been better known for exploring themes of human tragedy, though both have been equally as impressive as animation artists and directors. With Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya), Isao Takahata is showing the world that he, too, can make beautiful and beloved tales for families, and his place in the hearts of the people in Japan is secured with bringing their most ancient and beloved tale to life.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. Here's the full trailer:

There's still no word on a release date outside of Japan, but Japanese audiences will see their beloved fairy tale in theaters starting November 23, 2013. Studio Ghibli's current film playing in theaters is Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which will be released in theaters in the US on February 21st, so Princess Kaguya won't come out till after then. Remember they will be putting together the subtitles, translation and foreign voice actors. Theatrical releases outside Japan will either have subtitles with the original cast or a whole new English-speaking voice cast - no word yet on which way they've decided to go, but we should see news on a release date at least, very soon now.

Note: The images are from a flyer/pamphlet promoting the movie in Japan, found on eBay.

"Cruel Beauty" Book Trailer & Behind-the-Pages with Author Rosamund Hodge

NOTE: The trailer AUTOPLAYS! Argh!

I really hate autoplay functions so apologize for this. I've been into the HTML but can't figure out what to change/delete so it doesn't do it. I'm going to leave it like this for a bit while I try to figure out something else. In the meantime it's very annoying (sorry!) but until they upload the trailer to YouTube we're stuck with this. Very sorry!

Now that I've finally read a little about the book from the author, I'm actually interested. I've seen so many variations on Beauty & the Beast be published for the YA demographic but rarely do they seem to have a unique take, so unless they are a favorite author of mine to start with or one of those poetic and edgy authors who handles words as well as Francesca Lia Block, my eyes to to glaze over quickly.

However.

Ms. Hodge not only finds a way to make Beauty more interesting (to me) but has found a way to blend the dichotomy of Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard, into a single, smooth narrative. Color me intrigued.

The book keeps catching my eye because of the ridiculously stunning cover (genius really), so when I saw an author interview posted I quickly skimmed, then went back and read it properly when I realized what the premise actually was. I think it might be worth picking up when it's released in January 2014.

Here are some excerpts in which the author shares what drew her to a Beauty who was cruel:

Rosamund Hodge

I never thought I could retell Beauty and the Beast. I liked it. I read Robin McKinley's Beauty and watched the Disney movie, and I enjoyed them both. But the story felt finished. Complete. What drives me to write retellings is finding the holes, the mysteries that don't add up. Beauty learns to love somebody who looks like a monster and Beast learns to love despite the monstrous parts of himself. It's a moving story, but what's to retell? 

by Erik Dreyer

When I read (East of the Sun, West of the Moon), it was like lightning in my mind! Suddenly Beauty and the Beast wasn't a static and separate little unit; it was one thread in a tapestry of stories where brave young women travel to strange places and marry men who are really monsters, or monsters who are really men. 

And then I thought: Who says there is only one monster? 

What if the brave young woman is one, too? (a la Mean Girls) 

Loving a monster when you're beautiful and sweet and kind — that's a good story to read. Finding the courage to love a monster when you feel just as ugly yourself? That's the kind of story I want to tell...

You can read the rest of the (much longer) article HERE.

There's another interview post on Ms. Hodge's website HERE which asks a question fairy tale folk in particular should be interested to hear:

CRUEL BEAUTY is loosely based on the classic stories of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and BLUEBEARD. Did you read a lot of fairy tales and fantasy growing up? How did they influence your writing? 

by Twinnovations

Sometimes I hardly read anything else! I also devoured a huge quantity of mythology, which has deeply influenced my writing. (In fact, Cruel Beauty is based almost as much on the myth of Cupid and Psyche as it is on Beauty and the Beast). 

What I love the most about myths and fairy tales is how you are never just reading a story. You are reading the hundredth iteration of a story that’s been told for thousands of years. And when stories are told and retold for that long, they acquire a life of their own. They follow a peculiar, dream-like logic that doesn’t always make sense, but feels like it would make sense if you could just peel back a few more versions of the story. You can feel the bones beneath the skin. You look at the story, and it looks back at you. 

And a good fairy tale retelling taps into that sense of story-behind-story. It feels inevitable. You read it and you think, Yes, obviously, this is what happened. This is what it means. Writing a fairy tale retelling feels like discovery, not invention. Why did I combine Beauty and the Beast with Bluebeard? Because I was thinking about those stories one day and I realized, Beauty married the Beast in order to kill him. She’s afraid she will die like his previous wives. That’s what happened. How else could it be?

A cruel Beauty reminds me a little of issues in Pride and Prejudice but this looks like it will be much edgier, what with the assassin training, Bluebeard references and all!

Take a look at the book trailer:

UPDATE AT 1PM ON FRIDAY:

I HAVE DELETED THE TRAILER AS I CAN'T GET IT TO STOP AUTO-PLAYING, WHICH IS BEYOND IRRITATING! To see it, please click the link below and scroll down to the end of the article to view it.

My apologies for any inconvenience regarding the auto-play function for the past half day and now the need to go see the trailer on another page. Hopefully one day I'll be able to update this and embed a trailer you can choose whether to view when you're ready to, or not.

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CLICK HERE TO GO TO ARTICLE WITH BOOK TRAILER

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 Rosamund Hodge will also be releasing a novella, Gilded Ashes, retelling of Cinderella in April (which you can see a glimpse of at the end of the trailer). To me, this is even more intriguing than the Beauty and the Beast blend. See what she says about it:

Tell us about GILDED ASHES, your digital novella set in the world of CRUEL BEAUTY. 

by Cindy Bean

It’s a retelling of Cinderella, which is a fairy tale that most people feel needs an explanation. Traditionally, Cinderella is sweet, obedient, and cheerful despite being relentlessly abused. Why doesn’t she rebel against her wicked stepmother? Why is she happy? 

I started thinking about the Brothers Grimm version of the story, where Cinderella doesn’t have a fairy godmother; instead, it’s the ghost of her dead mother who gives her the dress and sends her to the ball. I wondered, why would a mother haunt her daughter? To protect her, of course.  And suddenly it all became clear: Cinderella’s dead mother haunts the house and destroys anyone who makes her daughter cry. So no matter what her stepfamily does to her, Cinderella has to smile and be happy. Or all of them will die. 

But, of course, everything gets a lot more complicated when she falls in love.

See what I mean? I like the way this author thinks.

Even though I'm not a big YA reader, both of these are now officially on my to-be-read pile.

Online Magazine "la Vie Sirène" Is Featuring Fairy Tales EVERY DAY During November!

The lovely Joy Siren has an obsession very much like mine. She adores everything mermaid and her Siren School is the place to go if you want to fish for what she knows. The depths of her knowledge on the subject are DEEP folks! (Puns intended as they're also completely true.)

Just as I find more than I can post on every day regarding fairy tales, Joy does the same for her mermaid students and siren scholars, and her daily magazine, la Vie Sirène, is brimming full of delights and treasures.

It's no wonder, then, that our paths would cross at some point (which they did not too long ago, thanks to Facebook) and this month I was delighted to find out that she is focusing on all things fairy tale, yours truly and this blog included.

I'm a little in awe of the life this amazing woman has led and the brave choices she's made. I'm also stunned by how just one person can accomplish so much on so little and inspire so many people in doing so. Because of this, I was incredibly humbled when she asked to interview me for the November fairy tale issue. Let me tell you, Joy's questions had me squeaking the rust out of my brain bolts to answer her insightful questions. She forced me to articulate - in black and white! - a lot of what I end up talking to people about when they ask "why fairy tales", so if you want the scoop, check with Joy. She is holding the key to all my fairy tale secrets. (And I believe I finally let out a little family "secret" I haven't shared before too...) ;)

In the meantime she has something new to read every day, and just posted an interview with the photographer she worked with, Love BEA Photography, to make the cover for the November "fairy tale special" issue.

And if you love mermaids, or inspirational women connecting and making their lives beautiful - which is so much of what Joy does - Siren School is everywhere online! You can find Joy and her school:

• On Pinterest HERE
• On Twitter HERE
• On Facebook HERE
• On Tumblr HERE
• On YouTube HERE
• On Google+ HERE
• The daily magazine, la Vie Sirène  - currently in fairy tale mode - is HERE
• The blog is HERE (with cool regular features I might add)
• And much, much more, which you can find on the main website, HERE

And you noticed the "school" aspect, right? It's not just a pun. Ms. Siren actually runs classes and workshops, activities, socials and more! Anyone is eligible to enroll and there are many choices, depending on how far you want to dive in. It's really quite amazing. You'll just have to go see her site for yourself.

Go! Enjoy! And tell her you love what you see. (And send some cheers to Love BEA Photography for their fantastic foray into the fairy tale realm as well.)

Syfy's Swan Song "Face Off" Finale

It's not surprising that fairy tales, or some version of them, crop up on a special effects make-up show but last night's finale on Syfy's Face Off was extra special.

The remaining three contestants had to design and create two characters from Swan Lake for two principal dancers of the Los Angeles Ballet: one was the maiden as she's being transformed into a swan and the other the evil sorcerer who made it happen (aka Von Rothbart for all the ballet people).

Excuse me a minute while I whoop and cheer here. I come from a ballet background and so all the ballet fairy tales are near and dear to my heart - especially when they include transformation. The iconic fairy tale ballet is, of course, Swan Lake. Indeed it's iconic for all ballet and for good reason. The light vs dark aspects and transformation of one being or creature to another is reflected in so much of life and, as the movie Black Swan showed, works as an excellent metaphor for a career in dance (and any lifestyle requiring intense commitment) as well.

For the Face Off contestants though, they were given an extra twist. Each of the contestants had to pick a different time period to incorporate into the design of their characters as well.

This meant, not only did they have two days to create two complete make-ups - one female and one male, have them be obviously different characters while from the same - unique - world, but also that they had to be performance-worthy for a live, theatrical show (ie those feathers had to stay on!) AND camera ready.

Tate chose the Industrial era,

 

 

... Roy chose the Ming Dynasty...

 

 

... and Laura chose Italian Renaissance.

 
The results from everyone - as you can see - were stunning!

Here's a teaser preview:

(Note: though I've done the research, heard the critiques, seen some behind-the-scenes and know the spoilery result, I have yet to see more than a fleeting glimpse here and there of the performances because I'm using every ounce of patience to wait to share it with my family tonight!)

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Ad: Robot Pinocchio Sneaks Gepetto's Car Out For A Spin (But the Nose Knows...)

Well this is interesting. Here we have a modern day Pinocchio and a very tinker-like Gepetto, who. incidentally, doesn't appear at all capable of making anything like Pinocchio (or his car) but it looks like a pretty memorable ad all the same.

The ad is for the Peugeot 208 supermini but I must admit, I'm watching the robot, not the car...

From autoevolution:

The 21st century boy made of wood is actually a robot made by a scientist. Like Sunny from iRobot, he gains consciousness and wants to experience what it's like to go for a drive in the sexy French car. The 28 gets him all the attention, warming his heart and blushing his little robot cheeks.
After he eyes all the pretty girls and is admired by the fox people, Pinocchio returns home and puts the keys on Gepetto's desk. We don't really get why his nose comes out like that. Did he tell a lie or is he just excited? Either way, it wouldn't be Pinocchio without the nose.

They didn't mention the "awaken your body to new sensations" tag line which puts a different slant on our robot's experiences!

You do have to take a beat at the end to ask "why did the nose pop out then?" And then when it begins to make sense your mind goes to places of "so the car opens you up to the possibility of not good things?" (I mean lying, people!) Maybe they should have called the car an Apple... just to confuse things even more... O.o Heh.

This concept, though - and the visuals - remind me of AI, iRobot even the "Pinocchio in reverse" story of the recent and very lovely little film Robot & Frank (you'll have to watch it to see what I mean but I highly recommend it. You can watch a trailer HERE.) 

This means, of course, that I now feel like going and looking up all the modern Pinocchio's that have appeared in recent years...

However, as far as selling me things goes: a lying robot? I think I'll skip that purchase, no matter how cute he is. ;)