Anne Woodland

      So I rewatched the lovely German film rendition of "The Six Swans" that I mentioned in my previous post regarding this particular tale. (I suggest you look up that post if you're unfamiliar.) This time when I watched it, what stuck out to me the most, aside from the surprising fact that I actually understood most of the German dialogue, was the relationship dynamic between the main character, Constance or Fee, and her husband, Prince Markus. It's something that never really stood out to me in my previous viewings, and perhaps that's because I wasn't in any sort of romantic relationship at the time, and now I am. But I digress.       It's beautiful to watch the concern and care that these characters have for each other. Despite the fact that Constance speaks for maybe twenty minutes of the entire hour and a half film, Markus is always doing his best to understand her and do what's best for her. He's a prince, but he's not your typical ent...

            Having been raised on a fairly steady diet of classic Grimm’s fairytales it has been interesting to delve into the folklore of other cultures, particularly those to which I have an ancestral claim.   My maternal grandfather is from Swedish stock and in recent years I have had the opportunity to read some of the delightful tales that come from that country.             The interesting thing is that despite a large part of the evil in the story being attributed to trolls, the other characters have their fair share of flaws too.   The protagonists, whether prince or peasant, human or gnome, are sometimes rude and short-tempered, occasionally doing the right thing to simply avoid guilt, and sometimes doing the wrong thing despite the warning of their elders.   There’s something very human about them, about their imperfections and tendency towards pride....

            I appreciate Disney fairy tales, I grew up on them, but something that irks me to no end is the fact that Disney is remaking their movies into live-action films.   The issue with this is that they’re just reusing their already modified plots!   If you’re going to remake the blasted things at least go back to the original fairytale!   The Cinderella movie is mostly forgivable as there are hundreds of versions of that story.   The only part that I find completely aggravating is at the end where the Prince asks her name and she’s like, “I’m Cinderella.”   No woman!   Your mother named you Ella!   Don’t identify yourself by the name your abusive step–family gave you! Seriously!             Anyway, I’m rather annoyed that they did pretty much the same thing with their new Beauty and the Beast.   The original story is much more in...

            I love fairy tales.   To be clear I’m referring to the original versions were the villains meet their demise by dancing in red-hot metal shoes until they keel over, and the like.   (I’m sorry Disney, but not every villain will fall to his or her death.)             I love them, but I’ve come to the realization that if I were the protagonist the plot would be radically different.   For example, the story “The Six Swans” recounted by the Brothers Grimm starts in a similar fashion to many fairy tales: There is an evil Queen who is stepmother to seven children.   Being a witch she turns the six brothers into swans but forgets to do the same to the little sister. Eventually the sister undertakes to break this spell, but in order to do so she “may neither speak nor laugh” for six years and during that time she must make six shirts for her brothers. ...