chapter three

Witchy Disney ➵ Aurora

different genre: rapunzel/horror

If Cinderella happened today the prince would have been running around looking for the fingerprint that could unlock a dropped phone.

Sleeping Beauty: An Islamic Tale // Published 2018

Witchy Disney ➵ Aurora

Haunted Holiday (a.k.a. Bluebeard)

Directed by Ralph Eggleston for Warner Bros. Feature Animation

Character designs by David W. Cutler

Disney vs. 7 early fairytales 

The 1812 version of Snow White is even worse when you consider that the girl was only seven years old in the tale (plus her unconscious body ended up being carted around by the prince until one of his servants accidentally woke her up).  Also, in The Little Mermaid, the mermaid’s unable to speak because she had her tongue cut out >__<

But I’d love to see faithful adaptations of the original tales.  Especially Bluebeard.  We need a Bluebeard adaptation.

Actually, the original-original pre-Grimm Brothers’ stories that were passed around Europe via oral tradition are nowhere near as violent as the Grimm’s made them. Cinderella’s stepsisters were never ugly and kept their eyes, Snow White’s mother was not even a villain (instead a group of bandits were), and instead of spending the whole story napping Sleeping Beauty outwitted a dangerous bandit leader, wouldn’t let him sleep with her, and saved herself. 

The original oral stories were radically changed by the Brothers Grimm to fit their personal and political beliefs. Most notably, they often added in female characters solely for the purpose of making them evil villains and took away most of the heroines’ agency and intelligence. Both brothers belonged to a small fanatical sect of Catholicism that vilified women because of the idea of Original Sin and Wilhelm in particular had a particularly deep hatred of women. The Grimms were actually pretty horrible people. Those cannibalistic queens and ugly stepsisters and the mass amount of violence against women didn’t exist until the Grimms wanted them to. Their ideas stuck so soundly though that we now assume they were in the original tales and that these terrible characters and ideas come out of some perceived barbaric Old World culture. But in truth they’re really the Grimms’ weird obsession with hating women showing through. The original oral folklore focused on the heroes’ and heroines’ good deeds and used them as ways to teach cultural norms and a society’s rules and encouraged girls to be quick-witted and street-savvy instead of passive princesses, and the Grimms promptly stripped that all away. 

“Grimms Bad Girls and Bold Boys” by Ruth Bottingheimer is an excellent book on this

Something to add to my reading list.

I think this is the first time in my life I have felt smarter and more intrigued after reading a comment that began with the word, “actually”.

#ANGELA CARTER MUST FEEL SO VINDICATED #AS DO I FOR MY FRICKIN 3 YEARS OF ANGELA CARTER STUDY #PLEASE DEAR GOODNESS READ THE BLOODY CHAMBER #YA REALLY DONT WANT A BLUEBEARD ADAPTATION LADS NO REALLY #ANGELA CARTER GOT YA COVERED

Book Recommendations - Retelling  » Red Riding Hood  

What if the entire tale of sleeping beauty really was, at one point, a clever ploy in order to lure the princes of any neighbouring kingdoms into an old, abandoned castle? 

There is no sleeping beauty— only an assassin who happens to be very good at pretending to be asleep.

What if the entire tale of sleeping beauty really was, at one point, a clever ploy in order to lure the princes of any neighbouring kingdoms into an old, abandoned castle? 

There is no sleeping beauty— only an assassin who happens to be very good at pretending to be asleep.

Write a dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood where Little Red is a witch, the wolf is her familiar, and their plot to overthrow the queen of all witches, Red’s grandmother.

The Archer’s 1000 Picspam —> 65: (Male) Homosexual Sleeping Beauty

Fairy Re-Tellings

In a faraway kingdom lived a King and Queen. One day the Queen became heavy with child and all prepared for the babe’s birth with fever and excitement. When the child came into the world it was discovered to be a bouncing little boy; the kingdom had an heir to the throne and his name was Aurelian. The citizens cheered and invitations were sent throughout the land to the nobles scattered across and to the neighboring kingdom as well. In addition, the King extended invitations to the fae folk, those of eternal youth and life. All but one. For she was known to drag the train of the dark arts with her and the King did not wish to invite such darkness and misfortune into his home.

On the day of the event, gifts aplenty were given to child, parents and kingdom. The fae folk too came with magical gifts. Each came to the cradle covered in rich silks where the baby boy lay, staring up with soft brown eyes. They gave gifts of strength, grace, beauty, kindness, imagination, vision, leadership and one even gave the gift of captivating song. As the final fair fae approached the cradle the doors of the hall were blasted open by a cruel wind.

Keep reading

Every Literary Genre Summed Up in a Single Sentence

Haunted Holiday (a.k.a. Bluebeard)

Directed by Ralph Eggleston for Warner Bros. Feature Animation

Concept art

Scarlet // Marissa Meyer

i wish birds brought ME presents

No, but think about this.

The crows she feeds obviously have their own little lives. They go about their business, and they spot *pretty thing* or /unique thing/ in question. What gets me is that the *first* thing on their minds as recipient of this thing is the little girl that feeds them.

They spot a thing, and immediately must think, “that nice girl with delicious foodstuffs must have this to show my gratitude.”

It’s actually more than that, though, if you read the articles or watch the videos. This has taken place over YEARS- it started with these birds following this little girl around because she was a messy eater and it has turned into a ritual for the family. They have a water station and food stations where they daily set out things for these birds and sometimes (but not always), these birds leave ‘payment’ behind for the food.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE

These birds are not just taking food and leaving shinies. These birds are watching over this family now. Their lives have become involved. These crows are keeping track of this girl and her mother even when they are out of the yard. How do we know?

One of them is a photographer, and one day while she was photographing some stuff on a bridge, she dropped her camera’s lenscap over the edge. There was no way she could get it back, so she left it. When she got home, the lenscap was sitting on the edge of one of the feeding stations, waiting for her.

Not only were the birds following and watching over her, they were smart enough to realize she dropped an Important Thing and cared enough to bring it back to her.

I could not have asked for more