Fairy Tale Roundup: NPR's Ted Radio Hour Explores Storytelling, Vincent Cassell's Beauty and the Beast Movie, Bluebeard and Rape Culture, and a One Thousand and One Nights Adaptation

“Barbe Bleue” by Sorsha

NPR's Ted Radio Hour: Framing the Story
While this is not strictly about fairy tales, NPR's Ted Radio Hour is amazing. This one has several Ted talkers exploring what a story is, how to tell a story, and what is important for a story. Andrew Stanton (the main writer for Pixar), discusses what makes a good story. Tracy Chevalier (writer of Girl with the Pearl Earring) tells how she finds a story in an image. Chip Kidd (book cover creator - Jurassic Park and others) talks about how book covers tell their own story. Chimamanda Adichie (Nigerian author) elegantly examines the dangers of s single story (hearing one story about a place or a person and thinking it is the whole picture (my favorite!)

First Look at Christophe Gans' Beauty & the Beast: "I'll Eat You Up I Love You So"
Once Upon a Blog gives us a first glimpse of the crazy sounding Christophe Gans' Beauty and the Beast. This is the one with Vincent Cassel, not the Disney one with Emma Watson. The image and costumes look traditional, and not very revolutionary, but Gans promises to "surprise the audience by creating a completely new visual universe never experienced before and produce images of an unparalleled quality." It is adapted from the original novella written by Madame de Villeneuve in 1740, rather than the children's version published in 1760. While many novel adaptations have used the novella as inspiration (Beauty by Robin McKinley), apparently this is the first time it has been adapted for the screen. Check out the link for some insightful thoughts from Gypsy.

Of Keys & Bluebeards
Gypsy of Once Upon a Blog reflects on a blog post from by fantasy writer and fairy tale lecturer Theodora Goss, "On Bluebeard" on how men and women will often perceive situations differently. What men may perceive as an easy conversation, women may perceive as a potential threat. Gypsy examines the post in the larger cultural context, and then looks at the situation through the lens of fairy tales:

"Girls and women are taught from an early age to be cautious: "Stay on the path", "Don't talk to strangers" and, unfortunately, this is still the smart thing to do. "Wolves" are bad enough. "Bluebeards" (and Mr. Fox characters) are downright terrifying." 

Not all women may feel this way, but in our current cultural climate, I would not blame them if they did. Walking home late at night, I have often looked at the man following me from the metro as a potential threat, even if he looks like a nice guy. You never want to be wrong. It is unfortunate that fear has made women adopt a "Better Safe than Sorry" stance. Even more unfortunate that Bluebeard and Little Red Riding Hood are still very relevant today.

EDIT: Heidi at SurLaLune has added to the conversation and provided several Bluebeard resources for further reading.

Scheherazade: From Storytelling 'Slave' To 'First Feminist'
To end this on a positive note, here is an NPR interview with Hanan al-Shaykh who has written a new adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights, in which Scheherazade outwits her own Bluebeard figure, the king. The stories she chose to adapt involve women using their wits to survive.

Radio: NPR's On Being with Maria Tatar

While I often post about radio interviews with fairy tale experts, few of them come close to this NPR interview with Maria Tatar. In the NPR series, On Being, which explores the big questions in human life, Tatar explores the world of fairy tales with Krista Tippet, an excellent and incredibly knowledgeable interviewer. They discuss the origins of fairy tales, the structure of fairy tales, fairy tales in popular culture, and fairy tales and children, all topics we have heard before, but they bring an immediacy and relatability to the discussion, bringing everything back to the big ideas we explore in our lives. (Click Here to Listen)

They discuss the idea of "Once Upon a Time," and how that phrase gives us permission to explore, to do things you would be afraid to do, to question things you wouldn't normally question because you are in a new and theoretical place.

They explore the "operatic beauty and monstrous terror" and the promise of "Happily Ever After" that combine to create fairy tales. The "Happy Ever After" is important, because it promises that there will be a way out. This, Tatar says, is why we can read them to children. No matter how dark it gets, there will be a happy ending.

Maria expounds upon her idea that fairy tales are not sacred texts. They are part of the "great cauldron of story." There is no original version, and each generation and culture changes the tale to speak to what they value and fear.

She states that there are no morals to fairy tales. The morality is highly ambiguous. However, there is wisdom to be gained from the tales. They discuss big ideas: sexuality and innocence, poverty and wealth, action and inaction, etc. She laughs that, in our modern cultures, we adapt the fairy tales so that we befriend the monsters, rather than defeating them. Fairy tales allow us to explore our values and ideas in a safe place.

She reflects on the fact that fairy tale themes are everywhere, in reality TV, Sex and the City as well as the fairy tale themed tv shows. Fairy Tale tropes are so entrenched in our culture, so primal, that they pop up in almost all of our stories. She feels that, in this time of great transition, we need the ancient wisdom of old stories to guide us, make us feel rooted.

She also discusses the very personal power of fairy tales to help you face your inner and outer demons. They are full of mysteries and puzzles that fascinate our brain that we use to help us figure out the world.

She tells of how she asks her students what books from childhood they brought to college. Most of the students don't remember the exact plot of the stories very well, but they always have a nugget of story that they cling to, something they strongly related to, a talisman they carry with them into this new place.

Finally, they talk about children, and how the liminal moment of bed time is a perfect meeting of generations, where those carring the nostalgia of fairy tales meet those who are hearing them for the first time. It is a co-storytelling, a time for asking questions and exploring what ifs, and what the story means for the world, and if it means anything at all.

It is an excellent interview, well-crafted and personal, bringing out the intimate and human nature of fairy tales.

And it ends with a clip from Game of Thrones, which is a mark of excellence in my book.

Interview: Guillermo del Toro on Fairy Tales and Darkness in Children's Movies

Guillermo del Toro (of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy fame) recently did an interview about his new movie Rise of the Guardians, and he had some interesting things to say about fairy tales and darkness in children's stories, both favorite topics here on Dark Forest!

What's the biggest mistake people make in telling stories about children, or for children?

Well, I think that one of the things is to actually try and create a sense of darkness in the tale. A lot of people just make this sanitized super happy-go-lucky, "bright sunshine and clouds" type of childhood movies. And you really need an element of the dark in it. In the case of Kung Fu Panda 2, we really came up with a psychotic, sociopathic villain. In the case of [Rise of the] Guardians, we have Pitch, which is an incredibly sophisticated and articulate guy that tries to control your fear. In the case of Puss in Boots, we had a bad guy who was Humpty, who was capable of changing and capable of doing a good action at the end. He was incredibly neurotic.
And I think that people don't acknowledge that kids have all these sides. Kids are neurotic, kids deal with fear, kids are confronted by really hostile impulses from the adults around them and the other kids, and you know, movies should acknowledge all this and create these fables that help them deal with those things....

What's the difference between a monster movie and a dark fairy tale?

It's a very, very, very thin difference. I think that horror stories come from fairy tales, in a way. They share a lot of similarities. I think the difference is tonal. You know, the fairy tale contains a lot more elements of magic and whimsy and the the horror story contains a lot more, sort of, almost existential feelings — sort of dread, and ultimately they are similar melodies, played at a very different key.

Is there a limit to how dark a movie for kids can get? And do you think animated films are getting closer to classic children's books, and less like cartoons?

One of the master of children's fiction is one of the guys who acknowledged fully the darkness of the world — that is, Roald Dahl. He did really brutal passages in The BFG. There's really very, very creepy and violent [stuff] in The Witches. And so on, and so forth. He really scared a lot of [kids] from that side. He is the reason why... when the line is crossed, and then it doesn't function as a children's story any more — it can become an adult fairytale. It can become a fairytale that adults can enjoy. And I think there are some of those, particularly in the Eastern cultures. Like 1001 Nights — a lot of those stories are very harrowing. And people forget that a lot of the tales that the Grimm Brothers collected, they were actually meant to be told to adults. People think, "Oh, they were children's stories" — [but] not in the beginning. They were meant to be told to adults, to entertain them. But yes, to answer your question: It can get too dark.

That was one of the challenges with [Rise of the] Guardians. We wanted to keep that balance at all times. It would still be fun, it would still be a ride.

You can read the rest of the interview here at Io9. I must admit, I wasn't that excited for this movie, but it seems to be playing around with some fun ideas!

Interview: Fairy Tale Darwinism

The Huffington Post recently did a live hangout with Jack Zipes (preeminent fairy tale scholor), Tim Manley (fellow fairy tale blogger of Fairy Tales for 20 Somethings, and teacher/ writer), Donald Hasse (Editor of Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies), and Susan Kim (Writer and Filmmaker). They discuss the evolution of fairy tales, how fairy tales are a reflection of the culture, and what makes a fairy tale stand the test of time. And Jack Zipes goes off on how the original fairy tales are not good for children. You know how I feel about that. Though Adam Gidwitz says it better. 

He does also touch upon something we have discussed before, how modern interpretations have a faux-feminism, saying that all you have to do to empower women is have them swing a sword around. (See The Empowerment of Snow White). Should women have to "become masculine" to have power. Is wielding a sword (or fighting in general) masculine? Personally, I think if you have a weak female character whose only empowerment is having a sword, then yes, it is a sham. However, if the character herself is strong, no matter what she does, sword or knitting, she will be empowered. Any thoughts, viewers at home?

While the discussion is a bit all over the place, and it seems like the moderator wanted to tackle a bit too much for such a small time slot, it is an excellent interview! It is so great to see such different perspectives on fairy tales together in one (virtual) room. I just wish there was more time for them to argue.

RADIO: NPR's Interview with Maria Tatar on the Origins and Interpretations of Fairy Tales

NPR's On Point did a fantastic interview with Maria Tatar recently! It delves into why and how the brothers collected the tales, fairy tales in popular culture, misogyny, Antisemitism and violence in fairy tales, and personal interpretation of fairy tales. While many of you have heard these topics discussed before, this conversation is fresh and interesting.

Maria emphasizes that the Grimm version is not sacred. Our stories that we remix and reinterpret and add meanings based on our own life experiences. I love that! While I do get frustrated when people take the tales and make them something totally other than I myself interpret them to mean or kowtow to the Disney version when there are more interesting versions available, it is important to remember that we all approach fairy tales with our own baggage. There is no right version. One of the best qualities of fairy tales is that they are so malleable. We don't get the internal monologue of the characters, just the actions, so we can infuse their actions with meanings we relate to. The tales belong to all of us. We each have our own Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty, or Little Red Riding Hood.

Go to the original page for supplementary materials. 

Books: What about the Prince? An Interview with Author Christopher Healey

With all this talk about kickass princesses, the princes are feeling somewhat neglected. Even ordinary princesses who do nothing heroic have the story named after them, rather than the prince (See my opinion on Passive and Dumb Heroines).

Enter author Christipher Healy, who has written a book about those neglected princes, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. I will leave the book details to other bloggers, but in a recent interview on the blog Stories are Good Medicine, Healy described the way he created his fairy tale characters by digging deep into the original stories to glean what sort of person would make those choices:

Question: Christopher, your book has four main protagonists – Frederic, Gustav, Liam and Duncan — all former Prince Charmings (er, I mean, Princes Charming. As your character Duncan would remind me, the noun is made plural, not the adjective).  Where did you come up with their off-kilter personalities? And tell us the truth – which one is closest to your own?

Christopher: Well, the original fairy tales don’t give us much to go on, but it was still important to me that my princes’ personalities made sense with what little we do know of these guys already. I asked myself, for instance: What do we know about Cinderella’s prince? He can dance. He’s sophisticated. And he’s got noble ladies swooning over him. But beyond that, we don’t know much. So I took what Charles Perrault gave me, and got creative with the rest. From that starting point, it’s not too much of a stretch to think that Prince Frederic is probably not very outdoorsy, perhaps a little too focused on his fashion choices, and (to put it mildly) not the most daring guy in the world.

I did the same for all the princes. Rapunzel’s prince wants to rescue her, but never thinks to get a ladder — so Gustav is the kind of guy who rushes into things without thinking. Sleeping Beauty’s prince actually rescues an entire kingdom in his story, and gets major kudos for it — so Liam bases his entire identity on heroics and has a bit of an ego about it. Snow White’s prince gets lucky by wandering through the forest and stumbling upon a bewitched princess to kiss — so Duncan is a carefree oddball who spends a lot of time walking the woods by himself, just waiting to see where life takes him next...

Question: Your book plays with the princess stereotype as well. How did you decide on your princess’ personalities?

Christopher: While I did work to make sure that my princesses were different from previous depictions of those same characters (especially their film incarnations), I crafted their personalities the same way I did the princes. I built them out of the original stories.
Cinderella worked hard labor for years, so she’s tough and strong. Rapunzel has the power to heal people with her tears (in the original tale), so here she’s got a bit of a savior complex. Sleeping Beauty was hidden away and catered to for her whole childhood, and has thus ended up somewhat spoiled.

And Snow White, just like her prince, spends a lot of time wandering the forest and chatting with wildlife, so as it turns out, she’s actually a good match for Duncan.

But those were just starting points for the princesses. The ladies come into the spotlight a whole lot more in Book II, and the further changes you’ll see there should come across as a natural evolution for the characters.  (Full interview)

I love this method of finding character! So many people complain that fairy tale characters in their original form are too flat and uninteresting, and that is often the case. We never get to see what they are feeling, or what they are thinking, just what they do. But I think its a great game to extrapolate what sort of person they are from the actions that they take. 

Movies: Q & A with Snow White and the Huntsman Director Rupert Sanders

 

A recent Q & A with Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders on Screenrant has made me a bit more confidant in his interpretation of the classic tale, and more hopeful that Kristin Stewart can pull off her role. 

On casting Kristin Stewart: 

Yeah, I think we were looking for someone who was obviously a great actor first and foremost but also someone who’s incredibly physical. Everyone thinks she is Bella from Twilight. I think she’s such a good actor that she encompassed that role so well that people think that’s how she is. When you meet Kristen, she’s so far away from that character. I’d first seen her in ‘Into the Wild’ and I was really blown away. I remembered that she was the girl from ‘Panic Room,’ ‘Welcome to the Rileys,’ ‘The Runaways,’ and now ‘On the Road.’ She’s one those actors who does these smaller films and then she does these big movies and she’s really managed her career so well in that way. She’s incredibly spirited and very kind of wild and also she’s got this kind of this alchemy to her. You’re not quite sure what it is about her but on screen she’s just incredible. And when you see her act you realize why she is such a huge movie star and why she’s going to continue to get bigger.”

 On Charlize Theron's "very real" performance:

When you’re playing an Evil Queen you can go into pantomime very quickly. I think what she did so well and what really we all felt was the best kind of root for the character was that she wasn’t playing pure evil. I don’t think anyone’s born pure evil. Things happen to them growing up that make them who they are and I think that’s very true with her backstory that you see later in the film. She’s a very disturbed character who’s desperately got to find this heart because she needs to live forever. It’s as simple as that. She’s dead on the inside but she’s determined that she will avenge her family and the tribe that she was with that was constantly brutalized by kings and other kingdoms. She’s determined that the world will feel the suffering that she felt and she will stop at nothing to do that. She’s driven by some dark machinations but she’s also incredibly wounded and fragile underneath that. You can relate to her, because we understand the things she’s gone through and why she’s become evil. She’s not just sitting around with a white cat on her lap and hacking people’s heads off. Her evil comes because of how distorted the character has become. So she plays it very real and I think that’s really the success of the character. She’s incredible to watch."

On why he chose "Snow White":

“I think it’s because it’s the best fairy tale. I don’t like them when they get too princess-y. I don’t love balls and sleeping beauties, that kind of thing. I think the great thing about ‘Snow White’ is those images have scarred me since I was a child with the Queen, the mirror, the taking of the heart, the huntsman and the enchanted forest. So really, my goal was to re-appropriate those myths and those symbolic devices. Each of those ideas is so deeply psychologically embedded and that’s why the stories have lasted so long. People still have a thirst for them internationally. So it was a great opportunity to go back to that source material and create something very new and contemporary with it but in keeping with the Grimms fairytale version of it. We’re not polishing it up to make it something that it isn’t.”

On the tone and imagery of the film:

"One of the first things that I did was I went out and found a group of fifteen contemporary artists around the world and I’d give them an idea and they’d start to sketch it. I’d call them again, we kept up this kind of constant accumulation of imagery in which we created a bible. And then I made everyone who came into the film read the bible, understand the world and understand the mechanics of the world, the physics of it, why the dark forest is what it is, why the enchanted forest exists. What is the spell? What are the three drops of blood? What’s the symbolism? What’s the mythology? So once everyone had that, I think they really were able to go into a very rich world that was already kind of designed for them. Knowing that as an actor is like getting into costume. Once you know the world you know how your character fits into it.” (Full interview)

It seems that Rupert Sanders did his homework. He tried to delve deeper into the fairy tale itself and ask questions of it to come up with his expanded version of the story. He was haunted by the dark images of the story as a young boy, and has never seen the Disney Snow White. While I know many would argue that Snow White is very princess-y, as she has things happen to her, rather than taking agency, I think the story could be interpreted in several different ways. I agree with Rupert Sanders that it is almost as dark a story as The Juniper Tree. Many people just see the Disney version overlaid on the tale. Read the Grimm's version over at SurLaLune, and you be the judge.

Check out some additional footage that looks pretty damn awesome (with a worrying psychodelic Lisa Frank forest in the middle): 

Exhibit: “The Charm was Broken, Illness and Injury in the fairy tales of Mary de Morgan”

The University of Alabama at Birmingham's museum is having in intriguing exhibit called “The Charm was Broken, Illness and Injury in the fairy tales of Mary de Morgan.” While I am not as familiar with Ms. deMorgan's work, the connections that Valerie Gribben and Michael Flannery make between the world of medicine and the world of fairy tales underline a few of the issues we discussed in The Real Fears of Fairy Tales:

The exhibit features the work of de Morgan and examples of centuries-old medicine, magic and myth, drawing on the venerable medical texts housed in UAB’s Reynolds Historical Library. Because once upon a time, when the world’s medical sophistication was somewhat less than today, magic and medicine were more closely intertwined.

One panel in the exhibit, drawn from a Reynolds Library text, promotes unicorn horn as a powerful cure-all of ailments from stomach disorders to poison. Another points out that rapunzel, an English herb whose name was appropriated by a long-haired fairy tale heroine, was thought to be good for pregnant women.

Mike Flannery, associate director for historical collections at UAB, says that at the time that many fairy tales originated, disease was poorly understood and never far away.

“Disease was an ever-present, sort of ominous cloud that hung over every family,” says Flannery. “These fairy tales are stories to convey the reality of life to children and in some ways to assuage the fears of parents regarding diseases that then were death sentences but today are largely treatable.”

Flannery says fairy tales gave people a target for their fears. Witches, goblins and trolls became the manifestation of diseases that had no cure, such as consumption. We know it today as tuberculosis, but 200 years ago, it was the cancer of the day.

“When you live with the uncertainty of life and death, when you live in a world where 30 percent of children born won’t survive one year, you have to come to grips with that reality in some meaningful way,” he said. “This is a literary genre that helped them do that.”

Gribben says that while training to be a physician, she’s met many characters that resemble prototypical fairy tale figures in clinic exam rooms and hospital corridors. She’s seen the Abandoned Prince, the Evil Stepmother and the Lecherous King.

“Fairy tales and medicine both deal with the things that go bump in the night,” said Gribben. “It’s the unknown, the dark forest, the shadowy world. When you go to a hospital you enter the realm of the sick — the ill, and it’s a transition from the outside world. I think medicine is about reaching deeper and having compassion for everyone around you even if they don’t look like you or sound like you. I think fairy tales and medicine both deal with the human spirit and the human condition. ”

Happily ever after: The lessons of medicine and fairy tales from uabnews on Vimeo.

I love the idea of medicine as good magic, and disease as the monster, the spell, the dark forest. Fairy tales were a way for families to wrap their head around the inexplicable, amorphous danger that was disease, and they still are a great way to frame fighting an illness in the modern age. You tell yourself a story to face the danger, the fear, the uncertainty; you must battle your way through the dark forest to free yourself from the evil spell. 

TV: Interview with Meghan Ory, Little Red in Once Upon a Time

 

TV.com has an interview with Meghan Ory, Ruby/ Red on Once Upon a Time. While most of the interview is fluff ("Will there be a romantic interest for your character?" - seriously? After "Red-Handed," that is all you can think to ask?), there are a few interesting bits:

"You've done a lot of work with Ginnifer Goodwin, she's kind of a scene partner for you, which of her characters would you say she's more like?

Ginnifer is such an amazing actress she's not really like either of them. I think Ginnifer just IS Snow White. When we were shooting on the top of the mountain, there were all these birds around, and I'm not even joking: one of them landed ON her hand. Everybody's just like, 'Okay, you actually ARE Snow White, the reincarnation of Snow White.'"


What were some of the psychological fairy tale connections that stayed with you?
"A lot of Red Riding Hood is about warning young girls from predatory men, to see the wolf was losing your virginity back in the day, so I thought that was really interesting. I read a quote from Charles Dickens who said 'Little Red Riding Hood was my first love, and I thought if I could have married Little Red Riding Hood I should have known perfect bliss.' She's like the image of innocence and purity and all of that, before she meets the wolf and goes through her transformation, and I thought that was really cool and its an interesting history to be a part of." (Full Interview)

I'm glad that at least Meghan Ory and Gennifer Goodwin did their fairy tale research! It's very encouraging.

Interview: Once Upon a Time Creators Respond to Show's Disneyfication

 

Once Upon a Time creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis were at Wondercon and chatted with the audience about their hopes for the future of the show. Spinoff Online has an article about the panal. (Full Article). 

They responded to the accusations that the show is "light and fluffy":

"Although Once Upon a Time may be filled with fairy tales, magic and true love’s kisses, the one thing the television drama is not, creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis told Spinoff Online, is light and fluffy.

“I constantly read people that are like, ‘It’s so light, like Disney!’ [The Evil Queen] ripped her father’s heart out to enact a curse, and [Belle] cut her fiancé. How much darker can you get? Throw in cancer?” Kitsis said over the weekend at WonderCon in Anaheim, California."

On their relationship with Disney:

The show has also incorporated multiple nods to ABC’s parent company Disney, from Belle (Emilie de Ravin) sporting the same name and dresses as the heroine in the animated Beauty and the Beast to Mickey Mouse’s hat from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” short in Fantasia appearing in the background of a recent episode.

However, the drama’s dark tone has led to some tensions with Disney, most notably when one of Snow White’s dwarves was stabbed in a courtyard.

“Obviously at first when they heard there was eight dwarves and we killed one, they wanted to talk to us about that!” Kitsis laughed.

“We had a discussion,” Horowitz said.

Despite that, the creators said working with Disney has gone smoothly, and they have the company’s full support to mess with or incorporate parts of their mythology wherever they see fit.

“They’ve been great, they’ve been very supportive,” Kitsis said. “Even in the pilot, I think it was the first time they showed Snow White giving birth or wielding a sword on TV — this was the beloved franchise of Disney and they said, ‘OK, go have fun!’ We’ve had Disney references from the beginning, even in the pilot when Emma wishes on the blue star, because we can and because they’re fun and we’re fans of Disney.”

That balancing act between the show’s darkness and the lighter Disney moments is one of the main challenges of writing Once Upon a Time, the two admitted.

“It’s tricky, but it’s what’s fun to us about the show, which is to tell different kinds of stories but have them fall under the umbrella of one tone,” Horowitz said.

It sounds like the process is rather schizophrenic. Adam and Edward want to create a dark, edgy fairy tale and Disney wants the light and fluffy. And it is light and fluffy, did you watch the Dreamy episode, Adam and Ed? Pink jellyfish dress. While the creators think they can have that tonal discrepancy, I think that is what is putting a lot of audience members off.

What do you think? Does it work? Or does it tonally clash?

TV: Interview with Once Upon a Time's Jennifer Morrison

While most of the responces are what you would expect, it turned out some interesting tidbits. Here there be SPOILERS.

From the Huffington Post:

I think the producers have indicated in previous interviews that there will be a resolution to the Kathryn storyline fairly soon. So in terms of where you're filming now, has the balance shifted between Emma and Regina at all, or has Regina still got the upper hand? By the point we're at right now, it does start to balance out a little bit. There's more and more building against Regina in terms of proof for other people in town to realize that maybe, she isn't just a good mayor. Part of the curse has been that people have not questioned things; they’re sort of in this haze where they don’t really think outside of what's been the norm from day to day for the last 28 years. Now, all of the things that have been set in motion because of Emma being in town are forcing people to sort of wake up a little bit at a time and go, "Wait a second, why would she do this?" So, Regina is starting to lose her footing in terms of her hold over everyone in town. There does start to be a little bit of a power shift -- or at least some sort of a power balance -- because once you plant those seeds of doubt then she's definitely not as all powerful as she once was. 

The March 25 episode will see Emma kidnapped by the Storybrooke version of the Mad Hatter. What can you reveal about that episode and what he wants from Emma?It was probably the most fun I've had so far shooting episodes. It's one of my favorite scripts. I had such an amazing time. Sebastian Stan, who plays the Mad Hatter, he’s such an extraordinary actor. It was so great coming to work with him every day. He did such cool stuff with his character. I mean, there was not a second I didn't believe he really was this guy. So, from that perspective it was just such a good time. 

It does start to plant some interesting seeds in Emma, because it's another person saying to her some of the things that Henry has been saying. She can still justify it away in the sense that, "Well, maybe he read the book. Maybe there's another copy of the book. Maybe he heard about the book." But it is really the first time that there are little chips in Emma's armor in terms of her thinking; not necessarily that there really is a curse and that everybody really is a fairytale, but I think it’s really that turning point for her to realize that there is something very dark and possibly dangerous going on that she needs to try to figure out.

Can you tease anything else about the story lines you're currently filming?I feel like the whole season -- the way I’ve put it metaphorically is -- we’ve been sort of climbing up the roller coaster. It’s been sort of like one notch at a time. Climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing. By the time we get to episode 20, we're hanging at the top. At 21 and 22, we're just flying down. So, all these little pieces of things that have been set up, all these little puzzle pieces that have been planted all along the way for the whole season, a lot happens really fast. All of it starts to come together very quickly. It's going to be a whirlwind at the end. (Full interview)

I like the idea that Emma's presence is causing the haze to lift, though we haven't really seen much evidence of that in recent episodes. I also feel that episode 21 is a bit late in the season for interesting things to start happening. Her description of "climbing up the roller coaster... one notch at a time" is pretty accurate, and I prefer stories that start at the top of the roller coaster. It's nice to know that there are puzzle pieces, though, and that the pace will pick up soon!

I am excited for the Mad Hatter episode! I've been dying for another character to start remembering their fairy tale lives.  Life is more interesting when that happens.

TV: Interview with Once Upon a Time's Gennifer Goodwin

Great interview from the Los Angeles Times with Once Upon a Time's Gennifer Goodwin on her role of Snow White. A few things I had never thought about before that make me feel a little better about the series (Full Article).

Highlights

On David and Mary Margaret's relationship:

"[P]eople are forgetting that he’s cursed. The thing is, this couple will always put obstacles in their own way because they are cursed.  That is what makes them different from their fairy-tale counterparts. In fairy-tale land, external things are always the obstacles.  In Storybrook, just like in the modern world, these are people who insist on putting obstacles in their own way. And I think that Mary Margaret is addicted to disappointment so she puts herself in situations that are impossible — and that almost make her happy. Her curse, as inflicted by the Evil Queen, is that just when she’s about to possess her happiness, she finds a way to make things bad for herself and to have those things taken away from her. 

I feel that in many ways, she should have forgiven David and been more empathetic to his situation. He did make a mistake, but he’s a good man and he was trying so hard to keep someone from hurting in not telling his wife about the other woman — even though it’s not really his wife. Snow White’s really his wife, and he doesn’t really have any kind of relationship with this woman because all of his memories of his relationship with Katherine are false. But that’s just another example of Mary Margaret keeping herself from happiness because instead of growing and evolving and compromising in relationships in the way that we should in order to make ourselves happy, she has a knee-jerk reaction, when there’s any sign of conflict, to push people away. And that’s her curse. And David’s curse is that he is insecure and he is paralyzed by guilt; he’s so set in doing the right thing that he actually makes everything far too messy. I feel like he sort of stalls like a car when there’s possibility that he’s hurt someone."

On the fairy tale Snow White:

I found that the things that affected my process the most were these critical analyses of fairy tales.  There are these textbooks that break down what the importance was of each fairy tale in the time they were told.  And I found all of that so fascinating. In reading the breakdowns, I read a lot about Snow White’s own vanity and her competition with her mother — or evil stepmother — and that greatly changed how I saw Snow White and understanding what that story was originally meant to teach. Because then I started seeing Snow White as a bit of a spoiled brat when she was younger and she was someone who did cherish the attention she won from her father over the woman that he married. The Grimms’ version tells of Snow White’s own vanity and her not being able to turn down the beautiful comb that was offered to her by the hag or the laces that the hag offeres her to hang around her neck.  She was wrapped up in her own beauty.  And the message was that her own vanity would kill her. I really liked that idea, and I’ve incorporated it subtly into my characterization.

This really helps to shed some light on the choices they are making in the show. And why Storybrook is so frustrating, No one is allowed to have their happy ending; everyone ends up self-sabotaging.

As for Snow White's vanity, I find that interpretation intriguing. Everyone always sets up Snow White and the Queen as polar opposites. Snow White is always pure and good, goes into the forest, remains pure and good, and then dies and gets the prince. I like the idea that that she was almost as vain as the queen, and the comb and ribbons/ corset were a metaphor about how vanity would kill her. It also gives the opportunity for her time in the forest to change her for the better. Its a much more interesting story that way. I can see hints of it in Once Upon a Time: Mary Margaret having plunging necklines when she is in love, the "scarf/ no scarf" question when she is about to go door to door, the severe shame she feels when the town looks at her as a "harlot." People can be good, and still be vain. I have a feeling that we will see more of that as the "What Snow White did to the Queen to Make Her Evil" is revealed.