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Friday, June 1, 2012

Possible New Fairytales in Season Two

I'm a purist at heart about a lot of things, so when "Once Upon a Time" was being sold as a fairy tale land, I was upset to see Lewis Carroll and Carlo Collodi alongside Grimm Brothers and Hans Christen Anderson. I see very big distinctions in the world of fiction.

1. Mythology: A story that explains how the world works or why a certain group of people do what they do, or simply to explain a phenomenon. Circa as long as we've known to around the time Christianity took over Europe.
2. Fairy tales: Stories usually told to children to soothe them or to give warnings. Circa 1400's to about the 1700's.
3. Classic literature: Stories written to entertain and teach, more common when the printing press was more readily available. Unlike 1 and 2, there is generally only one author who completely makes everything up instead of drawing from oral tradition. Circa 1800's to present.

And surely someone clever enough to make this complex web of stories would know that "Alice in Wonderland" is in a different category from "Snow White" or "The Epic of Gilgamesh" (but maybe I've just been taking too many literature and humanities courses...). So I thought about it, and connected it to something a friend had pointed out; Disney owns ABC (or has massive shares in it, something complicated and business-y like that). It explains how they got away with "Skin Deep" being so much like "Beauty and the Beast". I would assume it has something to do with the fact that they already hold copyrights or something (even if most are too old for copyright laws to be effective, unless it's closely resembling a remake).
So with that in mind, I humbly offer what stories we may be expecting to hear next season...because I doubt the cast is complete already.

  • Sleeping Beauty: Alright, we've seen Maleficent, and it's hinted at that Snow doesn't count as Sleeping Beauty. So...where is Sleeping Beauty?
  • Aladdin: We have the genie. Let's have some Arabian Nights action!
  • The Little Mermaid: This one's been thrown about quite a bit in the fandom, some even saying that Dr. Whale might be King Triton. I...don't know how I feel about this. Ariel's my Disney princess...but I've seen how amazing they've done with the other stories. A mermaid's been mentioned, and I'm sure that this story will inevitably show up. But I'm wary of my beloved childhood being redone unsatisfactorily.
  • Peter Pan: It's right up there with Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia as one of the best known classic child literature pieces. Besides, Tink was a lawn ornament in one episode.
  • Robin Hood: Because that would be pretty friggin' BA. Maybe the Huntsman was a former Merry Man?
  • The Sword in the Stone: King Arthur's gonna have to show up at some point, being one of the biggest medieval legends to exist. I highly doubt they'll turn to "Beowulf" instead.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Yes, yes please. I want to see a spin on Quasimodo  and Esmeralda. It could be a romance that would rival Rumpbelle!
  • Hercules: Or really any more Greek mythology; King Midas isn't enough to quell my mad love for the Gods of Olympus, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
  • The Jungle Book: I don't think this would land a major role, and I don't see them employing any of their animal films for a major plotline. But a cameo of Shere Khan would be awesome.
  • The Wizard of Oz: I don't know how much Disney has invested in this classic literature (they shot the sequel "Return to Oz"), but the fans have been asking for it. I think ol' WWotW would fit right in alongside the Evil Queen and Maleficent. 
  • 101 Dalmatians: Archie DOES have a Dalmatian... Though I'm not sure how you can top Glenn Close's portrayal of Cruella DeVil.
  • Treasure Island: I don't know how well pirates would go over in this royalty-centric world, but maybe Silver washed up on Snow White's father's beach.
  • Perhaps Fox and the Hound, but have them be humans like with Jiminy Cricket? Old friends on opposite sides of the law? I'm stretching a bit.
Mulan has also been thrown out quite a bit, but I'm not feeling it too much to be honest. I also don't think they'd do anything too recent in their repertoire, like Emperor's New Groove.
All in all, I think "Once Upon a Time" is going for a well rounded literary arch, as they've shown already. And really, these are just from the movies; there are thousands of stories they can choose from, and just legends (such as the siren). I trust them...though my latest fairy tale redux is "The Emperor's Nightingale". Here's hoping to that!

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