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Showing posts with label fairy tale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairy tale. Show all posts

6/22/2011

fairy tales and point of view

Why do fairy tales seem to be written from the point of view of the heroine?

Why not from the point of the wicked or evil character?

Why don't we know what Prince Charming does when he isn't riding around on his trusted steed?  Is he bored running the castle?  Does he regret kissing the girl and being stuck with her for the rest of his life?  Did he take over for his gay brother who couldn't get married and provide an heir for the kingdom?

In the case of Snow White - what about the huntsman?  Does he do anything to keep her safe?  Did he ever threaten the dwarves?  Is he actually a body guard for them when they work in the diamond mine? 

In Sleeping Beauty - what about the fairy godmothers?  What did they do on a daily basis?  Is there something special they need in their diet to get more and better lift off?  Where do they get the fairy dust?  Who trains the new fairies?  How long did they have to wait to get their wings?

Is Jimminy Cricket really a cricket?  Couldn't he be a member of the media or a morals board?

These other points of view might be interesting ... or not ... but I dither yet again.

They always did say I was easily distracted

5/16/2011

the rewriting of fairy tales

Recently in the movies, there have been remakes of several fairy tales ... Beauty and the Beast and Snow White (I don't count the re-re-releases of the Disney Classics as retellings).

Fairy Tale Magazine has actually solicited re-tellings of several stories, most recently Snow White ... Their next is going to be Cinderella.

What makes this unique?  Easy.  They want a different point of view for their pieces.

I wrote, and scrapped, the story of Rumpelstiltskin from the point of view of a field mouse in the hay.  The lower the hay bale, the colder I felt about the piece.  When it came to Snow White, I kept wanting to write about a layoff in the land of far away and having to reduce the number of dwarves to four or five (to be done by combining names of some and altering personalities of others).  My idea was not well received ... never are truly great ideas appreciated until after the death of the visionary. 

Their next story up for grabs is Cinderella.  I'm thinking what about a very harried fairy godmother who has been known to show up a day late and a dollar short, or cross her wires with someone and go to the wrong job ... then again, this might not work for them at all.

I repeat, the truly unique perspectives aren't appreciated at first presentation.  *sigh*  (Insert inspiration for fairy godmothers here)

http://www.fairytalemagazine.com/