Amazon's Cinderella

 

 

I'm trying to make it back to regular posting, folks. It's been a really difficult three years personally with a pandemic on top of it. So I'm starting with some low hanging fruit here!

So the trailer for Amazon's Cinderella is available for previewing. As you can see above. Go ahead and watch it. I'll wait for you.

Now that's an adventure, isn't it? I've been reading, watching, and listening to versions of Cinderella for almost five decades now. And this one looks like it will be fun just to watch the many ways they try to bend the tropes in one rendition. Since Pierce Brosnan was my first crush many moons ago, I have to admit I'm willing to show up to watch him, too, for old time's sake. A rewatch of Remington Steele last year during shutdown reminded me I had good taste at 12. It's funny how it feels Disneyesque but more ambitious in its trope bending. After a summer with Schmigadoon, these musicals are beginning to feel like their having yet another resurgence. 

I rather wish they had given this a more creative Cinderella title to make it easier to find in future years.

The official information for the film:

Cinderella is a musically-driven bold new take on the traditional story you grew up with. Our heroine (Camila Cabello) is an ambitious young woman whose dreams are bigger than the world will allow, but with the help of her Fab G (Billy Porter), she is able to persevere and make her dreams come true. 

Written for the screen and directed by Kay Cannon with covers of songs written by some of the top-selling musical artists of all time, Cinderella has an all-star cast that includes Idina Menzel, Minnie Driver, Nicholas Galitzine, with Billy Porter and Pierce Brosnan. Producers are James Corden, Leo Pearlman, Jonathan Kadin and Shannon McIntosh, and executive producers are Louise Rosner and Josephine Rose.

Go here to add it to your Amazon Watchlist.

And I have to agree, I don't think there is any magic that can make a glass slipper comfortable!

As an Amazon Associate, the SurLaLune Fairy Tale site earns a percentage from qualifying purchases as a referral incentive which helps support the site. Your cost does not increase by using the links on this site. Read SurLaLune's Privacy Policy here. 

From the Brothers Grimm Series on Folkstreams Vimeo Channel: Activities During Coronavirus

Last week one tweet I read that made me laugh was a mother stating emphatically that she's not going to do anything educational while stuck at home with her young kids. They would watch too much tv. They would eat too much junk. Essentially, they would escape anyway they could during the Corona shutdown. I laughed. I liked that she was lowering her expectations and not putting too much pressure on herself. But even those activities will get old in my opinion, so I will keep looking for fairy tale related options to share. Fairy tales and folklore are about surviving trying times.

But on the note of watching TV, I wanted to share links to the From the Brothers Grimm series by Tom Davenport. These are rentable for a few dollars each on the Folkstreams Vimeo Channel. This is just an FYI service from SurLaLune--there is no affiliate earnings with these. Davenport Films made these many years ago so they are not HD and have a folksy feel. They are also mostly set in Appalachia. They are more suitable for older kids, I'd say 3rd grade and up.

I've linked and embedded the films below but some may not embed due to privacy settings. Just follow the links to learn more. They are all viewable for a $1.95 month long rental each.

My husband's favorite (and thus one of my sentimental favorites, too) is Soldier Jack or The Man Who Caught Death in a Sack:


Soldier Jack or The Man Who Caught Death in a Sack from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Jack and the Dentist's Daughter


Jack and the Dentist's Daughter from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

I remember when this aired on PBS, the last film they produced, Willa: An American Snow White:


Willa: An American Snow White from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Hansel & Gretel: An Appalachian Version


Hansel & Gretel: An Appalachian Version from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Ashpet: An American Cinderella


Ashpet: An American Cinderella from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel


Rapunzel, Rapunzel from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Mutzmag or The Girl Who Killed the Cannibals. This tale appears in many of the strong women of folklore collections.


Mutzmag or The Girl Who Killed the Cannibals from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

The Frog King


The Frog King from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Bristlelip is a version of King Thrushbeard.


Bristlelip from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Bearskin or The Man Who Didn't Wash for Seven Years--Another favorite tale of mine. Really gets the feel of how disgusting Bearskin is!


Bearskin or The Man Who Didn't Wash for Seven Years from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

The Goose Girl


The Goose Girl from Folkstreams on Vimeo.

Beauty and the East - A Short Film by Dhruv Uday Singh

Content Warning: Strong Language



The above film has strong language which I usually avoid sharing since SurLaLune is for all ages.

The gist of the film is what Belle's reaction is when the beast is disenchanted and ends up being Indian--and a different race from her--not the blonde white prince she imagined.

The film provides a good opportunity to explore expectations when reading or watching fairy tales. Or discuss how much appearance fuels love and its expectations. Many of the bases are covered here of previous discussions I've read, witnessed, etc. over the years of disenchanted princes. Even the fact that many would be happier with the Beast instead no matter what his human appearance is! "Change him back!" I've heard people demand. This adds an additional spin to that desire.

My favorite line: “Belle, the whole time you’ve known me, I’ve been a very hairy brown guy. I didn’t transform from a polar bear or a … a @#*&@ swan!”

The film's primary info:

A short film about the intersection of race, gender, and fairytale dog-men.

Written, Edited, and Directed by Dhruv Uday Singh
with Contributions by Jason M. Palmer

Produced by Tayler Vee Robinson

Starring
Cate Scott Campbell as Belle
Dhruv Uday Singh as the Prince

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?

Coming to DVD: Classic Storybook Collection with Hayley Mills

Classic Storybook Collection with Hayley Mills will be released on 1/17/17. The 2-DVD set includes all 32 segments from the show's run:

Synopsis:

Travel to a world of make-believe with your host HAYLEY MILLS as these fanciful, educational stories come to life. Come away on a journey you’ll treasure forever with this enchanting, animated anthology.

Target Audience:

Kids 3-7, Parents 30+

Notable Cast/Crew:

Voice talents of James Earl Jones, Mickey Rooney, John Carradine, Tammy Grimes, Ruth Buzzi, June Foray (Granny in Looney Tunes cartoons and Cindy Lou Who in How The Grinch Stole Christmas), Hans Conried (Captain Hook in Peter Pan and Dr. T in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.), Lucille Bliss (Smurfette in Smurfs), Jack Angel (King Zarkon in Voltron) and more!

Key selling points:

- Produced for TV and school libraries as The Storybook Series with Hayley Mills
- Reminiscent of “Reading Rainbow” which has enjoyed a recent resurgence
- The entire collection of stories were produced by Bosustow Entertainment – a prestigious animation studio from the 1960s-1990s with multiple Emmy® and Oscar® winning features along with animated segments for Sesame Street and CBS After School TV Specials
- DVD + DIGITAL ACCESS – provides consumers with 2 ways to watch!

DISC 1:

The Fisherman and His Wife
Tom Thumb
Seven with One Blow
The Youth Who Wanted to Shiver
Three Golden Hairs
Hans in Luck
Hug Me
Silver Pony
Creole
Hardlucky
The Furious Flycycle
Someone New
Ghost in the Shed
The Reluctant Dragon

DISC 2:

The Practical Princess
Beauty and the Beast
Myra
I'm Not Oscar's Friend Anymore
Martha Ann and the Mother Store
The Man Who Had No Dream
The Legend of Paul Bunyan
The Wave: A Japanese Folktale
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Just Say Hic!
The Beginning
Who Do You Think Should Belong to the Club?
Good Goodies
Noises in the Night
All in the Morning Early
Birds of a Feather
Modern Life
My Mother is the Most Beautiful Mother in the World

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: From Fairy Tale to Film Screenplay: Working with Plot Genotypes by Terence Patrick Murphy

From Fairy Tale to Film Screenplay: Working with Plot Genotypes by Terence Patrick Murphy was released in late 2015. I haven't seen a copy of it yet, but the table of contents offers some great fairy tales and some popular films.

Book description:

In Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (1979), Syd Field first popularized the Three-Act Paradigm of Setup, Confrontation and Resolution for conceptualizing and creating the Hollywood screenplay. For Field, the budding screenwriter needs a clear screenplay structure, one which includes two well-crafted plot points, the first at the end of Act I, the second at the end of Act II. By focusing on the importance of the four essentials of beginning and end, and the two pivotal plot points, Field did the Hollywood film industry an enormous service. Nonetheless, although he handles the issue of overall structure expertly, Field falls down when offering the screenwriter advice on how to successfully build each of the three individual Acts. This is because Field did not recognize the importance of another layer of analysis that underpins the existence of plot points. This is the level of the plot genotype.

Plot genotypes are the compositional schemas of particular stories. They are sets of instructions, written in the language of the plot function, for executing particular plots. This book will offer you a richer theory of plot structure than the one Field outlines. It will do this not by contradicting anything Field has to say about the Hollywood paradigm, but by complementing it with a deeper level of analysis. It outline the plot genotypes for The Frog Prince, The Robber Bridegroom, Puss-in-Boots, and Little Red Riding Hood, and will show how these genotypes provide the underpinnings for the film screenplays of Pretty Woman, Wrong Turn, The Mask, and Psycho. By means of a detailed study of these four Hollywood screenplays, you will be able to offer a much richer description of what is going on at any particular point in a screenplay. In this way, you will become much sharper at understanding how screenplays work. And you will become much better at learning how to write coherent screenplays yourself.

Table of Contents:

1 From the Hollywood Paradigm to the Proppian Plot Genotype 1
2 Vladimir Propp’s Functional Analysis of the Fairy Tale 9
3 A Functional Analysis of Charles Perrault’s Cinderella 16
4 Formulating the Concept of the Plot Genotype 27
5 The Robber Bridegroom Genotype 31
6 The Robber Bridegroom Genotype in Wrong Turn (2003) 46
7 The Frog Prince Genotype 56
8 The Frog Prince Genotype in Pretty Woman (1990) 66
9 The Puss-in-Boots Genotype 102
10 The Puss-in-Boots Genotype in The Mask (1994) 111
11 The Little Red Riding Hood Genotype 144
12 The Little Red Riding Hood Genotype in Psycho (1960) 151
13 Conclusion 172
Appendix: Plot Genotype Theory and the Hero’s Journey 177
Notes 182
Bibliography 188
Index 192

The Gnomist Film with Some Extra Fairy and Gnome Doors

For your weekend viewing pleasure, as I gear up for new upcoming posts:



Great Big Story's description:

Deep in the forest of Overland Park, Kansas little gnomes made a home. But how did they get there? This is the feel-good story of paying-it-forward, one little house at a time. A Great Big collaboration with our friends at CNN Films.

I don't have any trees on my property to add a fairy or gnome door to, but whenever I come across them in searches--like Fairy Door Amazon Search Results--I wish I did. But I was thrilled this summer when a fairy ring appeared beside our house. It prosaically disappeared with the next lawn mowing but it was fun while it lasted. Besides, it's never really wise to keep them around anyway...fairies are not always--or even usually--our friends, you know.

A few of my favorites:

Miniature Fairy Garden Double Door Tree Accent

Giftcraft Miniature Fairy Garden 4" Enchanted Forest Pixie Door

Top Collection Miniature Fairy Garden Mystical Gnome Home Door

New Book: Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives

Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives by Jack Zipes (Editor), Pauline Greenhill (Editor), Kendra Magnus-Johnston (Editor) was released last week. I haven't seen a copy of yet, so this is just in nature of my usual book announcements.

Book description:

The fairy tale has become one of the dominant cultural forms and genres internationally, thanks in large part to its many manifestations on screen. Yet the history and relevance of the fairy-tale film have largely been neglected. In this follow-up to Jack Zipes’s award-winning book The Enchanted Screen (2011), Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney offers the first book-length multinational, multidisciplinary exploration of fairy-tale cinema. Bringing together twenty-three of the world’s top fairy-tale scholars to analyze the enormous scope of these films, Zipes and colleagues Pauline Greenhill and Kendra Magnus-Johnston present perspectives on film from every part of the globe, from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, to Jan Švankmajer’s Alice, to the transnational adaptations of 1001 Nights and Hans Christian Andersen.

Contributors explore filmic traditions in each area not only from their different cultural backgrounds, but from a range of academic fields, including criminal justice studies, education, film studies, folkloristics, gender studies, and literary studies. Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney offers readers an opportunity to explore the intersections, disparities, historical and national contexts of its subject, and to further appreciate what has become an undeniably global phenomenon.

Table of Contents:

Foreword and Acknowledgements Jack Zipes
Preface: Traveling Beyond Disney Kendra Magnus-Johnston, Pauline Greenhill, and Lauren Bosc
1. The Great Cultural Tsunami of Fairy-Tale Films Jack Zipes
2. "My Life as a Fairy Tale": The Fairy Tale Author in Popular Cinema Kendra Magnus-Johnston
3. Spectacle of the Other: Recreating A Thousand and One Nights in Film Sofia Samatar
4. British Animation and the Fairy-Tale Tradition: Housetraining the Id Paul Wells
5. The Fairy-Tale Film in France: Postwar Reimaginings Anne Duggan
6. The Checkered Reception of Fairy-Tale Films in the Germany of the Brothers Grimm Jack Zipes
7. Fairy-Tale Films in Italy Cristina Bacchilega
8. The Fairy-Tale Film in Scandinavia Elisabeth Oxfeldt
9. "To Catch Up and Overtake Disney?" Soviet and Post-Soviet Fairy-Tale Films, Marina Balina and Birgit Beumers
10. The Czech and Slovak Fairy-Tale Film Peter Hames
11. Polish Fairy-Tale Film: 130 Years of Innovation and Counting Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak and Marek Oziewicz
12. Not Always Happily Ever After: Japanese Fairy Tales in Cinema and Animation, Susan Napier
13. The Love Story, Female Images, and Gender Politics: Folktale Films in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Jing Li
14. "It’s all a Fairy Tale": A Folklorist’s Reflection on Storytelling in Popular Hindi Cinema, Sadhana Naithani
15. The Fairy-Tale Film in Korea, Sung-Ae Lee
16. Stick Becoming Crocodile: African Fairy-Tale Film Jessica Tiffin
17. Australian Fairy Tale Films Elizabeth Bullen and Naarah Sawers
18. Fairy-Tale Films in Canada/Canadian Fairy-Tale Films Pauline Greenhill and Steven Kohm
19. The Fairy-Tale Film in Latin America Laura Hubner
20. Beyond Disney in the Twenty-First Century: Changing Aspects of Fairy-Tale Films in the American Film Industry Jack Zipes

Reviews:

"Fairy tales, like the air we breathe, surround us constantly and, usually, transparently in contemporary media cultures. Zipes and his collaborators explore these narratives that we take for granted, exposing the inanity of most Hollywood productions and bringing to light the transgressive, creative cinemas of independent and international filmmakers. We'll never think 'happily ever after' again without a pause to reflect on the implications." ―Donald Crafton, author of Shadow of a Mouse: Performance, Belief, and World-Making in Animation

"Thinking globally and acting locally, Jack Zipes and his collaborators have produced a landmark volume that reveals how fairy-tale enchantments have worked their magic in cinematic productions the world over. The partnership between film and fairy tale, we suddenly discover, is exactly what the dream factory needs to create its coming attractions." ―Maria Tatar, Harvard University, author of The Annotated Brothers Grimm

"This incomparable book of essays projects a panoramic view of fairy-tale films that is only possible when a multidisciplinary team of talented scholars collaborates. With its international scope and expert analyses, Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney lifts the curtain on spectacular realms from around the world." ―Donald Haase, Professor of German and Senior Associate Dean at Wayne State University

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 to DVD: After The Ball, a Fashion Industry Cinderella Story

After The Ball will be released to DVD next week in the US. It stars Portia Doubleday, Marc-Andre Grondin, Chris Noth, Lauren Holly, and Carlo Rota in a fashion industry inspired Cinderella story.

I saw the DVD listed online and thought, "Oh, I missed learning about a Hallmark Channel fairy tale movie!" But I was wrong. This was actually a theatrical release. However, some of the reviews say it is on par with a Hallmark Channel movie, so my instincts were right. Other reviewers enjoyed it for exactly what it is, so if you are an unapologetic Hallmark Channel film watcher--like some members of my family--this is for you.

Has anyone seen this one? It had virtually no publicity in my world this past year although IMDB lists its official US theatrical release as April 24, 2015.

Movie description:

Kates dream is to design for couturier houses. Although she is a bright new talent, Kate can not get a job. No one trusts the daughter of Lee Kassell, a retail guru who markets clothes inspired by the very designers Kate wants to work for. Who wants a spy among the sequins and stilettos?

Reluctantly, Kate joins the family business where she must navigate around her duplicitous stepmother and two wicked stepsisters. With the help of a prince of a guy in the shoe department, her godmothers vintage clothes, and a shocking switch of identities, can Kate expose the evil trio and save her fathers company?

And here's a trailer:

The Politics of Magic: DEFA Fairy-Tale Films (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies) by Qinna Shen

The Politics of Magic: DEFA Fairy-Tale Films (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies) by Qinna Shen is released this week as the newest release in Wayne State University Press's Series in Fairy-Tale Studies. I've received a review copy and it is a great resource on all of those kitschy, nostalgic films such as Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel (Three Nuts for Cinderella) and The Story of Little Mook. I wish this book had been available when I started SurLaLune and was learning about these films and knew NOTHING about them. This book definitely increased my knowledge of them and is one of the best resources I have read to date--the best really--about these politicized fairy tales. If you are interested in fairy tales in film, this is a must read.

Book description:

From Paul Verhoeven's The Cold Heart in 1950 to Konrad Petzold's The Story of the Goose Princess and Her Loyal Horse Falada in 1989, East Germany's state-sponsored film company, DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft), produced over forty feature-length, live-action fairy-tale films based on nineteenth-century folk and literary tales. While many of these films were popular successes and paved the way for the studio's other films to enter the global market, DEFA's fairy-tale corpus has not been studied in its entirety. In The Politics of Magic: DEFA Fairy-Tale Films, Qinna Shen fills this gap by analyzing the films on thematic and formal levels and examining their embedded agendas in relation to the cultural politics of the German Democratic Republic.

In five chapters, Shen compares the films with earlier print versions of the same stories and analyzes revisions made in DEFA's film adaptations. She also distinguishes the DEFA fairy-tale films from National Socialist, West German, and Disney adaptations of the same tales. Her archival work reconstitutes the cultural-historical context in which films were produced and received, and incorporates the films into the larger narrative of DEFA. For the first time, the banned DEFA fairy-tale comedy, The Robe (1961/1991), is discussed in depth. The book's title The Politics of Magic is not intended to suggest that DEFA fairy-tale films were merely mouthpieces of official ideology and propaganda. On the contrary, Shen shows that the films run the gamut from politically dogmatic to implicitly subversive, from kitschy to experimental. She argues that the fairy-tale cloak permitted them to convey ideology in a subtle, indirect manner that allowed viewers to forget Cold War politics for a while and to delve into a world of magic where politics took on an allegorical form.

The fact that some DEFA fairy-tale films developed an international audience (particularly The Story of Little Mook and Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella) not only attests to these films' universal appeal but also to the surprising marketability of this branch of GDR cinema and its impact beyond the GDR's own narrow temporal and geographic boundaries. Shen's study will be significant reading for teachers and students of folklore studies and for scholars of German, Eastern European, cultural, film, media, and gender studies.

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

Preorder Available for Science Fiction Inspired Snow White: Jupiter Ascending

Jupiter Ascending (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD +UltraViolet Combo Pack) is now available for preorder for those who are curious about the film. I like to preorder because I often win on pricing that way when random drops take the price lower.

Gypsy over at Fairy Tale News did such a great job covering this film--for years until its final release!--that I didn't think to add anything about it here. I haven't seen it yet but I am curious. Science fiction is a love of mine and this film fascinates in theory but I am still cautious. But I plan to see it this summer when it is released to DVD. I have little interest in seeing most films in the theatre any more. And DVDs are so much more fun with the opportunities to watch extras and such in the comfort of my own home.

I am also curious about the Snow White elements to the story and how much they survived. Did anyone else see this and enjoy it? I know John my Beloved will be happy to watch it with me.

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.

Cinderella Films: The Slipper and the Rose

This is mostly a repost of a blog entry from several years ago. With Disney's new film, I have Cinderella films on the brain and several of my favorite fairy tale films are Cinderella inspired and The Slipper and the Rose: The Story Of Cinderella [Blu-ray] is one of the top five for me. After all, barring the animated Disney features, this was my very first fairy tale film. And for years I knew virtually nothing about it, even its title.

This is one of those movies that would be played as filler on Sunday afternoons on one of the local stations and occasionally the networks. I wasn't given much TV viewing time as a child, especially on Sundays, but on occasion a bout of bronchitis or such would send me to the couch on a weekend where this would appear magically on the little screen for me, with me usually missing some portion of the beginning and thus the title and credits sequence. I didn't know what it was but I knew I loved it and I remember rediscovering it at least two or three times before I finally was old enough to get a title from the TV guide in the paper. (Oh, I feel old.) The film wasn't even that old for it was released in 1976 but just timed for my discovery.

Then I eventually was able to record it when we owned a VCR and watched it quite a bit. I eventually saw it on the big screen when I was in college when it was shown one Friday night on campus. I was thrilled. I remember sitting in the theatre with some friends. It was a big audience that night and the first time Richard Chamberlain broke into song--for this is a musical--most of the guys in the audience broke into hoot and hollerin' laughter. They didn't know they were in for a musical, especially with Mr. Thorn Birds himself. Yes, the musical numbers just suddenly happen, so it is a shock, but I imagine a lot of guys didn't have very successful date nights if they didn't wise up quick because I doubt I was the only girl in the theatre with an emotional attachment to the movie.

Is it a perfect movie? No. Is it still a hidden gem? Yes, certainly. Here are my reasons why:

1. The aforementioned music. I think the music to this one blows Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella away, even my favorite version with Julie Andrews. I like some of the songs from R&H and even performed a few of them long ago for a musical comedy class, insuring I was quite intimate with them. I prefer these songs by the Sherman Brothers who also gave us the music to Mary Poppins. The tunes are catchier but lusher at the same time. And overall, they are consistently better than the R&H ones. There are some standouts by R&H but there are some I just don't like very well, too. I like all of the music offered here by the Shermans. Personal taste, but I have met many over the years who agree.

2. One of the bitterest complaints against this version is how passive Cinderella is. Valid point. However, I've always considered this movie to be the prince's story. We all forget that he is just about as passive as her in the tale. We even tend to dislike him for just being a silent paragon of princeliness who hasn't much character at all, a blank blob we can lay our own expectations over. The Slipper and the Rose shares his story about politics and protocol. He is expected to marry well and most certainly not for love. This becomes an important part of the plot, one usually glossed over or completely ignored in other versions of the tale. He has to fight for what he wants. It's different and thus entertaining. There are some unexpected twists to the story, too, not major ones, but somewhat unusual.

3. The setting and scenery and costumes, oh my. This is lush. It's the 70s fantasy version of another era and it is pretty to look at if not the height of historical accuracy. However, it is Cinderella so is historical accuracy necessary? No.

4. All the character actors. Singing and dancing no less. If you love BBC productions, so many of the faces we know, especially from older movies and series from the same era, are here. And they sing and dance which is quite amusing.

5. The Fairy Godmother as played by Annette Crosbie. She just may be my favorite fairy godmother. If I could pick one for myself, I'd pick her without a moment's hesitation. These days she is best known for One Foot in the Grave but she is a brilliant fairy godmother and made such an impact that I recognized her immediately when I first saw One Foot in the Grave. She has great lines and delivers them with great aplomb, many referencing other fairy tales which makes it fun for me as a grown-up who gets the references. She is spunky and funny and very no nonsense, a great antidote to the Disney Fairy Godmother with her Bibbidis and Bobbidies and Boos. 

Here is a passable movie trailer made by a fan, so I thought I would share it here.

Emma Watson Will Be Belle

Slow news day, I think, since Emma Watson's announcement that she will be playing Belle in Disney's live action version of Beauty and the Beast has been a top news story all day. I think that is fine casting and all, but didn't expect to see it as a top headline on CNN. See Emma Watson to play Belle in new live-action 'Beauty'.

Now what really want to know? Who will play the Beast? And Gaston?

And what will be the next live action Disney movie? We're getting Cinderella, Maleficent was technically Sleeping Beauty, so what will follow Beauty and the Beast? Little Mermaid? Tangled?

And although I don't cover film much these days and leave that fairy tale realm to Gypsy at Once Upon a Blog, I was fascinated with the media blitz on this. I do think Emma Watson is a great choice. Apparently so do a LOT of readers. Even E! already has an article about how great she is for it. See 10 Reasons Why Emma Watson Will Make the Best Belle Ever.

2. She can really put a man in his place. Because someone's gotta tell the Beast when he's being a real ass. [Heidi's note: And that is unfortunately needed in Disney's version.]

9. She's used to being the smartest person in the room. Belle might be the one character who's more well-read than Hermione.

New Release: Fairy Tale and Film: Old Tales with a New Spin by Sue Short

(US/UK Links)

Fairy Tale and Film: Old Tales with a New Spin by Sue Short was released in late December although it has a 2015 release date. It is also available in the UK at Fairy Tale and Film: Old Tales with a New Spin (UK Link). I haven't seen a copy of it yet to explore the films discussed and share that with you here, but it appears to be a fine addition to the fairy tale films studies bibliography.

Book description:

How have familiar tales such as 'Cinderella', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Ali Baba' and 'Bluebeard' been redeployed in film? Why has the industry taken such a keen interest in reworking age-old stories? And are the 3D star vehicles currently being released necessarily the most interesting examples? Paying particular attention to less conspicuous adaptations in order to question exactly what constitutes a 'fairy tale film', Sue Short argues that some of the most significant revisions can be found where we least expect them. She also seeks to challenge negative evaluations of popular cinema – and its audiences – by illustrating some progressive ideas at work in frequently undervalued texts. The book is intended for anyone interested in contemporary cinema, gender and class representation in popular culture – and lovers of fairy tales everywhere.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Introduction: Fairy Tale Films, Old Tales with a New Spin
1 Finding Love and Fulfilling Dreams: Aspiring Underdogs and Humbled Heroines
2 Curses, Wishes and Amazing Transformations: Male Maturation Tales
3 Wealth through Stealth: Evening the Odds, or Flirting with Disaster?
4 Dangerous Liaisons: Demon Lovers and Defiant Damsels
S Houses of Horror: Domestic Dangers and Man-made Monsters
6 Postmodern Revisions: New Tales for Old?
Epilogue: The Importance of Enchantment
Notes
Bibliography
Filmography
Index