Fairy+Tales

=**Once upon a time...Fairy Tale Fiction** = Chris Mascaro, Emily Smith, Kimberly Riles, Sheree Dial

Originally, stories we would now call fairy tales were not marked out as a separate genre. The German term "Märchen" literally translates as "tale"—not any specific type of tale. The genre was first marked out by writers of the [|Renaissance], stabilized through the works of many subsequent writers, and emerged as an unquestioned genre in the works of the [|Brothers Grimm].In this evolution, the name was coined when the //[|précieuses]// took up writing literary stories; [|Madame d'Aulnoy] invented the term //conte de fée//, or fairy tale. A fairy tale may exist in several versions. One good example is //Little Red Riding Hood.// One version is strictly a  [|cautionary tale]. Red Riding Hood disobeys her mother, talks to the wolf and ends up being eaten by him. So end all bad children. However, another version of the story has Red Riding Hood being pursued by the wolf, who catches hold of her hood, which, being enchanted by the grandmother, burns his mouth. He goes headlong into the village well and drowns. Some versions have the wolf eating the grandmother but being killed by a  hunter, who cuts the wolf open and rescues Grandma. //Sleeping Beauty// in its original form had the Prince's mother cast as an ogress who eventually attempted to have Sleeping Beauty and her children killed so the ogress could eat them. The Disney version does feature the terrifying Maleficent, but once she is defeated and Aurora wakened with that fateful kiss, all is well forever and ever. They all live "happily ever after," in fact.

Many modern themes in movies and television are derived from the fairy tale , in motif if not in plot. Modern people frequently use //Cinderella// as an example of any person or group with poor prospects that succeeded in spite of the odds. "[|Prince Charming]" is the beau-ideal of manliness. WICKED : Born with green skin and huge teeth, like a dragon, the free-spirited Elphaba grows up to be an anti-totalitarian agitator, an animal-rights activist, a nun, then a nurse who tends the dying?and, ultimately, the headstrong Wicked Witch of the West in the land of Oz. Maguire's strange and imaginative postmodernist fable uses L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a springboard to create a tense realm inhabited by humans, talking animals (a rhino librarian, a goat physician), Munchkinlanders, dwarves and various tribes. The Wizard of Oz, emperor of this dystopian dictatorship, promotes Industrial Modern architecture and restricts animals' right to freedom of travel; his holy book is an ancient manuscript of magic that was clairvoyantly located by Madam Blavatsky 40 years earlier. Much of the narrative concerns Elphaba's troubled youth (she is raised by a giddy alcoholic mother and a hermitlike minister father who transmits to her his habits of loathing and self-hatred) and with her student years. Dorothy appears only near novel's end, as her house crash-lands on Elphaba's sister, the Wicked Witch of the East, in an accident that sets Elphaba on the trail of the girl from Kansas?as well as the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Lion?and her fabulous new shoes. Maguire combines puckish humor and bracing pessimism in this fantastical meditation on good and evil, God and free will, which should, despite being far removed in spirit from the Baum books, captivate devotees of fantasy.


 * The modern fairy tale: the TWILIGHT SERIES *Danger, True Love, and Forbidden Desire***

Twilight is the debut, young-adult novel by Stephanie Meyer about vampire romance. Twilight was named one of [|Publishers Weekly] 's Best Children's Books of 2005.

The first book of the Twilight Series introduces the main character Bella, who moves from Phoenix to Forks, Washington. She meets Edward Cullen, the local vampire and she falls in love. The novel is followed up with New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. There are currently two films out for the first two books.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite. The story plays on a male hero rescuing the female heroine (and yes, she saves him as much as he saves her) and from beginning to end of the entire series, this modern fairy tale could start with a once upon a time, and end with happily ever after. Could also be classified as romance, fantasy, horror, and crosses many genres. The fairy tale theme remains: good versus evil.

=
//The Princess Bride// is a true fantasy classic. William Goldman describes it as a "good parts version" of "S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure." Morgenstern's original was filled with details of Florinese history, court etiquette, and Mrs. Morgenstern's mostly complimentary views of the text. Much admired by academics, the "Classic Tale" nonetheless obscured what Mr. Goldman feels is a story that has everything: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.Is //The Princess Bride// a critique of classics like //Ivanhoe// and //The Three Musketeers//, that smother a ripping yarn under elaborate prose? A wry look at the differences between fairy tales and real life? Simply a funny, frenetic adventure? No matter how you read it, you'll put it on your "keeper" shelf. =====

//**Ella Enchanted**// **by Gail Carson Levine**
At birth, Eleanor (Ella) of Frell is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. Another girl might have been cowed by this affliction, but not feisty Ella: "Instead of making me docile, Lucinda's curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally." When her beloved mother dies, leaving her in the care of a mostly absent and avaricious father, and later, a loathsome stepmother and two treacherous stepsisters, Ella's life and well-being seem in grave peril. But her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery, trying to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way. Yes, there is a pumpkin coach, a glass slipper, and a happily ever after, but this is the most remarkable, delightful, and profound version of Cinderella you've ever read. [|Amazon.com review]

Parallels to //Cinderella//: - Ella has a fairy godmother. - Ella loses her mother and is forced into servitude by her step-family. - Ella attends a ball with magical assistance and dances with the prince, but is forced to leave by midnight. - Ella's carriage is made from a pumpkin, and her horses were mice. - Ella loses a glass slipper as she leaves the ball, which is later used to help identify her. - Ella goes to three balls secretly.

=Legally Correct Fairy Tales (David Fisher)=

A parody in the vein of the best-selling //Politically Correct Bedtime Stories// recasts classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes--from Goldilocks to Beauty and the Beast--as hilarious legal wrangles replete with lawyers, prosecutors and defendants.

Why did the Three Little-Pigs call 911? Will the Three Bears sue Goldilocks for trespassing? Who cracked the Humpty Dumpty case? Find out the answers to these fascinating legal inquiries and many others in these hilarious reenactments of bedtime classics transferred into the courtroom and translated into legalese. Eleven different voices, including the author's, bring life to such characters as Little-Pigg, Diana Freewoman, the Jolly Green Giant, and of course various attorneys.

Jack and Jill went down the hill - and are suing the pail manufacturer for pain and suffering. The mobster known as the Big Bad Wolf, nemesis of little pigs and grandmas everywhere, faces indictment under the RICO Act. Snow White, in violation of the kingdom's nondiscrimination laws, is given forty-five days to hire nonmale, non-Caucasian, nonvertically challenged employees. And guess who the Three Bears are taking to the cleaners for trespassing, damage to real property, and mental anguish... Way beyond the politically correct, this is the perfect book for these litigious times. From the Emperor's New Clothes to the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe... from Pinocchio to Humpty Dumpty ... from Hansel and Gretel to Beauty and the Beast ... the most beloved tales of childhood are told once again, not with the rhythms of the nursery, but in the precise language of the law, as depositions and briefs, summonses and summary judgments. The court finds Legally Correct Fairy Tales hilarious.

**Synopsis**:
This hilarious spoof on all the old classic fairy tales has a decidedly legal squint to it as for example when Prince Charming is prosecuted for sexual abuse after forcing several damsels to try on a glass slipper to satisfy his foot fetish.


 * //What we learned://** Most of the popular fairy tale fiction is targeted at young adults, and girls especially. What some modern fairy tales do that the originals do not is take the old stories and update them to include strong female protagonists, while others merely update classic themes, like love at first sight or a damsel in distress, into recognizable contemporary contexts. The overlying messages are varied and sometimes contradictory amongst the different interpretations of fairy tales. By centering beloved fairy tales on a formidable female character that young girls can easily relate to, fairy tale fiction can inspire them to act as independent and cunning as them. On the other hand, some modern fairy tales might also lead girls to believe that they should sit around and wait for their Prince Charming to come and taken them into their happily ever after.