Monday, November 28, 2011

Music: L'il Red Riding Hood...

You all know the song Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs (it's on every other Halloween party CD) but it comes across very differently when a woman sings it.

I only heard this cover of Little Red Riding Hood for the first time recently and am so disappointed there isn't a full version of this song! All that was arranged and recorded is heard in the ad. (Argh!)

Note: The 7Up commercial itself (from 2000 I think) is suggestive, as you would expect in any modern update of LRRH, and Red herself is, er, rather assertive. Considering she's being stalked by a wolf, I'm OK with it but not everyone may feel the same way.



From the comments: 
Rosnick Mackinnon was the music house that did the arrangment and used session musicians to record. Vocals by an actress, but not the one in the spot.

In case you didn't know Amanda Seyfried (star of the recent Red Riding Hood movie and playing the daughter in the movie musical version of Mama Mia) also covered this song recently. You can hear that HERE.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Today Only: Score Of ABC's "Once Upon A Time" For Free Download

 

This is kinda of cool.

Music freebie from abc.com for TODAY ONLY (Sunday 27th):  
The score for Once Upon A Time,
by composer Mark Isham,
as a FREE download!
  1. Go to http://abc.go.com/music-lounge
  2. Click on the Once Upon A Time option
  3. Click the download link (before Sunday is over!)
  4. Enjoy!
 Shortcut to download page HERE.)

You can also see a behind-the-scenes video on the music for the show as a bonus. (Link on same page.)

Why is ABC.com giving away free music today? You can read all about it HERE.

Neat, huh?

This Week ABC's Once Upon A Time Features Archie/Jiminy Cricket

 

It's Sunday and it's that Once Upon A Time time of the week. Yay! Gotta love new fairy tale retellings coming to your living room twice a week these days. :)

Storybrooke's resident therapist Archie Hopper (aka Jiminy Cricket) gets a lot of screen time this week and (if they must have use Jiminy Cricket to start with) I initially thought there was a lot of story potential in having his real life persona turn out like this. If you're interested, there's a little article interviewing the actor on his dual role HERE and a longer one on Jiminy Cricket's personal journey HERE. (We also get some further insight into Ruby/Red Riding Hood's character in the article too.)

However, if this preview clip of tonight's episode is any indication, I'm not sure Jiminy Cricket is someone I want to be talking my troubles over with, or sending my child to. I'm already cringing over the "real mother" smack down between Regina and Emma (this aspect has a high squick factor for more than a few parents out there) but now we have a therapist telling a kid he's crazy... :/



The episode this week is called "That Still Small Voice" so I'm hoping we'll see Jiminy/Archie looking into his own heart and finding a still-small-something in the midst of this episode to redeem it. There are a lot of references to "finding your conscience" so fingers crossed. In the midst of all this there are also some dark hints out there about what's to come HERE. (>>> NOTE: this article may have spoilers!!)

Here's a second (spoiler-free) and action-packed sneak peek of tonight's show:


And yes, for all my criticism, you know I'll be watching. I think the treatment/interpretation of archetypes is fascinating and an interesting reflection on how our society views them. For every bit of squick in the fairy tale shows (yes, both of them), there always manages to be one or more things that are worth coming to the party to see first hand.

In Once Upon A Time, there is a little something for everyone: real world reflections of fairy tale tropes and characters, fairy tale fantasy sequences, mysteries, drama, action (nothing like a sinkhole/abandoned mine suddenly appearing to get the adrenalin pumping) and a little swashbuckling now and then. One thing is for certain - the more people see of this show, the more people are talking fairy tales. That alone is reason to tune in.

Article: 3 Social Media Secrets inside Snow White’s Fairy Tale

 

I found this a while ago and since Snow White is on everyone's mind right now I thought I'd post it.

Although the article writer is a little loose on the source material (there's a definite lean toward Disney here) you can see how they followed the idea through and have it actually make good advice for those looking to build a social media presence they are happy with by using their own "magic mirror".
I'm curious as to what sparked the idea to link the two ideas in the first place, especially considering the author is obviously someone who doesn't read fairy tales much.  I can't help but feel they could have gotten a lot more useful advice out of the tale if they'd actually looked up the text.

Still, it's a fun read. You can find the full article HERE.

Alfredo Angelo Launches 2012 Disney Princess Bridal Collection

 
In October, Designer Alfredo Angelo released the 2012 Disney bridal collection, his second 'princess' collaboration, with an additional gown inspired by Rapunzel.









I was hoping for a more inspired photo shoot for these gowns to show you but at least the Disney-tale connection is made clear.

In case you missed it, here is the 1st collection from early this year and a short promotional video to go with it.










You can find the details for the most recent collection HERE.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Adventure Time's Snow Golem & Fire Wolves


I'm ashamed to say it has taken me A VERY LONG TIME to give the cartoon series Adventure Time a go. Initially I thought the designs were ugly*** and expected crude/cruel humor, awful/hard-to-watch animation and a high cringe factor of subject matter but I was completely wrong.  Not only was I wrong but the mythic and creative aspects have made sure Adventure Time is now being DVR'd in our house as often as possible. I now completely understand how this independent show built a strong underground following and is getting more and more popular over time.

Although Adventure Time will not be to everyone's taste I was happily surprised by the high degree of both creativity and continuous myth-based references throughout. Finn the Human and his magical dog Jake are not only decent and sweet characters but incredibly heroic and venture into all kinds of different worlds (eg. Candy Kingdom, the Underworld etc) rescuing those in need while figuring out what is good and what is not. They're also incredibly funny*. :)


Another nice surprise was seeing how the designs actually made sense when animated (commercials don't give you the correct impression at all) and how whimsical it all became.

The Thanksgiving special, titled "Thank You", shows just how sweet and mythic this show can be. (It has a snow golem and fire wolves for goodness sake! There's a summary of the episode HERE in case I can't convince you to watch and be surprised. PS. I dearly want a fire wolf pup now.) My son, along with me, has watched the episode 4 times again today and still isn't sick of it. The episode is making waves around the internet with how touching it's proven to be.

Just watch**. You'll thank me. :)



* You can expect a degree of boy humor (because that's who the main character is) and the episodes, as with all shows, differ in their appeal but personally, I have enjoyed more of them  - and found a lot of fresh mythic references throughout - than not. I think a key element in tolerating these aspects is that in this show, they are not mean spirited at all. the characters are clearly have hearts of gold. Very much like the naive yet pure-hearted Jacks of fairy tales.
** I don't know if this will be available online for very long so take advantage of the freebie viewing while you can.  
*** The design work on the show is actually top notch! The commercial-editing just doesn't do justice to the look. The pace and spirit of the show backs up the wonderfully naive-like approach to the character looks and it actually works so well, by the time you've watched an episode like "Thank You" you find yourself looking up Adventure Time Art sources on the web for hours!

Article: Upcoming Fairy-Tale Flicks and Why Movies Are Getting Grimm

Movie still for Hanna

This is an older article (from February this year) but in case you haven't seen it I thought it worth a read, particularly as the TV series of Once Upon A Time and Grimm make this a hot topic at the moment.

It discusses how retelling fairy tales is changing with many recent and upcoming movies as examples.
Here's a quote:
 The reinvention of fairy tales for the movies is nothing new, but this current trend neatly dovetails with the desire to cater to a smart, young female audience with increasing financial clout, an audience that wants stories where our protagonists go into the dark and scary woods and come out the other side as women.
 You can read the whole article HERE.

If you are not familiar with the movie Hanna, you can read this article HERE to see why it's been associated with fairy tales.

"Re-enchantment" Special End-Of-Year Offer

 
Hansel & Gretel Re-enchantment postcard

I received an update* from the lovely people who put together the amazing Re-enchantment website and DVD that I posted on recently:
Buy a copy of the Re-enchantment DVD before the end of 2011 and receive a FREE set of six collector postcards – each depicting a scene from the iconic fairy tales featured in Re-enchantment: Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Snow White.
6 Postcard Set from Re-enchantment

You can order the DVD HERE. (Australia-based customers can order HERE.)

Nice deal, right? I can't wait for mine to arrive!

Need a refresher on why this is a highly recommended purchase? Check out the website with interactive online documentary HERE!

One thing I didn't mention in my previous post is that the website is VERY EASY to navigate. No computer expertise is required - just point and click on things that interest you. :)
Snow White Re-enchantment postcard

* Note: If you tried ordering before and came across glitches, I've also been informed that all those are now fixed and everything is working fine for ordering now, both in Australia and everywhere else.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Red Riding Hood & Other Mythic Work of Beatriz Martin Vidal


Beatriz Martin Vidal is an artist and illustrator from Spain and her portfolio has many unusual and mythic paintings which once seen are hard to forget. I was, of course, immediately drawn to her retelling of Red Riding Hood and to pique your interest I'm inlcuding her captions for the RRH paintings below:

The Girl
Premonition
First Encounter
Grandma and Wolf
Coming Out The Wolf
Second Wolf

(The link takes you straight to that page in her portfolio.)

I'm only including a few of the illustrations as you really should see them on her site with her captions and amongst her other work to fully appreciate them.She has a lot of other work which is of interest to myth and fairy tale enthusiasts too so take time to browse. You won't be disappointed.

There is a Spanish version of the book available HERE.

I feel I have to include some of her other work to tempt you to go browse her galleries, in case you've already seen her Red Riding Hood series so here are just a few which caught my eye:
This is for The Goose Girl.

This is for a Rusalka tale.

 And this puts me in mind of The Frog King and little girls growing up (with or without their manners... as if they're in a very different sort of finishing school ;)


Coilhouse Magazine + Blog has a wonderful article on Ms. Martin Vidal which I highly recommend (lots of pretty pictures to see there too!).
Please make sure you visit her website HERE and her deviantArt page HERE (LOTS of gorgeous work here). She has a whole series for a book on birds and children too - something which always feels very connected to fairy tales for me.
"Because now you know that some birds are born with wings and other birds have to make wings by themselves. "
(Beatriz Martin Vidal from her book "On Children and Birds")
I'll leave you with this lovely tribute video to her artistry.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

The Buzz on SyFy's Neverland Continues But Will It Truly Be Family Friendly?

 
The HEA (Happily Ever After) vs Horror aspects in the newly launched Fairy Tale TV series Once Upon A Time and Grimm are definitely provoking thought amongst the viewing public on what fairy tales really are, as are the battling SnowWhite movies in production. With new shows, miniseries (eg SyFy's Neverland) and movies are winging our way and because it's now clear the use of "fairy tale" as source material is not a G-rating guarantee, one of the pressing questions has become what shows/movies are Family Friendly?

This is initially a bit tricky to navigate. Once Upon A Time is clearly more family friendly with its fantasy sequences and glitter but it also has very dark moments that are quite unapologetic (I'm including the "battle of the better mother" and twisted alliances aspect in this too). Grimm, on the other hand, is a procedural, complete with crimes, more-than-moderate crime scene visuals and brought-to-life monsters that I don't think little kids should see but the approach is often comedic and it's clearly a "catch the bad guys-save the good guys" show that kids have an easier time understanding.

Snow White and the Huntsman? Clearly teen+ with a largely dark overtone. Mirror Mirror on the other end of the spectrum is going for highly stylized comedic family fun.*

But in our immediate future we have SyFy's Neverland, airing December 4th & 5th for a two-night special event - apparently a 'prequel' to the Peter Pan and Neverland stories we're familiar with. Is this family fodder? After all SyFy isn't Hallmark or ABC/Disney and have a better reputation for the dark rather than the light.
 
The source material and website would suggest yes but perhaps not in a "Disneyesque" manner. One of the things Disney and ABC have proudly branded themselves with is making it clear when things are family and/or kid friendly (yes, they're different things). Generally when you see the Disney brand you know it's safe to walk out of the room to reheat your cocoa, leaving your kids glued to the screen by themselves for a few minutes. The Hallmark Channel has a different feel-good guarantee - happy endings are 99% likely with a minimum of direct gore or violence. SyFy is still a bit of a gamble.

 
Originally, the SciFi Channel was predictably dark, akin to B-movies and inevitably gory but since the re-branding to SyFy (as much as I'm not partial to their new spelling) the channel's original properties have had smarter writing, better acting, less gore and more critical acclaim. The website and marketing for Neverland are certainly aimed toward family but, as fairy tale enthusiasts who know what fairy tales are capable of exploring, it's important not to assume.

Neverland has attracted a stellar cast and has some seriously nice production and effects work. This alone says how much SyFy has developed in their programming. With Neverland looking to be a good viewing pick for the average family it's still worth preparing oneself ahead of time, just in case there are little people about - humans in your family, that is. ;) [If that ginormous and scary-looking crocodile does take Hook's hand off on-screen or Tink does get viciously-murderous I want to be there to cover my kid's eyes or make a dive for the remote - whatever seems most prudent.] There are a number of trailers out already which give a different emphasis on the story's aspects. The one below is my favorite:



This article HERE has made an attempt to summarize things for people wanting to know. Unfortunately their rating system is a little misleading at a glance. Using apples instead of stars makes it seem like the series are being rated overall as opposed to the compatibility with family viewing time but nevertheless it's worth a read.

Note: The following is a tangent but one I feel is appropriate for this topic. You may want to grab your thinking cap...

On the subject of "family friendly" I recently read an interesting on the Told This Time fairy tale community website, discussing an interview with Jack Zipes on the topic "Are Dark Fairy Tales More Authentic?". A few comments down the discussion begins to focus on whether or not we should expose children to 'dark' things and how appropriate many of the ideas in fairy tales really are.

Here's a quote from one of rave_blue's comments to get you thinking:
Real fairy tales, those traditional tales from Europe and Asia and indeed even America were often very dark to modern readers but then, we live in a world of light. Darkness can be banished with the flip of a switch but our ancestors lived in a very different world. Theirs was a world where darkness closed around them with all the menacing threat of the bogeymen they believed haunted the wilderness. So for them a "dark" fairy tale wasn't really dark at all because it was a perfect mirror for the real world surrounding them.

A child dying startles modern sensibilities but child mortality was so commonplace to our ancestors that it was taken in stride. Sure they mourned the death of a child but that mourning was not mingled with a sense of injustice the way it is today. Children died, it was a fact. People were maimed in surprisingly large numbers losing limbs in simple tasks. Wild animals stalked the forest. Robbers lurked behind trees ready to kill for a little coin. Darkness was not psychological the way so many modern interpreters would have us believe. It was both literal and symbolic because for the people who were listening to them when they were new it was the way of the world.

While most of us are privileged to not live in a society that must deal daily with such realities, we nevertheless have our own "wolves, maimings and darkness" so it's no coincidence that a familiarity with fairy tales is still proving to be one of the best defenses against them. The harder question, as I see it is how much is too much and what contexts are appropriate for different ages/maturities? Once you see something you can't simply 'unsee' it but parental response to the unfortunate and unexpected** is an additional key to children's coping mechanisms too.

I should add a disclaimer: if your family is anything like mine, being very familiar with fairy tales of all kinds and on monster-friendly side, it's very likely you'll take the chance and sit down with your kids just to check out that giant crocodilia and watch them nod wisely at just how devious fairies really are. That said, I'm going to make my pot of cocoa ahead of time and keep it in the living room with me. ;)
*In the same vein of family friendly comparison, Lily Collins (playing Snow White in Mirror Mirror) was interviewed on the two movie versions of Snow White - something she has the inside track on, as she apparently auditioned for both Snow Whites. You can read it HERE.
**eg. Whoever hacked the Sesame Street YouTube channel a few weeks back and uploaded a graphic porn video in place of a Cookie Monster clip deserves punishment by law well beyond a fine.