Fairy Tale Roundup: Librarian Curated Fairy Tale Books, a new Snow White in the 1950s, Maleficent Bonanza! and Sibling Relations in Beauty and the Beast

So much going on!



Get Genrefied: Fairy Tale Re-tellings
Stacked, an amazing librarian-run book blog, provides us with an amazingly comprehensive list of YA fairy tale adaptations broken down by fairy tale, including old favorites and many I had not heard of!

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'Boy, Snow, Bird' Takes A Closer Look Into The Fairy Tale Mirror

NPR directed our attention to a new adaptation of Snow White that is coming out, about a girl in New England in the 1950s: "Reading the fairy tale, the way that it's so explicit that Snow White's beauty is tied into the whiteness of her skin, there seemed a very clear connection to me with the '50s and '60s in America when there was very much a debate over the rights of a human being based on the color of their skin."

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Reaching a Child with Autism through Disney

Io9 told us the story of a child who used to talk but developed regressive autism, unable to talk and almost unreachable, until he came across a certain scene in The Little Mermaid involving the loss of a voice. Read the entire article in the New York Times for the whole story. 

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Maleficent Pics, News and Trailer

So much new Maleficent stuff. Here are new pics and commentary and an EW interview with Angelina Jolie from Once Upon a Blog, and the full delicious trailer: 

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Sibling Relationships in Beauty and the Beast

Tales of Faerie performs a wonderful analysis of the various versions and adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, specifically regarding Beauty's relationship to her sisters. I didn't realize how very Lear it is! 

Fairy Tale News Roundup: Obscure Films, Bullfighter Snow White, Japanese Monsters, Snow Queen Productions, New Maleficent Trailer!

Quick fairy tale news round up! We opened the show on Monday so everything has been insane, and I will have a post with pics soon!

10 Obscure Fairy Tale Films (Flavorwire)
Flavorwire has given us a list of obscure (and I mean OBSCURE) fairy tale films! Not only are the films themselves obscure, the tales are refreshingly so as well! They look very foreign (lots of Russian, Italian, Slavic and Japanese films) and trippy and delicious, so check them out!

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Why you need to watch Spanish Snow White movie "Blancanieves" AT ONCE. (Hello, Tailor)
In addition to the other two Snow Whites that came out recently, we apparently missed the good one! Hello Tailor tells us all about the Spanish Snow White movie Blancanieves, in which Snow White grows up and becomes... wait for it... a BULLFIGHTER! But wait, there's more! 1920s carnival-esque design, focus on familial relationships and no prince! I cannot wait to see it. Here is the trailer:

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14 Terrifying Japanese Monsters, Myths and Spirits (Io9)

Since I am also looping mythology and folklore into my mission a bit, I thought I'd include these! My favorite is the Aka Manto who wanders around bathrooms and asks you what color toilet paper you want. Your choice determines how he will kill you. The most terrifying, though, is the Kuchisake-Onna, who wears a surgical masks and asks children if they think she is pretty. When the kids say yes, she reveals that her mouth is slit wide, like the Joker. She asks again and if they say no, she cuts them in half. If they say yes, she slits their mouths like hers. <shudders>

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Snow Queen Adapted for Stage (Once Upon a Blog)

In the wake of the announcement that Frozen is going to be a stage musical, Once Upon a Blog has been doing a lovely series on plays of the Snow Queen. It is amazing how beautiful, imaginative and different they are! (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

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New Maleficent Trailer (Everyone)

Everyone covered the new Maleficent trailer to mixed success. Once Upon a Blog screen caps it, and seems to have a pretty positive view of it. Io9 is so not cool with the synopsis:

"The untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the 1959 classic "Sleeping Beauty." A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman with stunning black wings, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army of humans threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal - an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the king of the humans and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom - and to Maleficent's true happiness as well."

They worry Disney is turning their greatest villain into "a misunderstood goth girl with amazing headwear?" Also, they are creeped out by the fairies, and I have to say I am with them on that one. The Mary Sue simply says "DEAR GOD, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?" Flavorwire simply hopes Elle Fanning does not drop the accent, and that Angelina maintains her fantastic bitch face throughout the film.

Here it is! Care to weigh in?

Fairy Tale and Mythology Round Up: History of Little Red, La Belle et la Bete Trailer, Jupiter Ascending Trailer, Disney Villains High School, Moana: the Next Disney Movie

Grandma, What a Big History You Have!
Back in November, Once Upon a Blog featured an excellently written, moving piece on the history of Little Red Riding Hood and how her story has changed over time to serve the audience, since the first known variation in the 1st century. Well worth the read!

"Fairy tales, on the other hand, are much more mutable and most have their true origins in oral tales and are much more difficult to trace directly. They're accessible to all peoples of culture, time, class, education and to children as well as adults. That the tales are still recognizable after all this, that their motifs and essential stories remain intact ad recognizable speaks to how true they are in speaking about the human condition. As a result fairy tales are not only pretty special, they're essential." 

SurLaLune comments on it as well, and introduces us to the book Revisioning Red Riding Hood Around the World by Sandra L. Beckett and many other Red Riding Hood resources. My personal favorite is Red Riding Hood Uncloaked, but I am excited to sink my teeth into a few of the others she recommends!

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Breaking News: Gans' "La Belle et la Bete" Trailer Released This Morning 
Once Upon a Blog found the trailer for Gans' La Belle et la Bete for us, and it is absolutely stunning! They seem to be doing a straightforward version of the tale, with no modern twists or wierdness. It is actually kind of refreshing.

Here is the 1946 version by Jean Cocteau for comparison:

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Trailer for Jupiter Ascending

We have discussed Jupiter Ascending, the sci-fi Snow White adaptation starring Mila Cunis and Channing Tatum, several times on this blog, but now we have a trailer, and it looks epic! For those longing for a space opera, this is it. Directed by the Wachowski siblings, you know it is going to be visually stunning:

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Why this "Disney Villains: the Next Generation" show is a problem

Io9 recently reported on a new show coming out of Disney:

[The Descendants is set] In a present day idyllic kingdom, the benevolent teenaged son of the King and Queen (Beast and Belle from Disney's iconic Beauty and the Beast) is poised to take the throne. His first proclamation: offer a chance at redemption to the trouble-making offspring of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, the Evil Queen and Jafar who have been imprisoned on a forbidden island with all the other villains, sidekicks, evil step-mothers and step-sisters. These villainous descendants (Carlos, Mal, Evvie and Jay, respectively) are allowed into the kingdom to attend prep school alongside the offspring of iconic Disney heroes including Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan. However, the evil teens face a dilemma. Should they follow in their nefarious parents' footsteps and help all the villains regain power or embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?

I will let you all respond as your conscience dictates. Io9 has some rather interesting questions about it.

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The Next Disney Movie in Development: Moana (2018)
Disney has another movie coming out for 2018, perhaps as a response to all the backlash Frozen got. It takes place in the South Pacific with a princess (alas, another princess) of color!

"The main character will be Moana Waialiki, a sea voyaging enthusiast, and the only daughter of a chief in a long line of navigators. When her family needs her help, she sets off on an epic journey. The film will also include demi-gods and spirits taken from real mythology."

It sounds like a lot of fun! I am a little nervous because the concept art has her all sexified Hopefully it can be an awesome adventure story without her looking like a stick body with ginormous eyes.

Articles: "Feminism" in Disney's Frozen and The Snow Queen

So I was full of lies when I said I wouldn't talk about Frozen anymore. Once Upon a Blog has really been cooking these last couple weeks, churning out really thought provoking articles on feminism, "feminisim," and blatant sexism in Disney's Frozen and other movies.

by briannacherrygarcia (DeviantArt)

1) Disney's Ugly Princesses (Just Kidding. Being Pretty is a Requirement.)

There has been a lot of internet outrage when Lino DiSalvo, the head of animation for Frozen, claimed it was really difficult to animate women:

 "Historically speaking, animating female characters are really, really difficult, because they have to go through these range of emotions, but you have to keep them pretty and they’re very sensitive to — you can get them off a model very quickly. So, having a film with two hero female characters was really tough, and having them both in the scene and look very different if they’re echoing the same expression; that Elsa looking angry looks different from Anna being angry.”

Basically saying that it is more important for the character to be pretty than to express a range of emotions realistically.

This also brings back the conversation of how similar both the heroines in Frozen look like Rapunzel. I didn't realize how much until Once Upon a Blog showed this:

 

Ridiculous. It is like they did a test poll of what the most appealing face was and are cookie-cuttering it. OUAB has more thought provoking analysis. She also follows it up with a part 2: The Good Thing About Comas and Sleeping Princesses (?!) aka Ugly Princesses Not Allowed Pt 2, in which she explores the internet's outrage further, and branches out into the rest of the Disney Princess canon. 

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by Julia Griffin

2) How Disney Having Two Female Leads For "Frozen" Doesn't Approach How Fantastically Feminist "The Snow Queen" Already Was

This post might be my favorite because it examines the false feminism of Disney's Frozen ("Look! We have TWO heroines!") with the very real portrayals of female strength in the original "Snow Queen." OUAB discusses The Feminist Fangirl's post about why she is not supporting Frozen because, in the original, not only the protagonist, but 99% of the supporting cast are strong women of different ages and types: The Robber Girl, The Robber Girl's Mother, The Snow Queen, The Princess, The Garden Witch, The Lapland Woman, The Finland Woman, Grandmother, and the Lady Crow. It would have been a fantastic opportunity for Disney to showcase all kinds of female physicality, not just the cookie cutter princesses above. OUAB's post focuses not so much on ranting against Frozen, but as a on a lament for the original, and the lost opportunity there. 

(Though if you want ranting, the Feminist Fangirl post is fantastic!: "That Disney feels it’s necessary to take a female driven, female dominated story and cut it down to one princess protagonist with a dashing male helper/love interest, is honestly disgusting and one of the most blatant examples of Hollywood’s lack of faith in women in recent memory." Go girl! )

Also check out this really great blog post by Laura Athena: The Snow Queen: Visions of Female Strength for a great analysis of the women in "Snow Queen" (though the formatting makes it a bit difficult to read).

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3) "Frozen"s 3rd Trailer Is Worth Seeing + A Brief Discussion of Sisters in Fairy Tales (But Especially Tatterhood...)

OUAB, as am I, is intrigued by the new trailer, which focuses on the sisters, and she discusses how few tales of sisterly love there are in fairy tales. The main protagonists are usually princess and prince, or sister and brother rather than two sisters. I can now sort of see how it is "The Snow Queen" again, only the Snow Queen and Kai are combined into one character: Elsa. However, it does not excuse the above article's point that they are lauding themselves for having two lead female roles, when they cut down a cast of 10 female roles and replaced them with male love interests and sidekicks. 

ARTICLES: Fairy Tale Class, Unsatisfying Princes, Dancing in Red Hot Shoes, a Fairy Tale Conference, and Fairy Tale Fiction Initiatives!

There has been a lot of juicy fairy tale analysis and scholarship while I was gone! Here are a few meaty tidbits to sink your teeth into.

by Casey Neal

USF offers it's First MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) in Fairy Tales
At last, you don't need a bagillion dollars to take a college course in fairy tales!  The course is called "Fairy Tales: Origins and Evolution of Princess Stories" will be taught by professor Kevin Yee. Unfortunately, it already began, and we all missed it, but hopefully it bodes well for things to come. You can follow some of the work on Once Upon a Blog. InkGypsy took the course and is providing summaries and thoughts on each of the weeks! Here is her summery of Week 1 - Cinderella (Part 1) which has some really beautiful and insightful reflections from her classmates. Part 2 examine's Disney's Cinderella and it's contribution to the genre. Look for more soon!

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The Ending of Cocteau's La Belle et La Bete, and Disney's Beauty and the Beast is Supposed to be Disappointing. 
Once Upon a Blog discovered that, apparently, Cocteau meant for the transformation of the Beast into the prince to be disappointing in his highly influential La Belle et La Bete. He stated in an essay, "My aim would be to make the Beast so human, so sympathetic, so superior to men, that his transformation into Prince Charming would come as a terrible blow to Beauty, condemning her to a humdrum marriage and a future that I summed up in that last sentence of all fairy tales: ‘And they had many children.’” This is emphasized by the fact that the same actor played the transformed beast and the unwanted suitor at the beginning of the film.

Glen Keane, supervising animator for Disney's Beauty and the Beast, who referred to Cocteau's film for inspiration, agreed. "I never referred to him as anything but Beast,’ he answered. ‘To me he’s always been Beast. I always just believed that Belle called him Beast from the moment that he transformed… so whatever his name was before is not important because he was called Beast after that.’ Keane also went on to add, ‘matter of fact, when he changed into the prince, I knew everybody was going to be disappointed by that, because they fall in love with the beast’"

Truth.

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by Ian Beck

The Historical Red Hot Shoes in which Snow White Made her Evil Stepmother Dance

Once Upon a Blog, yet again, great scholar that she is, has researched the history of Snow White's cruel ending, where the evil stepmother is forced to dance in red hot shoes. Check out the link to see the historical torture device that may have inspired her fate. (I always think of this fantastic monologue when I read about the red hot shoes.)

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American Folklore Society Conference Focuses on Fairy Tales

This year's American Folklore Society Conference is focusing on Fairy Tales! It is in Rhode Island from Oct 16-19th if you want to go. Really interesting topics. Click the link to find out more on SurLaLune.

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There are also two really exciting initiatives by my fellow fairy tale bloggers. First, Diamonds and Toads has launched Timeless Tales magazine! Each issue focuses on retelling of a specific fairy tale. She also includes a recording of the tale so you can listen to it. 

Something to Read for the Train has launched a similar, but more personal, initiative, A Grimm Project, where she is using each of the 242 Grimm tales as a prompt for her own creative writing! 

Movies: ALL THE MOVIES!

My goodness. It has been a while since I have posted. I blame Master's Degree, Sickness, Vacation and First Week of School. Lots to catch up on, so lets get down to it. My first installment will be regarding all the fairy tale movies coming up.

H&G: a modern day retelling of Hansel and Gretel. 
"...I have always been struck by this fable’s portrayal of adult women. The stepmother and the witch are portrayed as heartless villains. Whereas the father, although also complicit in the abandonment of the children, is portrayed as caring and loveable. In reading about the history of the tale, I discovered that Wilhelm Grimm revised the traditional tale several times. He changed the mother character into a stepmother and he also made her less sympathetic. According to folklorist Jack Zipes, Wilhelm Grimm “deepened the characterization of the father and stepmother so that he becomes much more caring and concerned about the children and she becomes more coldhearted and cruel.” This sharp gender dichotomy, this demonization of the adult female characters, was an element of the story that I wanted to explore and challenge. 

This was my starting place for writing H&G." - Danishka Esterhazy, Writer (Begins touring to film festivals Fall 2013)

Hallmark Transforming "Mirror Mirror" Comic Into Family Movie "The Hunters"
"Hallmark Released Synopsis: Carter and Jordyn Flynn (Payne, Forbes) aren't the average mom and dad. For them, a typical workday can take place anywhere in the world, raiding ornate museums and evading pursuing authorities as Hunters, protectors of powerful fairy tale artifacts that are anything but make believe. (Edit FTNH: Definitely sounds like a special annex of Warehouse 13!)" Victor Garber and Michelle Forbes will star.

This sounds right up my alley! I love me some Warehouse 13. Hallmark does not instill a lot of confidence, based on it's past movies (aside from it's Snow Queen), but it could be really cool! I certainly want to read the graphic novel now.

What a Fables Movie Must Have, According to Creator Mark Buckingham
"I think if it doesn't have Snow White and Bigby [Wolf] in it, then... [that's a problem]. They were such a core element of the first 50 issues of the story. So I think their romance, their relationship, is a really core aspect of the series. Beyond that, the beauty of Fables is it has such a rich cast, and you can really cherry-pick a lot of different aspects from it, and create a really good story, even if you don't necessarily follow the entire narrative."

Maleficent First Footage Reactions and Full Cast
"Maleficent is the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the 1959 classic “Sleeping Beauty.” A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well." (Full Cast)

First Footage Reactions from ScreenCrush: "To give you some idea of what was shown, it imagines the famous Christening scene of baby Aurora. The three fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) fly to the castle, ready to bestow their gifts on the child. As soon as the green fairy, Fauna, is about to present hers, the candles are snuffed out and a dark whirlwind heralds the evil witch herself. “Well, well,” says Jolie, accompanied by a villainous, whispered cackle. Scenes flash forward as we see Aurora growing up into her teenage self, while Maleficent, engulfed in a green flame, casts the famed curse we can all probably recite from memory." (More from Once Upon a Blog)

Tatum Channing's Werewolf Assassin in Jupiter Ascending
In this sci-fi version of Snow White, Tatum Channing plays the Huntsman character, an albino assassin half-wolf. In Channing's own words, "I’m a splice, splices are essentially built in a test tube. I’m a hybrid wolf and human. And half albino, so I’m a little defective."

I am rather excited for this, but I hope it doesn't mean we can't have a Cinder movie too.

Disney's Next Animated Feature (Unofficially) is Giants
They are apparently doing to "Jack and the Beanstalk" what they did for Tangled and Frozen, which was highly successful in Tangled, but debatable in Frozen. There are so many plot details over at Once Upon a Blog, so please go over there and see them! The pics on the blog are not from Giants, however!

Fairy Tale Roundup: Everything Comic-Con and a Sci-Fi Snow White Movie!

Oh geeze Comic-Con. Why you gotta have all this stuff coming out right now? Quick round up of Comic-Con and other things, mostly gathered, curated and analyzed by the lovely Once Upon a Blog.



The Fairy Tale Comic-Con Line Up
First, fairy tales were well represented at Comic Con this year! Sure you had OUAT and it's spin off, and Grimm, and the CW's Beauty and the Beast, but you also had some beautiful fairy tale artists featured, the disturbing toy series Ever After High, and the sexy and gory Grimm Fairy Tales animated series which I don't know whether to squee about, or shake my fist in feminist rage. Click the link to see the rest!

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Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
OUATW..which is a weird acronym....and it's 19 minutes of footage shown at Con seems to have had a positive response from Io9. "Gorgeous, fun, and scary" is certainly more than I had hoped for! Especially with the confectionery CGI in OUAT. (Click the link for details of the footage). It now is a mash up of Alice in Wonderland and Aladdin, which are two worlds I never would have thought to put together. Naveen Andrews (Sayid from Lost, yes, but I do love him as Balraj in Bride and Prejudice: click to see him singing and dancing) is going to play Jafar. This means that, as promicing as the premise of OUATW is, diverging from the Disney Alice, we will definitely still see Disney influence in the other worlds they promise. Sadface. See more of my sadface in the next item.

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OUAT: Neverland and The Little Mermaid

In regular OUAT, our heroes and villains have all banded together to save Henry. Why? I do not know. I feel like they need to stop hanging their seasons on a character that no one really cares about. Peter Pan will be non-traditional, as we have seen bits of, which is thrilling! Way to not just tell the Disney version! Though we do have Rufio as one of the lost boys. And we have this little gem:

Why you gotta be like that, OUAT? It's still the same schizophrenic show: half dark new spins on fairy tales (shadow Peter Pan, Little Red as the Wolf) and half Disney advertisement. I wouldn't be so frustrated with it if it didn't simply reinforce that the Disney versions are the only versions of these tales. Of course the Little Mermaid is a redhead named Ariel. Isn't that how it is in the original? Grumble, grumble. 

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Robert Downey Jr's Pinocchio

Once Upon a Blog rises to the occasion yet again, and digs up some really juicy stuff about RDJ's Pinocchio: the conflicts in development and speculation on the content of the movie. Thanks for the shout out, friend! I only have the Disney version of Pinocchio for reference (hypocrite much, Megan?) and sad to say I remember not liking it very much. But looking back on simply the plot itself, there is so much to mine about what it means to be a person, father/son relationships, giving in to temptation, selflessness, all of that. Once Upon a Blog supplements the analysis with really beautiful illustrations by Roberto Innocenti that highlight a darker dimension to Pinocchio that I never new existed. 

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Jupiter Ascending: A Sci-Fi Snow White Movie

At last! An outside-the-box fairy tale movie adaptation! Here, I cannot quibble with deviation from the main story, because they are using the Snow White tale to inform a new narrative...IN SPACE! The movie is said to be "the Snow White fairytale fused with Japanese pop culture in a sci-fi and futuristic mythological masterpiece" directed by the Wachowski’s  (The Matrix and Cloud Atlas). So you know it is going to be trippy and awesome.

"Jupiter Jones (Kunis) was born under a night sky, with signs predicting that she was destined for great things. Now grown, Jupiter dreams of the stars but wakes up to the cold reality of a job cleaning toilets and an endless run of bad breaks. Only when Caine (Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-military hunter, arrives on Earth to track her down does Jupiter begin to glimpse the fate that has been waiting for her all along – her genetic signature marks her as next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos."

Channing Tatum is a...ahem... "hybrid wolf and human. And half albino." That is crazy and awesome and I love it. And Sean Bean is in it too! 50 bucks says he'll die.

The design stuff looks amazing too! "The costumes and makeup on some of the extras look like 17th century French royalty that had their clothes tailored in Southeast Asia. " They claim to be doing filmic things that have never been done before, and the stunts are all real, not CGI. Not sure I am cool with the, "I want you to have sex with me in an alley" promo images, but we shall see! Click the link for more info, pictures, and Once Upon a Blog's thoughts.

Fairy Tale Roundup: Disney's The Beast, New Frozen Trailer and Culturally Diverse Fan Art, NEW FABLES VIDEO GAME, and Fairy Tale Scholarship

by Anne Lebovitz

Disney's The Beast Movie
Yes, folks. ANOTHER Beauty and the Beast movie. Once Upon a Blog is amazing as always, catching us up to the 3 Beauty and the Beast adaptations either currently running or in the works. This version focuses on the Beast (obviously). It is live-action, and supposedly a "darker" retelling, but honestly, how dark will Disney go? But it apparently has a few good things going on for it! Click the link to find out! I honestly hope that they try something new, rather than create a live action version of the animated feature from a different POV. No yellow dress, no talking furniture, no inventor father. I'd love it if they did an adaptation of Donna Jo Napoli's book Beast, but it doesn't look like that is happening.

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By weepingrockrock

REAL Frozen trailer
Well, an international Frozen trailer is here, and it looks slightly better than the Moose and Snowman Comedy Hour. I am a little disappointed with the Rapunzel look-alike, though I LOVE that the community is speaking out, creating their own ethnically diverse versions of the hero and heroine. Perhaps Disney will listen, and make better choices in the future. (Click the link for the pics Once Upon a Blog's aggregation of the controversy!)

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A Fables Prequel Video Game

Telltale Games (who brought us Monkey Island and The Walking Dead episodic animated games) brings us a Fables video game, called The Wolf Among Us, set before the Fables comic book series begins. Ichabod Crane is deputy mayor, and the story follows our beloved Bigby as sheriff investigating a murder. AND [SPOILERS] you get to see stirrings of his feelings for Snow White. It seems to be very character driven, and the choices that the player makes will lead you down different paths. The creators say the game is different each time you play it. There will be fights, but they will all be narratively motivated. And actions have consequences: if you take too many punches, you will be bloody and bruised. If you pick too many fights, it might effect your relationships with those you care about. The art is also stunning! The lead writer, Pierre Shorette, has immersed himself in the world of Fables, making the art his computer background, even digging into the original fairy tales that inspired the characters. SO EXCITED! (Also, Once Upon a Blog speculates about the Fables movie)

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The Different Ways to Analyse Fairy Tales

And now for a little meat and potatoes after the wonderful pop culture confectionery delights above. Tales of Faerie, a brilliant and scholarly mind as always, has compiled for us a list of different ways to examine fairy tales: Fairy tales as myth, psychoanalytical, gender politics, structural, collective unconscious (Jungian), etc. Though I am surprised that it did not include anthropological, the study of fairy tales as they related to the time and place they were told?

Fairy Tale Roundup: Casting News for Cinderella and Into the Woods, a "Fairy Tale Wedding," and the International Percy Jackson Trailer

Quick round up! LOTS of casting news coming out of the next two fairy tale films, and I have to say I am pretty excited about this:

Disney's Cinderella Movie
The Cinderella cast for Kenneth Branagh's live action Disney movie is now as follows: Lilly James (Downton Abbey) as Cinderella, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones' Rob Stark) as the Prince, Cate Blanchett as the Wicked Stepmother and now introducing Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother! While I feel it is a little awkward to cast the person whom you cheated on your wife with in yet another movie, casting Helena seems to be a good sign for Cinderella. You will get a very specific kind of fairy godmother out of her. Once Upon a Blog has some great commentary about it, and how, perhaps she will be like our mutual favorite fairy godmother of all time, Annette Crosby in The Slipper and the Rose. She also directed us to The Hero Complex' commentary regarding the casting:

"Though the fairy godmother in the 1950 animated feature was a grandmotherly dumpling, Bonham Carter’s casting would suggest that the updated “Cinderella” might be embracing a darker tone; the actress is known for playing offbeat, exaggerated roles, including the villainous Bellatrix Lestrange in the “Harry Potter” films, the twisted Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd” and clownish thief Madame Thénardier in “Les Misérables.”...It’s too early to say whether the film will follow in the whimsical, color-saturated footsteps of “Alice in Wonderland,” or whether it will take a more classic approach, but producers have said they want the film to feel “modern.”"

The cast will also include Sophie McShera (Downton Abby) and Holliday Grainger (The Borgias) as the stepsisters. This movie appears to be using the 1950s Disney movie as their basis, because they call the Stepmother Lady Tremaine, and Sophie McShera's stepsister as Drizella. Not sure how I feel about that. It seems like...I don't want to say "masturbation" when it comes to a Disney movie, but I can't really think of another word for it. [EDIT: Thank goodness for small mercies. Once Upon a Blog has discovered from Variety that Sophie McShera's stepsister name is Noemi.] According to Io9 yesterday, the movie will come out  March 13, 2015.

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Into the Woods Movie 
Once Upon a Blog has been scrambling to pin down the cast of Into the Woods, and her research, plus Io9's post this morning has confirmed that Anna Kendrick (squee!) is in talks to be Cinderella. She would be joining James Cordon as the Baker, Emily Blunt as the Baker's Wife, Meryl Streep as the Witch, Johnny Depp as the Wolf, Jake Gyllenhaal as Cinderella's Prince, Chris Pine as Rapunzel's Prince, Tracy Ullman as Jack's mom, and Christine Baranski as the Stepmother. This is a crackerjack cast. Granted Once Upon a Mattress in 2005 had a crackerjack cast too and it went splat, but finger's crossed!

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(from Asshole Disney)

The Concept of the Fairy Tale Wedding
Tales of Faerie reflects on the idea of Fairy Tale Weddings. What does that really mean?

The "fairy tale wedding" is, in theory, the couple's ideal, dream wedding. This coming from the misconception that fairy tales themselves are ideal. And in one sense, the happy endings do generally tend to be ideal, but they're more of a well-deserved rest for the main characters who have been through hell (sometimes literally) and back. But even then, you don't hear much detail about what makes it so happy, or the wedding itself, even though many fairy tales do end with a wedding. Some folktales end with a line about being invited to the wedding, and eating their fill and having wine run over their beards (see my beyond happily ever after post), but I highly doubt this is what bridal stores have in mind when they use the phrase "fairy tale wedding." 

Oh the truthiness of this.

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Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters International Trailer
In keeping with my attempt to integrate myth into my blog, here is the international Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters trailer:

I have a confession. I have not read the books. I only saw the first movie in a hotel room because nothing was on....and I LOVED IT. I am ridiculously excited about this movie (partially b/c Nathan Fillion is Hermes). Aside from the storytelling, the main reason I am excited is because the author of the books created the series to break open mythology for teens. To introduce them to the stories and characters. He has Rick Rirodan has another series about Egyptian Mythology, and he is currently writing a series on Norse Mythology. Maybe we can make myths the new popular genre! 

Fairy Tale Catch Up: Bizarre Adaptations and Meryl Streep

Wow, guys. I have been in a black hole of putting up a play (come see The Pirate Laureate of Port Town if you are in the DC area!) We have finally opened, and now I can catch up on all the fairy tale news and ephemera that has been cropping up lately!


Hansel & Gretel Is the Platonic Form of “So Bad It’s Good”
Io9 thinks Hansel and Gretel: Witchhunters is silly and fun! "If you're looking for a serious reinterpretation of the Hansel and Gretel story, this movie isn't going to cut it. Even the "dark" bits where the siblings try to figure out why their father left them alone in the woods are plain ridiculous. But if you want to laugh your ass off and see some witchslapping, it's the perfect thing. Gemma Arterton as Gretel is particularly adept at chewing the scenery in the most awesome way possible. What I'm saying is that you should turn your brain off and mainline some fairytale this weekend." I have yet to see it, but I must admit, I love the idea that Hansel now has diabetes from the witch candy and needs insulin shots. Honestly, I will see it for the fairy tale ass-kicking alone!


10 of the Most Bizarre Fairy Tale Adaptations
Flavorwire gave us a facinating list of strange fairy tale adaptations: Six-Gun Snow White, Catherynne M. Valente (set in the Wild West, and written by an amazing writer!), I Was A Rat!, Philip Pullman (about Cinderella's rat footman who didn't get turned back at midnight), The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival, Louise Murphy (Hansel and Gretel set in WWII), and more! Most of them seem pretty mainstream to avid fairy tale adaptation fans (like Anne Sexton's Transformations, and The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter), but as widely read as those are, yeah, they are weird.



Adorable Gender-Swapped Fairy Tale Princes by Yudi Chen
Flavorwire, yet again, gave us this beautiful series of gender-swapped fairy tale art: a long-bearded Rapunzel, a merman saving an Inuit princess from drowning, a beastly beauty, a king jealous of his stepson, and several others that display a fresh look at fairy tales with surprisingly unforced tenderness.



Meryl Streep is a huge Witch in the Into the Woods movie
WHAT? Amazing. She is simply in talks for the role, and this is by no means final, but Meryl Streep would play a fantastic witch in the Into the Woods movie. While I am still nervous about Disney doing my absolute favorite musical of all time, this seems to be a step in the right direction.

Movies: No Dark Cinderella and Maybe Witch Hunters is Awesome?

Photo by Dark Cherry on DeviantArt/ Official Movie Poster

The Cate Blanchett/ Mark Romanek Cinderella is a Bust
Gah! Just when we thought we might have a top-notch dark fairy tale coming down the studio pipe, Disney has decided that Mark Romanek's Cinderella is too dark for Disney. Click the link to hear Io9 rant and rave and echo my anger at this development. Fingers-crossed that some other studio has the gumption to snatch that project up. Disney doesn't need another regular Cinderella, or another modern twee Cinderella. Disney should have had the balls to delve. </rant>

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Might Not Suck?
In other news, it turns out that Witch Hunters may not be so bad afterall? The new redband trailer has a tongue in cheek flavor to it:



My fellow blogger Drown My Books will probably disagree with me, but Jeremy Renner still has yet to earn a "I will see anything he is in" card from me. Gemma Arterton, on the other hand, from her performance in St. Trinians, I can definitely get behind. Something to Read for the Train (Cate, who is in fact a girl) weighs in with some really thoughtful remarks about the nature of fairy tales to reflect the values of the times, and how, while many had moral lessons, they were meant as entertainment. She also treats us to my favorite version of Little Red Riding Hood to illustrate her point.

I have a feeling it's gonna be an awesomely terrible action romp, with the cool fighting moves and awesome slow mo and dead-pan badass one-liners (I admit it! The "we'd do this shit for free" line in the trailer hooked me.) And I'm kind of ok with that. (Though, my fairy tale racism argument still stands!)