Recently there has been a good bit of ugly online backlash against the casting of actors of color in two films based on iconic tales —-Amazon Prime’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, “ and Disney’s live-action remake of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid.” These objections are not…
In a thoughtful and enlightening afterword to her little book, About the Sleeping Beauty, P. L. Travers (best known as the creator of the immortal Mary Poppins), offers this explanation of why she chose to write her own version of that fairy tale: “It was written not at all to improve the story….but…
Hm. Seems as though I’ve had this “sequel” to Part 1 in my drafts for awhile, so maybe it’s time to publish it. Angela Carter (1940-1992) has long been the acknowledged queen of fairy tale revisions, with the publication in 1979 of her mesmerizing collection, The Bloody Chamber. She has done more for the…
It always irks me when I hear someone say , “Life is not a fairy tale.“ They are referring, of course, to the standard ‘“happy ending” of so many fairy tales. I’m fairly certain that the people most likely to belittle fairy tales are those who have never read any. Or maybe they are…
When I decided (after much deliberation) to go ahead and have a blog, I intended to open with a piece called “So Life is Not a Fairy Tale?” (That one will follow at some point). Then I made an intriguing discovery which I felt should be my first post . Here is a perfect example…