Maria Tatar's Blog, page 29

Sendak, Seuss, Silverstein and the Shock of Subversion

 

Pamela Paul writes about the eccentric styles of authors whose work marked a seismic shift in picture books for children:

Once upon a more staid time, the purpose of children's books was to model good behavior. They were meant to edify and to encourage young readers to be what parents wanted them to be, and the children in their pages were well behaved, properly attired and devoid of tears. Children's literature was not supposed to shine a light on the way children actually were, or delight in the slovenly, self-interested and disobedient side of their natures.

Seuss, Sendak and Silverstein ignored these rules. They brought a shock of subversion to the genre — defying the notion that children's books shouldn't be scary, silly or sophisticated. Rather than reprimand the wayward listener, their books encouraged bad (or perhaps just human) behavior. Not surprisingly, Silverstein and Sendak shared the same longtime editor, Ursula Nordstrom of Harper & Row, a woman who once declared it her mission to publish "good books for bad children."

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/books/…

I'd be curious to know what she thinks of Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwelpeter (1845) , subtitled Funny Stories and Droll Pictures.  In it, the badly behaved, slovenly, and transgressive kids are mocked and punished (Konrad the thumb-sucker has his thumbs sliced off).  Perhaps a bad book for good children?

And does Silverstein belong in this trio?  Paul's essay made me wonder if there might be a touch of irony to The Giving Tree, one of the most hated books in the canon of children's books, right up there with Robert Munsch's Love You Forever.

Fairy-Tale Films and the Dark Side

Emma Mustich interviews Jack Zipes on the recent turn to the dark side of fairy tales.  I'm not so sure that Disney film lack the dark side to which she refers, although the Disney Cinderella is no match for the Grimms' version, with blood dripping from the stepsisters' shoes and eyes pecked out by doves.  Remember Ursula, the Sea Witch, and her battle with Eric?  And the transformation scene in Snow White, down in the cellar with the skulls and ravens?  Emma Mustich writes:

These stories have entertained and comforted, spooked and delighted audiences for countless generations. Many who are alive today find Disney's adaptations of these tales — from "Cinderella" to "The Little Mermaid" — familiar; children reared on the animation giant's brightly-colored, upbeat and music-saturated films may view the glut of live-action fairy tale film adaptations headed our way — three new "Snow Whites," two "Sleeping Beauties," a "Beauty and the Beast" and a "Little Mermaid," among others — with a curious sort of caution.

A number of these films (which are in various stages of planning and production) have been pitched as "dark" retellings of familiar tales. At this year's Comic-Con, Charlize Theron likened her "Evil Queen" character in "Snow White and the Huntsman" to a "serial killer" (not a total departure for Theron); the new "Little Mermaid" is based on Carolyn Turgeon's novel "Mermaid," which Booklist reviewed using words and phrases like "dark," "foreboding," "heartache," "misery," "constant pain," "catastrophic consequences," "brooding," "tragic" and "not exactly a cozy bedtime story."

Does this "dark turn" in fairy-tale filmmaking represent a return to older, more forbidding versions of stories Disney gussied up for 20th-century kids? Or are these new movies simply cogs in the wheel of folk tale re-telling?

Here's the link to the interview, and you will discover that Jack Zipes is no fan of Disney.

 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movie…

 

Adirondacks Library Loses Its Children's Books, and You Can Help

 

This picture says it all.

To help, follow instructions in the link below:

 http://www.katemessner.com/after-irene-a…

Babar at 80 and Yoga

 

Here is a lovely interview with Laurent de Brunhof about the origins of Babar and the latest book in the series.  Yoga for Elephants!

 http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/08/1…

Below you will find a link to my favorite analysis of the Babar stories:  Adam Gopnik reads the first installment in the series as an allegory of French colonialism and its "civilizing" effects.

 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/…

 

 

 

 

Childhood in Crisis (Again)

Joel Bakan, a law professor at the University of British Columbia and author of "Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children" writes in the NYT about how new technologies, corporate greed, and the pharmaceutical industry are threatening childhood.  Moral panic about childhood has a familiar face, and ever since Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and his planned War on Children, we are right to be suspicious of those who crusade against new media and technologies "for the sake of the children."  What worries me most is the double standard in effect: we are tethered to our electronic devices, constantly texting and talking, yet we become upset when children mimic our behavior.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/opi...

There is reason to believe that childhood itself is now in crisis.

Throughout history, societies have struggled with how to deal with children and childhood. In the United States and elsewhere, a broad-based "child saving" movement emerged in the late 19th century to combat widespread child abuse in mines, mills and factories. By the early 20th century, the "century of the child," as a prescient book published in 1909 called it, was in full throttle. Most modern states embraced the general idea that government had a duty to protect the health, education and welfare of children. Child labor was outlawed, as were the sale and marketing of tobacco, alcohol and pornography to children. Consumer protection laws were enacted to regulate product safety and advertising aimed at children.

By the middle of the century, childhood was a robustly protected legal category. In 1959, the United Nations issued its Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Children were now legal persons; the "best interests of the child" became a touchstone for legal reform.

A New Snow White from Disney?

Currently, there are three Snow White films in development.  This new version is a "re-imagining" of the tale, and production has been delayed, perhaps because of the two other films coming out in the 2012, along with the television series "Once Upon a Time," based on the Snow White story.  Why has that particular story gone viral?  The key element, a beautiful, seductive, evil woman who plots the death of her more beautiful, innocent, virtuous rival, does not resonate immediately with our cultural fears and anxieties.  But I wonder if the rise of the "cougar" has anything to do with the resurrection of Snow White?  And is it a stretch to consider the Casey Anthony story a grim, modern version of "Snow White"?  Or more importantly, is our cultural obsession with Casey Anthony based to some extent on how she embodies childhood fears about maternal sexual envy turned murderous?

 

 http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Director-…

ABC's Once Upon a Time

 

High production values mark this new series, and the mix of fantasy and reality is exactly what you would expect from executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, who also made "Lost."

Read more: http://www.poptower.com/once-upon-a-time-abc-tv-show.htm#ixzz1UGLecBZ9

And they all lived happily ever after – or so everyone was led to believe. Emma Swan knows how to take care of herself. She's a 28-year-old bail bonds collector who's been on her own ever since she was abandoned as a baby. But when the son she gave up years ago finds her, everything starts to change. Henry is now 10 years old and in desperate need of Emma's help. He believes that Emma actually comes from an alternate world and is Snow White and Prince Charming's missing daughter. According to his book of fairytales, they sent her away to protect her from the Evil Queen's curse, which trapped the fairytale world forever, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world. Of course Emma doesn't believe a word, but when she brings Henry back to Storybrooke, she finds herself drawn to this unusual boy and his strange New England town. Concerned for Henry, she decides to stay for a while, but she soon suspects that Storybrooke is more than it seems. It's a place where magic has been forgotten, but is still powerfully close… where fairytale characters are alive, even though they don't remember who they once were. The epic battle for the future of all worlds is beginning, but for good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.

Read more: Trailer for ABC's Once Upon a Time Debuts – ComingSoon.net http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=77700#ixzz1UGJgFXCV

Peter Pan and Leisure Diving

Link below will connect you with an example of Leisure Diving.  The advocate tells us that what all men hope to do is "never to grow up."

The clip shows how "Freedom meets expression of self in an artful way."  I would be game for this sport in a different body of water.  Be patient: it takes about 10 seconds for the video below the photograph to load.

 http://bostonherald.com/business/technol…

 

 

 

Not a Hoax

 

I admit to feeling sure that I was being punked when I read the Comic-Con 2011 report about the new Snow White film.  After Holly Hutchison, who knows more about Comic-Con than I do, reassured me that the high-concept framing of Snow White was for real, I revived my blog post about the film.

The first thing that jumps to mind is that, obviously, this isn't the typical Snow White in a fancy gown — this is more Joan of Arc territory.

"This girl has the amazing ability to channel fear, things that people are typically afraid to do, into this really focused, really charged, driving energy," Stewart told panel moderator (and EW senior writer) Dave Karger.

"She truly does not let her heart cloud her mind," the Twilight actress added, breaking into a smile: "Also I get to have a sword and stuff, and really cool weapons."

Stewart was playing nice, but Theron, appropriately, was the one showing her teeth.

 http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/07/23/co…

Evidently plans are in the works for a trilogy based on the Snow White story.

And here's the latest on the film's rival:

 http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/07/21/li…

Presenting… the fairest of them all! "I keep saying to everyone I feel like I'm walking into a snow globe, a fairy tale, every single day," says Lily Collins, star of Relativity Media's as yet untitled Snow White, which co-stars Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen. "It's so epic. I was part of a costume ball today, so you can only imagine the outfits."

The movie, out March 16, is directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall, the upcoming Immortals) and promises a world as surreal as anything dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm. Click through for more details…

 

 

 

 

Paging Hollywood

 

 

Kelly Faircloth has some really great ideas for Hollywood producers.  It's time to broaden out the fairy-tale repertoire (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella) and revive some of the many other canonical tales.  My favorite of her proposals: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, with its clever slave-girl Morgiana.

 http://io9.com/5823293/10-creepy-sexy-fa…