Muggle Fairy Tales are Mad

If you have time you should check out Muggle Fairy Tales are Mad by Meltha. I heard about these on Megan Kearney's BATB tumblr. They're fan fiction imagining Hermione telling Ron and Harry Muggle Fairy tales as a way to pass the time during their search for Horcruxes in the seventh book. It's fun for fans of Harry Potter, but also gives us a way to imagine hearing our own classic fairy tales for the first time. Hermione confuses the different versions, combining Disney, Perrault and/or Grimm, which is natural for most people who piece together what they've heard over time, but it's really Ron's reactions which make these so funny yet thought provoking. Here's an exerpt from the Cinderella story:

“Just then, though, who should appear but her fairy godmother.” 
 “Her what?” Ron said in disbelief. 
 “Her fairy godmother,” Hermione repeated. 
 “Who in their right mind would pick a fairy as a godmother? Don’t they know how dangerous those things are?” Ron said. “I mean, really, why not just give her a banshee godmother; they’re about as deadly.” 
 “Muggles think of fairies differently,” Hermione explained. “They don’t really understand them.” 
 “Yeah,” Harry chimed in. “They think they sneak into the house in the middle of the night and swap kids’ fallen-out teeth with money.” 
 “Now there’s a comforting image: one of the fae walking in and stealing body parts. Don’t they know how much trouble giving a magical being a body part can lead to?” Ron said, still flabbergasted. “Everyone knows that!” 
 “Well, Muggles don’t,” Hermione said. “Besides, the Tooth Fairy is something only children believe in. Mostly Muggles just think of fairies as tiny, cute, pudgy things with wings to put on greeting cards with flowers and bunnies.” 
 “There really ought to be a public service campaign for them, then,” Ron said pityingly. “So how’d Cinderella’s Muggle mum and dad even know a fairy to make a godmother to begin with?” 
 “Well, I… I don’t know. They never really explain how she wound up with a fairy as a godmother,” Hermione said, tilting her head to one side in consideration. “It is sort of an odd loose end to leave, isn’t it?” 
 “No kidding,” Ron agreed. “Hermione, no offense, but this is a really weird story.”

Rita Fetisov

Mindy Kalilng's Holiday GIF Cards- Fairytales

A couple of years ago, celebrity Mindy Kaling released these Holiday GIF cards that look at some of our favorite fairy tales with a bit of sarcastic humor.

There are a couple more here but the above were my favorites! Happy beginning of the holiday season!

Little Aqua Riding Hood

A little fairy tale humor for your weekend-one of the many LRRH parodies is "Little Aqua Riding Hood," which can be found in Jack Zipes' The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood. (It was originally a navy blue hood in the title, but for some reason Zipes translated it to Aqua-I personally think the more specific shade makes it more humorous.)

The 1977 story stars Little Red Riding Hood's granddaughter Lorette-incidentally making the "original" LRRH now the grandmother, and the wolf is also a descendant of the infamous wolf of the story, who now lives comfortably in a zoo while Lorette must take a bus to get to her grandmother's Parisian apartment. It plays with the tension between, do we learn from our past mistakes, or is history doomed to repeat itself? The answer is that some people never learn, while others get smarter-find out what happens here. Exerpt:

"I forgot to mention that ever since she had been young, Lorette had always been jealous of her grandmother's reputation. The entire world knows about the exploits of Little Red Riding Hood which have been told to children throughout the world for over two generations. 'Why shouldn't I become someone famous, too?' she always asked herself."

Eulalie*

(There are many other modern versions with the hood's color changed, such as Little Green Riding Hood, especially appropriate for St. Patrick's Day, or my personal favorite, The True History of Little Golden Hood)

*The images above have red hoods because when you search for "blue riding hood" images you get things like this:

When the Clock Strikes Midnight

I found this image while searching for pictures of Cinderella a while back and thought it would be fun to share today :) I couldn't find the source (it is basically impossible to find the source of a meme...but please share in the comments if you know!) but in the process of trying to locate the source I did find lots of other Cinderella memes, so we can have a humorous Halloween instead of a creepy one this year! Here are my favorites:

(And, they have actually sold a Cinderella playset that includes broom and dustpan)

From If Disney characters had Instagram: (the Belle one is my favorite so I threw it in although it doesn't fit with the Cinderella theme)

Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood

This children's book, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, told by Mike Artell and illustrated by Jim Harris, is not new, but this book caught my eye recently and is very highly rated. Readers are impressed by the authentic Cajun voice and story details, and clever pictures. In this version of the story, the little girl and the wolf are replaced by a gutsy duck and a crocodile.

Fans of the book might also enjoy this page from Jim Harris' website, describing his process in illustrating this story; he shares sketches he did of Petite Rouge as different animals, and why he ultimately decided she should be a duck. He also does so with a sense of humor. My favorite is the caption for Petite Rouge as a bear:

It's always fun to see the behind-the-scenes work of artists! It's clear that Harris did his research, which makes the illustrations rich and authentic. This book does seem like a treasure, check out the duck version of "American Gothic":

*Also: did you enter in the giveaway for Kate Forsyth's Wild Girl over on Once Upon a Blog? It's the last day! Be sure to check out the interview Gypsy did with Kate Forsyth. I am REALLY excited to read this book...

A Little Fairy Tale Humor

You guys are probably sick of my soapbox on how fairy tales are so much more than childish and oversimplified stories, yet the vast majority of references to fairy tales you hear in pop culture and in real life refer to them this way. So I appreciated this comic and that it recognizes that many fairy tales really have a lot in common with horror. (Although they're not identical to horror, just like they're not all cutesy and twee)

Kermit the Frog Reports on Rapunzel

Tomorrow I'll be posting my review of Kate Forsyth's novel "Bitter Greens," so today here's a fun take on the Rapunzel story brought to you by Sesame Street!

Fairy Tale Cartoons

Via cartoonstock.com, which has 1,282 cartoons with the tag "fairy tale" if you're looking for something light-hearted.

Also, if you like fairy-tale themed cartoons, I've posted some from Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes in years past

Heads Up! Fairy Tale Style

The other night we were out with friends who decided to play the game Heads Up!. Many of you may be familiar with variations of the forehead game, in which each player usually has the name of a person on their forehead and has to ask yes or no questions to determine which "person" they are. Apparently this game goes as far back as Marie Antoinette's time (although this could have been one of the many creative liberties taken by Sofia Coppola in the film...)

Anyway, Ellen DeGeneres created a new version for iphones, and I was excited to see a "fairy tale" category (there's also a Disney characters category which is pretty fun). These are included in the free download of the game (there are other categories you can buy).

A couple of us tried the fairy tale "deck." I somewhat disagree with their definitions of fairy tales ("Peter Pan" was one-I had trouble guessing "Little Red Hen", it never really gets discussed in fairy tale circles, although it is technically an old folk tale). It might be fun to play if you had a circle of other fairy tale nerd friends, but one person in our group got "Katie Crackernuts," and I was the only one who had ever heard of it. It was pretty hard to get someone to guess a title that obscure to the general population. But the game would be a fun weekend activity, whether or not you play with the fairy tale option!

You Know You're a Fairy Tale Blogger When-Update

It's been pretty great to see this thread going around the internet! Since my post You Know You're a Fairy Tale Blogger When... was the beginning of the chain, you may be interested to see the lists of other fantastic fairy tale bloggers (add maybe add some to your blogroll! I confess I wasn't aware of several of these bloggers before-all the more reason to be glad this chain started!):

Gypsy-Once Upon a Blog
Heidi-SurLaLune
Adam-Fairy Tale Fandom
Tahlia-Diamonds and Toads
Kate-Enchanted Conversation
Kristina-Twice Upon a Time
Australian Fairy Tale Society
Christie-Spinning Straw Into Gold
Megan-The Dark Forest
Cate-Something to Read for the Train

Next up:
Amy-The Fairy Tale Factory

Blending truth with humor, I fully enjoyed reading everyone's lists :) We are indeed a unique group of people...but this is why blogging is so great! Getting to know other people with the same quirky interests as you and having discussions you could never have with most family and friends! Special thanks to Gypsy for creating the header and helping to organize the contributors :)

If anybody else would like to participate, I officially tag you! I love hearing stories of how fairy tales interact with us in our daily lives!

You Know You're a Fairy Tale Blogger When...

-You feel like you can justify any fairy tale-related purchase, if you can get a post out of it

-Typing the word "fairly" automatically becomes "fairy" because your fingers type it so much
-You feel a little personally offended if someone says they don't like fairy tales/insinuate fairy tales are childish and trite

-You feel a little paranoid to be running on an outdoor trail wearing a red hoodie, as if this is inviting an attack

Image from here

-Multiple shelves of your bookshelf are taken up with fairy tale books, and yet-

-Your amazon wishlist is made up of virtually all fairy tale books
-You have the instinct to include images in your emails, to keep people's attention

-Your wonderful and supportive husband, who had no interest in fairy tales previous to meeting you, can now throw around phrases like "Animal Bridegroom tales" and discuss fairy tale plots like a pro

*****************

After having a fairy tale blog for years, it really starts to bleed into the rest of your life. Gypsy from Once Upon a Blog and I have been enjoying sharing some of these unique results of our bloggerhood and thought some of you might also have some funny and interesting things to share as well! So I tag Gypsy to add to the list next :)

Family Guy's Grimm Job

If Family Guy is up your alley, you should check out the episode that just became available on regular hulu, Grimm Job. It's a fairy tale mashup that, while humorous, is also irreverent and inappropriate at times. Definitely not child appropriate.

 

They interpret Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella, with some other fairy tale characters thrown in for good measure. The characters sometimes speak with the irony of those who are aware that they're in a fairy tale and what's going to happen, which adds some funny lines. And while mainly just being goofy, they do sort of touch on some issues such as violence (at the end of LRRH) or how certain famous scenes are less than believable, if you were to take the story seriously (Stewie/Little Red refuses to act out the "my what big ___ you have, Grandmother" because, as he says, it's obvious the wolf is not a human woman and it's insulting.) That's one big question people have about fairy tales, is what attitude are we supposed to read them with? Suspension of disbelief/the innocence of a child? Or just accepting that it's unrealistic? Can we read into subtle things if there also appear to be glaring plot errors? Were people "back then" really that gullible?

So it's not groundbreaking in the realm of fairy tale interpretations, many of the jokes have been make before, but still pretty funny, in my opinion. For example, Cinderella ends: "And so, two people who danced together one time, entered together into an ill-advised, long term relationship. And they lived happily ever after for seven months..."

Hipster Witch

Lol!

Like this? Check out Hipster Princesses

Image found here

Gianni Rodari's Little Green Riding Hood

" "Once upon a time there was a little girl called Little Yellow Riding Hood."
"No! Red Riding Hood!"
"Oh yes, of course, Red Riding Hood. Well, one day her mother called and said: 'Little Green Riding Hood-"
"Red!"
"Sorry! Red. 'Now, my child, go to aunt Mary and take her these potatoes.'"
"No! It doesn't go like that! 'Go to Grandma and take her these cakes.'"

So begins the (very) short story Little Green Riding Hood by Gianni Rodari (1974). A fun little tale told by a grandfather, who we can assume is tired of telling the same story over and over again and messing with his granddaughter. Available in Jack Zipes' the Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood

Illustration by Gari Melchers

Brewster Rockit

Fairy tales in the comics-today's Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

Haha

 

Hipster Disney princesses (and Iago)

 

 

From here

Today's Dilbert, with a fairy tale reference...

Roald Dahl's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

"A MAGIC TALKING LOOKING GLASS
Ask it something day or night
It always got the answer right
For instance, if you were to say
“Oh Mirror, what’s for lunch today?”
The thing would answer in a trice
“Today it’s scrambled eggs and rice.”
Now every day, week in week out
The spoiled and stupid Queen would shout
“Oh Mirror Mirror on the wall
Who is the fairest of them all?”
The Mirror answered every time
“Oh Madam, you’re the Queen sublime
You are the only one to charm us
Queen, you are the cat’s pyjamas.”"

-exerpt from Roald Dahl's poem, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Though Roald Dahl notoriously makes versions of fairy tales that are more shocking than the well known versions, even he couldn't make Snow White more violent than it already is.

However, he of course adds his own clever spin on the story, including a very creative use for a mirror that always tells the truth, which Snow White steals from the Queen. This seems so obvious, why have I never wondered why she didn't do this before? Of course this assumes that Snow White is aware of the existence of the Mirror and its magical properties, which is not necessarily a given.

Illustration by Arthur Rackham

Another Politically Correct LRRH

Below is an excerpt from a Politically Correct Little Red Riding Hood, which is not the version by James Finn Garner found in Politically Correct Bedtime Stories (although Red's initial remark to the wolf is nearly word for word identical to Garner's...but the rest is unique).

Red Riding Hood returned to the main path, and proceeded towards her Grandmother's house.But because his status outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear, Western-style thought, the Wolf knew of a quicker route to Grandma's house.
He burst into the house and ate Grandma, a course of action affirmative of his nature as a predator.

 Then, unhampered by rigid, traditionalist gender role notions, he put on Grandma's nightclothes, crawled under the bedclothes, and awaited developments.
Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and said,"Grandma, I have brought you some cruelty free snacks to salute you in your role of wise and nurturing matriarch."
The Wolf said softly "Come closer, child, so that I might see you."

Red Riding Hood said, "Goddess! Grandma, what big eyes you have!"
"You forget that I am optically challenged."

 "And Grandma, what an enormous, what a fine nose you have."
"Naturally, I could have had it fixed to help my acting career, but I didn't give in to such societal pressures, my child."

"And Grandma, what very big, sharp teeth you have!"
The Wolf could not take any more of these specist slurs, and, in a reaction appropriate for his accustomed milieu, he leaped out of bed, grabbed Little Red Riding Hood, and opened his jaws so wide that she could see her poor Grandmother cowering in his belly.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Red Riding Hood bravely shouted. "You must request my permission before proceeding to a new level of intimacy!"
The Wolf was so startled by this statement that he loosened his grasp on her.

Panna a Netvor

Not to repost from Surlalune, because I think you all follow Surlalune anyway (and if you don't, you should), but I just wanted to throw in my two cents about a movie that was discussed last month- a 1978 Czech version of Beauty and the Beast, Panna a Netvor. (On Surlalune, you can read a very thorough and tantalizing review by guest writer Megan Kearney). I've gotten to the point where, if there's a version of Beauty and the Beast I haven't even heard of yet, it's probably not that good...but this one really is good and I was ecstatic to watch it! Now it is a little bizarre, sort of in the tradition of the Cocteau, but it's richly symbolic and has good exploration of the characters, especially the Beast.

And it is pretty dark-people get murdered (not typical for BATB,) it's kind of like an old haunted house movie meets a vampire romance. Seriusly-if you like the concept of Twilight but are appalled by its lack of quality, this movie is for you. The plot is basically: a supernatural creature feared by man is tortured by his love for a woman verses his animalistic bloodlust for her as well. Sound familiar?? Only this version has good acting and scriptwriting! Possibly the only intelligent review I've ever found of Twilight has to be this one from The Oatmeal...seriously, you should click through and read it because it's so funny but so true...