Into the Woods, Into rethinking fairy tales

The new Disney film Into the Woods delves into fairy tales by looking at them through a psychological lens. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine also wanted to ask the question "What happens after fairy tales end?" when they produced the musical on Broadway.

Should fairy tales be re-told and re-imagined? As I explained in this article on the ISU Media Relations site, "Into the Woods fractured fairy tales right on track," people are constantly looking at fairy tales as a kind of mirror to understanding contemporary times. Fairy tales, which were once mainly told to adults around fire on cold winter nights, are now routinely seen as children's literature. Yet, they are still scary, still intended to teach about harsh reality, and are riveting entertainment. For further thoughts, check out the article.

Thanks to Rachel Hatch for interviewing me for the ISU Media Relations article.

Upcoming fairy tale films and Alice on TV

While working on materials to teach fairy tales, I realized that there are numerous versions of fairy tale films Angelina Jolie as Maleficentand television shows that are coming out within the next few years.  Here are some links. In 2014: Disney's Maleficent (starring Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning). In 2015 Cinderella (dir. Kenneth Branagh.starring Cate Blanchett), Arabian Nights (starring Liam Hemsworth and Dwayne Johnson).The Guardian also has an article on fairy tale related films.

Maleficent could be interesting with Jolie as the film is supposed to portray the Sleeping Beauty villain in a more sympathetic light than her introduction in the 1959 animated film. Here's more plot synopsis:

"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."

Jolie's young daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt will also be in the film from Disney.   According to this article in Entertainmentwise.com, she is the only kid on the set who was not terrified when Angelina came out in full makeup.

The ABC television series Once will be out again this fall as well as a Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Sophie Lowe as Alice on 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'inspired version called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.  The link takes you to the ABC page where you will be able to see clips from the upcoming show.  It looks rather dark, as the original Once is dark and spooky. ABC executives have said they wanted to extend the Once fairy tale brand. The most promising casting is John Lithgow playing the White Rabbit.  The most interesting casting choice is The Who’s Roger Daltrey as the hookah-smoking Caterpillar. According to Executive Producer Edward Kitniss this is going to be a feisty, more grown up Alice than the Lewis Carroll books:

"We never wanted her to be a damsel in distress," Kitsis said when asked how they had conceived of their version of the iconic Alice. "We wanted her to go down that rabbit hole, sword in hand, and find her man." In his address to the press, Lee promised that this would be a very "kick-ass" version of the character. Lowe agrees that she is "tough, and both mentally and physically strong."

That sounds promising, but then here's another less promising quotation from Kitniss:

‘‘But of course we’re telling our own story because Alice was never in a love with a genie before,” added executive producer Edward Kitsis.

Well, it should be interesting to see how this all plays out.  The premiere is Oct. 10.  Tune in.

Blancanieves

At the EbertFest film festival last weekend in Champaign, one of the highlights was Blancanieves -- a fascinating rethinking of the Grimm Brothers' Snow White.  Before the screening, director Pablo Berger told the audience that films were like dreams to him, and nightmares, too.  Berger, who worked on the film for eight years, re-interpreted the famous tale to take place in Spain during the 1920s.  He focused on the parents of Snow White.  The father is a famous bullfighter and the mother is a singer and flamenco dancer.  Their daughter, Snow White, has a rather tragic childhood but emerges triumphant as a bullfighter herself traveling with 6 smaller people she encounters whie escaping her evil step-mother.

The film was shot in black and white and is silent as well, although the beautiful, moody, original score, by Alfonso de Vilallonga, contributes significantly to the story's success.  During the Q and A afterward, Berger and the panelists discussed how contemporary black-and-white films can capitalize on contemporary audiences' ability to quickly comprehend visual cues and quick editing techniques.  Consequently, Berger puts so much to be 'read' visually on screen that the absence of hearing dialogue does distract in Blancanieves.

I was so impressed with the film that I quickly wrote to ask Marvels & Tales if I could review it for the fairy tale journal and just learned that that's going to be possible.  So I'll post more on that later.

Fairy tale films

The films Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman are part of a trend of re-interpreting traditional fairy tales with contemporary twists that move beyond the bouyant Disney versions. Mirror, Mirror, which opens Friday, stars Julia Roberts in a humorous retelling of Snow White.  In a significant contract, the  Huntsman version is much darker, more brooding and somewhat in the trend of Twilight and Hunger Games. Clearly, Red Riding Hood, directed by Catherine Hardwick who directed the first Twilight film, is part of this collection of films as well and Beastly with Vanessa Hudgens. Also released in March, direct to DVD, is Grimm's Snow White. When we saw Hunger Games over the weekend, we saw a previous for Snow White and the Huntsman, but not Mirror, Mirror, which opens sooner. 

As I tell my classes, every generation re-interprets fairy tales.  The wide difference in these two Snow White films suggests the malleability of this classic story.  Disney's version is primarily from the young princess's perspective, but in the two upcoming films, the older Queen has a more prominent role.  I will be interested to see Julia Rogers as the Queen, as she seems to be relishing the role and having fun.  I am not sure how evil she is in her version.  But in the film to be released in June, the older Queen is clearly evil.  Then, too, look at the title of the second film, Snow White and the Huntsman -- the focus is on the relationship between Snow White (played by Kristen Stewart) and the handsome Huntsman out to kill her (Chris Hemsworth). Charlize Theron, who some might say has a history of looking more stunning than Kristen Stewart, plays the Queen.  Theron also has played some roles of gutsy, powerful roles while Stewart seems to be majoring in mumbling, slightly awkward young women.  Hmm, the conflicts arise.

Fairy Tales re-imagined on TV, part 2

Last Friday, we watched NBC's new Grimm, another contemporary spin-off based on fairy tales. 

At least the new NBC TV series Grimm encourages doing primary research in books.

This one is much more grisly and similar to all those Law & Order/S.V.U. type shows.  (S.V.U. always looks suspiciously like S.U.V. to me).  Obviously, this show is supposed to be creepy and scary with a contemporary sensibility.  There are overtones of Twin Peaks here as well, but very tepid echoes. The links to fairy tales did not seem as compelling or as well constructed.  The friendly neighbor turns out to be a human who can transform into a wolf, but he is able to control himself after years of working on that, kind of like a reformed alcoholic, it seems. 

The show is called Grimm because the main character is supposed to be descended from the Grimm brothers who were supposed to be able to see the real monsters.  It's a special sight that's only available to the family members.  That seems a difficult premise to accept if you think about it.  If there are lots of monsters roaming about all over the world, then why wouldn't there be lots of people who could see them as well?  Even in fantasy worlds you have to have some logic that's believable.  And that brings me to the point that Grimm is fantasy based on fairy tales.  However, fantasy and fairy tales are different as well.

  One of the problems with fantasy is that authors make up rules for how characters can act, but then have a tendency to break those rules.  To make it believable, you have to stick within those rules.  I think that was one of many reasons why Twin Peaks worked -- the rules, in a weird convoluted way, made sense and were quirky enough to be creepy even for those who are too cool to be scared.  Grimm just wants to scare people without trying too hard to do anything else.  And maybe that's all lots of viewers want now.

In the meantime, Once Upon a Time seems more interesting perhaps, but this, too, is a rather convoluted fantasy based on fairy tales.