The Other Guy Who Learned the 12 Dancing Princesses' Secret (Comic)

From a comic by Sam aka Charmingly Antiquated

We found this in our web wanderings focused on Twelve Dancing Princesses (the tale of the month for the next Australian Fairy Tale Society Member Exclusive Ezine), and had to share this short but wonderfully different comic, telling the story of the princesses who danced their shoes to pieces and one boy who found out their secret..

From 'Sam' the artist, aka charmingly antiquated:

In the original fairy tale, the princesses drug a whole lot of hopeful would-be princes, fully aware they’ll be executed in the morning. and then they dance all night, every night, so hard they shred their shoes. that’s…always unsettled me a bit. the princesses might not be actively malicious, but they’re not really kind, either, and they’re definitely not human.  

What always surprised me the most, though, is the guy who sees these casually murderous dance machines and goes ‘i wanna marry one’ instead of ‘f- this sh*t i’m out’. so this is the comic about that other guy.

And we will never see the tale the same way again. Sleep tight! (Except for those who will be dancing all night...)

Lego's 'Frozen Northern Lights' Trailer (Series Airs Dec 9)

The upcoming Lego four-part animated shorts, revolving around Disney's main Frozen characters, are set to air December 9th (a little later than originally anticipated) on the Disney Channel, and have just released their trailer for the series.

Frozen Northern Lights will be an original story spanning multimedia art forms including books and animated shorts.“It’s a new story that follows Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and, of course, Sven on an epic adventure to restore the Northern Lights,” Josh Gad explains. (People)

With the original Frozen cast of Kristin Bell, Josh Gad and Idina Menzel, this is primed to be popular!

Take a look:

(Nice nod to Wicked there!)

The first book for this collection, Journey to the Lights was released in July 2016  and is likely the first of many more to come.

What's the fairy tale content? Likely more snow adventure that derives from snow fairy tales like the Snow Queen, the Snow Maiden. We might get some Polar bear King references, and some holiday-jolly ones too, considering the release season (though the plan was initially to stay away from it being particularly 'holiday'-seasonal). We can also look forward to lots of variations on ice magic and good doses of courage and friendship. If we're lucky we might get some legendary references to the folklore and stories surrounding the Northern Lights, which many cultures have, and possible more troll lore too, as a young troll is a new character joining them on the journey.

The Northern Lights Adventure Notebook (illustrated) is a great companion to the book and series and might inspire a little storytelling at home. Here are a couple of pages, with two more at the link. We wish they made more books for young kids like this that inspire fairy tale imagination and magical adventure!

What impact - if any - this will have on the 'mythology' of Frozen 2 remains to be seen, but in the meantime extra magic for the yule season is always welcome.

Movie Review: 'Trolls' Will Brighten Your Day In the Best Way

"Life isn't all cupcakes and rainbows.."

Approaching that strange season of random pupil-free days and the impending holiday chaos, our FTNH (Fairy Tale New Hound) found herself escorting some children to the only G-rated movie currently in the offering, Dreamworks Trolls. Here's her review:

If you don't know anything about this movie, it's quite a ridiculous set-up. Remember those ugly little troll dolls with the bright and colorful hair that kids collected in the eighties? It's based on that toy franchise. No story, no mythology to tap into, just those dolls. The only good thing I could think about it's existence was that a lot of animators and artists were going to be able to feed their families for that coming year, but it turns out they were doing more than most people realized.

I fully expected to plaster an insincere smile on my face and grit my teeth for 90 minutes, enduring an overload of glitter, rainbow colors and ridiculously upbeat songs, and for the first 10 minutes, that's pretty much where I was. Until I realized 5 minutes later that I wasn't gritting my teeth anymore. Instead I was genuinely enjoying myself, along with the kids who were delighted by the mix of textures and creatures and, yes, riotous color. I wasn't even cringing (much) at the remix of Peer Gynt's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" - and believe me, I was primed for outrage. (In the Hall Of the Mountain King, from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg, was one of those brilliant pieces of classical music I listened over and over as a child, sitting rapt in front of my father's speakers, imagining the story sequence of a brave hero invading the mountain fortress of the Goblin King.)

How did this happen? I'm not completely sure but Dreamworks did something right (and sadly underrated) with this movie. They took a serious look at how to be happy, did a great job of explaining how to get there, and they made putting it so simply look deceptively easy.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it followed some fairy tale principles. The peril is real (the trolls are in serious danger of being eaten) and that danger, though never graphic so as not to be suitable for young children, is never dumbed down or downgraded so as to be confusing. Being eaten means dying and never coming back, and that loss is real to the characters - no magical resurrection or going back in time to fix it. It's something kids understand and appreciate, making surviving - and a resolution - very satisfying for them.

The story premise is straightforward: trolls - who are the epitome of happiness, (and teeny, think insect size) are being eaten by the 'Bergens' (think ogres and house sized) every 'trollstice, as that's the only way the Bergen's can experience happiness - to eat the incarnation of it, literally. At the beginning the trolls are prisoners, and the Bergens are greedily looking forward to Trollstice, which happens to be the very next day, and to eating a troll and feeling happy again. The trolls make a run for it and escape into hiding, leaving the Bergens extremely unhappy, kicking out the power-hungry chef in disgrace for losing them all, and leaving the Bergen boy prince who was about to eat his very first troll, completely miserable, never expecting to experience happiness in his entire life... Cut to 20 years later and the Bergen prince is now and unhappy king and the King of the trolls daughter is soon to become queen. Queen-to-be Poppy wants to throw the biggest party of all time, against the advice of the one gloomy troll (called Branch), who believes they're still in danger. She does anyway, betrays their location to the disgraced chef and many trolls are captured and taken to the royal kitchen of Bergen town. Poppy, who managed to escape "by a hair", sets out optimistically, and ridiculously under-prepared, to save her friends and people, and discovers life is not all "cupcakes and rainbows".

I kind of love that the movie takes a real tongue-in-cheek approach to the use of color, glitter, optimism and scrapbooking, while at the same time celebrating those things. Take a look at the trailer:

Along with the undertones of troll and ogre mythology, which were very subtly sprinkled throughout the movie from start to finish, one fairy tale took center stage but in quite a different way. Cinderella motifs were immediately identifiable to the kids with me but the focus wasn't on 'the Cinderella' (who was not the main character by the way) having her dreams come true or being center stage when recognized by her prince. There are bigger, more important issues at stake at that point in the story and the Cinderella character is blessedly free of the 'where's my happy ending' focus. It was refreshing.

All the technical aspects meet today's high standards and, with a world of fabric and doll making materials, it's a pretty wonderful playground for the imagination - something the animators obviously had a lot of fun with. Backstory and occasional narration pops out in little scrapbooking sequences, which could easily be annoying if they weren't so funny. And yes - it's funny - wonderfully, innocently, purely funny, without all that self-referencing studio business that seems to be standard of animation these days.

A note should be made about the music, which was also done far better than I could have predicted. Again, I fully expected to be teeny-bopped to within an inch of my tolerance, (and admittedly the obnoxious party scene - which was supposed to be obnoxious, came close), but, after the first 15 minutes, I stopped cringing with every first bar of a new tune and instead found the pacing and treatment of the music throughout to be sensitively done, to the point that it even made for some extremely touching moments. By itself the soundtrack might be a bit much to take, but in context, it works far better than I could have anticipated.

While clearly aimed at including young children, I keep reading about adults who have been taken by surprise at how much they enjoyed the movie, and blown away by how wonderful the message is. The movie is unashamedly bright, positive and happy (something I can usually only take in small doses) and celebrates the enjoyment of beauty, song and dance, as well as other less obvious things, like the wonder in the world and the power of friendship. Though the 'turnaround' near the end was necessarily simplistic, by that stage I was happy to let it slide and enjoy the characters enjoying their hard won happiness.

If I had known what this movie was truly like, I would have collected every worried child I knew on November 10 and taken them to see this movie. There are a lot of people who could use a dose of this message right now, and its power to restore a little hope and happiness shouldn't be underestimated. Instead, we should be sharing it. (And if you have cupcakes, share those too.)

Baba Yaga's Guide To Feminism by Anne Thériault

Baba Yaga Flying (close-up) by Marylin Fill 

Reprinted with very kind permission of Anne Thériault, today we get a different, somewhat cheeky perspective from our favorite crone - artisanal spices and gristle included. Enjoy!

Note: Some strong language

Today we asked Baba Yaga—celebrated and infamous Russian witch—to share some of her wisdom and enduring tips on feminism. Here's the advice she had for all the young, struggling feminists out there:

1. Subvert traditional gender roles by taking a common kitchen implement and using it for your nefarious feminist activities. For example, fly around in a mortar and wield the pestle as your weapon. WHO'S MAKING ARTISANAL SPICE BLENDS NOW, EH?

The answer? Not you. Because you're too busy oppressing men to even think about setting foot in the kitchen.

2. Build a hut that stands on chicken legs. Not only will this be useful for getting you from place to place, but the legs will also be a deep metaphor for the lens through which society views women's bodies. Is the term “chicken legs” not synonymous with scrawniness? And yet are women not encouraged to be as slender as possible? It is this type of contradiction that highlights the absurdity of the expectations placed on women.

Your Chicken Leg Hut Performance Art will explore the idea that women can never win when it comes to their appearance; in a culture of pervasive misogyny, there will always be something “wrong” with how a woman looks. It will also ask its viewers to examine their own internal biases with regards to the objectification of women. Divorced of their context, are the chicken legs simply things? Or are they body parts deserving of love and respect? Remember that there are no right answers to these questions.

Plus you will be running around like the fucking boss of the forest in your hut on legs.

3. Free women from the shackles of domesticity by abducting their children. You can then indoctrinate these children in the ways of feminism and/or use them as free labour. Or just eat them. Whatever. It's hard to find good sources of protein deep in the Siberian forest.

4. Reject the male gaze by being an ugly old crone with long greasy hair and a hooked nose. Try dressing yourself exclusively in filthy rags, or, if those aren't available, maybe just wrap a huge bed sheet toga-style around your body. What's most important is that you're comfortable and can move your arms easily to cast wicked spells. Dress for you and your needs, not for anyone else.

Get yourself a set of iron teeth because why the fuck not, those are super metal. Like, literally metal.
Remind yourself that you don't exist to please men – you exist to be a terrifying witch who does whatever she wants.

5. Assert your independence by living deep in the woods, far away from any towns or villages. Prove that women can be self-reliant by going completely off the grid; make sure your only contact with other humans is when you want to fuck shit up and/or function as a sort of deus-ex-machina to help out some fairy tale hero. Use locally-sourced building materials—for example, the bones of your enemies can be constructed into a functional yet chic fence. 

6. Promote healthy consent by asking visitors to your hut if they came of their own free will. (Or were sent by someone else.) It's important for your students/admirers/victims to understand that they have bodily autonomy and don't have to wander around the woods looking for weird witchy huts if they don't want to. Have some diagrams and source materials ready, just in case you need to get more in-depth on the topic of enthusiastic consent.

Afterwards, you can show your visitors your cool collection of glowing-eyed skulls. After all, you don't get many strangers coming to your hut; you may as well use their time in your hut to your fullest advantage.

7. Whenever in doubt, remember the Deer Credo: does before bros, and hags before stags.

Ms. Thériault's original post can be found HERE,
and her Twitter account, which -wonderfully - pulls no punches,
can be found HERE.
More great words can be found by
her HERE at her blog, and you can support
her HERE via her Patreon account.
Thank you Anne!

We Are Reading: 'Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned: Enchanted Stories From the French Decadent Tradition' (Oddly Modern Fairy Tales Series)

All images in this post are by Ray Caesar, (website) with the exception of the journal cover

"... enchanting yet troubling..."

It's easy to see why Fairy Tales For the Disillusioned is capturing rave reviews. Our cultural climate is ripe for such a round of stories and, as the series from which it appears states, these are, indeed Oddly Modern Fairy Tales.

Note: Special mention should be made here of eminent fairy tale authority Jack Zipes, who champions, and is Series Editor, for the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales, of which this book is the latest addition. "Oddly Modern Fairy Tales is dedicated to publishing unusual literary fairy tales produced mainly during the first half of the twentieth century. International in scope, the series includes new translations, surprising and unexpected tales by well-known writers and artists, and uncanny stories by gifted yet neglected authors. Postmodern before their time, the tales in Oddly Modern Fairy Tales transformed the genre and still strike a chord." (From the series introduction.)

To put it in very frank terms, these tales are the cynical and morose fan-fiction of largely angst-y fairy tale lovers. The characters are often familiar. Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Blue Beard make multiple appearances, as do familiar sounding fairies (of which there are many, as is more typical of French fairy tales than others) but their stories are not familiar and comforting and happily ever after is not only elusive, it's often become 'extinct'. Clearly written by those drawn to, and who deeply love, many things about fairy tales (and, perhaps obviously, the French incarnation of those), these aren't so much revisionist as just disenchanted (the editors say these tales "might better be called perversions rather than revisions"). Fairies feel redundant, true love means nothing and right and wrong depend where you stand, if they mean anything at all. Giving meaning to a series of events - even those with wonder - is pointless. Despite the presence of 'magic' there is often no wonder, or meaning, at all - which is the point. Disillusioned, as per the title, is, in fact, the perfect word to describe it; the tales as well as the writers.

Charles Baudelaire, one of "creative luminaries" of this collection (and the decadent movement in general) would, today, be categorized as "emo: "What do I care if you are good? Be beautiful and be sad!" but also more than a little "goth": “All that is beautiful and noble is the result of reason and calculation. Crime, the taste for which the human animal draws from the womb of his mother, is natural in its origins. Virtue, on the contrary, is artificial and supernatural, since gods and prophets were necessary in every epoch and every nation to teach virtue . . . the good is always the product of some art.” (Charles Baudelaire, from “Eloge du Maquillage”)

For those interested in exploring further, it's worth looking into the publication of the literary journal The Yellow Book (see image below) - the gaudy color automatically connecting it with illicit French novels of the time. Though the first authors and artists were generally much more conservative and non-radical in nature than readers anticipated, the public association was almost prescient with regard for how the journal developed.

From Wikipedia:

Upon its publication, Oscar Wilde dismissed The Yellow Book as "not yellow at all". In The Romantic '90s, Richard Le Gallienne, a poet identified with the New Literature of the Decadence, described The Yellow Book as the following: "The Yellow Book was certainly novel, even striking, but except for the drawings and decorations by Beardsley, which, seen thus for the first time, not unnaturally affected most people as at once startling, repellent, and fascinating, it is hard to realize why it should have seemed so shocking. But the public is an instinctive creature, not half so stupid as is usually taken for granted. It evidently scented something queer and rather alarming about the strange new quarterly, and thus it almost immediately regarded it as symbolic of new movements which it only partially represented".

It would be worth mentioning, at this juncture, that movements like these have a tendency to be "savagely attacked" by the critics of their time, yet championed by the passionate younger generation of artists, writers. These tales are an apt example of this. (The rear of the volume lists the authors with brief biographical notes and it's clear a common thread connects them all - lifestyles and interests both.)

It's too easy to say this movement of the 'decadent tradition' should be belittled or considered not to have literary value. Clearly it does (have literary value) - at least from this distance in time and space. The tales are a (now recognized) relevant reflection of the time period, and political and social discomfort and unrest that they came out of. They prove a fascinating counterpoint to the tales of Perrault and the eventual forty-one volumes of tales included in the salon 'workshopped' Cabinet des Fées. Changing times proved both exciting and fearful, (then as now) and even as more options, independence and opportunities were made possible, people (and fairies) began to feel displaced. Science, technology and education are seen to be the downfall of fairies - and of Wonder.

(A great overview of more of the types of stories and their connection to the postmodern fairy tale writings of Margaret Atwood, AS Byatt and Angela Carter, can be found in The Guardian's review by Alison Flood HERE.)

During the time period, however, such writing could easily have been described (read "looked down on") as indulgent and low-brow, which is also true. Just like the paintings of Ray Ceasar, an artist who blends Victorian aesthetics with Rococo and a dark, and yes, decadent, underbelly (his more mild paintings shown in this post), the tales aren't generally considered "high art". The average person is drawn to them, only to realize there is also something disturbing upon closer inspection. Ultimately the tales, just like Ceasar's paintings are indulgent, whiny and ultimately frustrating. From what we understand, the writers were the equivalent of somewhat privileged and inexperienced university students, impassioned with ideals, brilliant and keenly observant yet disillusioned and outspoken about their lot in life, often leading to an indulgent and decadent life style of keen unhappiness - a double-edged sword. But even as the reader swings between delight and annoyance, such a collection isn't easy to dismiss.

The general response to the book has been one of delight, and the tantalizing forms these tales take are made clear in the description: The wolf is tricked by Red Riding Hood into strangling her grandmother and is subsequently arrested. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella do not live happily ever after. And the fairies are saucy, angry, and capricious. ...In these stories, characters puncture the optimism of the naive, talismans don't work, and the most deserving don't always get the best rewards. The fairies are commonly victims of modern cynicism and technological advancement, but just as often are dangerous creatures corrupted by contemporary society. The collection underlines such decadent themes as the decline of civilization, the degeneration of magic and the unreal, gender confusion, and the incursion of the industrial. Clearly something of that ilk draws readers and writers today, but it is worth contemplating why. Why are we drawn to the "deliciously cruel"?

Just like the painfully annoying fifth book of the Harry Potter series, (The Order of the Phoenix) in which the 15 year old "hero" is perpetually petulant to the point of alienating everyone around him (and many readers), it's out of that same restlessness, fear and frustration that one of the best aspects of the series is born: Dumbledore's Army. (In which a group of students educate and arm themselves in secret, in case they need to rise up in their own defense - which they do indeed have to do.)

Does it justify the attitude? Absolutely not.

Is it understandable? Absolutely it is.

It's not wholly unlike where the Western world has revealed itself to be right now - something which gives this volume even more cause for consideration.

One of the Editors, Gretchen Schultz, stated:

“There’s a certain appeal today for literature having a cynical edge,” she said. “The theme of disillusionment, at this moment in the US election cycle, is timely. And more broadly, the social and political turmoil at the fin de siècle in France, which contributed to the decadent ethos and its reimagining of classic fairytales, offers some parallels to our world that are worthy of contemplation.”

It should be noted, this interview statement was made ahead of both the 2016 US Election results and the still developing fallout of the UK "Brexit" issue.

But the tale of these tales - fittingly - doesn't end there. We choose to end the review by quoting from the introduction by Editors Gretchen Schultz and Lewis Seifert:

At the turn of the twentieth century, one critic optimistically predicted that after their nineteenth century decline, fairy tales would regain visibility, prompted by science itself. Were not electric lighting, horseless carriages, urban underground railways, and moving pictures all cause for marvel?
... As the twentieth century dawned,

fairies and genies began once again to show themselves to people. The first automobiles they caught sight of convinced then that the prophecy had been fulfilled. They believed that women travelling in automobiles were fairies come to revisit the realms they once inhabited. (Goyau 18)  

Technology might just have given new life to the "last fairy".

Additional note of interest to fairy tale folk and scholars:

Many of the fairy tales in this volume are printed in English for the first time.

TALES [* denotes those translated & published in English for the 1st time]

Fairies' GiftsThe Fairies of FranceDreaming BeautyIsolina / IsolinThe Way to HeavenAn Unsuitable Guest*The Three Good Fairies*The Last FairyThe Lucky Find*The Wish Granted, Alas!The Suitors of Princess MimiLiette's Notions*On the Margins of Perrault's Fairy Tales: The White Rabbit and the Four-Leaf Clover*The Ogresses*Fairy Morgane's Tales: Nocturne II*Bluebeard's Little WifeThe Green She-DevilCiceMandosianeFairy Tales for the Disillusioned*The Living Door Knocker The Mortis*Sleeping Beauty Didn't Wake UpPrincess of the Red LiliesPrincess Snowflower*Mandosiane in CaptivityPrince CharmingThe Story of the Prince of Valandeuse*The Pleasant Surprise*The Last Fairy*The Seven Wives of BluebeardThe Story of the Duchess of Cicogne and of Monsieur de BoulingrinThe 28-Kilometer Boots*Cinderella Arrives by AutomobileCinderella Continued, or the Rat and the Six LizardsCinderella, the Humble and Haughty Child*

'Beauty and the Beast' Trailer Will Help You Believe In Magic Again

There's magic & beauty out there.

Find it, share it, fight for it.

(Paraphrasing Celeste Ng)

It's been a really rough week, hasn't it. (Statement, not a question.) Trying to find bright spots of inspiration to move you forward without making you feel like you're ignoring things, has been difficult. Beautiful and cute things have felt indulgent, ridiculous, even, and haven't served their usual roles of giving people a 'breathing space' or needed distraction. More than a few people have told us it feels trite and irresponsible to spend any time thinking about fantasy, fairy tales and magic. Even when we received word early this morning that the new trailer for Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast was about to go live, the fairy tale newsroom didn't immediately jump to attention. It took seeing some gifs, that hinted at a better story and a narrative of hope, to tune in (which is why we put an extended one at the head of the post today).

We're glad we did. Take a look (full screen recommended):

Regarding the trailer, there's more hinted at here than we could have hoped for - Belle's father and the rose, the magical objects actually being far more charming than any image so far has promised.

The Beast is less beast-like -more human- than expected but knowing they're aiming at families with young children, it's not too surprising either. One Tumblr artist has already given the Beast a make-over, and we would have been fine with this as well. Perhaps this was done in anticipation of his final transformation though. There isn't a female fan I know of, who isn't a little bothered by the fact that Belle overcame her initial reaction , looked past her first impressions, fell in love with him as he was, only to have him be completely changed. Perhaps the human-ness makes the 'beast' easier to recognize as still being there in the end, after the transformation. We shall see. Cocteau intended his audience to be disappointed at the reveal of the prince - and so we were. Disney, however, never intended that in the past. We're curious to see how it's resolved in the new movie.

The only thing we really haven't glimpsed/heard, is the musical-song aspect, but all signs point to this movie being everything it has promised to be, and possibly more. Not only should it make Beauty and the Beast classic fans happy, but it's likely to get others, who have criticisms of the Disney original, a little more on side too - and anything that brings people together to talk in a positive and hopeful way, is a good thing.

Aside: the hillside shot cannot help but be compared to The Sound Of Music, but, if you know that classic film, perhaps that's actually an appropriate (and possibly inspiring) comparison.

While a great trailer doesn't 'fix' anything, what it does do, is remind you that people generally do want to be 'better'. That, with the right motivation, people will put in the effort to make magic of many kinds, and that more is possible than most of us ever dream, especially when we work together.

Fairy tales have always suggested that magic is something that requires hard work. While the moment that 'spark' happens (eg someone is transformed, a dress appears etc) is represented as a magical instant, there has often been many years of preparation - of real life grit and survival - before that becomes a reality.

Fairy tale folk are uniquely qualified to remind people that there is always hope and that magic is possible, especially when we show courage, remember things aren't always as they first appear, that transformation is possible and that you are rarely as alone as you feel.

If you know where to look, there is help, and a way forward - even if it only seems to be a talking candlestick.

Illustration: 'La Belle et la Bête' illustrated by Emilie Etienne

"A forest, a forgotten castle, 

a girl in the dark, A beast that screams ... 

"Once upon a time", tell tales, 

Yes, If you listen carefully, it is always a time ... 

Beauty and the Beast ... "

This beautiful and unusually illustrated French version of Beauty and the Beast hasn't had as much exposure as it should. Although it was released in 2004, no doubt the upcoming Disney live action movie will boost interest in all things Beauty and the Beast, and this should be one of them.

In the dreamy doll depictions of Emilie Etienne, the delicate and three dimensional aspect bring a different perspective to the tale than one usually sees. The photography makes great use of lighting and alternate focus points to add to the dreamlike aspects, giving the sense that there is movement within the images - perhaps a strand of Belle's hair loose in the wind, or that the Beast's eyes are about to blink. It's very effective, even in the few images available online.

The volume itself is also a lovely and artful presentation, ornate and with deep rich colors, perfect for enchanted collections of books.

Although it's not always readily available, this book is worth hunting down to add to your fairy tale library.

Here's the description from Amazon France:

Come indulge in the Beast to save her father, Belle ends up loving the monster which then turn out to be a handsome prince bewitched ... Everyone has one or the other adaptations of the famous tale in the form of film or cartoon. The imagined story by Mrs Beaumont became legendary. It celebrates the "inner beauty" that may exist in being the ugliest, even terrifying, and the value of those who, like Belle, know go beyond appearances. An uplifting story vocation, therefore, owes its success to the subject as to how it is treated: the marvelous is always present, and story structure, with the succession of events in which the heroine must overcome, it takes traditional stories. A beautiful text become a classic. - Pascale Wester 

Emilie Etienne's website, with her gnarled witches and other enchanted folk, can be found HERE

Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' New Poster & Update

Released yesterday by Emma Watson via her Twitter feed and Facebook page, the new poster for Disney's live action version of the fairy tale looks more than a little familiar. Comparison to original classic poster appears to be intentional, and why not? It's a nice homage, and people love - and are protective of - the original they adore and really want more of - not changed. Seems like a smart move on Disney's part.

Here's a visual side-by-side for you:

There has been news appearing here and there, prior to Tuesday's monumental election event, and now seems like a good time to take a break from all that, to focus on something positive for a few minutes, to summarize it.

Here's are the latest released details on the upcoming - and significant - differences in the live action version of Beauty and the Beast, in contrast to the animated classic:

Belle's new backstory:

“In the animated movie, it’s her father who is the inventor, and we actually co-opted that for Belle,” said Emma Watson. “I was like, ‘Well, there was never very much information or detail at the beginning of the story as to why Belle didn’t fit in, other than she liked books. Also what is she doing with her time?’ So, we created a backstory for her, which was that she had invented a kind of washing machine, so that, instead of doing laundry, she could sit and use that time to read instead. So, yeah, we made Belle an inventor.”

And yes, she stills reads - actually, she invents so she can read, so reading and learning and imagining are still very much a part of Belle's persona. *all the Belle fans sigh in relief* Emma Watson also insisted that Belle be given proper foot attire: sturdy boots.

"My Belle is very practical," Watson says, during a shooting break. "In the movie she wears these little ballet shoes, and I knew that they had to go. If you're going to ride a horse, and tend your garden and fix machinery, then you need to be in proper boots." (Entertainment Weekly Magazine)

And if your'e wondering about Belle's ball shoes, they're 18th Century heeled shoes - hand painted with gold flowers - "but they are something that Belle can run in and that she can go off and save her father in."

Her father, Maurice, gets a bit of a different spin too:

In addition, Maurice’s character is more three-dimensional and instead of being an inventor of oddities, he makes music boxes. “Kevin Kline as Maurice, is making all these music boxes that have to tell the story of Belle not traveling,” according to the the film’s set decorator, Katie Spencer. (source x)

The three new songs added the film, add to the story and plot too, and we finally understand why Audra McDonald was cast as Garderobe (it's a good reason). Here's the summary via Entertainment Weekly's magazine:

When Disney releases its live-action remake of Beauty and The Beast on March 17 of next year, viewers will hear three new ballads written by composer Alan Menken — who penned the tunes for the original 1991 animated version with the late Howard Ashman — and lyricist Tim Rice. These include a song performed by Emma Watson’s Belle with her character’s father Maurice (Kevin Kline), and another called “For Evermore,” sung by Dan Stevens’ Beast.  

“It ends up being a song called ‘Our Song Lives On,’ and it’s done in a number of forms,” says Menken of the former track. “The first time it’s sung, it’s Belle’s father singing as he’s completing a music box, and basically it’s [about], ‘How does a moment live forever? How do you hang on to precious moments?’ Then, it’s reprised by Belle, and then it’s the song that’s actually over the end credits at the end of the movie. Disney hasn’t announced it yet, but there’s going to be some wonderful singer on the end credits song.”  

“‘For Evermore’ is this moment where the Beast now loves Belle, and he realizes that she misses her father, and he acknowledges she’s no longer a prisoner, and when she sees her father’s in trouble, he says, ‘Go to him, go.’ And he voluntarily lets her go,” Menken continues. “He’s basically singing about how he now knows what love is, as he watches her leave, and he’s climbing up the turret of the castle as she recedes into the distance, just watching her go further and further away.” 

“‘Days in the Sun’ is a moment when all of the objects in the castle —and Belle — are going to sleep. Basically, everybody in the castle is having memories of what it used to be when they had their days in the sun. It’s sort of a combination of a lullaby and a remembrance of happier days for everybody.” 

The new Beauty and the Beast will also feature a showcase for Broadway legend Audra McDonald, who plays the part of Madame De Garderobe. “It’s a moment within the prologue, just before the spell befalls the castle,” Menken says. “We’re actually at an event at the Prince’s castle, where the Prince is about to be turned into the Beast, and he’s in his very selfish and self-indulgent phase of his life, and we see that, and we have the magnificent Audra McDonald singing this number.”  (Adapted from: Entertainment Weekly)

Fan created poster, combining the EW released pic with the first teaser poster

So what do you think? Are you happy about the changes? Do you feel they update the story in the right direction for a stronger Disney female role model?

Despite fans generally being in ecstasies of happiness, there are superficial criticisms (the dress, the color, the lack of variety in her non-ballgown wardrobe, the Beast's horns) but also some more serious ones, suggesting the changes to Belle's backstory are only tokens in the direction of true feminism. While we don't see any reason why a feminist can't enjoy pretty things, including ball gowns and lovely dances, there is a point to be made about how this relationship develops, as well as Belle's character not having to obviously challenge the status quo of the time period (which, although nebulous, is clearly not today). Hopefully, seeing Belle grappling with common ideas about a woman's place by doing such activities as inventing conveniences for herself makes the difference more clear, but, as suggested by one blogger, altering her historically accurate costume - had she been made to wear one - to suit her independent needs, would have perhaps made that even more obvious. We would suggest it's a little early to throw down the gauntlet in accusation of pseudo-feminism, but you can be certain many will be watching for just that.

To date, however, all signs point to the listed 'updates' above as being positive for us here in the fairy tale newsroom, but we're still very curious to see how the prisoner-to-lover transition is handled, as well as the reaction to falling in love and transformation. It's rare to hear those who truly love the original fairy tale (and Cocteau's film) be happy with the Beast's transformation back to a man. They still want their Beast. We can't imagine that would be acceptable in a family film, but it's still a relevant issue that needs addressing. We hope it will be.