TV: Once Upon a Time Rewatch

(image from Why We Love Once Upon a Time)

Well, well, well. Who'da thunk it. Once Upon a Time was much better the second time through.

Reasons:

1) I was not hung up on what I wanted the show to be (an amazing exploration of actual fairy tales in a modern setting), and watched it for what it is (a first season of an adventure story about story book and Disney characters). This time I was not surprised and outraged by the singing of Heigh-Ho, nor the name of Maleficent. I knew Henry would be annoying, that there would be massive cheese, sprinkled with brilliance, and that Emma's face would never change from that bewildered look she always has. And because I was not hung up on these things, I enjoyed it more!

2) Watching it one episode after another, I realized how slow the show was NOT. Waiting from week to week, it often felt like plot lines were dragging on forever. Oh for the love of GOD, how many times would Regina and Emma bicker about the kid. When will David and Mary Margaret make up their frikkin minds?? But I was shocked that boom! Episode 2, we find out about Regina's father, boom! Episode 7, Graham dies. Episode 8, we find out about Rumplestiltskin's background. The major plot points just keep on coming.  And even within the long, drawn out stuff, there are subtle changes in the arguements Regina and Emma have, or the stages of accepting parenthood that Emma goes through, or the issues that David and Mary Margaret address. Waiting a week for each episode, it just seems like they are rehashing the same things, but juxtaposed, one after the other, you catch the differences.

Favorite Things This Time Around:

1) "That Still Small Voice:" I love me some Jiminy Cricket/ Doctor Hopper. He knocked this episode out of the park. His struggle with his conscience in the collapsed mine, and his complete pwning of Regina really make his performance one of the best in the series, I think.

2) "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter:" Honestly, the first time around, I wanted this episode to be the beginning of everyone starting to remember their fairy tale lives, and trying to reconcile them with their Storybrooke lives. I thought that would be really compelling, and I was so disappointed when this didn't really happen. However, this episode stands out as one of the greatest episodes. There are actual stakes, and the evil queen actually does something evil. Snow White's letter to the queen is beautiful and moving. And Jamie Doran's performance in the last few moments of the episode are heart-wrenching.

3) "Skin Deep:" While last time, this episode was a bit ruined for me by the Disney references (Gaston and Chip), it is honestly one of the best episodes of the season. You have two knock out performances by Emille de Ravin and Robert Carlyle. Emilie de Ravin is rediiiiculously charming, and only she can deliver the "you're in love" monologue in the "Dreamy" episode and make it actually sound deep and important. And Robert Carlyle has this moment:

...followed by this:

It just kills me every time I watch it. 

"Red-Handed" and "Hat Trick" used to be my favorites, but they kinda lost their shine. "Red-Handed" had the amazing moment where Red realized that she killed Peter, and "Hat Trick" has this shot:



But the episodes themselves were not that strong. "Dreamy" was even worse than I remembered it. I feel like early, to mid-season were actually the stronger episodes.

Notes on Snow White's character development: 

The first time through, I was a bit jarred by Snow White, who had told the Huntsman that she forgave Regina and was ready to die so that the kingdom could have peace, and then suddenly decided to assassinate the queen in "Heart of Darkness." Now that I am more familiar with the timeline, it kinda makes sense. First, Snow White is the innocent, kind daughter of a king. Then, then she goes into the woods with the huntsman, where she tries to run away, and stops, realizing that he knows the woods more than she does, after which we have the moving letter writing about how she was willing to die. THEN, we get Snow White surviving in the forest by herself, until we get to episode 3, where she is planning to assassinate the queen with her shrinking dust. She then states that "no one knows the forests like I do." She gives up her shrinking plan after meeting Charming, and then spends the rest of her time thinking about him, meeting the dwarves, getting her heart broken, telling him she doesn't love him to save his life, and then she drinks the potion. After that, she goes back to plan A: killing the queen. While I still think it is a bit of a stretch to sat that drinking the potion means she turns into a huge bitch, she went to the dwarves and lived with them because she was distraught.  So I can see that, since she no longer had the emotional bond that drew her to them in the first place, she feels stifled after being so incredibly independent.

Things I am Looking Forward To in Season 2 (now that I have completely given up the idea that this is a show about fairy tales):

1) Captain Hook. He is one of my favorite villains of all time because he has such delicious neuroses. He has an amazing speech in the original book about how no little children want to play Captain Hook, they all want to be Peter Pan. He is a horrible murderer, a fop, and huge ball of insecurity all at the same time. I hope the show does him justice. I am excited for Episode 4, which is titled "The Crocodile."

2) The dual personalities. This is what I was waiting for all along in Season 1: people waking up and realizing who they are, but still having their Storybrooke life in their head. I hope there is a lot of wonderful delving with that, and it is not just passed over to dwell on "Regina did this to us!"

3) I hope Regina gets a bit more non-evil stuff to do, since we now know she really loved Henry. All she wanted was to win for once, she said. Lets hope she is able to get a little happiness, and we can move on to Hook being the main villain of the season. I also hope Rumpelstiltskin doesn't throw Belle by the wayside for magic again.

4) Snow/ Mary Margaret and David/ Charming finally getting together and being happy. As cheeseball and frustrating as their relationship was, the final moment of the season finale when they finally found each other made me want to shout (a la Buffy), "Your love is a beautiful love!!!"

5) WHO THE HELL IS DR. WHALE???  What do we know about him? We know his name is Whale. He is a doctor who actually seems to care about his patients. He was in Regina's pocket. He is also a letch who is attracted to Ruby, and has a one night stand with Mary Margaret. We also know that he likes to do the unexpected (as he tells Mary Margaret one episode). We know he has the Halloween Episode which is called The Doctor. "Whale" points to Monstro, but honestly, I think that would be stupid. However, every Storybrooke character who has a noun for a name (Gold, Blanchard, Hopper), the name is a clue to their character. Anyone know any other fairy tale Whales? There are a lot of rumors going around, but honestly, the only one that makes sense to me is Dr. Frankenstein (Victor, not the monster). Yes, it is not a fairy tale. Neither is Captain Hook, Pinocchio, the Queen of Hearts, or Mulan. If we are indeed branching out to storybook characters rather than fairy tale characters, I think Frankenstein is our best bet. He is an unorthodox doctor who has a Halloween episode. Apparently in the official OUAT facebook game, Dr. Whale is described as having a "god complex" and thinks he is a "victor." Pun? Maybe. (See more reasons why people think he is Frankenstein). IF this was legit, straight up fairy tales, I would think it would be awesome for him to be the doctor in Godfather Death, or one of the Three Army Surgeons. However, they have yet to introduce an obscure fairy tale character.

Thoughts? Theories? What sayest thou, internet?

Infographic: Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey

I'm interrupting my apparently rampent bitterness at fairy tales in pop culture today (my last few posts are really kinda cynical!), to bring you something that makes my heart go "weeeee!" It goes "weeee!" for two reasons: 1) it is an infographic, and I loves me some infographics and 2) it is about Joseph Campbell and the stages of the hero's journey. I am a huuuuge sucker for Joseph Campbell and his Hero's Journey and his Masks of God and his "Follow your Bliss" and his wise life lessons based on myth and fairy tales.

So here is the infographic, discovered by me on SurLaLune, who discovered it at Modern Mythology (a blog that deserves further exploration on my part), who credits The Royal Society of Account Planning:

If you are unfamiliar with Joseph Campbell, or are a huge fan and would love to see a documentary about his ideas, here is the trailer for Finding Joe (which I have yet to see, but looks awesome!):

Also check out The Power of Myth book/ documentary, and the rest of his work!

TV: CW is doing an Alice in Wonderland series

(I hope it is at least as good as Malice In Wonderland)

So this is happening....

Here is an excellent commentary by our favorite blog, Io9:

"The CW is adding yet another fairy tale series to their list of new shows. First, it was the Beauty and the Beast reboot, then a Sleepy Hollow series, and now an Alice in Wonderland show tragically named Wunderland.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that director McG (who has a long track record with successful television — movies, not so much) is partnering up with The Playboy Club's Chad Hodge to produce and write this Alice-inspired series.

"The drama will center on a young female detective in present-day Los Angeles who discovers another world that exists under the surface of this ultra-modern city."

Remember, "female detective" is television code for "a woman who punches people." The pilot will be an hour long. We're not sure what to think about this yet, as the best fairy TV series ever was The 10th Kingdom which has yet to be topped. If this pilot gets made, it will be the fourth fairy tale show on television (and the second fairy tale show on CW starring a lady cop)."

Aaaand double points for thinking The 10th Kingdom is the best fairy tale series of all time, because it is the truth! If you don't know 10th Kingdom, watch it now. You will be glad you did.

Anyways, color me not really excited about Wunderland. Beauty and the Beast, the other fairy tale show on the CW, has missed the whole Beast part. It looks so lackluster that I have stopped reading any news for it. It's gotten to the point that rather than being excited about the new fairy tales movies and tv shows coming out, I am begging them to prove to me that they can do a good one. However, I am doing an OUAT re-watch, which I will report on later, but it is all because, despite my better judgement, I am pretty excited about the goings on in Storybrook this year.

Movie: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Trailer

Oh this movie. I will say, I am very glad that it is not Hansel and Gretel as adults finding a gingerbread house and kicking it's ass. However, with Peter Stormare as Ambigiously Germanic Official and the saving of the villiage children from the evil witch that is taking them, I got huge Brothers Grimm flashbacks. Even whatever filter they use looks similar to Brothers Grimm; the "it's about to rain" filter. And the vaguely olden times but still get to wear tailored tight leather outfits aesthetic. 

That being said....

I love me some Jeremy Renner, thought not as much as a fellow blog mistress I know (cough- Drown My Books-cough). And I love me some kicking supernatural ass. I am a bit worried that it doesn't seem to be much more than that? Aaaaand I have the same feeling as this when ALL WITCHES ARE EVIL:

After watching the pretty witches turn ugly, and the sheer amounts of witches fighting, I started to feel like this was subliminally a conservative, "lets kill all the earthy-crunchy people!" movie. For some reason, for me, one evil witch, all good. ALL THE WITCHES, I have troubles. I have less trouble with vampires or werewolves in that regard. But in general, I feel like it's better storytelling if you don't say "all if this race is ____" and give it some variety. 

Anyhoodle, the trailer was kinda bad at telling us anything other than "We are witch hunters because we were traumatized as children, all witches are evil, my sister gets captured and there is something more going on than just witches." Hopefully, the movie will be more complex than that! I am happy for Jeremy Renner to prance around in leather for two hours, but good storytelling/ characters would be awesomer. 

Movie: Black Forest: Hansel and Gretel and the 420 Witch

This movie looks oh so B-movie, but at the same time it could be hella fun! And it is starring the wonderful Molly Quinn from Castle!

No time for further commentary from me (school started again this week), but feel free to comment!

(PS. I discovered this through Maria Tatar's blog Breezes from Wonderland)

Poster: If Children Don't Read....

I don't entirely agree with the poster, as I think kids learn from experience, conversations, TV, games, and other people's example, but I do like the idea. We often just assume that our kids will grow up with the same things we grew up with. But if you don't read them or tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood, they won't know they story of Little Red Riding Hood and the lessons it teaches (whatever you interpret those to be). Same thing with Sesame Street, or Boy Meets World, or the Old Testament, or Peter Pan, or Greek Myths. 

Pass it on. 

Article: Remakes as Modern Folklore

The New Gods

Io9 had an article a few days ago that builds off of one of my deeply head beliefs. I think that pop culture is the new modern myth. We have heroes whom we emulate (Iron Man, Buffy, Claudia Donovan). We follow their stories and retell them in our own ways (blogs, gifs, fanfiction). We try and share them with our friends and pass them on to the next generation.

Io9 goes even further to say that remakes are actually a good thing: they are the perpetuation of modern folklore. After discussing the nature of folklore, they make an interesting point:

"Originality is a Myth

 If you look at remakes and reboots in the context of how most people enjoyed stories for thousands of years, it's easy to see that they are a natural part of human storytelling. When we hear a good story, we long to retell it in a slightly different way. Historically, people might have heard different people performing the same folk tales and songs over and over again in their lives. What made these stories entertaining was hearing the familiar tales tweaked slightly. The fun was in the variants. But it was also in hearing the story again.

The idea that "originality" is what makes stories good is actually a twentieth century idea propagated by a bunch of radical artists and thinkers who called themselves Modernists. They wanted to jettison what they considered the superstitious, narrow-minded thinking of people who loved folklore. So they embraced art and narrative that valued weirdness and novelty over storytelling. Novelists like James Joyce and William Faulkner wrote deliberately difficult stories that tried to express ideas about human experience too complex for oral traditions.

Philosophers like Theodor Adorno praised Modernism for refusing to use the tropes of pop culture that make a story easy to follow. Decades later, punk and indie rock embraced Modernist values too, scorning pop music as unoriginal. Even today, many of us are taught the Modernist perspective in school, and wind up believing that what makes a story "good" is originality."

Our society is obsessed with new ideas and originality, but sometimes the old ideas stick around for a reason. They are the story of our culture, the values we believe in, the patterns that we follow, the path we wish to take. They keep appearing again and again because they serve as an inspiration to us, as a way we look at the world, as a model of what should be. Each remake changes the story to make a statement about the current times, so the same story that spoke to us in each age adds a little spice to speak to the issues facing the next generation.

"Why Remakes Are Good

While there's no denying that Modernist stories can be fascinating and beautiful, that doesn't make them better than folklore. In fact, when it comes to storytelling, one could argue that folklore has had a much more profound influence on civilization than Modernism. We've been telling and retelling stories for thousands of years. We enjoy seeing remakes of our favorite stories because there is pleasure in seeing a twist on a beloved story. But this isn't just about enjoyment. It's also about how we learn. By sharing stories, we explain to each other how we see the world, as well as how we define good and evil (after all, folklore usually has a hero and a Big Bad).

By retelling stories as variants, we do something profoundly important. We show how our views of the world change over time. We reveal that our definitions of good and evil aren't fixed; they can change to reflect new information. If you don't believe me, just compare the novel Dracula to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh yes, both are variants on the same story, about vampires from another world invading a nice city. Both are about gangs of vampire hunters who track down and kill the vamps... In Dracula, the vampires are unambiguously evil, grotesque Eastern European monsters who want to steal our women and have no place in London. But in Buffy, you can see that our relationship to the vamps, those "others," has become a lot more complicated. Some vamps are good. Some humans are evil. Women aren't there to be "stolen" by anybody.

Unlike "original" stories, which remain frozen in the amber of history, folk tales are alive. They change with us, and pass along new stories about our evolving civilization. Every variant, no matter how bad, is a sign that our stories are still vital. And if you don't like this remake or reboot — well, there will always be another. Maybe you'll make it yourself."

This is why I get so excited when I see fairy tales and myth emerge in popular culture. They are the most ancient stories speaking to people today.