Scholars have traced the origins of Sleeping Beauty to ancient Greek myths and beyond.The painting of Eros and Psyche is by Edward Burne-Jones.
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What makes some stories resonate through time?
Enduring themes emerge over centuries as wonder tales are retold. The variations are many and ongoing, but essential themes emerge and remain as the tales evolve.
The Sleeping Beauty tale, a story that deals with women and vulnerability, as well as sex, power and beauty has become iconic.
As a princess, a woman had great power, as well as all the material things that common people, who told and retold the stories, usually lacked in their own lives. But a princess cursed by dark powers into a sleep where time stood still was vulnerable and without power.
The illustration of Briar Rose (Seeping Beauty) is by Walter Crane.
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The Evolving Fantasies of a Sleeping Beauty
When I was young, I thought Sleeping Beauty was a rather simple story.
In my later years, I found that it had been -- for centuries -- a very dark tale, a disturbing story of vulnerability, the abuse of power, and even cannibalism. The Grimm's, after being criticized for harshness and cruelty in the earliest editions of their Tales, actually softened later versions of the tale compared to those that prevailed in Italy and France.
For instance, in Giambattista Basile's version(1634) entitled The Sun, Moon, and Talia, a king, after discovering a sleeping maiden, is overwhelmed by her beauty -- and by his lust. He has sex with her while she sleeps. Here is an excerpt:
"At last he came to the salon, and when the king beheld Talia, who seemed to be enchanted, he believed that she was asleep, and he called her, but she remained unconscious. Crying aloud, he beheld her charms and felt his blood course hotly through his veins. He lifted her in his arms, and carried her to a bed, where he gathered the first fruits of love. Leaving her on the bed, he returned to his own kingdom, where, in the pressing business of his realm, he for a time thought no more about this incident."
The young maiden will later be awakened to find that she has twins (named Sun and Moon). After she is rediscovered by the king, she encounters a vengeful cannibalistic queen, and near death by fire. In Perrault's version, published in France in 1697, the events endured by the sleeping woman -- now a princess -- are similar.
The illustration of Sleeping Beauty is by Y. A. Craft.
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The Themes Remain, The Story Changes
There are two contemporary versions of Sleeping Beauty that stand out in my mind: Maleficent and The Sleeper and the Spindle. Both illustrate the qualities of Sleeping Beauty that have endured through the centuries.
Maleficent, a movie inspired by the classic tales, was written by Linda Woolverton, with credited story input from Angelina Jolie. In this imaginative version of the basic story, it is a fairy who has been violated. She takes revenge on the king, his followers, and the princess.
However, as the story evolves, the vengeful fairy finds compassion for the sleeping princess, and gives her a new life. Although produced by Disney, Maleficent is a complete departure from their sugar-coated animated version of 1959. Yet despite the departure from the saccharine, Malieficent, with all its dark dimensions, was a critical and financial success.
The photo is from the movie. Here is a link to a very well done trailer for Maleficent
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Neil Gaiman's Version
The second contemporary version that stands out in my mind is The Sleeper and the Spindle, by Neil Gaiman.
Gaiman has totally reimagined the story, while preserving the magic and wonder of key elements in earlier versions. An empowered queen, Snow White, and three dwarfs, much like the powerful Tolkien dwarfs, find that the woman thought to be the sleeping princess, when she wakes up, has become evil. There is a dynamic confrontation as queen Snow White confronts this challenge.
Somehow, Sleeping Beauty, a story of an innocent and vulnerable girl betrayed and violated by dark forces, remains an ongoing part of our cultural lives. It seems to resonate in our imaginations.*
Here is a link to a Guardian review by Imogen Russell Williams.
The illustration from the Sleeper and the Spindle is by Chris Riddell.
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The Facts of Life
"Fairy tales also face up to the facts of life: nothing is sacred or taboo. Meanwhile they glitter with beauty. I work at the weirdly fascinating intersection of beauty and horror.” Maria Tatar, Harvard Magazine
The photo is from the Matthew Bourne Ballet of Sleeping Beauty
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Wonder Tales
“Since these wonder tales have been with us for thousands of years and have undergone so many different changes in the oral tradition, it is difficult to determine the ideological intention of the narrator, and when we disregard the narrator's intention, it is often difficult to reconstruct (and/or deconstruct) the ideological meaning of a tale. In the last analysis . . . it is the celebration of wonder that constitutes its major appeal.
Jack D. Zipes, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
The illustration from Brother and Sister is by Alexander Zick
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Thwarting the Cannibalism of the Ogress Queen
"The poor man, knowing very well that he must not play tricks with Ogresses, took his great knife and went up into little Morning's chamber. She was then four years old, and came up to him jumping and laughing, to take him about the neck, and ask him for some sugar-candy. Upon which he began to weep, the great knife fell out of his hand, and he went into the back yard, and killed a little lamb, and dressed it with such good sauce that his mistress assured him that she had never eaten anything so good in her life. He had at the same time taken up little Morning, and carried her to his wife, to conceal her in the lodging he had at the bottom of the courtyard."
Excerpted from Perrault's version of Sleeping Beauty
Book cover by Walter Crane.
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To Flourish Like the Green Bay Tree
"And finally, I believe that one of most deeply human, and humane, of these faculties is the power of imagination: so that it is our pleasant duty, as librarians, or teachers, or parents, or writers, or simply as grownups, to encourage that faculty of imagination in our children, to encourage it to grow freely, to flourish like the green bay tree, by giving it the best, absolutely the the best and purest, nourishment that it can absorb. And never, under any circumstances, to squelch it, or sneer at it, or imply that it is childish, or unmanly, or untrue."
Ursula K. Le Guin quoted by Terri Windling in Myth and Moor
The illustration is by Nikolaus Heidelbach.
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The Planet Of The Dogs Series
The Planet OF The Dogs series takes place long ago before there were dogs on Planet Earth.
And then there came a time when the abundance and happiness found on Planet Earth were threatened by people like the warrior tribes of Stone City. They had forgotten how to love. They took food, coins and beautiful objects from people and often hurt them. Their numbers began to grow and soon they were taking the homes, land, and farms where peaceful people lived.
Where once there had been harmony and friendship, there was now fear, anger and unhappiness. Something had to be done — but what could anybody do? No one knew it at that time, but help would come from far, far away, from the Planet of the Dogs.
The illustration from Planet Of The Dogs is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty
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INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE
The United States has a long tradition of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution and war. With support, refugees go on to thrive and contribute to their new countries in many different ways. Among the many refugees of recent times who have contributed to our lives and culture -- and given millions in refugee financial support -- are Gloria Estoban, M.I.C (Mathangi Arulpragasam)., Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google), philanthropist George Soros, and Albert Einstein. Einstein said, " 'Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.'
The physicist Albert Einstein arrived in America in 1933 after he and thousands of other Jews fled persecution in Nazi Germany. That year, the Nobel laureate and humanitarian called for the founding of the aid organization that was to become the International Rescue Committee.
Although much of the world greeted the Nazi takeover with indifference or apathy, some people were alert to what was happening and the threat it represented. By July 1933, a new rescue committee of 51 concerned individuals had swung into action, galvanized by Einstein." This group evolved into the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Here is a link to read more about The IRC and their wonderful work: Refugee
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Movies
Disney in the Flow Of Time
Fairy tales have inspired Disney films since the introduction of the extremely successful Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. The company has grown, prospered, and diversified into a multi-billion dollar giant. Marketing has had a growing influence on production and Disney has been highly criticized for warping and sugar coating the original tales, often without crediting the source. This dumbing down of the tales has extended to books and merchandising. Market research and CGI lead the way in current productions. I doubt if there will be any more exceptions like Malificent.
Footnote: I still find scenes in early Disney films like Snow White that I admire; they were imaginative, thrilling, and frightening. Here is a link to the great transformation scene in Snow White, where the jealous, beautiful, and evil queen uses alchemy to become a witch: Transformation.
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The 19th Animation Show Of Shows
Judging from the trailer and the Rotten Tomatoes review (link below),this film is like the illustrations in children's books -- imagination unlimited.
"At a time of increasing social instability and global anxiety about a range of issues, the works in this year's show have a special resonance, presenting compelling ideas about our place in society and how we fit into the world. . .
The 19th ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS represents the work of artists from eight countries, including nine women. Funny, moving, engaging, and thought-provoking, the ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS not only has something for everyone, but is a remarkable and insightful microcosm of our world." Rotten Tomatoes
Here is a link to the trailer for this wonderous display of the imagination: Animation Delight
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Home of Wonder Tales and More
Frederick Wiseman is one of the world's great documentary film makers. The long list of his 42 exceptional and insightful productions includes Titicut Folies (!967); Public Housing (1997); and At Berkely (2013). Last fall, Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, his latest film, was released. Here are excerpts from Stuart Klawan's thoughtful and informative review in the Nation.
"Wiseman looks at his subject from both his Olympian and activist perspectives, and with attention to both major aspects of the NYPL’s mission: a center for scholarship and a resource for the city’s poor, ill-schooled, and homeless. Following an organizing scheme he’s used before, Wiseman bounces back and forth in his scenes between the marble palace on Fifth Avenue and a scattering of humble branch libraries in the Bronx and Harlem. . .Wiseman is interested in librarians as wonderful people—as comfortable making an impromptu translation from Middle English (while denying that they’re good at it) as they are teaching a blind person to read Braille, or directing a woman to copies of steamship manifests so she can trace her family’s arrival in America. . . "
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Get Out
Get Out, inspired by wonder tale themes, is a phenomenal success: 99% approval from critics (Rotten Tomatoes) and over 254 million dollars worldwide box office. I was unaware of Get Out (it opened in February 2016) until reading about it in Maria Tatar's Breezes From Wonderland blog. Here is an excerpt:
"Then there was Jordan Peele’s Get Out, a Beauty and the Beast story that pulls out all the stops and gives us what horror movies do best, exaggerating and amplifying our cultural anxieties, and putting what Frank Bruni of the NYT called a “fantastical, grotesque spin” on things. Get Out (budget of $4.5 million) as a Beauty and the Beast story? Yes, it’s that and Bluebeard too. Only in this case, the monster is Rose (get it?), played by Allison Williams. As the social messaging of so many Beauty and the Beast story tells us, appearances are deceiving, and in this case they are beyond what we could imagine. Rose is the ferocious beast who lures an innocent into her childhood home, from which there appears to be no escape. She is also a Bluebeard figure . . . And suddenly we see how Jordan Peele, unike Disney, hit the refresh button and inflected the tale as old as time in new ways that speak to our own cultural anxieties about race and gender.
Here is a link to the trailer for Get Out.
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Everytown for Gun Safety
"Everytown is a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, change has been thwarted by the Washington gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives.
But something is changing. More than 4 million mayors, moms, cops, teachers, survivors, gun owners, and everyday Americans have come together to make their own communities safer. Together, we are fighting for the changes that we know will save lives.
Everytown starts with you, and it starts in your town." Here is a link to connect: Everytown
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Newtown and Sandy Hook -- Five Years Have Passed
Here is a link to part one (under 10 minutes) of a powerful PBS documentary series about people who have become gun control activists after they have felt the pain of gun violence in their lives: We Are All Newtown
Here is a link to an excellent -- and moving -- article by Rick Rojas and Kristen Hussey in the NY Times about Newtown and Sandy Hook on the 5th anniversary of the murder of 20 first grade children and 6 adults:Healing
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The Unexpected Beauties of Life
Here is an excerpt from a review by an Amazon reader of C. A. Wulff's wonderful book, Circling The Waggins.
"The second book, following Born without a Tail, is if possible better than the first. The author brings alive the small pleasures and also the pain of those who live with a pack. Rescue people have some of the most extraordinary stories to tell and this book tells them well. The pain of loss and the unexpected beauties of life are shared in this book and I'm the richer for the reading. . . The author has spent a lifetime in exploration of the terrain where human and non human lives intersect and left us this treasure map. Read it, you'll be glad you did.
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Why Am I ?...A Yelodoggie Illustrated Story Book
With the arrival of the new year we continue our search for a publisher who will love Why Am I ?, recognize its potential, and launch it into the world.
Why Am I ? is a joyous book that helps children to understand and appreciate differences and to embrace that which is unique in each of us.
Why Am I ? teaches tolerance. We believe that Why Am I ?, C.A. Wulff's wonderful new book, should have wide distribution. Kids 4-8 love it and we see it as the beginning of a series.
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The Planet Of The Dogs Series
We have free reader copies of all the books in the Planet Of The Dogs series for therapy dog organizations, individual therapy dog owners, librarians, teachers and independent bookstores... email us at planeto[email protected] and we will send you the books.
To read sample chapters of any book in the series, visit PlanetOfTheDogs
The Planet Of The Dogs series (including Castle In The Mist and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale) is available from many Internet sources and through independent book stores of all sizes.
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"My father worshipped dogs, hunting, fishing, the state of Maine, and the complete works of William Shakespeare, in that order."
Susan Conant True Confessions (1995)
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