Fairy Tale Fridays - 2012 Fairy Tale Movies

The number of websites devoted to fairy tales that I've found since starting Fairy Tale Fridays proves that I'm not alone in being fascinated with this particular form of story telling. The number of new books being published further confirms this. But, perhaps, the most telling indication that fairy tales are big right now are the movies based on fairy tales that have been released in the past couple of years with four new movies scheduled for release in 2012.

In June, JACK THE GIANT KILLER is scheduled for release. This take on the classic tale of the boy who climbed the beanstalk turns the tale into an action movie. There is not just one giant who must be confronted but an entire race of them who want to reclaim that land they claim was taken from them. Can't say that I'm looking forward to this one; it will likely appeal much more to young men than any other audience.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, also scheduled for release in June, sticks more closely to the original tale for much of the story but it, too, veers off into an action movie. When the huntsman sent to kill Snow White and bring her heart back to the wicked stepmother takes pity on her and spares her, in the movie version he then trains her to fight back against her stepmother with an army that includes eight dwarfs. Again, definitely a movie aimed more toward a younger audience, particularly those who have grown attached to actress Kristin Stewart (she of Twilight fame).

Hansel and Gretel will also come to the silver screen in 2012, this time fifteen years after their encounter with the crone in the candy house. In HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, Hansel and Gretel are now bounty hunters charged with killing witches who may have met their match when they are hired to kill an evil sorceress who's planning on killing all the children in a village. Sadly, this is another one I won't pay to see but I do appreciate that they have, at least, not messed with the original tale here.

THE BROTHERS GRIMM: SNOW WHITE will also be a new take on an old story, but one that I may just have to see. This one promises to include comedy (Nathan Lane is in the cast if that's any clue) and the costumes and settings look spectacular.

On the animated scene, look for BRAVE from Disney-Pixar (which draws from Scottish mythology more than fairy tales) and DOROTHY OF OZ. Although the Wizard of Oz stories aren't centuries-old tales, they are every bit fairy tales in their construction and this version may be just the thing to introduce younger audiences to the stories without being quite a scary as the Judy Garland movie version.

Grown up (and by this I mean very grown up) takes on fairy tales coming out in 2012 include Jane Campion's SLEEPING BEAUTY (only very loosely based on the fairy tale with the sleeping beauty being a prostitute) and PAN, a modern telling of the basic idea of J.M. Barrie's story where Hook is a detective in search of a serial killer who preys on children.

On the whole, I'm thrilled that these old stories continue to capture the imagination of the general public even if it means turning them into action films and I look forward to seeing what new ways fairy tales will be used in the coming year.

We Need To Talk About Kevin: The Movie Adaptation

Three years ago, Mari, of Bookworm With A View, read We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver's Orange-Prize winning eighth novel. When she finished, she put it in my hands, telling me it was a book that I had to read. She was right, although we had very different experiences with the book. I always say that reading We Need To Talk About Kevin is like peeling off a bandage. For some, the only way to get through the experience is to rip if off; for others, it needs to be peeled off slowly. Mari raced through the book. Here's what I had to say about the book at the time:

"I could never read more than about 30 pages of this book at a time because of the emotions it generates. I couldn't imagine feeling the way Eva did about Kevin from the beginning, I couldn't fathom the relationship between Franklin & Eva and trying to pin down a feeling about Kevin was difficult. The book is written with brutal honesty; Eva does not sugar coat her own behavior or emotions. This book, exploring nature versus nurture, is definitely worth the effort."

When I first read that a movie adaptation of this book was going to be released, I had mixed feelings. Done well, it would make a fascinating, horrifying movie. But would I be able to watch it?

Starring the always amazing Tilda Swinton and versatile Charles C. Reilly, the movie recently appeared at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews. Given the cast and the reviews, I'm certain that I'll see this movie at some point. Maybe it will be in the comfort of my own home, where I can slowly peel off the bandage, pausing the DVD whenever things get too tense. Which they will.


We Need to Talk About Kevin Bande-annonce by toutlecine

Have you read the book? Will you see the movie?

Friday Favorites - "Sybil"

The book "Sybil," by Flora Rheta Schreiber was actually first introduced to me by--surprise, surprise--a movie adaptation. Made for television in 1976, the 2-part movie starred Joanne Woodward, as psychiatrist Cornelia Wilbur, and Sally Field as Sybil Dorsett, a role for which Fields won an Emmy. As a teenager, growing up in the 1970's mental illness was something with which I was completely unfamiliar. I was riveted by the movie and had to pick up the book to learn more.

The book, first published in 1973, tells the story of graduate student Sybil Dorsett, who initially seeks psychiatric help for social anxiety and memory loss. But, after intense therapy, drug therapy and hypnosis, it's discovered that Sybil is actually suffering from dissociative identity disorder--split personality. Because of horrific abuse in her childhood, Sybil has fractured into 16 personalities. The book chronicles Sybil's treatment, including how she became aware of each of the personalities (and they of each other) and how Wilbur and Sybil worked together to integrate the personalities into one successful individual.

Sadly, later research of the tapes made by the real psychiatrist and patient, on whom the book is based, revealed much of what is in the book to be fraudulent. Which really opened the door, in the medical field, as to how real this disorder is. It does seem easy enough for me to believe that the mind might create another self to deal with things that the real self can't handle. And none of this debate effected my opinion of the book as an incredible story.

Friday Favorite - The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh

In keeping with my tradition of picking Friday Favorites that have been made into movies, here's another one for you. Although I'd bet that most of you have never seen the movie--and maybe never heard of the book.

I don't remember when, exactly, I read Evelyn Waugh's "The Loved One." I'm certain I picked it up in the library and equally certain that I had no real idea what I was picking up. I don't recall if it was because Waugh is also the author of "Brideshead Revisited" and I assumed I was getting something in that vein. What I got was definitely not something having to do with the British aristocracy. Instead Waugh has, in "The Loved One," turned his satirical bite on the Hollywood way of life and the American way of dealing with death. British ex-pat Dennis Barlow is working nights at the Happier Hunting Grounds pet cemetery (while aspiring to be a poet by day) and living with his uncle. When his uncle is fired from a Hollywood studio, he commits suicide and Dennis is called upon to plan the funeral. The arrangements are to be made at the Whispering Glades Cemetery (read Forest Lawn here), the poshest cemetery in town. While working on the funeral, Dennis meets Aimee, a junior cosmetologist and soon finds himself competing for her attention with the sinister Mr. Joyboy, the senior mortician. Would you believe me when I say that this book is funny? No? Okay, maybe not laugh out loud while you're reading funny but it is funny in that way that makes you snort just a little bit.

The movie version, directed by Tony Richardson (father of Joely Richardson of Nip/Tuck fame) was made in 1965 and starred Sir John Gielgud, Jonathan Winters and Robert Morse with appearances by James Coburn, Roddy McDowall, Milton Berle, and even Liberace. While not completely true to the book, the movie is also very funny and billed itself as the movie with something to offend everyone when it came out.

My Favorite Read is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Be sure to check out Alyce's site on Thursdays to find out what her favorites are.

Friday Favorites - "A Little Princess"

Okay, I'm back to picking a book for my Friday Favorite that's been made into a movie. I cannot remember the first time I read FrancesHodgson Burnett's "A Little Princess" but I couldn't have been more than ten. I must have checked it out from the library because I didn't own it until my daughter was born. If I had ever owned it, I would have kept it, just as I did Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Little Men; Heidi; and The Five Little Peppers And How They Grew. Even as a kid, I loved the classics!

Sara Crewe is delivered by her wealthy father to a new boarding school while he goes off to war. But when he dies, Sara finds herself penniless and at the mercy of the horrible Mrs. Minchin. Despite being made to become a maid and to live in the attic, Sara never losses her optimism and kindness. Even though Sara is no longer a "princess" in the school, she never stops being a real princess. She remains a favorite of most of the girls and attracts the attention of a mysterious benefactor. I love the lessons this book teaches: kindness is rewarded, it is better to be a good human being than rich, imagination is a wonderful thing and every little girl is somebody's princess.

The book was made into a movie in 1995. It's cast is largely unknown and the budget was tight but the movie was a beautiful realization of the book. My daughter and I love to rewatch this together every few months. I recommend it every bit as highly as I recommend the book!

Everything Austen Challenge #4

The television was once again my aide in the Everything Austen Challenge, hosted by Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word. I got lucky and caught "Emma, " starring Gwyneth Paltrow, just as it was beginning. I really quite like this movie version of the book, although it is not my favorite adaptation.

Both Paltrow and Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley are terrific. Alan Cumming as Mr. Elliott is also quite good as the character is written for the movie, but his character is very different from the character in the book. Toni Collete, a fine Australian actress, is completely miscast as Harriet Smith. For one thing, she doesn't remotely pass as a 17-year-old. On the other hand, Sophie Thompson, as Miss Bates, is brilliant.

This is one of those movies I will watch any time it's on t.v. Although there are some alterations to the story, they don't distract from the tale. All in all, a beautiful rendition of Austen's story of young Emma Woodhouse's misguided matchmaking attempts and ultimate personal growth.

Everything Austen Challenge #3

To paraphrase Eddie Murphy in an old Saturday Night Live skit "t.v. been berry, berry good to me." Already twice in the past couple of weeks, I have been channel surfing late and night and caught the beginning of a movie that fits the Everything Austen Challenge. Last night it happened again. This time I was lucky enough to catch 2007's "Becoming Jane" starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy. The movie purports to tell the story of how Jane Austen became an author and why she never married. Austen experts will tell you that the movie is a work of fiction and I'm okay with that.

Raised in genteel poverty, Jane has, on the surface, few hopes for a good marriage because she has no money to bring to a union. Furthermore, she wants to be a writer. Nevertheless, she does receive a proposal of marriage from a wealthy, but stolid young man. Jane knows that it would be a great advantage to her family if she were to accept that proposal but she cannot bear the idea of marrying someone she is not in love with. Then she mets Thomas LeFroy, a rougish Irishman whom she cannot stand upon first being introduced (read Elizabeth Bennet's first introduction to Mr. Darcy here). LeFroy does not feel the same and pursues Jane until the two enter into a passionate romance. But LeFroy would be penniless without the support of his uncle and that support is necessary for LeFroy to support his parents and siblings.

Throughout the movie, Austen fans will spot the places where "real life" become the stuff of books. It really is irrelevant to me whether or not it's fact; it's fun. The movie is beautifully filmed, the emotions palpable, Hathaway and McAvoy's performances wonderful. A movie I will watch again and again, with or without a challenge.

Everything Austen Challenge #2

At 1:00 Sunday morning, just as my daughter and I were getting ready to finally turn in for the night, the movie "Clueless," starring Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd, started. She had never seen it and really wanted to stay up to watch it; I briefly considered it because of the Everything Austen Challenge. Then I looked at the clock and told her "we can rent this anytime."

So today, right after lunch, she was grabbing movies to go back to Hollywood Video so that we could rent "Clueless," which we watched tonight. Her assessment: "It was pretty good." I really watched it this time with an eye an comparing it to "Emma" by Jane Austen. Like Emma Woodhouse, Cher Horowitz is a wealthy, popular young woman who likes to meddle in other people's business and is being raised by a father is very indulgent. Cher, like Emma, is involved in a bit of matchmaking that results in a marriage. The success of that bit of matchmaking leads Cher/Emma to reach out to a new young lady (Harriet in the book, Tai in the movie) with much less success. Ultimately, in both the book and the movie, the latest bit of meddling does lead our heroine to realize that her true love is actually a young man she knows through a marriage in the family and he is the only person who really holds her up to a higher standard. Both the book and this movie adaptation take a pointed look at social status and the ways in which personal biases or desires blind objective judgment.

Everything Austen Challenge--Bridget Jones's Diary

Have kicked off the "Everything Austen" challenge rather unexpectedly. Last night I was channel surfing and came across "Bridget Jones's Diary" just as it was beginning. I must admit that my husband was not thrilled to be watching it yet again and I still wasn't exactly clear about how it tied in closely enough to be counted for the challenge, but we watched it anyway.

Now let's be honest--even if it weren't for the challenge, there's a good chance I would have made my husband watch this movie again. It's got Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in it for heaven's sake! And this time, when I was looking for it, I finally got the connection to Pride and Prejudice (aside from the fact that Firth's character is named Darcy). The movie opens with Bridget and Darcy both being at a party where he is plainly bored and finds her foolish while she finds him a bore. Hey, me thinks, this is the first dance in P&P. Then Bridget hooks up with Daniel Cleaver, who, it turns out, has a bit of a bad history with Darcy. Well duh, I think; of course he is Mr. Wickham from P&P. Sure enough, it turns out that Cleaver/Wickham is a total cad who has lied about his history with Darcy and Bridget/Elizabeth Bennet wises up and chooses Darcy, who, come to find out, is quite a nice guy when you really get to know him. One down, five to go!

Friday Favorite

My favorite this week is E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime," a brilliant exploration of a moment in time. Doctorow weaves fiction and reality in this novel and explores issues that resonate even today. Weaving in historical figures, including Harry Houdini, Sigmund Freud, and J P Morgan, with some of the most memorable characters in literature, Doctorow explores racism, sexism and class structure at the turn of the last century.

In "Ragtime," Doctorow chronicles the lives of three families, initially telling them as separate stories then gradually weaving them together. The families include a rich white family, a black family from Harlem and a Jewish immigrant family. Jandy, at http://www.jandysbooks.com/, wrote this synopsis: Father runs a fireworks and arms factory in New Rochelle and Mother stays at home with their children. Mother's Younger Brother works for Father but has yet to find his purpose. Father is also a wanderer and joins Perry on a trip to the Arctic.
Mother's Younger Brother falls in love and thru his lover meets the widower Tateh and his daughter in the Jewish slums. But she is notorious. When Tateh discovers this, he and his little girl leave New York. After Mother's Younger Brother's lover leaves him for another man, he returns to New Rochelle still searching for his purpose. While father is gone a Negro girl, Sarah, and her newborn son are taken in by Mother. After a few months a Negro man starts visiting every Sunday. He is the baby's father and wants to marry Sarah. Coalhouse Walker Jr. is a jazz musician from New York and owns an automobile that he drives back and forth to New Rochelle each week. Trains are king and automobiles are still a novelty. Racism gets ugly when some of the white men in New Rochelle decide they have to do something about that uppity Negro who drives through every week. No one could have predicted the results their nasty prank had.

Milos Forman directed a wonderful movie version of the book in 1981 which starred, among others, James Cagney, Mary Steenburgen and Mandy Patinkin. I highly recommend it as well. I've also recently picked up the book "American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White: The Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century" which tells the story of several of the real characters in the book. I post a review on that when I finally get to that spot in my to-be-read pile!