Muppet Theatre Classic Fairytales

Two of my favorite things: Fairy tales and muppets.

The darker side of Faerie

I love a good happy story as much as the next person, with nice fairies who grant wishes and everyone ending happily. But I'm also drawn to the darker side of fairie lore. I've said it before, but most actual fairy lore is surprisingly like what we think of as ghost lore, rather than happy, cute little flower fairies. This site describes the relationship between faerie and elf beliefs with current notions of ghosts and UFOS. Here is a small sample of some of the scarier inhabitants of Faerie. For more, go to the above website or read this book (or any other book on fairy lore).

Redcap is a goblin who dwells in ruins with a dark past. His cap is dyed red with human blood.
The Bean-nighe is a type of banshee found around water. She is seen washing blood-stained clothes-either her own burial shrouds, or your own clothing. These are supposed to be spirits of mothers who died in childbirth, doomed to wash clothing until the day they would otherwise have died.

Meet Leanan-sidhe. Basically your classic vampire. Those who write much about her don't live very long.

Banshees are females who wail when death or other disaster is about to happen.

And, just for fun, from the movie Labyrinth:

Sarah: Ow! It bit me!

Hoggle: What'd you expect fairies to do?

Sarah: I thought they did nice things, like... like granting wishes.

Hoggle: Shows what *you* know, don't it?

Dying Swan

Ulyana Lopatkina dancing "The Dying Swan." So graceful.

Music-"The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens. From his "Carnival of the Animals."

For more on Ulyana and other Russian dancers, there's a great documentary which is also on Netflix instant play called "Ballerina".

And, so this post has something more directly related to fairy tales, from Surlalune's blog archives, this stunning costume worn by Anna Pavlova in "Swan Lake."

Charles Lamb's Beauty and the Beast

I was going to save this post for later-I try to alternate posts about my favorite tale with other tales, but while looking for images for my last post I found the entire Lamb version online and had to link it. You can read the entire text and see the illustrations here.

Lamb wrote the whole story of Beauty and the Beast in rhyming verse in 1811. The illustrator is anonymous. The story is nearly identical to Beaument's, only Lamb chose to set it in Persia. The Prince actually has a name: Orasmyn. (Fun fact-there's a rumor that, according to the Disney Encyclopedia, the Beast's real name is Adam. But this is false and the Disney Beast has no name.)

Excerpts:

(Beauty requesting a gift from her father)

"Such wants and wishes now appear'd,

To make them larger Beauty fear'd;

Yet lest her silence might produce

From jealous sisters more abuse,

Considerately good, she chose

The emblem of herself-a Rose."

(First meal with the Beast)

"At noon's repast, she heard a sound

Breathing unseen sweet music round;

But when the evening board was spread

The voice of Beast recall'd her dread:

'May I observe you sup?' he said;

'Ah! tremble not; your will is law;

One question answer'd, I withdraw.

Am I not hideous in your eyes?'

'Your temper's sweet,' she mild replies.

'Yes, but I'm ugly, have no sense:'

'That's better far than vain pretense'

'Try to be happy, and at ease,'

Sigh'd Beast, 'as I will try to please.'

'Your outward form is scarcely seen

Since I arriv'd, so kind you've been.' "

A thought about the male figures in Beauty and the Beast

Some people, such as Bruno Bettelheim, claim that the host of dead good mothers and bad stepmothers in fairy tales are really a child's projection of the two sides of their real mother. Of Bettelheim's theories, this one I find more easy to understand. It's true that young children see the world in black and white, and it can be very confusing for them to have a loving, kind mother and a few minutes later, she is angry at them for disobeying and has lost her patience. In tales like the Grimms' Cinderella, the good mother is still an active character in the story, and the child (according to Bettelheim) doesn't feel guilt about only projecting evil onto the mother character, but can separate the good and the bad in their own minds.

Not that this theory is necessarily true, or that if it is, it is the only way children perceive fairy tales. At most it could be one of many.

But in Beauty and the Beast there is almost this same distinction. Now, in Villeneuve and Beaument's stories, the Beast is really a perfect gentleman in disguise, but in older tales that distinction is less apparant. Many times their behavior is more animalistic, and Beauty only falls in love once she has seen the true form of the Prince. Cocteau's Beast's hands smoke after coming back from a hunt. And then there's of course the Disney Beast, who has anger to match his beastly appearance.

Illustration from Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book, by H.G. Ford and G. P. Jacomb Hood

The story we assume to be written as a comfort to girls given away in marriage to strange, often older, men, who may appear very much to be monstrous to a young girl. Yet the father figure is often painted to be good and kind, even though he ultimately allows his daughter to go live with a monster. It would be unlikely for a young girl to perceive her future mate as a monster and yet only have loving feelings for the father who forced her into the union.

Illustration by Walter Crane

Now, the father does play different roles in different versions. But what if the father and Beast were different projections of perceptions of males to young females? In a time when males were given total authority over their wives and daughters, they would often take advantage of their power. A girl may fear her father's wrath for disobeying like she might fear a wild and powerful beast, yet also have a good relationship with her father at times. Or a suitor may flatter, yet also be a threat to her independance.

It may seem disturbing to connect the father and suitor to the same person, but critics have wondered if Donkeyskin's father was really the same person as the prince. As a friend of mine pointed out after seeing the play "Secret in the Wings," the prince only falls in love with her for her beauty-the same reason her father wanted to marry her before. And in society, especially Victorian, the husband would ultimately have the same degree of control over his wife that her father formerly had.

Charles Lamb illustration

People may have written on this subject before-I'm not aware if they have, not that my knowledge of fairy tales is all-encompassing. But note that this is just a thought that crossed my head, not a hard and fast theory I have, just something interesting to contemplate in the light of other fairy tales and how they have been analyzed.

The Marvelous Land of Oz

My Christmas present from my sister this year was this beautiful, first-edition copy of The Marvelous Land of Oz.

This first sequel to The Wizard of Oz was written because so many children wanted to hear about more adventures from their favorite characters. From the author's note: "I promised one little girl...and she is a "Dorothy," by the way-that when a thousand little girls had written me a thousand little letters asking for another story of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, I would write the book. Either little Dorothy was a fairy in disguise, and waved her magic wand, or the success of the stage production of "The Wizard of Oz" made new friends for the story. For the thousand letters reached their destination long since--and many more followed them."

Dude. Jack Pumpkinhead is totally Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas.

Fan art from here.

It's a really fun story. I don't even want to think about possible implied gender messages meant by General Jinjur and the girls' army (although he can't be too anti-female because the ultimate ruler of Oz is Ozma). I will say that the twist at the end, which I won't give away, was REALLY disturbing to me when I read it as a child.

My favorite thing about secondhand books-aside from the smell-is finding notes from the former owners.

Fun facts about Oz:

-L. Frank Baum got the name "Oz" from an O-Z filing cabinet.

-Gregory Maguire got the name "Elphaba" for Wicked's Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's initials: L. F. B

The Song of the Nightingale

I had planned on doing this post before I even found out it was Hans Christian Andersen's 205th birthday! Thank you, Google Icons. (Find out more about Google's tribute to Andersen at Once Upon a Blog)

Anyway, first the tale "The Nightingale."

In China, long ago, was a nightingale that sang so sweetly, it became famous throughout the land. The Emperor himself requested that the nightingale come and sing for him. Everyone was delighted, and the Emperor put the nightingale in a cage so he could hear him sing whenever he pleased. One day, the Emperor was sent a mechanical bird who would sing as a present. The true nightingale flew away.

At first, the Emperor and his court were saddened by the loss of the nightingale, but they had the mechanical bird. The people liked this even better-he would sing the same tune over and over, and whenever the people wished to hear him.

Yet, one day the Emperor fell sick. He wanted music, but the mechanical bird had grown old and barely worked anymore. Death sat on the Emperor's chest and all seemed lost.
Illustrations by Edmund Dulac

But then, the true nightingale had heard of the Emperor's plight and came to sing to him. The true song of the nightingale healed the Emperor, who was overjoyed to see his friend, but never again took advantage of him.

This is part of a video version of Stravinsky's "The Nightingale." I don't understand the significance of the visuals, I was just trying to find the part where the flute plays the part of the nightingale. I can't find one on youtube though-in the opera version, a soprano sings the nightingale's part-just after 2 minutes.



The opera version was condensed into an orchestral version, "The Song of the Nightingale," which I prefer, but only because I'm more of an orchestra person than opera. But this part highlights the oboe playing the mechanical bird.

Another Villeneuve myth

Illustration by Eleanore Vere Boyle

Surlalune linked to this post the other day. A fascinating article, Patrick Garson explores different Beauty and the Beast illustrations. Since I don't really have an artists' eye, my reactions to illustrations are usually limited to things like, "Ooh, that's pretty!" so it's good to have intelligent input from people who know what they're talking about.

Yet I have a bone to pick with him. I quote: "For example, do you know that the first written version of “Beauty and the Beast” clocked in at over three hundred pages? And the Beast didn’t even transform at the end?"

This is obviously referring to the Villeneuve, and yes it was very long, but the Beast does transform!! I read things like this and I think, man, am I crazy? Did I read the whole story and totally not pick up on the fact that he stays a Beast? We do expect the transformation so it's possible we take those assumptions and gloss over a few facts.

Illustration by Edmund Dulac

But I looked it up, and no, the Beast does indeed transform. Beauty wakes up the morning after she accepts the Beast's marriage proposal with her Unknown lover beside her. She has been having dreams every night where she rendezvouses with the handsome Prince who is really the Beast and has fallen in love with him. Can't say I like this element of the tale-it's hard enough to decide to wed a Beast, so why introduce the Prince as a separate character? How can she say yes while she loves another? But anyway, he's finally a Prince in her waking life. Later on, when the Prince's mother objects to him marrying a commoner, he insists he'd rather be turned into a monster again than be deprived of having Beauty for his bride.

Illustration by Arthur Rackham

All pictures taken from the article-go there to see what Patrick Garson says about them. I don't know where these people get their misinformation. Unless Jack Zipes' translation is majorly flawed, which I highly doubt, many people who write comments about the Villeneuve haven't actually read it themselves.

Disneyland Belle

In the past couple years, I've mentioned to people that a dream job of mine would be to work as a Disneyland Belle. To my surprise, several adults reacted more like "Well hey, you should go for it," instead of "Haha, that would be fun, wouldn't it," and change the subject like I expected them to.

When I say "dream job" I mean "wild dream," and I don't think I would actually enjoy it for long even if I were to survive the casting process, which I doubt.

First of all, Disney character cast members would probably not start out right away being a Princess, they would be one of the characters with a big, hot costume, like Pluto or something. Even then they rotate between the Princesses, I wouldn't get to be Belle every day. Although I've also heard that each Princess needs to be a certain height, although I think that's for the Princesses who sing in the shows, and not the characters who stand around all day. But Belle is supposed to be 5'5", which is perhaps a sign, because I'm 5'5"...I've heard lots of things from people who were friends with people who were Princess cast members and etc., so don't bet your life on all this being true, but I've also heard that a Princess can't go into work if she has a zit one day. I'm pretty sure there's a weight limit as well as height restriction and I'd guess that the Princess actors are supposed to be around a size 2 or 4. So once I get perfect skin and lose weight, maybe I can consider a career change. And it's a fact that Disney casts their characters on how beautiful they are, especially for the Princess characters.

Then, the Princess actors are coached in how to pose as each Princess, as well as how to draw their signature. Each Princess has only a limited amount of phrases she can use. Starts to sound more like work than fun to me. Plus, the auditions are very competitive. People from all over the country-and world-want to work at Disneyland, and what girl wouldn't want to be a Princess for a living? If this were to be my job, I know I'd soon lose the magic of Disneyland. It would become tedious to stand and pose with strangers all day long.

More information can be found on Disney entertainment careers here. Of course, all the people on the website are like, "You should definitely try out, it's such a great experience!" but, they've already made it. The official website won't have any horror stories. I've looked into the music internships as well as singing and acting, but seems like there's nothing for a flute player trained classically. And though I would love to be in the Beauty and the Beast show, and there's some truth to taking risks and pursuing your dreams, but also the practical side--is it really worth it to fly down to Disneyland for an audition I have a one in a million chance of making? I dunno, maybe I need to watch more Disney movies about wishing upon a star so all my dreams come true, but I have other dreams too that I AM fulfilling now, that are a little less selfish anyway.

But, check this picture out. (And the great frame.) That's me circa 7 or 8 years old. Look how happy I was! Notice the Belle on my t-shirt! I look for Belle and the Beast every time I go to Disney and haven't found the Beast (just Belle telling stories to little girls).

Dark Chest of Wonders

"Dark Chest Of Wonders", opening song for the album Once, by Nightwish

This song always makes me think of Peter Pan, especially the lyrics "One night the clock struck twelve, the window opened wide...the age I learned to fly and took a step outside...faith brought me here it's time to cut the rope and fly to a dream..." Given Tuomas Holopainen's love of Disney, I'd be surprised if he weren't influenced by Peter Pan. But overall I love this song because of the celebration of wonder and childhood fantasies.

"Once I had a dream/And this is it

Once there was a child's dream/One night the clock struck twelve/The window opened wide
Once there was a child's heart/The age I learned to fly and took a step outside

Once I knew all the tales/It's time to turn back time, follow the pale moonlight
Once I wished for this night/Faith brought me here, it's time to cut the rope and fly

Fly to a dream/Far across the sea/All the burdens gone/Open the chest once more/Dark chest of wonders/Seen through the eyes/Of the one with pure heart/Once so long ago

The one in the big blue is what the world stole from me/This night will bring him back to me

Fly to a dream..."