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: Frozen is not Snow Queen, Adaptation in Saving Mr. Banks, What is Coming of Age?, Gans' Beauty and the Beast Stills, and RDJ as Pinocchio?

Frozen isn't Really "The Snow Queen" After All
According to the character profiles that recently emerged from Disney, Frozen is inspired by "The Snow Queen," but is not really the "Snow Queen" in the slightest. It is about two princesses, one of whom has magical ice powers that begin to corrupt her. I would love it if this ended up being a "Snow Queen" prequal, but until there is any sort of confirmation on that, I think I'm going to forgo reporting on any more Frozen things.

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Saving Mr. Banks and Fairy Tale Adaptation
While Mary Poppins isn't quite a fairy tale, Once Upon a Blog examines the upcoming film and how it depicts the process of adapting fairy tales into Hollywood blockbusters: "trying to find the balance between being OK with the necessity of that, so the tales continue to live, and the despair I feel at missed opportunities when I see a lack of respect and/or understanding of the source material." She then goes on to state that fairy tales are malleable, and should reflect the time in which they are told:

"I'm interested in fairy tales even more as living things; things that both impact and reflect our society and the worldwide human experience.How tales are told, shared, recorded and retold show us where we've come from, reflect what's happening now and, if we pay attention, give us tools for where we're going. Studying history is excellent and valid but without paying attention to what's happening to fairy tales in the media and popular culture, it's like the sociology student closing the window on a college protest against Vietnam because he couldn't concentrate on his social and political science studies."

Great stuff! I am of her mind, that the source material is vital, and yet the tales must change to reflect the values and needs of the times. Click the link to read more about the movie and the rest of her thoughts. So excited for this movie!

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Coming of Age Rituals: Do They Mean Anything?
The Hub recently published this compelling examination of coming of age rituals through the book Sons of the 613 by Michael Rubins. While not about fairy tales, most popular fairy tales are coming of age stories. The lowly person must rise above his or her station or means to do something spectacular and save the day, and thus become an adult. In the modern day and age, we do not have a set "you are now an adult" ritual. Sure, you could say you are an adult when graduate college, or get your first car, or have sex for the first time, or own a house, but the line is different for each person, and more often than not seems to be pushed later and later as adolescence extends into the early 20s. Religious ceremonies are symbolic coming of age rituals, but in contemporary society they rarely mean that the child is now treated as an adult.The protagonist's brother in Sons of 613 feels that physical feats prove that you are a man.

One of the students in the blogger's class offered a different mesasure for adulthood that I think also can apply to fairy tales:  “becoming an adult is really about getting over yourself. It’s not always about you.” Some coming of age fairy tales pass this test and others don't. Cinderella does not. Jack is ambiguous, depending on if you interpret his actions as selfishly motivated, or if you see his actions as an acceptance of household responsibility. The girl in "Diamonds and Toads" could be said to become an adult because she helps a poor old woman along the way, and gets rewarded, but you could say that decision came from innocence, rather than strength of character, as she was always kind. Perhaps the heroine in "The Seven Swans," who almost losses her life to save her brothers? Do you know of any coming of age fairy tales that fits this description of coming of age?

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Stills of Gans' Beauty and the Beast
The film looks beautiful! And they seem to be basing the moving entirely off the de Baumont novella, rather than any sort of popular culture permutation since then. It includes merchant father down on his luck, selfish sisters and the dreams! While apparently close to La Belle et la Bete, because they are both based on the same story, Once Upon a Blog states that the film will have more if a live action Miazaki style than any of the other adaptations. So excited for this one now!

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(image from GeekTyrant)

Robert Downey Jr. To Play Pinocchio
Flavorwire has reported that Robert Downey Jr. will play both a young (ger than we are used to) Gepetto and motion capture and voice Pinocchio in an upcoming movie directed by Ben Stiller. Usually Pinocchio is about a man who wants a son, but in this case, due to the strange casting, it might be about a man who wants to make a duplicate of himself. Strange, but intriguing, and appropriate for the roles that Robert Downey Jr typically embodies.

Video: Book People Unite

Sorry for the radio silence, folks! Its the end of the semester, so work and masters degree have been taking up most of my time. However, I wanted to give you this cute video today! It's part of a campaign for Reading is Fundamental, an organization devoted to making sure all children have access to books and discover the joys and value of reading. It stars some of our favorite literary characters, including Pinocchio, Three Blind Mice, Humpty Dumpty, Big Bad Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the three bears, and the Three Pigs. And a cameo by Levar Burton. What more could you ask for!

Performance: P. Nokio: a Hip Hop Musical at Imagination Stage

Voice of America has an article about a fantastic new children's hip-hop musical called P.Nokio, a version of the fairy tale Pinocchio for the modern age. It looks like a really exciting and relevant twist on the story, and has good lessons for the kids (and adults):

 

Scott Suchman/Imagination Stage

The Graffiti Fairy (Paige Hernandez) confronts P. Nokio (Psalmayene 24) in a scene from Imagination Stage's hip hop retelling of "Pinocchio."

"In this version, the main character’s name is P. Nokio, and he’s not a wooden puppet, he’s an animation in a video game, brought to life by the Graffiti Fairy.

The play, "P. Nokio: a Hip Hop Musical," is the creation of Psalmayene 24. 

“For some reason Pinocchio has always resonated with me,” the playwright says.

Psalm, who has written other plays inspired by hip hop culture, thought the story “really lent itself to that type of interpretation.”

Psalm not only wrote the play, he also plays the main character. Like the wooden puppet, this P. Nokio chooses fun when he should be going to school.

And he lies, which causes his nose to grow, a development which that is shown on video monitors above the stage.

“At its core, Pinocchio is really a story about redemption,” Psalm says. “We have this puppet who makes many mistakes. He goes astray many times, but at the end he finally does the right thing.” 

P. Nokio, like his predecessor, risks his own life to rescue his father. “We all make mistakes,” Psalm says, ”but you always have an opportunity to right your wrongs.”

Psalm has written adult plays, but he enjoys writing for young people. “I feel like I can really let my imagination run free and run wild, because children will follow you almost anywhere, as long as you keep things active and really interesting.”

The musical clearly does that, often using call and response to get the young audience involved. "P. Nokio" performances sold out at Imagination Stage. But the show will return after traveling elsewhere." (Original article).

Click here at the Imagination Stage blog  for more video of the performance, and interviews with the artists!

Click here for the Washington Post Review.

Shout out to my friend Andrew Griffin who designed the lights for this show, and posted this awesome video!

Art: Minimalist Fairy Tale Art by Christian Jackson

From Strollerderby:

"Strip fairy tales of all their pomp, circumstance, princes and princesses and you have a very basic story. And each fairy tale has some kind of hook, some sort of iconic image, item or idea that is easily identifiable. The graphic artist Christian Jackson recognized this and distilled a collection of classic and famous tales and conveyed each one into a simple, very minimalist statement.

Of his children’s story series, Jackson stated: 'My life was thrown in very childish direction when I became a father a little over 2 1/2 years ago. I guess this series was my way of releasing some of that energy creatively. I can’t really say that I “decided on children’s stories” my lifestyle pretty much demanded it. When the idea for the posters came to me, the iconic images for each story just sort of poured out.'"

 

 
 

These are beautiful! I think my favorite are Little Red Riding Hood, Princess and the Pea, Ugly Duckling, Pied Piper, and the Wizard of Oz.

Performance: The Neo-Futurists' The Strange and Terrible True Story of Pinocchio (the wooden boy) as Told by Frankenstein's Monster (the wretched creature)

An exciting project coming currently running at the Neo-Futurists:

"Written and directed by Greg Allen
Previews Thursday and Friday, March 8 and 9 at 8:00 p.m.
Opening Night: Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.
Regular performances continue through April 14: Thurs/Fri/Sat at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are $20, $10 for students/seniors with ID, or
pay-what-you-can on Thursdays. 

All performances take place at The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, Chicago, Ill.
Neo-Futurist Founding Director Greg Allen presents Carlo Collodi's original 1883 Italian masterpiece through the eyes of Mary Shelley's nameless hideous Monster, using a barrage of puppets, absurd costumes, mesmerizing stagecraft, and his trademark dark humor and meta-theatrics.  Definitely NOT a children's story, this stage adaptation includes all the outrageous, bizarre, and violent scenes which are usually cut from other adaptations of Pinocchio.  Allen parellels the stories of these two motherless, un-born creatures to explore the nature of love, betrayal, mortality, fatherhood, forgiveness, and the meaning of life itself.

Pinocchio/Frankenstein promises to be among the best of Allen's award-winning work."

This actually makes perfect sense, and I don't know why it hasn't been explored before (if it has, please tell me!) Pinocchio and Frankenstein's Monster are both characters looking to be human. They were created by a man not for their own sake, but as an embodiment of an ambition or need from their creator. Friends, in Chicago, please tell me how it is!