Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Fairy Tales as Story Outlines

So this week is ending up to be more about romance novels and fairy tales, but since I've never focused on them before, I think it's a fair topic for the week either way.

During my research, I found Fairy Tales as Story Outlines by Jody Wallace, originally published in Love Notes: June 2002. It was republished online by Music City Romance Writers. In other words, Nashville Romance Writers, which I didn't even know existed although I live here.

Have you ever read a book and thought, "Why didn't the author try this?" or "If I were writing that, I'd change this and thus to make it better." While you can't revise another author's book and call it your own without getting immeasurable heckling and a lawsuit for plagiarism, there are indeed some basic plots which writers return to with great success. In the particular arena of romantic fiction, fairy tales often provide the framework for fascinating and original storylines — even if "Cinderella" has been retold ten thousand times.

The article is short and not very detailed, but it makes a few interesting points for beginning writers whether they want to write a fairy tale inspired romance or other genre.

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: All That Fairy Tale Nonsense

Today I'm sharing a link to another short but relevant article about fairy tales and the romance genre: All That Fairy Tale Nonsense by Chris Szego.

One of the many criticisms levelled at romance novels is that they’re a poor model for women when it comes to real-life relationships. All that fairy tale nonsense, detractors say, will make women want the wrong things from their partners. I could list a dozen things wrong with that assumption, but I’ll limit myself to three.

First, the blanket belief that, alone among the literate, romance readers believe everything they read is seriously insulting. Second, it demonstrates that said detractors don’t read much modern romance, or they’d know the kind of realism one can find therein. That’s annoying. Is divorce realistic, or abuse, or loss? Don’t worry: they’re covered. (Also, please consider what that means about the nature of ‘realism’).

This appeared on the Cultural Gutter, a site "updated Thursday afternoon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration." A fun diversion if you're interested in some of their common topics: science fiction, romance, comics and movies.

The article also offers some examples of romance novels with Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty themes. It's short, but not sweet, although a fun read.

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Fairy Tale Romance Novels

I have a rather hidden page on SurLaLune of fairy tale related romance novels at Fairy Tale Romances. It needs updating--I have more titles to add although I know I miss most of them. Romance is not my usual genre of choice, but I will peruse and research more titles on occasion. Sometimes dear readers like you also share titles.

Fairy Tale Romances was created as a landing place for all the category romance fiction that was almost impossible to learn more about or even track. (A good portion of romance fiction is published almost more like periodicals, one big print run that quickly goes out of print.) My list is broken down into categories of fairy tales, from Beauty and the Beast to Cinderella to Ugly Duckling.

I mention those three fairy tales specifically for I think they represent three of the most common if not the three most common tropes in romantic fiction, if we are very forgiving with defintions and terms. We have Beauty and the Beast: Women "taming" or "domesticating" men (or vice versa). Then there's Cinderella: Rags to riches (or riches to rags to riches) also simplified into marrying up the social and financial scale. Finally there's Ugly Duckling: Women blossoming into beautiful (and hyper sexually aware in the last few decades) adults after a period of awkwardness.

So, in other words, almost all romance novels do use fairy tale tropes to some degree. But I list only the ones that overtly use fairy tale themes, usually saluting them in their titles and descriptions. It would be nearly impossible to do more really considering the scope and breadth of the genre.

So explore the list and consider it. Also, if you are feeling like reading more lucid defense of romance fiction, I enjoyed Meg Cabot's defense of romance a few months ago on her blog which was also a response to the articles about dark YA literature. Read her here: Romance, Trauma Porn, and Brazil Dates! She includes links to more articles so I'll end here for today. (And, yes, I've linked to her blog before, but the link has changed. You can read my original post here: Article: Why children’s stories should have happy endings.)

Fairy Tales and Romance Week: Jennifer Crusie

February is here which means Valentine's Day is not far away, a week from today actually. There aren't many words that are used so often in conjunction with romance as the phrase "fairy tale." So I felt I would be remiss to not offer up several posts about fairy tales and romance, using a variety of approaches to the topic. Or so I plan. We'll see how it goes.

To start off this week, I will focus on one of the most maligned genres in publishing, which is of course, romance. I myself have mixed feelings about the genre, from the straight pulp I find unreadable to much better writing from some writers than I have read in other genres, including and sometimes especially literary fiction.* I grow more and more hesitant to denigrate any genre over the years, especially a genre that is dismissed as "women's fiction" which in so many ways is what happens to fairy tales over time as they are dismissed as children's and or women's fiction and thus made third-class cousins to "more important" literature. With romance fiction still practically the only area of publishing that is managing to be recession proof, it merits more understanding and respect. (Harlequin after all started during the Great Depression and still thrives today as one of the publishers that appears to be adapting and experimenting with new technology faster than its competitors.)

So I am sharing a link to an article, This Is Not Your Mother’s Cinderella: The Romance Novel as Feminist Fairy Tale by Jennie Crusie. Crusie has been selling under the romance category as well as the almost defunct chick lit moniker. She has a definite apologist approach to discussing romance and fairy tales. I am not in complete agreement with everything she wrote in the article, after all my background is different and supports other theories, but I consider it one of the stronger articles, lucid, well-researched and definitely a solid source for inspiring further thought and discussion.

Times are grim for the Brothers Grimm: feminist revisionists keep messing with their fairy tales, trying to expunge misogynism while holding on to that elusive something that makes the tales vibrate in the reader’s mind, that aspect that makes the fairy tale, in Max Luthi’s words, “the universe in miniature” (25). And nowhere is that elusive something more sought after than in romance novels; a genre that relies heavily on the tradition of the tales even while requiring their revision for reader satisfaction. Of course, fairy tales bear a strong similarity to all genre fiction in their certainty about life; as Luthi defines them, fairy tales “aim for clarity, exactness, positiveness, and precision. There is no ‘if’ and no ‘perhaps’” (57). But the similarities between fairy tales and the romance genre in particular are deeper than the tidiness of the universes with which they deal. There is something in the fairy tale that resonates in the romance even though the tales must be extensively revised to satisfy their female audience.

This is just the first paragraph of a lengthy article, so please click through, read and come back here to discuss if you wish.


And while we're here, I will also share my favorite Crusie novel, Bet Me. A SurLaLune reader recommended it to me several years ago and on a whim I picked it up off a bargain table and was entertained for a late night's reading. It doesn't reinterpret any specific fairy tale, but plays with many of the motifs with humor and self-awareness that is charming. If you have no tolerance for romance, don't expect this one to change your attitude. If you enjoy occasional forays into the genre or are an avid fan, this one will entertain, even if you aren't a Crusie fan. (I admit I have tried more of hers, but this one is the only one I've ever kept on the shelf or reread again.)

Finally, I have a rather hidden page on SurLaLune of fairy tale related romance novels at Fairy Tale Romances. I will discuss it more tomorrow since I've already taken up so much of our time today.

*I admit, that if anything, I find myself prejudiced against literary fiction these days, finding much of it pretentious and unreadable.

Black History Month: African Folktales

Continuing Black History Month with African Folktales by Roger D. Abrahams, another Pantheon title that is a wonderful companion to the book I featured yesterday, African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Roger D. Abrahams.

Product Description:

Nearly 100 stories from over 40 tribe-related myths of creation, tales of epic deeds, ghost stories and tales set in both the animal and human realms.

From Library Journal:

This volume sports a hefty 95 stories gleaned from the notes of the earliest missionaries on up to recent anthropological studies. Abrahams admits that reading the stories lacks the full impact of hearing them told aloud but contends that they can nonetheless still be enjoyed. The stories feature numerous illustrations.

Of course, with such a large continent, any book like this can only be considered a most basic overview. It is rare to find collections of folklore from specific African countries available in English so overviews are often the only resources available to casual and even somewhat enthusiastic readers. Still, this is one of the best of those available, especially for the price.

My specialty does not cover African folklore and fairy tales, but I have learned more in recent years with my research. There are also many titles available from the Golden Age of folklore studies, now available as scanned sources on Google Books or reprinted by enterprising small presses trying to preserve older books. I formatted three of them and published them on the SurLaLune main site, too. See them on the SurLaLune ebooks page. One especially is controversial since it uses the term Kaffir which has gained momentum as a derogatory term in modern times. I've received a few emails complaining about its appearance on SurLaLune where it appears as part of the historical record of folklore, not to represent or promote a mindset.

Golden Age of Folklore is my term, by the way, and for me covers most of the 1800s though about 1920, from Grimms to Jacobs and Lang with everyone in between. Some of it coincides with the Golden Age of Illustration. Just as so much European folklore is closely related, so is much of African folklore. Many tribes and cultural groups have similar stories. It is always interesting to see how some of these tales relate to European tales, they sometimes fit, but almost always on the slant.

This title by Abrahams is a better resource for comparison efforts since it is under the Pantheon imprint and thus follows somewhat of a series format.

Black History Month: African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World

In honor of Black History Month, I will share some great collections of African American and African folklore throughout the month. Today, I am featuring African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Roger Abrahams.

Product Description from the publisher:

From the canefields of the ante-bellum South, the villages of the Caribbean islands, and the streets of contemporary inner cities, here are more than one hundred tales from an "incredibly rich and affirmative storytelling tradition" (Choice).

Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to stories explaining how the world was created and got to be the way it is, to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They includes stories set down in travelers' reports and plantation journals from the early nineteenth century, tales gathered by collectors such as Joel Chandler Harris and Zora Neale Hurston, and narratives tape-recorded by Roger Abrahams himself during extensive expeditions throughout the American South and the Caribbean.

From the Back Cover

"Earthy and comedic...a rousing good read.... I suspect Mr. Abraham's book will be read a generation hence."
--New York Times Book Review

"Another masterful addition and accessible introduction to the captured myths of what the Mede calls 'God's Chiefdom'.... Sweeping across the continent...the juxtaposition of tribes and pacing of story lengths make for lively reading."
--Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Roger D. Abrahams is a former president of the American Folklore Society. Among his most recent books are African Folktales (also availabe in Pantheon paperback), After Africa (with John Szwed), and Singing the Master.

Abrahams is one of the pioneers of African American folklore scholarship in the past 30 years. This title was originally released in 1985 as Afro-American Folktales but was re-released in 1999 with the current title. Be aware that this, as well as many other Pantheon titles, are intended more for adult audiences than young children. The violence and some other issues although not graphic will merit discussion and are not unique to this ethnic group, but appear throughout folklore. (I include this warning after reading a negative reader review on the Amazon page.)

Tales from a Finnish Tupa

Tales from a Finnish Tupa by James Cloyd Bowman & Margery Bianco, translated by Aili Kolehmainen was reprinted by the University of Minnesota Press late last year. I received a review copy and was impressed with this unexpected book. The tales are wonderful and are accompanied with numerous illustrations by Laura Bannon.

Publisher's description:

First published in 1936, this book presents tales of magic like "The Mouse Bride" and "Antti and the Wizard's Prophecy," droll stories such as "The Pig-Headed Wife," and fables from the collections of Eero Salmelainen and Iivo Härkönen, sharing Finnish wisdom on topics from the end of the world to how the Rabbit earned his self-respect. Featuring hand-rendered illustrations in full color, Tales from a Finnish Tupa is a folklore gem for all ages.

This book was originally intended for families with tales suitable for children but still interesting to adults. It's an outstanding collection of tales from a country that is rarely represented in English language anthologies of tales. It can be read for simple entertainment, but also provides some insight to a country's folklore for the armchair folklorist, too. There is no introduction, but a short appendix about Finnish folklore by Bowman is insightful. My favorite paragraph:

The heart of Finnish folk lore is magic. As Lafcadio Hearn
has so well said:

“The magic is not like anything else known by that name in European literature. The magic is entirely the magic of words. These ancient people believed in the existence of words, by the utterance of which anything might be accomplished. Instead of buying wood and hiring carpenters, you might build a house by uttering certain magical words. If you had no horse, and wanted to travel rapidly, you would make a horse for yourself out of bits of bark and old sticks by uttering over them certain magical words. But this was not all. Beings of intellect, men and women, whole armies of men, in fact, might be created in a moment by the utterance of these magical words.”

It's thus not a surprise that two-thirds of the book is comprised of magic tales. The other sections are droll tales and fables. One of my personal favorites was "The Girl Who Sought Her Nine Brothers" since it was distantly related to Six Swans types of tales, although in this one the sister is enchanted while she searches for her brothers who are never enchanted themselves.

Finally, one of the most interesting aspects of this title, from a trivia side, is that Margery Bianco is better known to most readers as Margery Willians, the author of The Velveteen Rabbit.

And here's the TABLE OF CONTENTS:

TALES OF MAGIC
The Ship That Sailed by Land and Sea
The Men of the Wallet
The Mouse Bride
Vaino and the Swan Princess
Hidden Laiva or The Golden Ship
Antti and the Wizard’s Prophecy
Lippo and Tapio
The Wooing of Seppo Ilmarinen
Jurma and the Sea God
Timo and the Princess Vendla
Severi and Vappu
Ei-Niin-Mita or No-So-What
The Girl Who Sought Her Nine Brothers
The Two Pine Cones
Kalle and the Wood Grouse
Niilo and the Wizard
Urho and Marja
Mielikki and Her Nine Sons
Leppä Pölkky and the Blue Cross
Liisa and the Prince

DROLL STORIES
The Pig-headed Wife
Finland’s Greatest Fisherman
Supid Peikko
The Wise Men of Holmola
Pekka and the Rogues

FABLES
The End of the World
The Rooster and the Hen
The Mouse that Turned Tailor
The Feast
Farmers Three
Why the Squirrel Lives in Trees
The Vain Bear
The Stupid Wolf
The Wisdom of the Rabbit
The Fox and the Rabbit
The Wily Fox
The Stupid Bear
The Song of the Fox
The Song of the Wolf
The Wolf and the Fox
The Bear Goes Fishing
The Fox as a Judge
The Rabbit’s Self-Respect

FINNISH FOLK LORE
FINNISH NAMES AND WORDS

For more information visit the publisher's book webpage or Amazon. And thanks to the press for sending a review copy. I might never have discovered this gem otherwise!

Penny Brite: Happily Ever After Collection

While perusing Toymakers show off their 2010 products at the American International Toy Fair by Colleen Bohen and Cliff Annicelli, I discovered a few fairy tale and fairy releases, especially this one:

Charisma’s ’60s vintage Penny Brite, in revival since 2006, continues with a Happily Ever After collection that boasts an updated sculpt with slightly elongated legs and a slimmer torso. New costumes designs for the doll are based on classic fairytale characters: Tinkerbelle, Snow White, Rapunzel, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

So I went to the Charisma site and discovered the dolls are already posted. Here are images and links below:


Rapunzel


Little Red Riding Hood


Snow White


Cinderella


Tinkerbelle


Alice in Wonderland

These are mostly not Disney influenced which is a refreshing change. Snow White shows the most influence with color choices, but that always seems to be true for Snow White. Considering she's been around for 70 years to influence perceptions, that's not surprising. I am thrilled also to see Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, but admit I miss Sleeping Beauty and Beauty. Still, despite all, the marketing department was wise to include Tinkerbelle and Alice since they are high in pop culture consciousness this year, thanks almost entirely to Disney. Rapunzel will be soon, too.

And no, I don't consider Tinkerbelle or Alice to be fairy tale characters, but that is they way they are marketed, so I'm not arguing. And I was surprised that although I am not a doll person, decidedly not so, Tinkerbelle and Little Red were my favorites of the bunch.

Charisma also has a fairy/faerie line called Whispering Willow Fairies.

And I am not affiliated with Charisma or Penny Brite. This is just news...

Oscar Nod for Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty

I posted about Brown Bag's Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty previously, but the film has now received an Oscar Nomination for Short Film (Animated). It is also available in its entirety on YouTube (legally by the production company) and I've embedded it above. Enjoy!

For more information see Irish Talent Lauded with Four Oscar Nominations:

Brown Bag Film’s ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ is a six-minute film directed by Nicky Phelan, produced by Darragh O’Connell and written and performed by comedian Kathleen O’Rourke. The film tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her little granddaughter at bedtime with her dark version of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The animation won an Animation IFTA in 2009. Director Nicky Phelan tells IFTN that the Granny O’Grimm team heard of their nomination in an unexpected manner “We lost the live coverage before they announced the animation nominees" he says "so it was actually Darragh’s mother who told us about our nomination – we were all prepared and still ended up hearing about the nomination from Kildare and not Hollywood!” He continues by describing the electric atmosphere in the Brown Bag Films building: "Everything’s up in the air – it’s obviously very exciting. We’re hoping to get a gang over to the awards themselves now.” He finished with a tribute to his fellow animation nominees “It’s brilliant also to see Paul and Tomm nominated for ‘The Secret of Kells’, and it’s a fantastic reflection on the talent there is in the Irish animation industry nowadays.”

The animation’s star, Granny O’Grimm was, however, somewhat less than enthused with the news of her nomination: “An Academy Award nomination is not going to boil the potatoes now is it?” She stated simply. However when the prospect of her attire for the awards ceremony her outlook brightened somewhat, saying: “I’ll maybe restrict myself to one chocolate gateau a day for the moment – so I can wear the frock that I bought for my husband’s funeral. It has only one stain, I never could get the pink champagne mark out”.

Congrats to all. This has been one of my favorite interpretations in a long while...

Syfy's Fairy Tale Films

The Silly, oops!, Syfy Channel* is making fairy tale movies, rather along the vein of the BBC's Fairy Tales of a few years ago.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Syfy is reinventing fairy tales and pop culture characters as part of its Saturday night TV movie franchise.

The network is airing five titles that give a contemporary twist on a classic story, from Hansel & Gretel (years after escaping the witch in the haunted forest, Hansel returns seeking revenge) to Little Red Riding Hood (a descendant of Little Red discovers her family secretly hunts werewolves).

"It's exciting to take a treasured brand and put our own sideways spin on it," said Thomas Vitale, executive vp programming and original movies at Syfy. "By turning familiar timeless stories inside out, we're creating an entertaining new genre for our popular Saturday night movie franchise."

The series is partly inspired by the network's mandate to find projects with broader appeal that began in earnest last year with the network's rebranding from Sci Fi to Syfy.

Beauty and the Beast, the first movie, airs on February 27th and I will try to post a reminder here closer to the date.

There isn't much information on the Syfy site yet, just the promo pic seen above which provides a glimpse at the tone of the movie.

But I did find this information at TV.com:

In this gritty celebration of Valentine's Day, a young Beauty (Estella Warren, Planet of the Apes) with a gift for healing helps a deformed Prince (Rhett Gilles, Wraiths of Roanoke) regain his throne and defeat the ruthless nobleman who wants to be king — and then together they try to destroy a power-hungry witch. Beauty and the Beast was directed by David Lister and written by Gavin Scott.

Said Thomas Vitale, Executive Vice President, Programming and Original Movies, Syfy:

"By turning familiar timeless stories inside out — like retelling Little Red Riding Hood as a werewolf tale or envisioning a dark version of Shrek — we're creating an entertaining new genre for our popular Saturday night movie franchise, which has become the television destination for fans of action-packed independent sci-fi, horror and fantasy films."

Here's a look at some of the other films in development:

Red — A young woman who is a descendant of the real Little Red Riding Hood brings her fiancé home, where he meets the family and learns about their business – hunting werewolves. He's skeptical until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him.

Hansel – Twenty years after his encounter with the witch, a grown-up Hansel returns to the haunted forest, seeking revenge. But there's a surprise waiting – his sister Gretel (who he thought had been killed) is the witch's protégée. (My favorite of the bunch.)

8TH Voyage of Sinbad — Sinbad searches for the golden head of the long lost Colossus of Rhodes and, instead, discovers an island where the mythical Minotaur still rules, protecting a vast treasure. Sinbad and his crew have to battle the creature and its minions to get the treasure and save their own lives.
Aladdin (working title) — After accidentally releasing an evil genie from an ancient lamp, Aladdin must find a way to imprison the genie again before it wreaks havoc on the world.

Black Forest – A group of naïve tourists take a sightseeing tour into a supposed enchanted forest, where they encounter evil creatures from the world of fantasy. Trapped in the Black Forest, their only hope of survival is fighting their way out.

I hope the series is successful and makes it onto DVD, too. So many of the made-for-tv movies enter the realm of 'never seen again' but I'm sure Syfy will rerun these frequently enough as well as distribute them internationally.

Once Upon a Blog also reported on this yesterday...

*I am NOT calling science fiction and fantasy silly here. I am still protesting SciFi Channel's rebranding into a silly name as well as logo design that now looks like Silly whenever I first look at it. I know there's a long standing debate over the diminuitive term 'sci-fi' which never much mattered to me--see 'Science fiction' vs. 'sci-fi'...? None of the above or Science Fiction vs. Sci-Fi for example--but I find syfy rather insulting myself for some reason.

Call for Entries to the 1st Annual Mythic Film Festival

This was posted on the SurLaLune Discussino Board by Lisa and I thought I would share here, too.

The 1st Annual Mythic Film Festival is now accepting entries.
Cost to enter is $10 – all proceeds go directly to putting up the festival and supporting the work of those creating in the mythic film arts.

Entry forms can be downloaded at: http://www.mythicfilmfestival.com/apply.html

Final deadline is March 20th, 2010. The festival will take place April 30-May 2, 2010 in NYC.

For more info on the festival – visit our website at: http://www.mythicfilmfestival.com

Thank you! We look forward to reviewing your work.

PBS & Little Red Riding Hood

I ended the weekend as I often due this time of year, by watching Masterpiece Theatre last night. I'm enjoying Emma--and why they had to split it into three weeks, I don't know--but afterwards my PBS affiliate aired this wonderful spot that I've seen rarely although it's been around since 2005 (actually December 2004). So I thought I would share in case you haven't seen it. Or just to remind you of its wonderfulness.

Besides, the advertising entries on the blog are some of the most popular and I wouldn't want this one to be missed...



It was produced by Fallon Minneapolis.

Oh, and the first episode of Emma is available for viewing on the PBS website at Emma. I'm enjoying it enough to want the DVDs though. I collect Jane Austen and Bronte sisters film adaptations, excepting Wuthering Heights because I detest it. Can't help myself on the collecting or detesting.