Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 78
May 12, 2018
Story Saturday: Setting Study
The story you are about to read takes place many years before last week's character study for The Stolen Jewel. It is an early attempt to build the history behind the world of Klingland. You may notice that I also tweaked a few things from last week's story, such as killing off Charlotte's parents. We writers can be so heartless at times. I'm looking forward to writing the final piece and learning what you all think about it.
The Stolen Jewel: Setting StudyOnce upon a time, there was a kingdom known as Klingland that was infused with magic. It flowed through the oceans and poured from the sky. There was nowhere a creature could step without unleashing some sort of power from the earth. Over the course of thousands of years, the magic was soaked up into tangible jewels known as enchanted runes. The markings on the runes revealed what sort of magic they contained. Runes could be found everywhere. They were buried in the earth, washed up in the ocean, and fell from the trees. Scholars known as mages studied the runes and their symbols, allowing them to master the powers contained within them. They wrote countless books about how the magic worked. Armed with the runes, the mages became so powerful that the kingdom used them for defense instead of knights, defeating entire armies with blasts of wind or earthquakes or tsunamis. Mages also used the runes to perform shows that people would travel from distant lands to watch.
One day, Klingland was threatened by a new sort of magic. Scholars from a nearby kingdom called Dorraine had created a powerful staff that worked like a magnet for enchanted runes. It was King Mercer's intention to use the staff as a way to neutralize Klingland's defenses, forcing them to surrender their enchanted runes to Dorraine so that they could benefit from the advantages of having magic as well. However, the mages of Dorraine underestimated the level of power contained within the staff. When the king's knights tried to use it to steal the runes from Klingland's mages, it instead unleashed their magic in uncontrollable blasts, creating natural disasters everywhere. Earthquakes, floods, and fires filled the land.
The king and queen had been watching the destruction from afar. They ran to the castle for shelter, but the magic spread too quickly for them to escape. The earth shook, knocking them off their feet, while a powerful blast of sparks and flames came straight toward them. The queen's sister Denise tried to run to them to help, but she was too late. The king and queen perished that day, and the Denise was crippled and confined to a wheelchair. King Mercer could have claimed the land of Klingland as Dorraine's property right then and there, but fortunately, he had a heart. He felt awful about the unexpected destruction his staff had caused, and he begged the queen's sister for forgiveness. Denise agreed to end the quarrel between the two kingdoms lest more people get hurt. She was crowned regent until the infant crown princess Charlotte came of age.
Many people felt sorry for Denise, who had lost her ability to walk. Some said she was too weak and lenient to run the kingdom, but her son Henry took care of her and never lost faith in her abilities. One thing had become clear. Magic was far too dangerous for casual use. In her first act as the regent queen, Denise decreed that all enchanted runes be gathered and locked up in the royal treasury. They would be heavily guarded, and only the royal family was permitted to be near them. King Mercer spent the next few years trying to restore his relations with Klingland through trade agreements and invitations to royal events. He too realized that magic was too powerful to be messed with. Despite his change of heart, the kingdoms were still wary of each other and held their relations at arm's length.
When Princess Charlotte was almost of age, Denise decided that she must ensure the safety of the kingdom for her beloved niece as well as her son Henry by destroying the enchanted runes once and for all. She invited King Mercer and his son Prince Braydon to attend a ceremony where all of the jewels that had been collected in the royal treasury would be carried on a ship to the deepest parts of the ocean and cast away forever. King Mercer agreed to destroy his magic enhancing staff as well. This would restore the alliance between the two kingdoms so they could work toward a peaceful future. The ceremony would be preceded by a royal ball that Princess Charlotte and her ladies eagerly awaited. This is where their story begins.
The Stolen Jewel: Setting StudyOnce upon a time, there was a kingdom known as Klingland that was infused with magic. It flowed through the oceans and poured from the sky. There was nowhere a creature could step without unleashing some sort of power from the earth. Over the course of thousands of years, the magic was soaked up into tangible jewels known as enchanted runes. The markings on the runes revealed what sort of magic they contained. Runes could be found everywhere. They were buried in the earth, washed up in the ocean, and fell from the trees. Scholars known as mages studied the runes and their symbols, allowing them to master the powers contained within them. They wrote countless books about how the magic worked. Armed with the runes, the mages became so powerful that the kingdom used them for defense instead of knights, defeating entire armies with blasts of wind or earthquakes or tsunamis. Mages also used the runes to perform shows that people would travel from distant lands to watch.
One day, Klingland was threatened by a new sort of magic. Scholars from a nearby kingdom called Dorraine had created a powerful staff that worked like a magnet for enchanted runes. It was King Mercer's intention to use the staff as a way to neutralize Klingland's defenses, forcing them to surrender their enchanted runes to Dorraine so that they could benefit from the advantages of having magic as well. However, the mages of Dorraine underestimated the level of power contained within the staff. When the king's knights tried to use it to steal the runes from Klingland's mages, it instead unleashed their magic in uncontrollable blasts, creating natural disasters everywhere. Earthquakes, floods, and fires filled the land.
The king and queen had been watching the destruction from afar. They ran to the castle for shelter, but the magic spread too quickly for them to escape. The earth shook, knocking them off their feet, while a powerful blast of sparks and flames came straight toward them. The queen's sister Denise tried to run to them to help, but she was too late. The king and queen perished that day, and the Denise was crippled and confined to a wheelchair. King Mercer could have claimed the land of Klingland as Dorraine's property right then and there, but fortunately, he had a heart. He felt awful about the unexpected destruction his staff had caused, and he begged the queen's sister for forgiveness. Denise agreed to end the quarrel between the two kingdoms lest more people get hurt. She was crowned regent until the infant crown princess Charlotte came of age.
Many people felt sorry for Denise, who had lost her ability to walk. Some said she was too weak and lenient to run the kingdom, but her son Henry took care of her and never lost faith in her abilities. One thing had become clear. Magic was far too dangerous for casual use. In her first act as the regent queen, Denise decreed that all enchanted runes be gathered and locked up in the royal treasury. They would be heavily guarded, and only the royal family was permitted to be near them. King Mercer spent the next few years trying to restore his relations with Klingland through trade agreements and invitations to royal events. He too realized that magic was too powerful to be messed with. Despite his change of heart, the kingdoms were still wary of each other and held their relations at arm's length.
When Princess Charlotte was almost of age, Denise decided that she must ensure the safety of the kingdom for her beloved niece as well as her son Henry by destroying the enchanted runes once and for all. She invited King Mercer and his son Prince Braydon to attend a ceremony where all of the jewels that had been collected in the royal treasury would be carried on a ship to the deepest parts of the ocean and cast away forever. King Mercer agreed to destroy his magic enhancing staff as well. This would restore the alliance between the two kingdoms so they could work toward a peaceful future. The ceremony would be preceded by a royal ball that Princess Charlotte and her ladies eagerly awaited. This is where their story begins.
May 9, 2018
Confessions of a Grown-Up Princess Fan
There's certainly no shame in loving princesses when you're older. However, ever since I entered my 30s, I noticed that there were certain aspects of princesses and fairy tales that I could no longer relate to. I still believe in fighting for what's right and following my heart, but I don't view the world with the same wide-eyed innocence as I did when I was a teenager. Most princesses are roughly 16, and they tend to act their age. When we're younger, everything is new and exciting, and there are infinite possibilities for the future. Our lives may not be the easiest, but we've never been let down or had their heart broken yet. The older I get, the more I understand why queens are often portrayed as dark or evil. Though I still relate to Ariel's passion and desire for freedom, I probably act more like Megara from
Hercules
or Kida from Atlantis. These animated heroines have been around long enough to see the world for what it is and don't feel the need to smile all the time and sing to the birds about their blissful future.
I try my hardest to live like a modern princess, but I can't help being skeptical when I hear something that sounds too good to be true or meet someone who seems too nice. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just part of growing up. It means that I know better than to accept a poison apple from a stranger or try to touch a spinning wheel or bargain my voice for a chance at love. It also means I get less excited about things that I've already done because they're no longer new or because I'm inherently aware of what might go wrong. For Cinderella, attending the ball was beyond anything she could possibly imagine because she had never been to the palace or seen anything like a royal ball before. When she married the prince, she moved there, and it became her ordinary everyday life. It could no longer be a majestic Shangri-La to her. She had moved beyond that dream and began living it instead of dreaming of it. The same could apply to Ariel idealizing the human world before she became permanently human.
I used to think that the Disney Parks existed in a parallel reality where nothing bad could ever happen and everything was perfect. Then I moved to Florida, and Walt Disney World became part of my everyday life. While I still think it's a terrific place to visit, I've already seen everything there. I can never go back the wide-eyed excitement I felt when I went to visit my favorite characters on a daily basis. Now that I've lived in California for quite some time, I no longer have an annual pass to Disneyland. It's too expensive, and the magic would be lost if I kept going back every month. I didn't always feel this way. Once upon a time, I thought I would never grow tired of visiting. I can't even say I'm tired of it now, but I'm no longer an ingenue. The parks haven't changed, but I have.
I've never been a huge fan of the simplistic world that J.M. Barrie created in Peter Pan. I've always wanted to grow up because it means the freedom to make my own decisions. Princesses usually want the same thing. They are frustrated that they can't leave their towers or choose who they can fall in love with. Now that I'm older, I can understand why a place like Neverland, where no one loses their innocence and nothing becomes mundane, might have such a big appeal. Never growing up might mean never being free, but it also means never getting hurt or becoming hardened to the world. If Cinderella didn't go to the ball and remained in her stepmother's service until she became an old spinster, she would have become a very different person than the hopeful ingenue everyone knows and loves.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's okay to love princesses and still become cynical toward the world. It's impossible to be happy all of the time, and yes, princesses do get angry on occasion. It's wonderful to get excited over seemingly mundane things like forks or pipes because you've never seen them before, but that excitement can't last forever. Even my favorite quote from The 10th Kingdom states:
I try my hardest to live like a modern princess, but I can't help being skeptical when I hear something that sounds too good to be true or meet someone who seems too nice. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just part of growing up. It means that I know better than to accept a poison apple from a stranger or try to touch a spinning wheel or bargain my voice for a chance at love. It also means I get less excited about things that I've already done because they're no longer new or because I'm inherently aware of what might go wrong. For Cinderella, attending the ball was beyond anything she could possibly imagine because she had never been to the palace or seen anything like a royal ball before. When she married the prince, she moved there, and it became her ordinary everyday life. It could no longer be a majestic Shangri-La to her. She had moved beyond that dream and began living it instead of dreaming of it. The same could apply to Ariel idealizing the human world before she became permanently human.
I used to think that the Disney Parks existed in a parallel reality where nothing bad could ever happen and everything was perfect. Then I moved to Florida, and Walt Disney World became part of my everyday life. While I still think it's a terrific place to visit, I've already seen everything there. I can never go back the wide-eyed excitement I felt when I went to visit my favorite characters on a daily basis. Now that I've lived in California for quite some time, I no longer have an annual pass to Disneyland. It's too expensive, and the magic would be lost if I kept going back every month. I didn't always feel this way. Once upon a time, I thought I would never grow tired of visiting. I can't even say I'm tired of it now, but I'm no longer an ingenue. The parks haven't changed, but I have.
I've never been a huge fan of the simplistic world that J.M. Barrie created in Peter Pan. I've always wanted to grow up because it means the freedom to make my own decisions. Princesses usually want the same thing. They are frustrated that they can't leave their towers or choose who they can fall in love with. Now that I'm older, I can understand why a place like Neverland, where no one loses their innocence and nothing becomes mundane, might have such a big appeal. Never growing up might mean never being free, but it also means never getting hurt or becoming hardened to the world. If Cinderella didn't go to the ball and remained in her stepmother's service until she became an old spinster, she would have become a very different person than the hopeful ingenue everyone knows and loves.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's okay to love princesses and still become cynical toward the world. It's impossible to be happy all of the time, and yes, princesses do get angry on occasion. It's wonderful to get excited over seemingly mundane things like forks or pipes because you've never seen them before, but that excitement can't last forever. Even my favorite quote from The 10th Kingdom states:
When you live every day with all your heart, then you can be happily ever after, even if it's only for a short time.Happily ever after is what you make it out to be. Once you've already lived out most of your dreams, the ones that still remain become that much more precious.
May 6, 2018
Review: The Siren and the Scholar
I was so thrilled when the sequel to
The Little Siren
came out that I couldn't wait to read it. So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Faraway Castle series by J.M. Stengl.
The Siren and the Scholar
takes place six years after the events of The Little Siren. It is inspired by "The Little Mermaid," and it's my favorite adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale that I've read of it so far. The book catches up with Kamoana and Tor, the titular siren and scholar that were introduced in The Little Siren. Just like the mermaid from the fairy tale, Kamoana becomes human to find Tor again. However, instead of giving up her voice, she gives up her memories of him, so she must find him without even know who she's looking for. His memories of her are wiped as well, causing a lot of frustration on his behalf as an intellectual.
I loved the romance and emotion that went into this story. Kamoana and Tor had forgotten their time together but felt empty as a result of their separation and didn't know why. When they find each other again, it isn't a cheesy melodramatic reunion. Since they are both analytical and logical by nature, they must first look for clues that they had indeed met before and recover at least some of their memories about each other before their feelings toward each other can fully return. This solves a complaint many people have had about the Disney version of The Little Mermaid that it's impossible for two people to find true love in only three days. It was heartbreaking to read about Kamoana's memories of her feelings for Tor returning while he still couldn't remember her at all. The couple had six years of history together, so there is no denying the validity of their love. I would strongly recommend reading The Little Siren for free on J.M. Stengl's website before beginning this book. It paints a strong picture what their relationship was like before their memories were wiped. There were also some brief references to Ellie and the Prince , the other novel in the Faraway Castle series, but the stories are mostly self-contained.
The adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" The Siren and the Scholar reminds me of the most is Dyesebel, a comic book series and periodically rebooted telenovela from the Philippines. In some versions, Dyesebel's mother gives up her memories of her life as a mermaid in order to become human and be with the man she loves. Even though he doesn't know who she is, he quickly falls in love with her as well and helps her through her amnesia. Unfortunately, mermaids are considered bad luck in their village, and things do not turn out so well for the star-crossed lovers. I think the most important aspect of "The Little Mermaid" is that she believed so strongly in her love that she was willing to sacrifice a part of herself for it. It doesn't matter if it's her voice, memories, beauty, or something else. That's why The Siren and the Scholar worked for me in a way that Silent Mermaid by Brittany Fichter, in which the protagonist was simply born without a voice and sacrificed nothing for love, did not.
The Siren and the Scholar also excels at having excellent side characters. There was the conceited prince, Mike, who acts as though he is entitled to Kamoana's love from the moment she becomes human, Eddi, a princess visiting Faraway Castle who is fascinated by Kamoana's other life, Beatrice, Eddi's clever maid, and the fellow scientists who travel with Tor. I even enjoyed the "B" love story in which Nora, the niece of one of the scientists, uses her charms to distract Prince Mike from aggressively pursuing Kamoana. Nora's aunt reminded me of a scientist from the Australian mermaid series H2O: Just Add Water who was so obsessed with collecting information on mermaids that she didn't care what happened to anyone else in the process. Kamoana also learned some secrets about her own family by the end of the book. I also thought it was pretty interesting that mermen in her world have the upper body of a fish and the lower body of a human, unlike most other mermaid stories. Since sirens are typically female, there's no need for merman to be aesthetically pleasing to humans as well.
I think I've found my new favorite "Little Mermaid" adaptation. The Siren and the Scholar succeeds at staying true to the themes of the original fairy tale while still creating a rich world with a fresh story. Not since Gail Carson Levine's books have I enjoyed a series of fairy tale adaptations as much as Faraway Castle. I am eagerly anticipating the next book in the series, The Rose and the Briar, a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." There is a fantastic preview of it at the end of The Siren and the Scholar. The world of Faraway Castle is exactly the sort of fairy tale world I have dreamed of as a child.
I loved the romance and emotion that went into this story. Kamoana and Tor had forgotten their time together but felt empty as a result of their separation and didn't know why. When they find each other again, it isn't a cheesy melodramatic reunion. Since they are both analytical and logical by nature, they must first look for clues that they had indeed met before and recover at least some of their memories about each other before their feelings toward each other can fully return. This solves a complaint many people have had about the Disney version of The Little Mermaid that it's impossible for two people to find true love in only three days. It was heartbreaking to read about Kamoana's memories of her feelings for Tor returning while he still couldn't remember her at all. The couple had six years of history together, so there is no denying the validity of their love. I would strongly recommend reading The Little Siren for free on J.M. Stengl's website before beginning this book. It paints a strong picture what their relationship was like before their memories were wiped. There were also some brief references to Ellie and the Prince , the other novel in the Faraway Castle series, but the stories are mostly self-contained.
The adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" The Siren and the Scholar reminds me of the most is Dyesebel, a comic book series and periodically rebooted telenovela from the Philippines. In some versions, Dyesebel's mother gives up her memories of her life as a mermaid in order to become human and be with the man she loves. Even though he doesn't know who she is, he quickly falls in love with her as well and helps her through her amnesia. Unfortunately, mermaids are considered bad luck in their village, and things do not turn out so well for the star-crossed lovers. I think the most important aspect of "The Little Mermaid" is that she believed so strongly in her love that she was willing to sacrifice a part of herself for it. It doesn't matter if it's her voice, memories, beauty, or something else. That's why The Siren and the Scholar worked for me in a way that Silent Mermaid by Brittany Fichter, in which the protagonist was simply born without a voice and sacrificed nothing for love, did not.
The Siren and the Scholar also excels at having excellent side characters. There was the conceited prince, Mike, who acts as though he is entitled to Kamoana's love from the moment she becomes human, Eddi, a princess visiting Faraway Castle who is fascinated by Kamoana's other life, Beatrice, Eddi's clever maid, and the fellow scientists who travel with Tor. I even enjoyed the "B" love story in which Nora, the niece of one of the scientists, uses her charms to distract Prince Mike from aggressively pursuing Kamoana. Nora's aunt reminded me of a scientist from the Australian mermaid series H2O: Just Add Water who was so obsessed with collecting information on mermaids that she didn't care what happened to anyone else in the process. Kamoana also learned some secrets about her own family by the end of the book. I also thought it was pretty interesting that mermen in her world have the upper body of a fish and the lower body of a human, unlike most other mermaid stories. Since sirens are typically female, there's no need for merman to be aesthetically pleasing to humans as well.
I think I've found my new favorite "Little Mermaid" adaptation. The Siren and the Scholar succeeds at staying true to the themes of the original fairy tale while still creating a rich world with a fresh story. Not since Gail Carson Levine's books have I enjoyed a series of fairy tale adaptations as much as Faraway Castle. I am eagerly anticipating the next book in the series, The Rose and the Briar, a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." There is a fantastic preview of it at the end of The Siren and the Scholar. The world of Faraway Castle is exactly the sort of fairy tale world I have dreamed of as a child.
May 5, 2018
Story Saturday: A Character Study
This is not going to be your typical Story Saturday, where I tell an original short story with a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, I would like to do a character study for my next novel and/or screenplay, The Stolen Jewel. The story will take place in the same world as my other books and centers on a studious princess and her two ladies-in-waiting. I have not written anything about Princess Charlotte or her ladies yet, so this is a litmus test of sorts to see how well they play off each other. Please let me know in the comments if you enjoyed reading about them and if you would like to see more previews of this story in the future. If I decide to turn it into a novella, it will go up on my Amazon page in paperback and Kindle formats as soon as I am finished. Otherwise, it will become my first project for the professional screenwriting program I applied to. I look forward to your feedback!
The Stolen Jewel: Character StudyCharlotte's mind was buzzing with facts about the kingdoms that were coming to visit for the next ball. She brushed a dark curl out of her eye and tried to recall as many tidbits and she could. People from Kamdren wear simple clothing and praise the Great One before every major event. Sederians are experts on history and enjoy talking about the many victories of their knights. She would need to brush up on her war knowledge. What was the cause of the Solarian war again? She began to panic when she realized she couldn't remember.
Charlotte"I said arms up!" said a pleasant yet mildly annoyed voice. Charlotte stood on a pillar while her maid was trying to measure her for her new ballgown.
"I'm so sorry, Mary," Charlotte apologized, lifting her arms to allow the maid to measure around her chest. "Do you, by chance, remember the cause of the Solarian war?"
Mary rolled her eyes. "My dear princess, you take everything far too seriously. This is a party, not a test!"
"Have you heard? Isn't it wonderful?" Lady Lily's high-pitched voice filled the room as she bounded in, her long ebony hair flying behind her. Not paying attention to where she was going, her petite frame nearly trampled Mary.
Lily"My lady, you have already been measured for your dress," said Mary, growing more impatient by the second.
"I know, but there's been another mermaid sighting in Ganchepone, and I just had to tell Charlotte about it! Imagine a mermaid coming to the ball! Wouldn't that be amazing?"
"Actually, no, Lily, it wouldn't," Charlotte said, resting her arms at her sides as Mary finished her measurements.
"Why not?" huffed Lily, crossing her arms over her chest.
"If there truly is an underwater kingdom of mermaids that we know nothing about, we would need to learn a new language, make trade agreements, and form alliances to avoid a potential war. It really sounds quite exhausting."
"Oh, come on! Just because you're the crown princess doesn't mean you're never allowed to have any fun! Let's go see what Crystal is up to in the garden."
Lily grabbed Charlotte's hand and pulled her down from the pillar.
"Thanks, Mary!" Charlotte yelled down down the corridor as Lily dragged her away.
"Why do you have to be so serious all the time?" asked Lily as they moved through the castle's many grand hallways. "Look at where we live! Anyone else would kill to be here!"
"That's just it," said Charlotte. "I do love it here, and I don't want to lose it. I know I can be a great queen, but I have to make sure that Klingland is safe from conquerors and that we maintain friendly relations with other kingdoms so no one tries to take all of this away from me. We don't have the best military, you know."
"But that's your parents' job, not yours!"
"One day, it will be mine. I just want to be prepared."
Lily waved clumsily to Crystal, who sat in the middle of the garden and stood out like a sore thumb with her unusually tall stature and pale blonde hair.
Crystal"Crystal, what are you going to wear to the ball?" asked Lily.
"Margaret finished measuring me this morning, but she said they cannot afford to embroider my entire bodice with pearls. Can you believe it?"
"Margaret? Don't you mean Mary?" asked Charlotte. "Margaret's not working today. She's the round one with back problem and the three children."
"Whatever," said Crystal. "Anyway, Prince Braydon wrote me another letter! He can't wait to see me at the ball. I suspect he might profess his love to me there."
"Oh, how romantic!" said Lily. "Can I see?"
"Sorry, dear, but I keep all my letters in a special hiding place to avoid prying eyes."
"I suppose that makes sense," said Lily, slumping her shoulders in disappointment.
"I'm happy for you," said Charlotte. "I was worried my parents might push Braydon on me since we're destroying the enchanted ruins to form an alliance with their kingdom. It's such a shame."
"You were just talking about how important alliances are to your future!" exclaimed Lily. "Now it's a shame? Make up your mind!"
"I just meant it's a shame to destroy such untapped magic potential without even studying how it works. The ruins are very powerful. They could be used for good as well as evil."
Lily shrugged. "I guess they don't want to risk it. As long as we have something that powerful, we'll always be a threat, right?"
"Why can't you just study the ruins yourself?" asked Crystal. "You're the princess. You can do anything you want."
"I could take them out of the treasury for a little while to look at them," said Charlotte, "but I don't know enough about how they work to actually use one. If I kept one after we promised Braydon's kingdom that we would destroy them, it would be an act of treason."
"I'm sure you'd be forgiven," responded Crystal. "You're the crown princess, after all."
To Be Continued in The Stolen Jewel...
The Stolen Jewel: Character StudyCharlotte's mind was buzzing with facts about the kingdoms that were coming to visit for the next ball. She brushed a dark curl out of her eye and tried to recall as many tidbits and she could. People from Kamdren wear simple clothing and praise the Great One before every major event. Sederians are experts on history and enjoy talking about the many victories of their knights. She would need to brush up on her war knowledge. What was the cause of the Solarian war again? She began to panic when she realized she couldn't remember.
Charlotte"I said arms up!" said a pleasant yet mildly annoyed voice. Charlotte stood on a pillar while her maid was trying to measure her for her new ballgown."I'm so sorry, Mary," Charlotte apologized, lifting her arms to allow the maid to measure around her chest. "Do you, by chance, remember the cause of the Solarian war?"
Mary rolled her eyes. "My dear princess, you take everything far too seriously. This is a party, not a test!"
"Have you heard? Isn't it wonderful?" Lady Lily's high-pitched voice filled the room as she bounded in, her long ebony hair flying behind her. Not paying attention to where she was going, her petite frame nearly trampled Mary.
Lily"My lady, you have already been measured for your dress," said Mary, growing more impatient by the second."I know, but there's been another mermaid sighting in Ganchepone, and I just had to tell Charlotte about it! Imagine a mermaid coming to the ball! Wouldn't that be amazing?"
"Actually, no, Lily, it wouldn't," Charlotte said, resting her arms at her sides as Mary finished her measurements.
"Why not?" huffed Lily, crossing her arms over her chest.
"If there truly is an underwater kingdom of mermaids that we know nothing about, we would need to learn a new language, make trade agreements, and form alliances to avoid a potential war. It really sounds quite exhausting."
"Oh, come on! Just because you're the crown princess doesn't mean you're never allowed to have any fun! Let's go see what Crystal is up to in the garden."
Lily grabbed Charlotte's hand and pulled her down from the pillar.
"Thanks, Mary!" Charlotte yelled down down the corridor as Lily dragged her away.
"Why do you have to be so serious all the time?" asked Lily as they moved through the castle's many grand hallways. "Look at where we live! Anyone else would kill to be here!"
"That's just it," said Charlotte. "I do love it here, and I don't want to lose it. I know I can be a great queen, but I have to make sure that Klingland is safe from conquerors and that we maintain friendly relations with other kingdoms so no one tries to take all of this away from me. We don't have the best military, you know."
"But that's your parents' job, not yours!"
"One day, it will be mine. I just want to be prepared."
Lily waved clumsily to Crystal, who sat in the middle of the garden and stood out like a sore thumb with her unusually tall stature and pale blonde hair.
Crystal"Crystal, what are you going to wear to the ball?" asked Lily."Margaret finished measuring me this morning, but she said they cannot afford to embroider my entire bodice with pearls. Can you believe it?"
"Margaret? Don't you mean Mary?" asked Charlotte. "Margaret's not working today. She's the round one with back problem and the three children."
"Whatever," said Crystal. "Anyway, Prince Braydon wrote me another letter! He can't wait to see me at the ball. I suspect he might profess his love to me there."
"Oh, how romantic!" said Lily. "Can I see?"
"Sorry, dear, but I keep all my letters in a special hiding place to avoid prying eyes."
"I suppose that makes sense," said Lily, slumping her shoulders in disappointment.
"I'm happy for you," said Charlotte. "I was worried my parents might push Braydon on me since we're destroying the enchanted ruins to form an alliance with their kingdom. It's such a shame."
"You were just talking about how important alliances are to your future!" exclaimed Lily. "Now it's a shame? Make up your mind!"
"I just meant it's a shame to destroy such untapped magic potential without even studying how it works. The ruins are very powerful. They could be used for good as well as evil."
Lily shrugged. "I guess they don't want to risk it. As long as we have something that powerful, we'll always be a threat, right?"
"Why can't you just study the ruins yourself?" asked Crystal. "You're the princess. You can do anything you want."
"I could take them out of the treasury for a little while to look at them," said Charlotte, "but I don't know enough about how they work to actually use one. If I kept one after we promised Braydon's kingdom that we would destroy them, it would be an act of treason."
"I'm sure you'd be forgiven," responded Crystal. "You're the crown princess, after all."
To Be Continued in The Stolen Jewel...
May 3, 2018
Review: The Green-Eyed Prince
About a week ago, Brittany Fichter temporarily released her novella,
The Green-Eyed Prince
, for free on Amazon Kindle. Not wanting to pass up a good deal, I decided to check it out. You might recognize her name from my reviews of
The Autumn Fairy
and
Silent Mermaid
. At this point, I would still say that The Autumn Fairy is my favorite Brittany Fichter book. The Green-Eyed Prince is a retelling of "The Frog Prince" set in the world of her Classical Kingdoms Collection. Since it's a novella, it was much shorter than the other books she's written, but the exotic names and made-up words she used to create a new culture took some getting used to. Overall, I found it enjoyable, but not outstanding.
The Green-Eyed Prince is told from the perspective of a woman named Kartek. Kartek is the "jahira" of her tribe, which I understood to be her culture's version of a princess. She has the ability to heal the sick using a magical jewel that she inherited from her mother. When she learns that her fiancé was murdered and her kingdom is in turmoil, she panics and accidentally drops the enchanted relic down a well in a moment of clumsiness. A mysterious loose-limbed man with piercing green eyes offers to retrieve it for her in exchange for agreeing to become his wife. Kartek is torn. She knows she needs the jewel to help her people, but as the jahira, whoever she marries will affect her entire kingdom. She reluctantly agrees. Over time, she learns more about the person she married, and her feelings for him grow deeper.
The hardest part about this book for me was keeping track of all the names, tribes, and titles. Brittany Fichter tried so hard to create another culture that it seemed as though there was a language barrier that made the book difficult for a casual read. All of the books I've read by her have a pattern of revealing the customs and cultures of their setting through the context of the characters' actions and dialogue instead of expository explanations. This is something that is generally encouraged for writers to do because the story is supposed about the characters, not the world. Yet, I think that there can be a balance between exposition and dialogue. I would at least like to understand what the characters are talking about when they discuss foreign customs with each other as if it were common knowledge.
It's interesting that many modern interpretations of "The Frog Prince" use the "frog" aspect as a metaphor instead of taking it literally like in the fairy tale. Melanie Cellier did this in her adaptation as well. In both A Midwinter's Wedding and The Green-Eyed Prince, the prince's curse causes him to be deformed in such a way that he resembles a frog but is literally a frog. It does say something about the princesses in these stories if they are ashamed to be seen with a deformed man, as there is far less shame in that than there would be in dining and sharing a bed with an actual frog. The princess from the Brothers Grimm tale was spoiled and narcissistic, so having a princess heroine who is as kind and human as Kartek in The Green-Eyed Prince makes it more believable when she eventually grows to care for the deformed stranger. Her reluctance to marry him is also understandable when she is still mourning the loss of her first groom.
The Green-Eyed Prince is not the strongest fairy tale adaptation I've ever read, but it isn't the weakest either. It builds a complex and believable world of magic and royalty with equal amounts of darkness and light. I would have preferred some more time to learn about the kingdom's customs as well as Kartek's healing powers, but the a novella at half the length of Brittany's other books, so I suppose she thought there would not be enough time for that. The characters were very strong and had interesting backstories that kept the story interesting until the very end. If you are a fan of "The Frog Prince," this is a unique retelling that might be worth looking into.
The Green-Eyed Prince is told from the perspective of a woman named Kartek. Kartek is the "jahira" of her tribe, which I understood to be her culture's version of a princess. She has the ability to heal the sick using a magical jewel that she inherited from her mother. When she learns that her fiancé was murdered and her kingdom is in turmoil, she panics and accidentally drops the enchanted relic down a well in a moment of clumsiness. A mysterious loose-limbed man with piercing green eyes offers to retrieve it for her in exchange for agreeing to become his wife. Kartek is torn. She knows she needs the jewel to help her people, but as the jahira, whoever she marries will affect her entire kingdom. She reluctantly agrees. Over time, she learns more about the person she married, and her feelings for him grow deeper.
The hardest part about this book for me was keeping track of all the names, tribes, and titles. Brittany Fichter tried so hard to create another culture that it seemed as though there was a language barrier that made the book difficult for a casual read. All of the books I've read by her have a pattern of revealing the customs and cultures of their setting through the context of the characters' actions and dialogue instead of expository explanations. This is something that is generally encouraged for writers to do because the story is supposed about the characters, not the world. Yet, I think that there can be a balance between exposition and dialogue. I would at least like to understand what the characters are talking about when they discuss foreign customs with each other as if it were common knowledge.
It's interesting that many modern interpretations of "The Frog Prince" use the "frog" aspect as a metaphor instead of taking it literally like in the fairy tale. Melanie Cellier did this in her adaptation as well. In both A Midwinter's Wedding and The Green-Eyed Prince, the prince's curse causes him to be deformed in such a way that he resembles a frog but is literally a frog. It does say something about the princesses in these stories if they are ashamed to be seen with a deformed man, as there is far less shame in that than there would be in dining and sharing a bed with an actual frog. The princess from the Brothers Grimm tale was spoiled and narcissistic, so having a princess heroine who is as kind and human as Kartek in The Green-Eyed Prince makes it more believable when she eventually grows to care for the deformed stranger. Her reluctance to marry him is also understandable when she is still mourning the loss of her first groom.
The Green-Eyed Prince is not the strongest fairy tale adaptation I've ever read, but it isn't the weakest either. It builds a complex and believable world of magic and royalty with equal amounts of darkness and light. I would have preferred some more time to learn about the kingdom's customs as well as Kartek's healing powers, but the a novella at half the length of Brittany's other books, so I suppose she thought there would not be enough time for that. The characters were very strong and had interesting backstories that kept the story interesting until the very end. If you are a fan of "The Frog Prince," this is a unique retelling that might be worth looking into.
May 1, 2018
How To Get Princess Nails
I've never been much of a makeup person, but I am obsessed with my nails. I started growing them out in high school, and I get very sad when one breaks. Since I get so many compliments on my nails, I decided to write a little guide to help you have princess nails too! With the recent advancements in nail wraps, there have never been more easy princess and affordable princess nail options than the are now. You never know when having long nails will come in handy for something. If you use a computer a lot, you tend to look at your fingers fairly often. That's why I try to find the best designs to make my nails look as princess-like as possible. If you like how your nails look, you'll smile every time I look down at your keyboard. Check out these amazing Swan Princess nail wraps I just got from Espionage Cosmetics!
These Moonlight Transformation nail wraps are officially licensed by The Swan Princess and portray the effect of moonlight over the waves on Swan Lake during Odette's transformation. I love the colors as well as the accent nail that subtly shows her as a swan. My order came with 22 wraps in 11 sizes for all different types of nails. In the past, I've had to trim my nail wraps from Jamberry because the smallest size was still too big for my pinky, but these were just right! They peel off and stick on your nails just like stickers without any heat and apply very smoothly. After I applied them, I covered the stickers with a layer of top coat like the website recommends. So far, I haven't had any tearing or chipping. Espionage Cosmetics has three different Swan Princess designs to choose from as well as six for The Last Unicorn. There are tons of other nerdy and pretty designs, and they are cheaper and easier to apply than Jamberry. If you're looking for some eye-catching and unique to put on your nails, you should definitely check them out.
Before Espionage, there was Jamberry. Jamberry nail wraps work similarly to Espionage, but they require you to heat them with a blow dryer before applying. The heat makes them gooey and wrinkly, so you have to do your best to smooth them out over your nail before they cool down again. I was never able to get them quite perfect and ended up with little puckers in my nails that would start peeling over time. Jamberry's designs only stay on their website for a few months or less before they get discontinued, so you have to grab the ones you want as soon as you get the chance. I'm glad I got all the Disney Princess ones when I did since they no longer appear to feature any Disney wraps on their site anymore. Pictured above is a rose nail wrap from Beauty and the Beast on my pinky, sun symbol wrap from Tangled on my ring figure, metallic coral Ariel wraps from The Little Mermaid on my middle and index fingers, and a Disney Princess group nail wrap on my thumb. I love the variety that Jamberry offers with options for clear finishes that create the illusion of having a little picture on your bare nail as well as holographic and metallic designs for a bolder look. They can get rather pricey, and it's a pain to use a blow-dryer on all ten wraps each time you do a new design, though. I think I will be switching to the newer and snazzier Espionage wraps from now on.
Of course, there's always the old school option of painting your own designs. Pictured above is a Little Mermaid design I created using colored nail pens I got from Target with a shimmery blue polish underneath for the base. My red pinky represents Ariel's hair, my ring and middle fingers represent her purple shells, and my index finger and thumb have designs for her tail. Nail pens are not as easy to use as you might think because you have to press down very hard with them to release the polish, which could easily ruin the base polish under the design. It's also surprisingly difficult to get a fine line out of them in order to draw a picture. In the past, I've used toothpicks to drag out pictures from small dots of polish I'd place in the center of my nail. I found that a lot easier to control than the pens. There are also small bottles of polish you can find at certain specialty shops that have tiny brushes with only two or three bristles that you can use for finer designs that don't cover your whole nail. I prefer these over the pens from Target too because they are much easier to paint with. For an extra pop, you can find tiny sequins, pearls, and other accents at craft stores that you can press onto a painted nail and seal with a top coat, but they seem like they would fall off easily if you wear them for too long or brush your finger against something by accident.
There are so many ways to express yourself and bring out your inner princess through nail art. You can find lots of neat tutorials on YouTube if you have enough time to paint intricate details on your nails and wait long enough for them to dry. It's frustrating to touch something by accident and ruin a freshly painted design, especially if you spent a lot of time on it. If you're impatient like me, now you can purchase princess-themed wraps from sites like Espionage Cosmetics or Jamberry that just press on and go! Fashion and makeup are all about expressing yourself, so what can do is limited only by your imagination. With a little time and effort, anyone can make their nails magical!
These Moonlight Transformation nail wraps are officially licensed by The Swan Princess and portray the effect of moonlight over the waves on Swan Lake during Odette's transformation. I love the colors as well as the accent nail that subtly shows her as a swan. My order came with 22 wraps in 11 sizes for all different types of nails. In the past, I've had to trim my nail wraps from Jamberry because the smallest size was still too big for my pinky, but these were just right! They peel off and stick on your nails just like stickers without any heat and apply very smoothly. After I applied them, I covered the stickers with a layer of top coat like the website recommends. So far, I haven't had any tearing or chipping. Espionage Cosmetics has three different Swan Princess designs to choose from as well as six for The Last Unicorn. There are tons of other nerdy and pretty designs, and they are cheaper and easier to apply than Jamberry. If you're looking for some eye-catching and unique to put on your nails, you should definitely check them out.
Before Espionage, there was Jamberry. Jamberry nail wraps work similarly to Espionage, but they require you to heat them with a blow dryer before applying. The heat makes them gooey and wrinkly, so you have to do your best to smooth them out over your nail before they cool down again. I was never able to get them quite perfect and ended up with little puckers in my nails that would start peeling over time. Jamberry's designs only stay on their website for a few months or less before they get discontinued, so you have to grab the ones you want as soon as you get the chance. I'm glad I got all the Disney Princess ones when I did since they no longer appear to feature any Disney wraps on their site anymore. Pictured above is a rose nail wrap from Beauty and the Beast on my pinky, sun symbol wrap from Tangled on my ring figure, metallic coral Ariel wraps from The Little Mermaid on my middle and index fingers, and a Disney Princess group nail wrap on my thumb. I love the variety that Jamberry offers with options for clear finishes that create the illusion of having a little picture on your bare nail as well as holographic and metallic designs for a bolder look. They can get rather pricey, and it's a pain to use a blow-dryer on all ten wraps each time you do a new design, though. I think I will be switching to the newer and snazzier Espionage wraps from now on.
Of course, there's always the old school option of painting your own designs. Pictured above is a Little Mermaid design I created using colored nail pens I got from Target with a shimmery blue polish underneath for the base. My red pinky represents Ariel's hair, my ring and middle fingers represent her purple shells, and my index finger and thumb have designs for her tail. Nail pens are not as easy to use as you might think because you have to press down very hard with them to release the polish, which could easily ruin the base polish under the design. It's also surprisingly difficult to get a fine line out of them in order to draw a picture. In the past, I've used toothpicks to drag out pictures from small dots of polish I'd place in the center of my nail. I found that a lot easier to control than the pens. There are also small bottles of polish you can find at certain specialty shops that have tiny brushes with only two or three bristles that you can use for finer designs that don't cover your whole nail. I prefer these over the pens from Target too because they are much easier to paint with. For an extra pop, you can find tiny sequins, pearls, and other accents at craft stores that you can press onto a painted nail and seal with a top coat, but they seem like they would fall off easily if you wear them for too long or brush your finger against something by accident.
There are so many ways to express yourself and bring out your inner princess through nail art. You can find lots of neat tutorials on YouTube if you have enough time to paint intricate details on your nails and wait long enough for them to dry. It's frustrating to touch something by accident and ruin a freshly painted design, especially if you spent a lot of time on it. If you're impatient like me, now you can purchase princess-themed wraps from sites like Espionage Cosmetics or Jamberry that just press on and go! Fashion and makeup are all about expressing yourself, so what can do is limited only by your imagination. With a little time and effort, anyone can make their nails magical!
April 28, 2018
Review: Ellie and the Prince/Faraway Castle
The authors I started following from the Entwined Tales Launch Party led me to the discovery of a brand new fairy tale book series, Faraway Castle by J. M. Stengl. As it turns out, her writing style is a perfect match for me. Her books are fast-paced and take place in a magical yet modern setting with a light-hearted tone and lovable characters. The series kicks off with two introductory novellas that can each be completed in about an hour.
Cinder Ellie
sets up Ellie's backstory for the first novel,
Ellie and the Prince
, and The Little Siren, which is available for free upon signing up for the author's mailing list, introduces a romance between a mermaid and a human that will take place in the second official novel in the series,
The Siren and the Scholar
. There is so much to love about this series that I'm not even sure where to begin.
Ellie and the Prince, the first official novel in the Faraway Castle series, tells the story of Ellie Calmer, who was selected to help keep the magical creatures at Faraway Castle under control thanks to her supernatural abilities to calm others with the sound of her voice. Her specialty in this role, as introduced in the prequel, Cindere Ellie, is trapping "cinder sprites," small rodent-like beings that burst into flames when they are scared or intimidated. As a magical animal rights activist of sorts, Ellie invents a spray that puts out the creatures' fires while still allowing them to stay alive. She contains the cinder sprites in small glass capsules to make sure they can't harm anyone with their fiery mischief so the guests at Faraway Castle remain happy during their stay. The castle itself is more of a vacation resort for royalty than an actual royal castle. As an employee there, Ellie sees guests come and go and makes sure that the magical beings that only she and a small handful of other people can see don't disturb anyone.
Even though the story takes place in a world of royalty and enchantment, the setting is surprisingly modern. The characters are often described as wearing clothing such as jeans and t-shirts. I thought that was a clever idea that made the world of Faraway Castle very unique. If princess stories take place in other worlds that are full of magic, why must they always be set during the medieval or Rennaissance era? After all, they aren't meant to be historical fiction. Faraway Castle is set in a very gentle fantasy land devoid of terrifying monsters or dark mages. It reminded me of the land of Avalon from the series Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders or Centopia from Mia and Me, a friendly world full of magic and wonder that would be a lot of fun to visit. This type of pleasant escapism is exactly the sort of thing I look for in my fantasy tales.
The princes of J. M. Stengl's world also have more of a modern appeal than the vapid Prince Charmings of the past. Today's generation prefers men who are gentle and nerdy and willing to let women take the initiative. That is exactly how Prince Omar behaves. Even though he clearly has feelings for Ellie, he is too nervous to talk to her and tries to place himself in as many situations as he can where she would need to talk to him to make it easier for him to cope with his anxiety. Though Ellie is aware of his feelings, she tries to be as standoffish as possible because she doesn't feel that she is worthy of a prince as a mere servant of Faraway Castle. This makes for an adorably awkward relationship that is a lot more fun to read about than a charming prince sweeping a beautiful princess off her feet at first sight. Torbjorn and Kamoana from The Little Siren behave in a similar demeanor. I found their romance even more enjoyable because I love stories about supernatural beings falling in love with ordinary men.
There is so much to love about the world of Faraway Castle. The books are full of magic, wonder, cute, awkward romance, and read quickly during a busy day. They are the perfect escape from the monotony of everyday life. The next book in the series, The Siren and the Scholar comes out next week! I am extremely eager to read about how things turn out for the lovely siren Kamoana and her nerdy boyfriend, Torbjorn. If you're looking for a light-hearted escape from everyday life, you should absolutely check out the Faraway Castle series by J. M. Stengl. It's just like our world but better because it's filled with fantasy and fun.
Ellie and the Prince, the first official novel in the Faraway Castle series, tells the story of Ellie Calmer, who was selected to help keep the magical creatures at Faraway Castle under control thanks to her supernatural abilities to calm others with the sound of her voice. Her specialty in this role, as introduced in the prequel, Cindere Ellie, is trapping "cinder sprites," small rodent-like beings that burst into flames when they are scared or intimidated. As a magical animal rights activist of sorts, Ellie invents a spray that puts out the creatures' fires while still allowing them to stay alive. She contains the cinder sprites in small glass capsules to make sure they can't harm anyone with their fiery mischief so the guests at Faraway Castle remain happy during their stay. The castle itself is more of a vacation resort for royalty than an actual royal castle. As an employee there, Ellie sees guests come and go and makes sure that the magical beings that only she and a small handful of other people can see don't disturb anyone.
Even though the story takes place in a world of royalty and enchantment, the setting is surprisingly modern. The characters are often described as wearing clothing such as jeans and t-shirts. I thought that was a clever idea that made the world of Faraway Castle very unique. If princess stories take place in other worlds that are full of magic, why must they always be set during the medieval or Rennaissance era? After all, they aren't meant to be historical fiction. Faraway Castle is set in a very gentle fantasy land devoid of terrifying monsters or dark mages. It reminded me of the land of Avalon from the series Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders or Centopia from Mia and Me, a friendly world full of magic and wonder that would be a lot of fun to visit. This type of pleasant escapism is exactly the sort of thing I look for in my fantasy tales.
The princes of J. M. Stengl's world also have more of a modern appeal than the vapid Prince Charmings of the past. Today's generation prefers men who are gentle and nerdy and willing to let women take the initiative. That is exactly how Prince Omar behaves. Even though he clearly has feelings for Ellie, he is too nervous to talk to her and tries to place himself in as many situations as he can where she would need to talk to him to make it easier for him to cope with his anxiety. Though Ellie is aware of his feelings, she tries to be as standoffish as possible because she doesn't feel that she is worthy of a prince as a mere servant of Faraway Castle. This makes for an adorably awkward relationship that is a lot more fun to read about than a charming prince sweeping a beautiful princess off her feet at first sight. Torbjorn and Kamoana from The Little Siren behave in a similar demeanor. I found their romance even more enjoyable because I love stories about supernatural beings falling in love with ordinary men.
There is so much to love about the world of Faraway Castle. The books are full of magic, wonder, cute, awkward romance, and read quickly during a busy day. They are the perfect escape from the monotony of everyday life. The next book in the series, The Siren and the Scholar comes out next week! I am extremely eager to read about how things turn out for the lovely siren Kamoana and her nerdy boyfriend, Torbjorn. If you're looking for a light-hearted escape from everyday life, you should absolutely check out the Faraway Castle series by J. M. Stengl. It's just like our world but better because it's filled with fantasy and fun.
April 24, 2018
Charming and the Decline of Femininity
I've been wanting to write about
Charming
, an upcoming animated movie for a long time. I first heard about it at the CTN Animation Expo in 2014. However, small animation studios like 3QU tend to have trouble getting their releases off the ground. That might explain why the movie trailer dropped over a year ago without any sign of a release date and then mysteriously disappeared without a trace until last month. According to IMDB, the movie is coming out gradually in various parts of Europe over the course of the next month or so, but there is still no mention of a release date here in America. Despite its limited release, the studio was able to cast some pretty big names, including
As you can see, the trailer reveals three classic princesses--Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty--hypnotized by a prince's curse (or blessing) to believe that they are all in love with him. That alone could make for an interesting story if it were not for the fact that the princesses are such stereotypical self-absorbed teens that they could just as easily be named Heather, Britney, and Ashley without losing much of the story. For some reason, the prince's love spell doesn't work on Demi Lovato's character, who later cross-dresses as a man and goes on various adventures with him. It's pretty clear that she is the one he will eventually end up with, thereby breaking the spell. Some people theorize that the spell might not work on her character because she might be transgender. That would be a great leap for queer princesses, but it also raises a few questions as to the romantic preferences of the two lead characters since the prince seems to enjoy the attention he gets from the girls.
The main issue with this trailer, however, is that it portrays femininity as inherently bad. The more girly the character is, the harder she seems to fall under the prince's spell and become vapid and brainwashed. This denotes an issue that the movie Legally Blonde tried to refute in 2001 that just because someone is feminine does not mean that person is automatically deemed an airhead. In truth, there has been a decline in femininity in the media, and it's most noticeable in recent princess movies. The warrior princess has taken over. Damsels in distress are seen as weak and incapable, regardless of their situation. Princesses like Wonder Woman and Moana are incapable of failure and refuse to willingly accept help, even in the most dire of circumstances. These are great stories with great heroines, but that doesn't mean that they should be the only type of story we see anymore.
Demi Lovato's character in Charming appears to be a skilled fighter who gives the prince a run for his money. If there had been a more girly character who was immune to his spell, perhaps she could have gone on the same adventures with him and learned to become a skilled fighter over time. That would create character growth, which is something that we rarely see anymore in movies. Ever since Disney bought out Marvel, most leading characters in popular films are god-like from the very beginning. It may seem like an interesting concept to have the prince fall in love with a woman who is dressed as a man without realizing it if that had not already been done in Mulan , who did not start out as a skilled fighter by any means and was not even particularly masculine. Mulan is one of my favorite Disney Princesses because she shows an incredible amount of growth throughout her story and is very easy to relate to, even if you've never fought in a war.
I'm still curious to see what Charming has to contribute to the wide world of fairy tale adaptations, and I hope that it gets a release date in America sometime this century. I like the further exploration of the idea presented in Into the Woods that if Prince Charming can charm every princess, he might not be the most worthy person of true love after all. It just makes me a little sad that femininity is becoming outdated, even within the world of princesses. There are billions of people in this world, and there should be room for all types. We don't have to put down one type of person in order to raise another up. A true princess can respect everyone's strengths, even if they are different from her own.
As you can see, the trailer reveals three classic princesses--Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty--hypnotized by a prince's curse (or blessing) to believe that they are all in love with him. That alone could make for an interesting story if it were not for the fact that the princesses are such stereotypical self-absorbed teens that they could just as easily be named Heather, Britney, and Ashley without losing much of the story. For some reason, the prince's love spell doesn't work on Demi Lovato's character, who later cross-dresses as a man and goes on various adventures with him. It's pretty clear that she is the one he will eventually end up with, thereby breaking the spell. Some people theorize that the spell might not work on her character because she might be transgender. That would be a great leap for queer princesses, but it also raises a few questions as to the romantic preferences of the two lead characters since the prince seems to enjoy the attention he gets from the girls.
The main issue with this trailer, however, is that it portrays femininity as inherently bad. The more girly the character is, the harder she seems to fall under the prince's spell and become vapid and brainwashed. This denotes an issue that the movie Legally Blonde tried to refute in 2001 that just because someone is feminine does not mean that person is automatically deemed an airhead. In truth, there has been a decline in femininity in the media, and it's most noticeable in recent princess movies. The warrior princess has taken over. Damsels in distress are seen as weak and incapable, regardless of their situation. Princesses like Wonder Woman and Moana are incapable of failure and refuse to willingly accept help, even in the most dire of circumstances. These are great stories with great heroines, but that doesn't mean that they should be the only type of story we see anymore.
Demi Lovato's character in Charming appears to be a skilled fighter who gives the prince a run for his money. If there had been a more girly character who was immune to his spell, perhaps she could have gone on the same adventures with him and learned to become a skilled fighter over time. That would create character growth, which is something that we rarely see anymore in movies. Ever since Disney bought out Marvel, most leading characters in popular films are god-like from the very beginning. It may seem like an interesting concept to have the prince fall in love with a woman who is dressed as a man without realizing it if that had not already been done in Mulan , who did not start out as a skilled fighter by any means and was not even particularly masculine. Mulan is one of my favorite Disney Princesses because she shows an incredible amount of growth throughout her story and is very easy to relate to, even if you've never fought in a war.
I'm still curious to see what Charming has to contribute to the wide world of fairy tale adaptations, and I hope that it gets a release date in America sometime this century. I like the further exploration of the idea presented in Into the Woods that if Prince Charming can charm every princess, he might not be the most worthy person of true love after all. It just makes me a little sad that femininity is becoming outdated, even within the world of princesses. There are billions of people in this world, and there should be room for all types. We don't have to put down one type of person in order to raise another up. A true princess can respect everyone's strengths, even if they are different from her own.
April 21, 2018
Review: Silent Mermaid
When I first wrote Of Land and Sea: The Untold Story of The Little Mermaid in 2009, I never would have expected to be reading so many new adaptations of "The Little Mermaid" years later. As much as I enjoyed The Little Selkie by K.M. Shea and A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling, I must eventually come to terms with the fact that my vision won't always coalesce with every other author's vision of my favorite fairy tale. Sadly, this turned out to be the case for Silent Mermaid by Brittany Fichter. It was significantly longer than the other adaptations I've read, but that was to be expected considering how long The Autumn Fairy, the other book I read by her, was. However, I regret to admit that I enjoyed The Autumn Fairy significantly more than this convoluted retelling of "The Little Mermaid."
Silent Mermaid puts its own spin on "The Little Mermaid" tale by telling the story of a mermaid who was born without a voice as opposed to one who gave it away of her own free will. Arianna wants nothing more than to be like the rest of her family and sing magical songs with the power to help, heal, and protect other merfolk. Instead, she was born mute like the heroine from The Shape of Water and is destined to stick out from all of the other mermaids with her tan skin and blonde hair, deformities caused by her early exposure to sunlight. When her family is attacked by pirates, she has no choice but to escape to the surface world where she miraculously gains legs and is discovered by a prince named Michael. She is then reluctantly given a suite in the castle and hideous clothes by a queen who openly dislikes her.
The lack of romance and sacrifice in this book sets it apart from other adaptions of "The Little Mermaid," but not in a good way. Arianna becomes human out of necessity, not desire, and she obtains her legs by praying to the Maker when she is placed in an impossible situation. It is not very clear how difficult it is for merpeople to obtain legs in this world or even why the ability exists at all. Her relationship with Prince Michael is rocky at the beginning, but they eventually warm up to each other. It doesn't help that his mother detests her. Though Michael feels somewhat indebted to Arianna for saving his nieces several years before, he has a rather funny way of showing it. His two nieces are rambunctious and fun, and Arianna winds up being their caretaker just like Alyssa in Melanie Cellier's The Princess Companion. Arianna seems to have a stronger relationship with the two little girls than she does with the prince, which is unfortunate considering how powerful the love story between Katy and Michael was in Brittany's other book, The Autumn Fairy.
The plot twist of making Arianna's jealous aunt want to take over the merpeople's throne has already been done to death in the mermaid Barbie movies and the Filipino drama Dysebel. Ursula was even going to be Ariel's aunt in an original cut of Disney's The Little Mermaid . Renata does not reveal herself as the villain until late in the book, which should allow more time to develop the romantic subplot between Arianna and Michael, but instead, the story just drags along like gentle waves crashing along the shore. Renata, Arianna's evil aunt, obtains her power from some sort of mysterious underwater drug that's similar to Merillia from the Barbie in a Mermaid Tale movies. For such a long book, few of the magical elements are actually explained, such as where Arianna's legs come from, how she obtains her voice, and what sort of properties are possessed by the drug her aunt uses to gain her powers.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it lacked something precious that rests within the heart of all "Little Mermaid" tales. Arianna doesn't seem to have the passion or drive to go after what she wants. She is just an unfortunate mermaid placed under unfortunate circumstances with a destiny that had been predetermined for her before she was born. The other thing I found difficult to enjoy is that the story takes place in a very dark world. Many merfolk were brutally murdered in the opening chapters in the war between the humans and the mermaids. It made the story seem all too real to create the whimsical escape that I enjoy from stories about mermaid princesses. The hatred between the two races seemed to know no bounds. It was Arianna's duty, not her choice, to mend it thanks to a mysterious prophecy about her. Something about that made her feel like a pawn in her own story, far from the rebellious and passionate character that Hans Christian Andersen created hundreds of years ago.
Silent Mermaid puts its own spin on "The Little Mermaid" tale by telling the story of a mermaid who was born without a voice as opposed to one who gave it away of her own free will. Arianna wants nothing more than to be like the rest of her family and sing magical songs with the power to help, heal, and protect other merfolk. Instead, she was born mute like the heroine from The Shape of Water and is destined to stick out from all of the other mermaids with her tan skin and blonde hair, deformities caused by her early exposure to sunlight. When her family is attacked by pirates, she has no choice but to escape to the surface world where she miraculously gains legs and is discovered by a prince named Michael. She is then reluctantly given a suite in the castle and hideous clothes by a queen who openly dislikes her.
The lack of romance and sacrifice in this book sets it apart from other adaptions of "The Little Mermaid," but not in a good way. Arianna becomes human out of necessity, not desire, and she obtains her legs by praying to the Maker when she is placed in an impossible situation. It is not very clear how difficult it is for merpeople to obtain legs in this world or even why the ability exists at all. Her relationship with Prince Michael is rocky at the beginning, but they eventually warm up to each other. It doesn't help that his mother detests her. Though Michael feels somewhat indebted to Arianna for saving his nieces several years before, he has a rather funny way of showing it. His two nieces are rambunctious and fun, and Arianna winds up being their caretaker just like Alyssa in Melanie Cellier's The Princess Companion. Arianna seems to have a stronger relationship with the two little girls than she does with the prince, which is unfortunate considering how powerful the love story between Katy and Michael was in Brittany's other book, The Autumn Fairy.
The plot twist of making Arianna's jealous aunt want to take over the merpeople's throne has already been done to death in the mermaid Barbie movies and the Filipino drama Dysebel. Ursula was even going to be Ariel's aunt in an original cut of Disney's The Little Mermaid . Renata does not reveal herself as the villain until late in the book, which should allow more time to develop the romantic subplot between Arianna and Michael, but instead, the story just drags along like gentle waves crashing along the shore. Renata, Arianna's evil aunt, obtains her power from some sort of mysterious underwater drug that's similar to Merillia from the Barbie in a Mermaid Tale movies. For such a long book, few of the magical elements are actually explained, such as where Arianna's legs come from, how she obtains her voice, and what sort of properties are possessed by the drug her aunt uses to gain her powers.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it lacked something precious that rests within the heart of all "Little Mermaid" tales. Arianna doesn't seem to have the passion or drive to go after what she wants. She is just an unfortunate mermaid placed under unfortunate circumstances with a destiny that had been predetermined for her before she was born. The other thing I found difficult to enjoy is that the story takes place in a very dark world. Many merfolk were brutally murdered in the opening chapters in the war between the humans and the mermaids. It made the story seem all too real to create the whimsical escape that I enjoy from stories about mermaid princesses. The hatred between the two races seemed to know no bounds. It was Arianna's duty, not her choice, to mend it thanks to a mysterious prophecy about her. Something about that made her feel like a pawn in her own story, far from the rebellious and passionate character that Hans Christian Andersen created hundreds of years ago.
April 17, 2018
Do Princesses Ever Get Angry?
As we all know, princesses are the most interesting when written as fully fleshed out characters with a wide range of personalities and emotions. However, some sources claim that princesses, or at least the ones from Disney movies, never experience any feelings other than happiness or sadness. Disney even made this jab at themselves in one of their own movies. In 2007, Giselle from
Enchanted
was shocked to learn that she was capable of experiencing anger when she left her animated fairy tale world for the grungy reality of modern-day New York City. The implication was that she needed to be a real person in order to experience real emotions. Do two-dimensional princesses really only experience two dimensions of emotion? Let's explore.
To be honest, I find such claims confusing because animated princesses get angry all the time. Ariel's motivation to become human in The Little Mermaid is cultivated by a heated argument she has with her father over whether or not she's old enough to make her own decisions about visiting the surface. Jasmine becomes understandably enraged when she overhears her father discussing who she should marry with Jafar behind her back without taking her own feelings into account. Pocahontas gets angry about Chief Powhatan's racism toward white men by judging the many based on the actions of a few. Even Odette from The Swan Princess directs lots of sass toward Rothbart during his creepy proposal. I go so far would say anger is an essential factor in moving each princess's story forward toward her happy ending. If they don't get angry, they don't have anything in their lives worth fighting for.
Then again, maybe anger is something that only applies to modern princesses. After all, those movies all came out after the late '80s. Sure, the 1937 incarnation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had a sickeningly sweet and docile heroine who was either deliriously happy or deliriously sad at any given point in time, but people who claim that this applies to all animated princesses fail to consider that Snow White was the very first animated princess movie ever. The studio was still learning and had a lot to improve upon. Most modern adaptations of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" take her character in the complete opposite direction, giving her a weapon and pitting her against the evil queen to take back what she feels is rightfully hers. On the other hand, Cinderella's lack of aggression toward her abusive step-family is a defining trait of her character and something that must be kept in modern adaptations order to maintain the integrity of her story. The fact that she is capable of holding in her anger so well is her biggest strength that eventually leads to her happy ending.
Maybe the claim that princesses don't get angry isn't about the characters in general. Perhaps it's referring to when they go to formal events with their ballgowns and tiaras in tow and a huge smile plastered on their faces. This hearkens back to the struggle of the introverted princess and the pressure to put on airs for the public in order to make sure that everyone else is happy, regardless of their own feelings. In that case, princesses are still allowed to be angry on the inside, but they must hide it because they are seen as a representation of the well-being of their kingdom. This is a separate matter entirely that relates more to public figures and politics, the least interesting aspects of being a princess.
When the Disney Princesses make appearances in theme parks, their job is to maintain a positive energy for all of their guests, just like every other cast member. They must always look beautiful and smile. I remember when I went to visit Disneyland with a friend of mine a while back, she told Cinderella about something sad that happened to someone she knew. Cinderella tried to brush it off and change the subject. The "real" Cinderella might have shown sympathy and talked about her own tragic backstory, but everyone at the Disney Parks must create the illusion of constant happiness, just as princesses must do when they go to events where they represent their kingdom. It is unfortunate that we must hide our true feelings sometimes, but there are occasions when it is necessary in order to maintain tranquility among large groups of people.
What it all boils down to is that princesses have just as many emotions as everyone else, but they are often placed in situations where they must hide them for the greater good. I disagree with claims that Disney characters never get angry. There are too many examples that show otherwise. However, the ideal image of a fairy tale princess is that of a young woman who made it through a difficult situation with her chin up and her head in the clouds and is now living a life of luxury, love, and happiness. In the end, isn't that everyone's ultimate goal?
To be honest, I find such claims confusing because animated princesses get angry all the time. Ariel's motivation to become human in The Little Mermaid is cultivated by a heated argument she has with her father over whether or not she's old enough to make her own decisions about visiting the surface. Jasmine becomes understandably enraged when she overhears her father discussing who she should marry with Jafar behind her back without taking her own feelings into account. Pocahontas gets angry about Chief Powhatan's racism toward white men by judging the many based on the actions of a few. Even Odette from The Swan Princess directs lots of sass toward Rothbart during his creepy proposal. I go so far would say anger is an essential factor in moving each princess's story forward toward her happy ending. If they don't get angry, they don't have anything in their lives worth fighting for.
Then again, maybe anger is something that only applies to modern princesses. After all, those movies all came out after the late '80s. Sure, the 1937 incarnation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had a sickeningly sweet and docile heroine who was either deliriously happy or deliriously sad at any given point in time, but people who claim that this applies to all animated princesses fail to consider that Snow White was the very first animated princess movie ever. The studio was still learning and had a lot to improve upon. Most modern adaptations of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" take her character in the complete opposite direction, giving her a weapon and pitting her against the evil queen to take back what she feels is rightfully hers. On the other hand, Cinderella's lack of aggression toward her abusive step-family is a defining trait of her character and something that must be kept in modern adaptations order to maintain the integrity of her story. The fact that she is capable of holding in her anger so well is her biggest strength that eventually leads to her happy ending.
Maybe the claim that princesses don't get angry isn't about the characters in general. Perhaps it's referring to when they go to formal events with their ballgowns and tiaras in tow and a huge smile plastered on their faces. This hearkens back to the struggle of the introverted princess and the pressure to put on airs for the public in order to make sure that everyone else is happy, regardless of their own feelings. In that case, princesses are still allowed to be angry on the inside, but they must hide it because they are seen as a representation of the well-being of their kingdom. This is a separate matter entirely that relates more to public figures and politics, the least interesting aspects of being a princess.
When the Disney Princesses make appearances in theme parks, their job is to maintain a positive energy for all of their guests, just like every other cast member. They must always look beautiful and smile. I remember when I went to visit Disneyland with a friend of mine a while back, she told Cinderella about something sad that happened to someone she knew. Cinderella tried to brush it off and change the subject. The "real" Cinderella might have shown sympathy and talked about her own tragic backstory, but everyone at the Disney Parks must create the illusion of constant happiness, just as princesses must do when they go to events where they represent their kingdom. It is unfortunate that we must hide our true feelings sometimes, but there are occasions when it is necessary in order to maintain tranquility among large groups of people.
What it all boils down to is that princesses have just as many emotions as everyone else, but they are often placed in situations where they must hide them for the greater good. I disagree with claims that Disney characters never get angry. There are too many examples that show otherwise. However, the ideal image of a fairy tale princess is that of a young woman who made it through a difficult situation with her chin up and her head in the clouds and is now living a life of luxury, love, and happiness. In the end, isn't that everyone's ultimate goal?
