Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 25
April 30, 2023
Review: Princess of the Beans
Though it's been slow going, I've been trying to read all the promo releases from National Tell a Fairy Tale Day while still keeping up with newer books. The next one on my list was Princess of the Beans by Sarah Beran, a retelling of both "Rapunzel" and "Jack and the Beanstalk." I thought this was such a creative idea because both stories involve climbing tall towers, but unfortunately, Rapunzel's tower was not located at the top of a beanstalk in this version. Still, it was a sweet little romance story about rescuing a damsel in distress, with some heavy-handed Christian messaging mixed in. As the second book in a series of fairy tale adaptations called The Order of the Fountain, this story begins with a summary of the first book in the series that I found a little convoluted. There are plenty more books in the series after this one, so I hope the world and characters continue to improve.
The first few chapters of this book were the roughest. Sarah Beran uses this space to establish the world and summarize the first Order of the Fountain book, Second Star to the Right. The series revolves around a spy organization in which all of its members take on code names to uncover problems within fairy tale kingdoms and fix them internally. The part that I had the most trouble with is that their spy names all just happen to be classic fairy tale names by coincidence even though the characters in this world are unaware of the classic fairy tales. It seems like she was going for a Once Upon a Time situation where everyone has two identities. It didn't really work here because all of the second identities in Once Upon a Time are ordinary names of people living ordinary lives, not tongue-in-cheek references to characters that the audience would recognize instantly. The main character's code name is "Jack" because he is a jack of all trades and obviously because of "Jack and the Beanstalk." The story really takes after he veers away from the characters in the first book to begin his own journey.
Rapunzel, which thankfully was not a code name in this book, is a classic damsel in distress who was captured by a wicked pirate named Lesard and forced to tend to the magic beans that he wants to use to gain immortality. He chose the lost princess Rapunzel for this task because the beans respond better to royalty for some reason and because Rapunzel is an expert herbalist. Not wanting to accept her fate, Rapunzel begins piecing together every scrap of fabric she can obtain in her tower prison to build a rope to escape, similar to the silver ladder that the original fairy tale character sews after she meets the prince. Unlike the fairy tale character, this Rapunzel does not have impossibly long hair and looks closer to the Barbie version with uncommonly long hair that is a plausible length. Jack discovers her first failed escape attempt and visits her after that on a regular basis to help her come up with a more successful plan and overthrow Lesard's evil tyranny.
My favorite thing about this book is the love story, which is charming and easy to grasp. While Jack likes to fly by the seat of his pants, Rapunzel is a planner. This message is overstated quite a bit throughout the book with Jack constantly saying "I didn't think ahead." It is easy to see how the two complement each other. Rapunzel's planning prevents another botched escape attempt and allows Jack time to round together a team to stop Lesard. I also like how the book had a classic villain that was easy to hate and provides a clear obstacle for the main characters to overcome. I wish it had a little more whimsy since there was no beanstalk that grew up the sky and no hair that spanned the length of a tower, but I'll take what I can get. While I wasn't a huge fan of the world or the Christian propaganda throughout the book, it was a sweet love story.
Overall, Princess of the Beans is a simple damsel-in-distress rescue mission that combines two beloved fairy tales with a compelling romance. The mechanics of the world are questionable at times, but they hold together well enough to build a foundation for the other fairy tale adaptations in the series. I would recommend this book to people who prefer fairy tale adaptations that focus more on romance than fantasy and are in the mood for something light and quick. The characters have a lot of personality and play well off each other, making for an easy and relaxing read.
April 27, 2023
The First Trailer for Wish Has Arrived!
Ever since last year's D23 Expo, fans have been waiting with bated breath for more news about Wish, the next original animated Disney classic that celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary from when the company started in 1923. This movie serves as a rare opportunity to celebrate everything we love about Disney's past, including magic, music, animation, and fairy tales with an original plot to boot. With so much focus on live-action remakes, Wish is a breath of fresh air that will hopefully bring back all the things we love from Disney's peak eras of animation. The movie stars a heroine named Asha, who may or may not become a new Disney Princess, that goes on a quest to save the wishing kingdom from an evil king named Magnifico. Just minutes ago, the first trailer for this highly anticipated film premiered on Good Morning America. You can watch it below.
The trailer boasts beautiful animation as well as a clip of the gorgeous song that superstar performed at the D23 Expo. It provides insight to the movie's plot by showing Magnifico's greed through wanting to steal all the wishes and Asha's drive to free the wishing kingdom from his tyranny. There is also a reference to Disney's long history of talking animal sidekicks when her goat uses one of the wishing stars to gain the ability to speak. I love Asha's character design with a pretty purple dress and long beautifully animated braids. There are lots of nods to previous Disney movies with the wishing star and the wishing well, but no direct references, which I expect to see more of when the movie comes out in November. According to the D23 Expo panel, the movie will be "taking easter eggs to the next level," meaning we are probably going to see loads of cameos of familiar characters that they are saving for the big screen. I appreciate that the trailer focused on original elements so we can revel in the beauty of the animation instead of something like the disastrous Rescue Rangers movie that came out last year, which was nothing but references.
The 11-minute long sequence on Good Morning America included an emotional wish come true for a young lady named Jazz Smith who idolizes Ariana DeBose as an inspiration for her own musical theater career and recently lost her mother. In the segment, the GMA cast surprised Jazz by introducing her to Ariana, telling her story on screen, and rewarding her with tickets to the Hollywood premiere of Wish and Disneyland. It was a beautiful and emotional sequence that encompasses the main themes of the film. When Ariana was asked what advice she would give to Jazz, she listed off all the classic Disney Princess traits, such as staying curious and being humble and kind to everyone she encounters. Though Ariana referred to Asha as a heroine in the interview and not a princess, I hope that her character is added to the Disney Princess roster because she seems to embody so many of the traits that we love about princesses.
What I'm hoping to get out of this movie is to see Asha experience growth on her journey instead of being able to do everything perfectly. I sort of like that she starts out as an ordinary villager instead of a princess because it makes her an underdog and gives her something bigger to strive for. The plot element of leading a revolution to free the wishing kingdom from King Magnifico is reminiscent of the Elena of Avalor premiere movie, Elena and the Secret of Avalor. As much as I'm eager to see Asha interacting with other Disney characters who have made magical wishes in the past, I don't want it to overshadow her own story or the rest of what makes the film unique. I also appreciate that Disney is finally going back to the classic villain formula instead of the twist villain, something they've been doing for almost a decade now. It can be frustrating to watch a movie and not know which characters to trust or root for.
This might be the most excited I've been for a new Disney movie in years. I love that Disney is finally acknowledging their roots in animation again by paying tribute to their 100 years of creativity instead of perpetuating the trend of turning everything live-action. Ariana DeBose is a beautiful person inside and out, so I am eager to see her breathe life into Asha, who has a unique character design and a beautiful singing voice. Wish is the next theatrical Disney movie after The Little Mermaid to feature a princess-like heroine and premieres in November, which cannot come soon enough! What are some of your wishes for this film? Let me know in the comments!
April 26, 2023
Unpacking Today's Massive Little Mermaid Promo Release
First, there are so many new posters that I don't even know where to begin! I think the Fandango poster is my favorite. It portrays Ariel poking her torso through the surface and soaking up the warm sunlight while her tail is visible in the dark blue water as Ursula's tentacles loom menacingly in the background, a beautiful metaphor for being split between two worlds. Other posters for the film give us a closer look at the characters including this gorgeous set that features individual headshots of seven key characters in the movie. Again, Ariel looks the most beautiful and artistic here, leaning back with her hand over her throat as though she can feel her voice being ripped from her body as her auburn locks flow gracefully around her. Ursula, Triton, and Eric all look great, but not as artsy as Ariel. The CGI posters for Sebastian, Scuttle, and Flounder confirm their designs based on the glimpses we've had previously through merchandise and trailers.
If you're like Ariel and want more, you're in luck! In addition the poster, there have been several official video releases today including a new trailer, a full audio of Halle singing "Part of Your World" from the movie's soundtrack, and a 20-minute long interview with four of the cast members. You can watch/listen to all three of these videos below. I personally found the new trailer way more nostalgic than the previous one they released because it features a classic scene from the beginning of the animated movie in which Ariel and Flounder are chased by a shark while exploring a shipwreck. Their voices and mannerisms sound so similar to the way I remember them from my childhood that it almost feels like watching the original film. The imagery in the trailer also looks brighter and easier to discern. Halle's full-length performance of "Part of Your World" gives major Jodi Benson vibes while adding her own soulful spin to the song. You can really hear the emotion in her voice and how much she wanted to do the movie justice.
Fandango kicked off a new series of cast interviews called The Big Ticket today with none other than our favorite mermaid. This full-length interview features Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, and Awkwafina discussing their respective roles as Ariel, Ursula, Sebastian, and Scuttle in the upcoming movie. Halle is very much the star of the interview with her sparkly princess personality as she discusses how she grew up with the movie and never considered that she would have the opportunity to play Ariel someday and what a blessing that is to her. Melissa McCarthy gushes over Halle's beautiful voice and how it brought her to tears several times. Halle also talks about what it was like to work with CG characters who had pre-recorded voices that she listened to during filming while watching puppets stand in for the characters. It's a pretty fun interview, and I'm so pleased that Fandango kicked off their new series with my favorite princess!
Four years have passed since Halle was cast as Ariel and the movie went into production. It's very satisfying to finally see the results of her hard work and know that it will be playing in theaters everywhere in just a few short weeks. I hope this isn't everything that Disney is planning to put out for the film since I'm still waiting for a new fashion line from Hot Topic, but it's at least enough to "tide" me over until it comes out, especially after reading the disappointing prequel. I love that we can finally "sea" and hear more of Halle as Ariel than from a few dark clips or leaked footage, and I can't wait to watch the version of the film on the big screen. My local theater isn't selling tickets that far in advance yet, but I will snatch them up as soon as they go on sale! If you're planning on seeing this movie, be sure to check Fandango to see if tickets have gone on sale at your local theater. Are you excited to see a new adaptation of "The Little Mermaid?" Let me know in the comments!
April 25, 2023
Rescuing the Damsel in Distress
Let's start with the most anticipated upcoming movie, Disney's remake of The Little Mermaid. The original 1989 animated film is my favorite movie of all time, and Ariel will always be my favorite princess. She is a vivacious and energetic redhead who rescues her own prince and refuses to listen to anyone except her own heart. In both the Broadway show and the new stage show on the Disney Wish, the ending was altered so Ariel could defeat Ursula on a much smaller scale than Eric driving a ship into her, which would admittedly be difficult to do on a stage. However, it was also confirmed through recent book releases that (spoiler alert) Ariel will be the one to defeat Ursula yet again in next month's movie. While this didn't come as a surprise, it an eyeroll moment. This, in addition to changing the identities of all her sisters so they can be rulers of their own undersea kingdoms just proves that women in modern media are not allowed to show any signs of weakness ever.
I am going to admit to something controversial, which is that when I fantasize about being a princess, I do occasionally dream of scenarios where I am rescued from danger. Why? There are several reasons. If someone is willing to jump into danger to save you, it means that they care about you a lot and that you're important to them. Not only is this flattering, but it promises a happy future together--a "happily ever after" if you will. It's the magic of true love. Princesses are always targeted in fantasy stories because they are important people who everyone loves and no one wants to see harmed. The recent episode of Fantasy Island did an excellent job of addressing how princesses are targets and that needing help does not diminish their other strengths like their kind and healing nature. That's where the balance lies. Everyone has times in their life when they are distressed, but it doesn't mean that they are completely useless in every situation. Sometimes, we can handle what life throws at us, and other times, we need to call in help from an expert on something we're less familiar with. I think the original Little Mermaid did an excellent job of portraying Ariel as a balanced character who stood up to her powerful father while struggling to communicate Eric without her voice.
I can't help but wonder if this is really what Disney and Hollywood think that women can relate to--being able to do everything perfectly on their first try and never needing anyone in their life to help bail them out when things get rough. It seems like an incredibly lonely existence that is impossible to live up to. I think the last Disney property to show a love interest being supportive in any way was Tangled: The Series, and that was only because Rapunzel and Eugene's relationship had already been established in the movie, making it too late to retcon. Though Rapunzel was usually the muscle of their operations with her indestructible hair, Eugene was still there for her on an emotional level after Cassandra's betrayal. Although the third season of the show was incredibly drawn out, one thing it did right was portray how Eugene saw through Rapunzel's denial of her feelings about Cassandra's betrayal and waited patiently until she was willing to open up about it. There is more than one way for a damsel to be in distress, and this was a beautiful way of showing that despite being an obligatory relic from a decade-old movie.
Disney may think that they have destroyed the "Damsel in Distress" trope, but she is still out there in all of us and our future generations. Telling children that they should never make mistakes and never need help is creating a new kind of damsel in distress, one that exists no longer on the screen but in real life. They are training the next generation to have low self esteem and feel like failures any time they struggle with something. In my generations, the most common complaint about fairy tales was that they made us believe that our first love would be magical and last forever, a trend that was cleverly debunked in the 2015 series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. In a few more years, we might need a new series to debunk the trend that in order to be a princess or hero, you must have no flaws and excel instantly at everything you try. What do you think? Do we need to be rescued from this incessant trend, or is it the way of the future? Let me know in the comments!
April 23, 2023
Review: Time Princess - Heartwood Mysteries
Heartwood Mysteries tells the story of Evelyn Heartwood, a private detective who dresses similarly to Sherlock Holmes but acts very differently. Unlike Sherlock, who is known to be cold and emotionless, Evelyn is sympathetic and emotional. She cares deeply about her clients and often makes jokes about crimes that break her "little wooden heart," a reference to the story's title that took me way too long to figure out. The mystery begins when a famous actress is poisoned, and Evelyn's team is hired to determine who did it. Since all of the victims and suspects are minor characters in the story, I found it difficult to get emotionally involved with them and didn't bother trying to figure out the mystery on my own, which isn't part of the gameplay anyway. I don't think the Time Princess decision-making format lends itself well to solving murder mysteries. For that, I would recommend the Phoenix Wright series. In this story, I found the love triangle between Evelyn and her companions far more compelling than the mystery.
Unlike the recent visual novels that put romance on the back end in favor of darker story elements, this one really played up the love triangle. With only two companions instead of three for a refreshing change, most of the story outcomes are based on the player's decision of which companion to follow. Allen is Evelyn's partner and the closest to a "Watson" character. He is outgoing, charismatic, and madly in love with Evelyn. Damian is a studious cop who works with Evelyn on her cases and is also madly in love with her. Many of the story's decisions and outcomes depend on Evelyn choosing between Allen and Damian's very different methods of handling investigations. The most Sherlock-like thing about Evelyn is that while she cares deeply about both men, she is completely oblivious to their feelings toward her. She is a savant who puts her detective work above anything else going on in her personal life, which makes it pretty amusing when she gets confused whenever the two men start fighting over her.
Time Princess did a good job of coming up with some unique designs for the fashions in this story. Instead of generic-looking European clothes, Evelyn's outfits are inspired by classic looks for Sherlock Holmes with some alterations to make them more feminine and historically accurate to the time period. I love her cover outfit of a green plaid dress and magnifying glass, which unfortunately has to be won through the game's lottery. She also has some formalwear, including a teal flapper-like dress and a silk floor-length ballgown with a narrow silhouette. The quality and uniqueness of these outfits make up for how similar this story is to other recent visual novels that the game has released. I like how even though the looks are clearly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, they added a lot of feminine flair to them like cute hats and jewelry.
Heartwood Mysteries may not be what I was hoping for from Time Princess, but I appreciate that it kept the mood lighter than some of their other stories with similar themes. Evelyn is an easy character to root for as a more empathetic Sherlock Holmes, and the costumes and love triangle were very cute. I like how the game provides a variety of endings with various levels of tragedy including one where nobody has to die at all. Considering how Time Princess seems to focus more on dark realistic stories of late and has virtually abandoned its previous formula of historical royalty and fairy tales, I think this is the best possible option for the genre. What's your favorite visual novel in Time Princess so far? Are you hoping to see more stories like this one in the future? Let me know in the comments!
April 18, 2023
Review: Against the Tide
One year before the events of The Little Mermaid, Ariel was a 15-year-old rebel who went on magical adventures throughout Atlantica where she sang songs and supported other beings in the sea who were outcasts like herself. OR one year before the events of The Little Mermaid, Ariel was a 15-year-old dreamer who dared to restore music to a broken land that her father tainted through his mourning. OR one year before the events of The Little Mermaid, Ariel was a studious 15-year-old leader preparing to take on the role of Protector to her own kingdom while bringing together her estranged sisters from six different parts of the ocean. According to Disney, all three of these different takes on Ariel's past are correct. Each version also contains a completely different way that she met her best friend, Flounder. With each retelling of Ariel's history, the world around her gets darker, and her personality becomes less bubbly and carefree. The incarnation presented in Against the Tide, where she behaves as though she is 30 despite being written as 15, is the most serious one yet.
The Ariel in this book is too busy learning how to rule her own kingdom to go on silly adventures collecting human knickknacks and take in unusual pets. In this world, every princess is granted her own kingdom in a different part of the ocean on her 15th birthday, complete with her own castle and royal court. It seems oddly convenient to have seven uninhabited kingdoms for every daughter of Triton with no other rulers. Instead of the colorful and heavily populated kingdom of Atlantica that Disney created in their animated adaptations, this world is cold, barren, and empty Not only are all of Ariel's sisters separated by their individual kingdoms, which each encompass an entire sea, but there are no other merfolk that she interacts with outside of her own family. All of the servants in their various castles are either fish or crustaceans, and the one illicit romance in the book is between a mermaid and a sea monster. Instead of focusing on racism toward the humans to foreshadow the upcoming movie, the book instead introduces the rocky relations between merfolk and sea monsters as Ariel tries ease the tensions between their two races.
Ariel's sisters, who have been rewritten, redesigned, and renamed from the original canon, are all major players in this book. Ariel has a much closer relationship with them than she did in the animated Disney adaptations, where they functioned as a single unit while Ariel liked to sneak off on her own. Here, none of the sisters like each other, and Ariel is the glue that must hold them together. The sister Ariel is closes with is Perla, who resembles Arista from the animated world through both her personality and her red color scheme. Each sister has an H2O: Just Add Water-like superpower that they activate by singing, but these abilities are not a major part of the story. The plot begins when one of the sisters, Mala, is kidnapped on the eve of Ariel's ceremony to become a Protector of Carinae. The ceremony gets canceled, and Ariel begins a search to find her. Her quest takes her to all seven kingdoms as she recruits each of her sisters and convinces them to get along to help her find Mala. Along the way, she meets Flounder, who becomes her partner in crime in tracking down all sea monster Residents in her sisters' kingdoms and comparing notes to solve the mystery of Mala's disappearance. Recovering a kidnapped mermaid after receiving a ransom note is hardly a plot that would have been used in the animated series and seems to be an indicator of the darker tone that Disney is going for with their reimagined world.
Against the Tide presents a creative original mermaid world, but it does not feel like a Disney one. I felt like I had to put "Ariel" in quotes every time I saw her name because she acts so differently from the bubbly carefree mermaid I grew up with. The world in this book is so vast and yet so empty without any other mer-companions besides Ariel's sisters. There are no equivalents to characters like Urchin, Pearl, or Gabriella from the series. Giving each sister her own kingdom at the age of 15 to leave home and, in some cases like that of Tamika, never talk to her family again destroys the tight-knit dynamic of the original canon that made Triton so overprotective of Ariel in the first place. If all of his daughters left swam away to different corners of the ocean as teenagers and were rarely seen again, he would not mind as much if Ariel wanted to go to the surface. Oddly enough, Ariel showed very little interest in the surface world. Humans were referred to as "MerHunters," and Ariel was just as afraid of them as everyone else. The book works okay on its own, but since it is clearly being targeted to fans of Disney's The Little Mermaid by featuring their version of the character, it seems rather tone deaf by reversing everything that has been established about the character for over three decades.
April 16, 2023
Review: The Little Mermaid Jr.
This version of the show uses a truncated script of the Broadway production that cuts anything that is not absolutely essential to the plot, including random lyrics from some of the most popular songs in the film. Coming in at just over an hour, the show includes three original songs from the Broadway play. It also contains all of the songs from the original film with just enough dialogue in between them to get the main points across. It was very different from the new show I saw on the Disney Wish, which was around the same length. Despite its shorter run time, The Little Mermaid Jr. accurately follows the changes that were made to the story for the Broadway script. That includes replacing the part where Ursula turns into Vanessa and seduces Eric with a singing contest in which other princesses try to match the voice Eric heard when he was rescued only to have him choose Ariel as the winner despite having no voice. This has always been a questionable decision since the Vanessa character had been such a staple of the original movie.
The high school production I saw was not exactly the best quality, which was surprising after seeing a fantastic production of Phantom of the Opera at the same school just a few months earlier, but it served as a good enough example of the changes that Disney made to this version of the script. Some of my favorite songs from the Broadway play were cut for time, including all of the original songs that were written for Ariel like "The World Above," "Beyond My Wildest Dreams," and "If Only." The Jr. script is pretty balanced by giving most of the characters one major song, which, in Ariel's case, was the classic "Part of Your World." Instead of using the fan favorite "Her Voice" for Eric like the Hollywood Bowl anniversary concert and 2019 Little Mermaid Live! shows did, this show went with "One Step Closer," in which he teaches Ariel how to dance. The probably chose this song for him to foreshadow how Ariel would win the singing contest by dancing for Eric, something that is unique to the Broadway version of the show. The other two songs that were carried over from the Broadway play were "She's in Love," a Motown number that gives Flounder a rare opportunity to sing along with Ariel's sisters, and "Human Stuff," which was performed by Scuttle. "Human Stuff" was actually cut from the version of the Broadway show that got licensed to local theaters leaving Scuttle only the song "Positoovity," which he sang at the beginning of the second act to give Ariel confidence after she turned into a human. This version of the show does the reverse.
Even though the production I saw had some technical errors and didn't do as much with the sets as they could have, I was impressed with the experience they provided for their audience members in the lobby. Just like the Princess Tea I attended at a different high school, the show began from the moment we walked in the door. Students from the theatre group who weren't in this show walked around in full costumes as princes and princesses from various Disney movies and greeted guests as they entered the school. Multiple photo spots were set up throughout the lobby with underwater backgrounds and blow-up clamshells, pearls, and mermaid tails. There were also bubbles hanging from the ceiling, tables with netting and coral centerpieces, and light-up mermaid wands and crowns being sold near the concession stand. The other performance of the show included a Q&A with the cast and a meet'n'greet session afterward. These little touches that make their audience feel welcome and immersed in Ariel's world make up for anything that the show was lacking with its short runtime.
I think the fact that the Broadway script can be performed in less than half the time of the original show without leaving out any important details really says something about why The Little Mermaid's Broadway run ended as quickly as it did. The Little Mermaid Jr. successfully balances the songs from the film and the play between its characters while focusing only on the scenes that are necessary to tell the story. It isn't exactly peak musical theatre, but it gets the job done. I think overall I prefer the show I saw on the Disney Wish because it added some interesting new details that didn't interfere with the original story and still included Vanessa in the plot. Regardless, if you weren't lucky enough to see the Broadway show in the short time that it ran, The Little Mermaid Jr. is a simple way to get the gist of it in a much shorter time span.
April 15, 2023
Story Saturday: The Oracle and the Egg
Once upon a time, a young oracle named Eden lived in a thriving kingdom. Every day, people would line up at her door to tell their fortune with little regard for the toll it took on her health. Oracles lived notoriously short lives as each vision they conjured caused them to convulse with pain and slowly drain their life force. As such, Eden lost her parents at a young age and survived on her own by sharing her unique ability with the people. She was used to the pain that the visions brought and enjoyed it when she could help to prevent bad things from happening.
There was one client in particular who she liked seeing most of all, and that was her kingdom's very own Prince Adam. Ever since the first prediction she made for Adam, he grew concerned with the pain that came with her power and stayed by her side holding her hand until she felt better. He often visited her just to see how she was doing without asking for any predictions. One day, Adam came to Eden at the direct command of his father, who was about to marry a princess from a foreign land who would become the kingdom's new queen. Though Adam hated forcing Eden to use her powers, his father felt it was very important to the kingdom's future to make sure nothing went wrong with the ceremony.
Eden happily obliged her favorite customer but was unprepared for the shock of what came next. As Adam squeezed her hand comfortingly, a vision of a monstrous scaled face appeared before her and breathed fire over the wedding procession. She felt the heat of the flames as though they were real and trembled at the sound of people screaming in a panic and running for their lives. When she opened her eyes, Adam was pulling her close and looking at her with deep concern.
Eden explained to Adam the disaster that she foresaw in his future, but she didn't know where the dragon came from or why it attacked the wedding. If he wanted to know more, she would need to speak to the king. Adam wasted no time in making preparations to bring Eden to stay at the palace. Eden tried to tell him that it was too much and that she didn't need to stay overnight just to make a prediction for the king, but Adam wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to ensure that she was comfortable, well-fed, and well-cared for after seeing the way she suffered with her last vision.
Eden paid her respects to the king and took his hand to get a better vision of his wedding day. Through the king's eyes, she saw his future bride pull out a large egg that she had been hiding under her voluminous wedding gown. The egg was as hard as a rock and speckled with colorful spots. She recognized it as a dragon egg. Then the same fearsome dragon from her other vision flew in an angry rage at the newlywed couple and blew harsh flames at them and everyone in the audience, burning many of them alive. Eden felt these flames even more intensely than the first time. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear Adam calling to her, but she wasn't able to bring herself back to the present to respond. Then everything went black.
When Eden opened her eyes again, she was lying in the castle infirmary and being tended to by a doctor. She made a grunt, and Prince Adam was instantly by her side. She didn't know how long he had been there, but it seemed like he was waiting for her to wake up. He told her it had been a week since she had made the prediction, which meant the wedding was that evening! There wasn't much time. Eden told Adam everything she saw and apologized for not being able to warn him sooner, but he assured her that he was more worried about her health than finding out the source of the dragon.
Once Adam learned about the dragon egg, he had the guards search his future stepmother's chambers, and sure enough, they discovered the speckled rock-like egg. The wicked princess was brought to the dungeon for questioning, and they discovered that she was sent by the kingdom's enemies to pretend to fall in love with the king and form an alliance so she could summon a dragon and destroy the land. She was sentenced to execution for her crimes, and the egg was brought to a secluded cliffside where the dragon could recover it without harming anyone.
Now that the kingdom was safe again, Eden was ready to return home and continue her duties as oracle, but Adam would not hear of it. He deemed her a hero for saving the kingdom and preventing him from the fate of a wicked stepmother. With all of this in mind, it was easy for Adam to convince his father to accept Eden as the princess and future queen if she would have him. Adam confessed that he was in love Eden for a long time and hated to see her cut her life tragically short with her fortune-telling. He assured her that if she became a princess, she would never need to make another prediction again and would live out the rest of her days in peace. Eden could not believe her good fortune. This was better than any vision she could have predicted for herself. She never imagined that her life could take a different path from that of an oracle. With a full heart, she agreed to marry Prince Adam and lived out the rest of her days happily without ever feeling the pain of her visions again.
April 14, 2023
Review: Poisoned: Snow White's Story
Poisoned: Snow White's Story takes place in a world very similar to our own with no magic to speak of. You might be wondering how the magic of true love's kiss is able to break the spell on Snow White, and you will continue wondering that for a long time because it isn't explained until the end of the book even Snow White eats the poisoned apple and subsequently wakes up close to the beginning. The majority of the book focuses on the seven brothers who are inspired by the dwarfs from the Disney film, particularly Malcolm, who is an archetype of Grumpy, and Oliver, who is an archetype of Dopey. These two brothers are heavy handed metaphors for a caregiver and a person with a severe intellectual disability. This particular aspect of the book was done so well that I often forgot I was reading a fairy tale adaptation. The author got her point across successfully, but I feel that the book should have had a more honest presentation since the cover and title make it look more like a classic fairy tale retelling.
The author does a good job of portraying this version of Snow White as the character most of us are familiar with. She is kind and submissive and the story does not beat around the bush in addressing why some of those traits may work to her disadvantage. After her original fairy tale is resolved early on, she finds herself in an abusive relationship with a manipulative prince who takes advantage of her at every possible turn. She often flees to the solace of Malcolm and Oliver, where she acts as a friend to Oliver and an aid to Malcolm's caregiving. Over time, she learns just how much effort it takes to be a caretaker and gains an incredible amount of respect for Malcolm, who had to give up any opportunity to live a normal life so he could devote all his time to caring for Oliver and keep him away from danger. Oliver's unseemly appearance and erratic behavior sometimes causes problems for Snow White, especially during his first visit to the castle, but she provides every accommodation she can muster to be a friend to him and revel in his playful innocence.
The book ends in a way that I would not have expected from a "Snow White" retelling but makes perfect sense for this particular adaptation. As the queen, Snow White has access to many people and resources that most caretakers would not, placing her in a unique position to provide a happy ending for Malcolm and Oliver. However, she is afraid to stand up for herself for a large portion of the book and needs Malcolm's help to learn how to become more assertive and claim her dominance as the new queen. It is only after she is able to speak out about injustice that she can truly take advantage of her power to help those in need like Oliver. I liked how this element of the book is a nod to more modern "Snow White" adaptations like Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman in which her peers teach her to come out of her shell, but in this case, it is done without picking up a sword, which makes this book stand apart.
I think Poisoned: Snow White's Story does a better job of telling a disability-inclusive fairy tale than Just the Way You Are by Allison M. Boot but at the expense of expanding upon the "Snow White" narrative. We barely get a chance to know Snow White's stepmother or what her life was like before she ate the apple, which I suppose isn't much of a problem considering how many other stories there are about that already. Still, I think that a different presentation for the book that places more focus on Oliver as the "Dopey" character would have provided readers with a more honest depiction of what to expect. I would first and foremost recommend this book to real-life caretakers and people who are looking for disability-inclusive stories. Fairy tale fans may also enjoy it, but I think they should be aware of how little of the story focuses on Snow White prior to reading it.
April 11, 2023
Fantasy Island Tackles the Princess Dream
Fantasy Island is a recent remake of an older show that I wasn't really familiar with before last night's episode entitled "Gwenivere of Glendale." Besides including a name that's one letter off from the spelling of one of my favorite cartoon princesses, the episode's plot was also right up my alley. The series is a story of anthologies about people who come to a magical island that grants them a wish for a day that helps them to learn something new about themselves. It seemed pretty obvious that it was based on an older property closer to The Twilight Zone era since few modern original shows follow a concept like that. In this episode, the main character, Gwen, came to Fantasy Island with a wish to be--you guessed it--a princess.
I really liked the way this episode handled the princess wish by exploring the positive and negative aspects of living in a fairy tale. With the island's heavy-handed lessons for its guests, they could have easily gone in a more critical direction by portraying the main character as vain and greedy and needing to become more humble. Though there were a few passing comments about jewels and gowns, that was not the case here. Gwen was a struggling medical student who was stressed out with her debt and the pressures of making life-or-death decisions and wanted to be a princess so other people could make decisions for her. When she enters her new fairy tale life, the very first decision that was made for her was who she would marry. I don't know why she was surprised by this since that is the most common issue that princesses struggle with in stories.
When Gwen's handmaiden gets poisoned by food from her own dinner plate, she learns that like many princesses, she has a moving target on her head. Gwen then uses her medical knowledge to save her maid, a nice homage to the hope that storybook princesses represent through their love and kindness. Her selfless act impresses a kind stranger who works at the palace and offers to help her run away into the woods to escape the threat on her life, ensuing a classic storybook romance. At a certain point, Gwen says that she thought being a princess would be more like "Cinderella," a common stereotype that does not take into account the fact that Cinderella spent most of her story as an abused servant and only becomes a princess at the very end, leaving no time to explore what it was like (unless you count the awful sequel, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True). Instead, Gwen's story more closely resembles a different fairy tale that was about a princess who needed to escape into the woods to avoid being assassinated, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
In the end, Gwen realizes that she can do more good in the world by completing her studies and becoming a doctor instead of living out a fairy tale, but the experience is not completely wasted. She still gets a beautiful fairy tale romance out of the deal. I enjoyed all of the subtle nods to classic fairy tales as well as Gwen's meta-commentary with the exception of one cringe-worthy comment about swiping right on her betrothal. If Gwen's story wasn't already enough to please fairy tale fans, the episode's B-plot involved a mermaid, which was likely a reference to Nyah from the original series. This was the first episode I've seen from any version of this show, and I think it works as a standalone because of the anthology format. There were only a few lines between the two women who worked on the island that were missing context without having seen the rest of the show.
Overall, "Gwenivere of Glendale" is a beautiful love letter to fans of princesses and fairy tales. It shows that princess fans can be smart and independent while still struggling with their own issues and that the most important quality of being a princess is compassion, not greed. Gwen obtains her happy ending by showing that she cares about everyone around her and would throw away her crown in a heartbeat if it meant saving someone's life. Though no perfect by any means, the world she enters on the island contains a lot of the romance and adventure that we crave from fairy tales and gives us an opportunity to vicariously live out our own princess fantasies through Gwen's eyes.
