New Book: Tangled Up In You (Meant to Be Series 4) by Christina Lauren

Tangled Up In You (Meant To Be Book 4) by Christina Lauren is released today. The book is fourth in a series of romance novels inspired by Disney versions of fairy tales by different authors. As one does. And I hope that sentence made sense, too. This one is inspired by Tangled and thus Rapunzel, of course.

Book description from the publisher:

A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney’s Tangled, by the New York Times bestselling author duo Christina Lauren, part of the acclaimed and bestselling Meant to Be collection.

She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.

Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: Read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.

Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: Graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few short months from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.

But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fireon a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they've both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.

Previous books in the series include:

1: If the Shoe Fits: A Meant to Be Novel by Julie Murphy (Cinderella inspired)

2: By the Book: A Meant to Be Novel by Jasmine Guillory (Beauty and the Beast inspired)

3: Kiss the Girl A Meant to Be Novel by Zoraida Córdova (Little Mermaid inspired)

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New Book: Craving Supernatural Creatures: German Fairy-Tale Figures in American Pop Culture by Claudia Schwabe

Craving Supernatural Creatures: German Fairy-Tale Figures in American Pop Culture (Fairy-Tale Studies) by Claudia Schwabe is officially released this week.

The book description below describes the book exceptionally well. As I thumbed through the review copy I received, I appreciated all over again the influence of German folklore on American pop culture. I especially liked for my own personal interests the 2nd chapter on evil queens and witches and the 4th chapter on dwarves. Disney's influence is addressed here, too, for those who study Disney fairy tales. Those Disney dwarfs! When I first started SurLaLune when the internet was in its toddler stage, I was inundated with requests for the seven dwarfs names every day. The internet has grown past my site being needed to answer that question but it reminds me of how much the online information highway has changed since I started playing on it.

Book description:

Craving Supernatural Creatures: German Fairy-Tale Figures in American Pop Culture analyzes supernatural creatures in order to demonstrate how German fairy tales treat difference, alterity, and Otherness with terror, distance, and negativity, whereas contemporary North American popular culture adaptations navigate diversity by humanizing and redeeming such figures. This trend of transformation reflects a greater tolerance of other marginalized groups (in regard to race, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, social class, religion, etc.) and acceptance of diversity in society today. The fairy-tale adaptations examined here are more than just twists on old stories-they serve as the looking glasses of significant cultural trends, customs, and social challenges. Whereas the fairy-tale adaptations that Claudia Schwabe analyzes suggest that Otherness can and should be fully embraced, they also highlight the gap that still exists between the representation and the reality of embracing diversity wholeheartedly in twenty-first-century America.

The book's four chapters are structured around different supernatural creatures, beginning in chapter 1 with Schwabe's examination of the automaton, the golem, and the doppelganger, which emerged as popular figures in Germany in the early nineteenth century, and how media, such as Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow, dramatize, humanize, and infantilize these "uncanny" characters in multifaceted ways. Chapter 2 foregrounds the popular figures of the evil queen and witch in contemporary retellings of the Grimms' fairy tale "Snow White." Chapter 3 deconstructs the concept of the monstrous Other in fairy tales by scrutinizing the figure of the Big Bad Wolf in popular culture, including Once Upon a Time and the Fables comic book series. In chapter 4, Schwabe explores the fairy-tale dwarf, claiming that adaptations today emphasize the diversity of dwarves' personalities and celebrate the potency of their physicality.

Craving Supernatural Creatures is a unique contribution to the field of fairy-tale studies and is essential reading for students, scholars, and pop-culture aficionados alike.

Bargain Ebook: As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell for $.99

As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale (Twisted Tale, A) by Liz Braswell is on sale for $0.99 in ebook format down from its usual $9.99. I don't know how long the sale will last so don't dawdle if you're interested in it.

This is a novelization of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. This is the third book in Braswell's series. She's also explored Sleeping Beauty in Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale: A Twisted Tale and Aladdin in A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale.

Book description:

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind—memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

Bargain Ebook: A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by by Liz Braswell for $1.99

A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by by Liz Braswell is on sale today only for $1.99 down from a usual range of $10. This is a novel retelling Aladdin--the Disney version--from with dark twists, part of a series by Braswell for the Disney imprint that retells many Disney fairy tales. Oh, the layers of folklore manipulation!

Book description:

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Bargain Ebook: Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino for $1.99

Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino is on sale in ebook format for a limited time for $1.99. Price could go up any time so don't hesitate if you're interested. (The sale was supposed to only yesterday!)

Book description:

Why exactly is the wicked Queen so nasty, particularly to Snow White? Perhaps it has something to do with the creepy-looking man in the magic mirror who's not just some random spooky visage...

Beastly Beast or Human Prince?

There's been a long going discussion among scholars and others about the disappointment often felt by readers and viewers when the Beast is transformed back into his human form in Beauty and the Beast tales. I had hoped to go share some of those discussions, but have been sick. But it has arisen again in popular media with the release of the new Disney film. So I wanted to share the article: Why Is the Prince in Beauty and the Beast Always Less Hot Than the Beast? By Hunter Harris

Excerpt from the article:

And it’s precisely at this moment — just when you’re adjusting to life as a human person who’d swipe right on a cartoon Beast — that he’s snatched from us. In both versions of Beauty and the Beast, the pesky curse that trapped the Beast in his animal form is eventually broken. When Belle sobs over his injured body, her tears deactivate the spell. With proof that he can love and be loved in return, the Beast is magically returned to the human race.

Believe me when I say that this was the cruelest twist ending of my childhood. After 90 minutes of falling for that lush brown fur, I discovered that the Beast’s human form is blonde. Also, he’s just not that hot.

The effect is much worse in film, of course, but it has been explored many times in fiction, too, by Angela Carter, Robin McKinley, and others.

So how to you feel when the Beast disappears? Happy, disappointed, or just confused?

Bargain Ebook: As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell for $1.99

As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale (Twisted Tale, A) by Liz Braswell is on sale TODAY ONLY for $1.99 in ebook format down from its usual $9.99. This is a novelization of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. This is the third book in Braswell's series. She's also explored Sleeping Beauty in Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale: A Twisted Tale and Aladdin in A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale.

Book description:

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind—memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

Lauren Conrad Snow White Collection at Kohl's

Have you seen the Snow White collection by Lauren Conrad at Kohl's? It is selling quick because it is cute and/or romantic with most pieces not splattering anything overtly Disney on them. That's okay if you like that, of course, but I prefer subtlety when it comes to every day fairy tale themed clothing. I'm middle aged and was trained by my dad to not pay others to be their walking billboard. Unless I really ADORE something, of course, because clothing is rarely about absolutes.

I love florals so some of these pieces are my taste exactly. Same thing happened with the summer line of Alice in Wonderland by Lauren Conrad. And I don't even LIKE Alice in Wonderland but I own some cute pants from that line. Now I am crossing my fingers there will be a Beauty and the Beast line in the spring in conjunction with the movie with more clothes like these. Of course, Hot Topic and Torrid (since they are the same company) will have some, too, but they tend to be more kitschy although some of their recent Once Upon a Time line was subtle and more appealing to me, too, I admit. Shocked me!

As for the Lauren Conrad stuff, I fell in love with the Snow White Peasant Top and the Floral Tulle skirt. There are little apples on the peasant top which is a wink to me that this is a Snow White themed shirt, but that's it. No one else has to know unless they are savvy about the clothes or I tell them. That's the way I like it a lot of the time. And wonderfully enough--it also was a peasant top that flattered me which is sometimes iffy with peasant top styling. Because yes, I own the blue one below.

And, no this isn't an affiliate deal--I get no kickback or otherwise. I just really have enjoyed these Lauren Conrad special lines. I wonder if I missed previous ones...yes, I see I missed the Cinderella one but none of those looked like they work as well with my personal style. Or if they did, too late now!

New Book: It's the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics

(US and UK Links)

It's the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics by Douglas Brode (Editor) and Shea T. Brode (Editor) was released over the summer and I'm playing catch up this week.

I haven't read this one yet, but the brief skim of the intro leads me to believe it is more Disney apologist in tone than some might like, but I appreciated the arguments that were more pro-Disney--namely that Disney didn't create its fairy tale films out of a vacuum, but drew from other contemporary adaptations from stage and elsewhere, too. Examples and footnotes are provided, too, so this one intrigues me for the fairy tale adaptation discussions especially.

Book description:

In 1937, the first full-length animated film produced by Walt Disney was released. Based on a fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was an instant success and set the stage for more film adaptations over the next several decades. From animated features like and Bambi to live action films such as Mary Poppins, Disney repeatedly turned to literary sources for inspiration—a tradition the Disney studios continues well into the twenty-first century.

In It’s the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics, Douglas Brode and Shea T. Brode have collected essays that consider the relationship between a Disney film and the source material from which it was drawn. Analytic yet accessible, these essays provide a wide-ranging study of the term “The Disney Version” and what it conveys to viewers. Among the works discussed in this volume are Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio,Sleeping Beauty, Tarzan, and Winnie the Pooh.

In these intriguing essays, contributors to this volume offer close textual analyses of both the original work and of the Disney counterpart. Featuring articles that consider both positive and negative elements that can be found in the studio’s output, It’s the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics will be of interest to scholars and students of film, as well as the diehard Disney fan.

Disney's First Trailer for 2017 Release of "Beauty and the Beast"

And here is the first trailer, first look at Disney's live action version of "Beauty and the Beast" slated for release on 3/17/17. What do you think?

I am very curious as to the portrayal of the Beast, I admit. It's more about how violent he may be than anything else. I like Dan Stevens and am not worried about his portrayal but more of what is written for him...

New Book: In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine

In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine was released in March. This is another entry in the long standing argument about princesses and princess culture, especially as fostered by Disney, and thus fairy tales are pulled into the fray.

Book description:

It’s no secret that most girls, at some point, love all things princess: the poofy dresses, the plastic tiaras, the color pink. Even grown-up women can’t get enough of royal weddings and royal gossip. Yet critics claim the princess dream sets little girls up to be weak and submissive, and allows grown women to indulge in fantasies of rescue rather than hard work and self-reliance.

Enter Jerramy Fine – an unabashed feminist who is proud of her life-long princess obsession and more than happy to defend it. Through her amusing life story and in-depth research, Fine makes it clear that feminine doesn’t mean weak, pink doesn’t mean inferior, and girliness is not incompatible with ambition. From 9th century Cinderella to modern-day Frozen, from Princess Diana to Kate Middleton, from Wonder Woman to Princess Leia, Fine valiantly assures us that princesses have always been about power, not passivity. And those who love them can still be confident, intelligent women.

Provocative, insightful, but also witty and personal, In Defense of the Princess empowers girls, women, and parents to dream of happily ever after without any guilt or shame.

Here are two page shots to be read as an excerpt for your consideration, pages 33 & 34 of the book. You can click on these images to see them larger for reading or go to Amazon and look inside the book viewer to read them there.

I haven't read the entire book but skimmed with some keyword searches of the text. The argument that the literary tales often offer strong women to be used as role models is one I think we overall agree with here in the SurLaLune fandom. 

So here's book that uses studies/research and personal experiences to create an offering from a Princess culture apologist. Add it to your lists if this is one of your topics of interest!

Coloring Book Week: Art of Coloring Disney Princess: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity and Relaxation

Art of Coloring Disney Princess: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity and Relaxation (Art Therapy) by Catherine Saunier-Talec and Anne Le Meur was released this past November. Disney doesn't need my help with promotion but I was surprised at how much I liked some of these illustrations. A few samples are below; as always click on them to view them larger size.

Book description:

Relax, and let the creativity flow through you. Whether a skilled artist or an everyday dabbler of drawings and doodles, fans of all ages will enjoy these stunning pen-and-ink illustrations of beautiful landscapes, elaborate patterns, and memorable characters from Disney's hit animated feature films featuring the Disney Princesses. The lovely packaging includes a board cover with double metallic foil stamping.

New Book: A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell

A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell is a new release this month. This is part of the newish subgenre of reimagined Disney versions of fairy tales. I am rather interested in the papers that are going to come out this recent subgenre. Nothing like Disney to be self aware enough to go this direction in book publishing. And then there's the whole dichotomy of Disney fairy tales being the most familiar versions of fairy tales for modern generations when the beauty of fairy tales is their diversity and nuances across cultures and tellers.

This one has not been well-reviewed by readers actually. Interesting to observe...

Book description:

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin.

When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish. To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.

What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Praise for A Whole New World:

"A magic carpet ride of a book! A fun and unpredictable retelling of the classic Aladdin story, a must-read for all of us Disney fans!" -Melissa de la Cruz

Fairy Tale Highlights of the American Folklore Society's 2015 Annual Meeting

The American Folklore Society's Annual Meeting is coming soon and the deadline to register at a discounted rate is August 31st. The Society's 2015 annual meeting will be held October 14-17, 2015 at the Westin in Long Beach, California.

I've pulled the fairy tale related papers from the most recent program. There is always plenty to hear and see at the meeting--and WONDERFUL people to meet--but highlighting fairy tale discussions is SurLaLune's purpose. I won't be attending this year since I have another commitment that is entirely worthwhile, but I still wish I could be in two places at once!

01-10
Legends, Fairy Tales, and the Supernatural, Part I
Tokyo/Vancouver

Merrill Kaplan (The Ohio State University), chair
8:00 a.m. Andrew Peck (University of Wisconsin, Madison), At the Modems of Madness:
Slender Man Ostension and the Digital Age
8:30 a.m. Elizabeth Tucker (Binghamton University), "There's an App for That": Legend
Tripping with Smartphones
9:00 a.m. Claudia M. Schwabe (Utah State University), Doppelgangers, Automatons, and
Golems: Demonic Creatures in German Fairy Tales and Modern American Media
Culture
9:30 a.m. Merrill Kaplan (The Ohio State University), discussant

02-10
Legends, Fairy Tales, and the Supernatural, Part II
Tokyo/Vancouver

Merrill Kaplan (The Ohio State University), chair
10:15 a.m. K. Brandon Barker (Indiana University), I Hate the Bell Witch: Mirror-Summoning
Rituals and the Science of Visual Perception
10:45 a.m. Emily Burke (Indiana University), The Academic and Popular Discourse of Fairy
Changelings and Autism
11:15 a.m. Ray Cashman (Indiana University), Witchcraft and Anxiety on the Irish Border
11:45 a.m. Merrill Kaplan (The Ohio State University), discussant

02-12
Storytelling and Folktales
Shoreline

Lisa Gilman (University of Oregon), chair
10:15 a.m. Lowell Andrew Brower (Harvard University), “It Happened, but May It Never
Happen Again”: The Politics and Poetics of Storytelling in Post-Genocide Rwanda
10:45 a.m. Ann Schmiesing (University of Colorado, Boulder), Fairy-Tale Homiletics: Fairy
Tales as Illustrations in Contemporary Sermons
11:15 a.m. Anton David Banchy (independent), A Gendered Look at “Mulan”
11:45 a.m. Lisa Gilman (University of Oregon), Is Oral Tradition Alive and Well?
Contemporary Legends and Social Issues in Northern Malawi

04-06
Women in Folklore and Literature, Part I: International Perspectives
Melbourne

Sponsored by the Folklore and Literature Section and the Women's Section
See also 05-06
Jill Terry Rudy (Brigham Young University), chair
8:00 a.m. Theresa A. Vaughan (University of Central Oklahoma), Teaching the (Absent)
Woman: Advice for the Medieval Housewife in Le Ménagier de Paris
8:30 a.m. Veronica Muskheli (University of Washington, Seattle), Brides and Bridles:
Female Batyr and Her Horse in Central Asian Wonder Tales
9:00 a.m. Danielle M. Roemer (Northern Kentucky University), Rosario Ferré's "Sleeping
Beauty”: Rebellion and Confinement
9:30 a.m. Mayako Murai (Kanagawa University, Japan), Tales of Transformation,
Transformation of Tales: Hiromi Kawakami's Tread on a Snake

04-07
“Ain't No California”: Travelers as Tricksters
Naples

Sabra Webber (The Ohio State University), chair
8:00 a.m. Nancy Dinan (Texas Tech University), “Now Comes a Fairy Tale”: Heinrich
Schliemann Goes to Ithaca
8:30 a.m. Marisa G. Wieneke (The Ohio State University), “Where He Goes, Many Will
Follow”: The LA Trickster and His Taco Trucks
9:00 a.m. Yeliz Cavus (The Ohio State University), “Long Ways, Long Lies”: Evliya Celebi as
Traveler and Trickster
9:30 a.m. Sabra J. Webber (The Ohio State University), “A Mean and Malignant Witch”:
Captain Burton's Tricky World

05-04
A Year in Fairy-Tale History: Motley Encounters with Textual "Sociability”
Centennial D

Christine A. Jones (University of Utah), chair
10:15 a.m. Jennifer Schacker (University of Guelph), 1804: Recasting Cinderella, from Stage
to Page
10:45 a.m. Molly Clark Hillard (Seattle University), 1842: “The Fairy Tales of Science/And the
Long Result of Time”
11:15 a.m. Christine A. Jones (University of Utah), 1901: Perrault's Seductive (and ShortLived)
Fin de Siècle
11:45 a.m. Nancy Canepa (Dartmouth College), 1956: Italo Calvino's Fiabe Italiane and a
National Folklore

06-04
Disney (En)Counters: Fairy-Tale Films in France, PRC, and Italy
Centennial D

Cristina Bacchilega (niversity of Hawai‘i-Mānoa), chair
2:00 p.m. Anne E. Duggan (Wayne State University), Engagé Animation: The Films of Paul
Grimault and Jean-François Laguionie
2:30 p.m. Jing Li (Gettysburg College), Telling Her Story as a Woman: The China-Made Hua
Mulan (2009)
3:00 p.m. Cristina Bacchilega (University of Hawai‘i- Mānoa), Nationalism, Migration, and
Parenthood: Italian Pinocchio Films As Critical Encounters with Disney
3:30 p.m. Kimberly J. Lau (University of California, Santa Cruz), discussant

07-06
Destabilizing Fairyland: Fairy Tales and Folklore in 19th- and Early 20th-Century
British Literature
Melbourne

Sara B. Cleto (The Ohio State University), chair
8:00 a.m. Brittany B. Warman (The Ohio State University), Reimagining "Rumpelstiltskin":
Fairy Tale, Gothic, and Queer Possibilities in George Eliot's Silas Marner
8:30 a.m. Sara B. Cleto (The Ohio State University), Lamps and Levity: the Dis/abled,
Embodied Experience in George MacDonald's Fairy Tales
9:00 a.m. Jason M. Harris (Texas A&M University), "They Were No Longer the Fields We
Know": The Disconcerting Dimensions of Fairyland
9:30 a.m. Jennifer Schacker (University of Guelph), discussant

08-03
Fairy-Tale Webs of Intermedial Encounters and Enactments
Centennial C

Claudia Schwabe (Utah State University), chair
10:25 a.m. John Laudun (University of Louisiana), What Scientists Think about When They
Think about Folk Narrative
10:35 a.m. Timothy R. Tangherlini (University of California, Los Angeles), Rotten Poisonous
Apples: Explorations of Audience Response to Films Based on Fairy Tales
10:45 a.m. Rebecca B. Hay (Brigham Young University), Into the Woods, Out a New
Character: Live-Action Woods as Catalyst
10:55 a.m. Jarom McDonald (Brigham Young University), Modeling Intermediality: Using
Computational Network Analysis to Explore Fairy Tales on Television
11:05 a.m. Bethany Hanks (Utah State University), Fairy Tales over the Telephone
11:15 a.m. Jill Terry Rudy (Brigham Young University), Back with the Baba Yaga:
Intermedial Webs of Ambiguity and Growth

09-06
Close Encounters and the Circulation of Folk Narrative
Melbourne

Kimberly J. Lau (University of California, Santa Cruz), chair
2:00 p.m. Kimberly J. Lau (University of California, Santa Cruz), Specters of the Marvelous:
Race and the Fairy Tale
2:30 p.m. Ulrich Marzolph (Enzyklopädie des Märchens), Hanna's Contribution to Galland's
Nights: Reconsidering the Narrative Art of the Subaltern
3:00 p.m. JoAnn Conrad (California State University, East Bay), Chance Encounters:
Meetings with Extraordinary Women
3:30 p.m. Margaret Mills (The Ohio State University, emerita), Patience Stone: Afghan
Folktale and Proverb to War Novel and Film

09-12
That Fairy-Tale Life
Shoreline

Molly Clark Hillard (Seattle University), chair
2:00 p.m. Savannah Blitch (Arizona State University), Between Earth and Sky:
Transcendence and Symbolic Encounters of Reality and the Fairy Tale in Pan's
Labyrinth
2:30 p.m. Jose Nayar Rivera (City University of New York), “Little Red Riding Hood” and the
Problem of Attribution
3:00 p.m. Mary Sellers (Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg), Fifty Shades of Folklore:
An Analysis of E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey
3:30 p.m. Martha Rachel Gholson (Missouri State University) and Chris-Anne Stumpf
(Douglas College), It’s Not the Blood You Take, but the Ideas You Give:
Rereading Bella

New Book: The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel (The Descendants) by Melissa de la Cruz

The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel (The Descendants) by Melissa de la Cruz was released in May. It is the novel version of Disney's upcoming Descendants movie. I shared more about Descendents in an earlier post today at Disney Descendants Coming July 31st. The hardcover edition is already temporarily sold out online and the reviews are very strong. De la Cruz is an established YA author with several novels on her resume.

Book description:

Evil tree. Bad Apple?

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon to the Isle of the Lost--a dark and dreary place protected by a force field that makes it impossible for them to leave. Stripped of their magical powers, the villains now live in total isolation, forgotten by the world.

Mal learns from her mother, Maleficent, that the key to true darkness, the Dragon's Eye, is located inside her scepter in the forbidden fortress on the far side of the island. The eye is cursed, and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her "friends." In their quest for the Dragon's Eye, these four kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad.

Disney Descendants Coming July 31st

Descendants will premiere on Disney Channel and be released to DVD on July 31st. The way my summer is going, I wanted to share it now before I forget about it. Certainly a musical offering to the younger set, the descendants (ha!) of ABC's Once Upon a Time fans. There are a lot of shorts and such about it at the official Descendants page that I won't share here. Just a description and the newest extended trailer here.

Movie description:

Meet the next generation of villains in Disney's DESCENDANTS! Imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost, home of the most infamous villains who ever lived, the kids of Maleficent (Kristen Chenoweth), the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella De Vil have never ventured off the island... until now. Sent to idyllic Auradon to attend prep school alongside the children of beloved Disney heroes, these villainous kids must execute a plan that helps their evil parents achieve "world domination" once again! Will Maleficent's daughter (Dove Cameron) and the other rebel teens follow in their rotten parents' footsteps or will they choose to embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom? Co-starring Booboo Stewart, Cameron Boyce and introducing newcomer Sofia Carson, this wickedly cool comedy adventure is awesome to the core!

Disney Descendants | Extended Trailer

So I Saw Disney's Cinderella 2015

Cinderella 2015 Wedding Dress, images from Vanity Fair.

Yesterday I saw the new Disney's Cinderella film, what was essentially a women's ritual in my immediate family that included my sister, her daughter (my five-year-old niece), my mother, and my sister's mother-in-law. I love all of these women and between all of us we have a very diversified relationship with Disney and its products. I am really not in the mood to write a review. I've thought about the film, yes, but analyzing it for its story is almost pointless. There is some, but not much, that diverges from the original animated Disney's Cinderella. The acting was fine, the sets were beautiful, the costumes were overall stunning. I will not forget Cinderella's wedding dress which was much more elegant and less little girl's dream than Cindy's ballgown which was just a tick or two below over the top ridiculousness. Really, it balanced on the precipice. I imagined the laughs they all had when shooting the dance scenes trying to choreography with and around that skirt. I see a new trend in wedding dresses either way. And the costumes in the early idyllic life scenes were making me long for spring in ways I haven't quite had time to do yet this year.

The rest of the women in my group loved the film to varying degrees, with little Kensie the most enthusiastic. She proceeded to dance and dance and dance at the bottom of the theatre steps after the film, a mix of romantic and pent up energies after sitting for too long energies since there was once again a plethora of previews before the film that lengthened it by too much by far, nevermind some that were not appropriate for the youngest audience members. But I digress. And am reminded of why I prefer home viewing of movies anymore. And then there were the first three trailers and commercials that were played without picture, just sound, until I got up to find someone to fix the problem although we were far from the only people in the theatre. I was amused and wondering if anyone would go and didn't even hear any conversations to that point, my innate observer tendencies entertaining me much more than any trailer could. But I was there for Kensie so I went and found someone to fix it for us.

My favorite line in the entire movie? "I speak French, not Italian." Only gotten in context but my only genuine surprised laugh. Most of my entertainment was from watching Kensie watch the movie. She is a princess incarnate and loves all of these fantasies and has a rich imagination. She also is getting other tales and stories and I am far from worried about her romantic expectations of life. She is a child who has only grown happier over the years as she has gained more autonomy. If there is a child who has hated being a child and the lack of control of her life it offers her, she is it. But she has a rich fantasy life that gets her through her frustrations where she grows up to be Queen of the Universe with many superpowers. And she firmly got the message that courage and kindness are much more important than beauty although in this movie, let's face it, beauty is a commodity as well. My mother pointed out that the real princess is beautiful, too, just the physical antithesis of Cinderella. The Prince prefers who.

That said, the few story changes that are there were richly borrowed from both Ever After and The Slipper and the Rose. The conniving stepmother is very much Ever After. Cate Blanchett did amazing things with her lines and never chewed the scenery. I would love to see what she would have brought to Ever After, although I've always been satisfied by Angelica Huston's performance in that. The "you must marry a princess" politic were much more The Slipper and the Rose, but not as heavy handed and never felt nearly as threatening to the ending as they do in Slipper.

But I admit as I compared it, I longed to watch Ever After again. There is a richness to the characters in that one while these characters only ever stayed flat for me and suffered by comparison. I liked this Cinderella just fine, but I didn't see growth in her, just an abiding patience which I am all for admiring--not all my heroines need to be Agent Carters or Wonder Womans or even Annas or Elsas--but it didn't give me much to see or explore beyond that one level, there wasn't a real struggle for her and her justified pain was nearly invisible relative to the level it deserved.

Overall, this is a perfect Disney product. It delivers exactly what it promises. There is nothing new here, but it is pretty and entertaining and will delight millions as it should. And it is very pretty, very, very pretty. I love pretty and this makes great wallpaper.

Fairy Tales in Advertising: NACC (Children's Cancer Support Center): Snow White

NACC (Children's Cancer Support Center): Snow white

Once upon a time a girl dreamed to be just like other children.

Okay, so from looking at so many of these international advertisements, they get away with more Disney imagery in their ads in Brazil than we do in the US. Worthy cause, so Disney isn't wise to pursue too vigorously, but they don't like this stuff without their permission. And without their logo, I don't think they did provide any information. And they also don't like messing with images of their iconic characters either in professional advertising,so this would ever receive permission in this iteration.

I did some freelance work with Disney catalog back in my poor newlywed, living in California days and nope, just nope. I was REALLY HORRIBLE at Disney copy writing by the way. We parted ways with great relief on both sides. Amicable separation.

This is cease and desist territory here. This is an example of what not to do. And there's ways to do this just as effectively without infringing on copyright. But it takes more effort. Don't be lazy! And you would never get away with this in the US. Never, ever. Do a Google search on Disney's legal pursuits on these matters and be aware. Some of those stories are legendary among a certain segment of the population.

Campaign info from Ads of the World:

Advertising Agency: MMS, Recife, Brazil
Creative Director: Márcio Gomes
Art Director: Filipe Cavalcanti
Copywriter: Leo Farache
Illustrator: Fernando Raposo

New Book: A Wish Your Heart Makes: From the Grimm Brothers' Aschenputtel to Disney's Cinderella by Charles Solomon.

If you are a fan of Disney's Cinderella, you will most likely adore A Wish Your Heart Makes: From the Grimm Brothers' Aschenputtel to Disney's Cinderella by Charles Solomon.

Despite the book description below, be assured that this book is primarily about Disney's versions of the tale, lushly illustrated with great photography. I own the Sleeping Beauty version of this book, Once Upon a Dream: From Perrault's Sleeping Beauty to Disney's Maleficent, also by Solomon, and the history not directly related to Disney is sparse in relation to page count. So get this as a film fan with a desire for a little bit of Cinderella history, not as a definitive history of Cinderella book. There are plenty of other books that will serve that purpose better. They are not as photogenic as this one.

And, yes, I am assuming based on my experience with the Sleeping Beauty book. The tale's history provided in that one was pretty much summarized in the book description. I am sure it would also make a fine introduction for a younger Cinderella fan, just as the Sleeping Beauty one does. My five year old niece would adore thumbing through either of these books, too, although the content is somewhat over her head at this point. So it is a safe coffee table book for the family that will provide a brief overview of the tale's history, too. With lots and lots of pretty pictures which we all love, yes?

Book description:

With its kind heroine who receives her just reward-and a dashing prince-with the help of her Fairy Godmother, "Cinderella" is one the most beloved fairy tales throughout the world. Although the most popular versions appeared in Charles Perrault's Histoires ou contes du temps pass ("Stories or Fables of Times Past") (1697) and the Grimms' "Fairy Tales" (1812), the story can be traced back to the story of Rhodopis, a Greek slave girl who marries the pharoah of Egypt, which Strabo recorded in the first century B.C.E. In the late nineteenth century, British follklorist Marian Roalfe Cox catalogued 345 variations of the story.

For more than two thousand years, children and adults have read and watched as Cinderella endured cruel mistreatment without complaining-and met her prince before the stroke of midnight. A Wish Your Heart Makes will trace the history of the fairy tale, emphasizing its strong ties to Walt Disney and his studio.

Major artists who illustrated the story of Cinderella range from Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Burne-Jones, and Walter Crane, to Gustave Dor , Edmund Dulac, John B. Gruelle, and Arthur Rackham. The story has been adapted to the stage many times, including the operas La Cenerentola by Giacomo Rossini and Cendrillon by Jules Massenet, the ballet by Sergei Prokofiev, and musical adaptations by Rogers and Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim.

There have been scores of Cinderella films, beginning with a black and white short in 1907. But the most celebrated is Walt Disney's, one of his most beloved fairy tales-and the film that saved his studio, which had languished in the doldrums after the end of World War II. Years later, when a lunch guest asked Disney what his favorite piece of animation done at his studio, he replied, "I think it would be when Cinderella got her ball gown."