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.

Katnis links with independent girl characters in books

The Hunger Games pulls together many threads in contemporary culture and literature -- including the appeal of the strongKatnis in The Hunger Games young woman character of Katnis. She's clearly linked to similar protagonists in earlier popular books for YA readers, such as Jo March in Little Women, Julie in Julie of the Wolves, and Pippi Longstocking.

Thanks to Monica Hesse, of The Washington Post, for interviewing me for her article "There’s room for both Katniss and Bella as heroines, but who’ll be remembered?"

There are many types of female protagonists.  Katniss is certainly a strong, independent, spunky, non-conformist girl.  This type of character has always appealed to many female readers.  Girls like to read, and watch films, about characters who break the mold, or stretch beyond their cultural construction.  Katnis is part Buffy the Vampire Slayer and part Xena: Warrior Princess.  She's also has some similarity to Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. There's also the element of a Cinderella-style makeover, too.Katnis restyled by the Capital

But the book, and perhaps the film, raises interesting questions about how American culture deals with violence.  Do we justify violence when it's done by a strong, spunky girl who is following her own path?  Does that make it more allowable?  It's pretty clear that the book is a critique of violence as entertainment.  But can the film carry out that message as well?  It will be interesting to see how the film is able to visually portray the violence, yet at the same time critique it. Is it okay for a young woman to be intelligent, independent, and have desire to kill people?

According to Roger Ebert's review of The Hunger Games, the film has more violence than thoughtful introspection, which is unfortunate since reading about how the characters think about their predicament was what made the books so compelling. Ebert writes that "the film leapfrogs obvious questions in its path, and avoids the opportunities sci-fi provides for social criticism."

Suzanne Collins has made Katnis an interesting, but deeply flawed, character.  Perhaps that's why she's so compelling.

Great upcoming local literature & film events

It's really spring!  The birds are chirping, tulips are blooming, and cool local children's literature and film events are coming up for central Illinois.

Whenever Candace Fleming comes to town it's a treat and she'll be here this Saturday, April 16, from 2 to 3 pm at the Normal Public Library.  Perhaps my favorite book of hers is The Lincolns: A scrapbook look at Abraham and Mary. Others in our house have enjoyed her chapter book The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School and there's a new book about Fifth Graders. One of her most recent is the picture book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!. We are reading her new book Amelia Lost about Amelia Earhart. After her talk, there will be refreshments and books available for purchase and autographing.

We'll be running over to the TheatresCool in downtown Bloomington shortly after that on Saturday to see the Broadway Workshop Performance: Comedy Tonight! directed by Cristen Susong.

Celebrate El Dia de los Ninos/El Dia de los Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) on Saturday, April 30, at the Bloomington Public Library.  The fourth annual event, from 11 am to 1 pm, will feature a local soccer star, Dora the Explorer, an authentic Mexican band, Mexican crafts, and Mexican food.  Reading is important in all languages.

Finally, one of the highlights of the year is always going to EbertFest, the film festival at the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana, that celebrates Roger Ebert, films he enjoys, and the people who create them.  Even though Ebert's health is not as good as when the festival started, he continues to be an enthusiastic champion for great filmmaking.  This year the festival is April 27 - May 1.  It'sAt EbertFest a few years ago. held, once again, at the beautiful Virginia Theater, 203 W. Park Ave., in downtown Champaign. 

The experience of watching a film in the Virginia Theater with about 700 film enthusiasts on a beautiful spring afternoon when we all could be outside is always such a treat.  The people who go to EbertFest just love films.  They applaud, they clap, they laugh, they weep -- their participation as an audience makes the interesting films Ebert chooses even more wonderful to watch.  Then afterward, a key person from the film (usually the director or an actor) talks about the film.  Yep, right in central Illinois it's Hollywood for a few days.

Also, although festival passes sell out months in advance, we have always had success getting a ticket for specific films.  You just wait in line for about 20 to 30 minutes beforehand and you'll get a seat.  Maybe not the best seat on the main floor.  But we've always had a good seat.  Don't miss the opportunity.