Look—there she goes, the girl in the red hood, red cape, red hoodie, wolfskin. Do you see her? Does she carry a basket full of fresh bread and warm milk? Or does she seek to protect her sweet, sweet tortitas from the dapper wolf? And when she meets that wolf, does she reveal her own …
Promotional Small-Screen Fairies
Visualizing Wonder is project devoted to the neglected study and education of fairy tales on television. With tools like a searchable teleography and visualizations showing which characters show up on which shows we’ve made great strides is showing television’s love affair with fairy tales. That being said, there is one aspect of fairy tales on …
Everything in Proportion: “Goldie and Bear” 1.1 Review
Goldie and Bear is a clever, wink-wink-nudge-nudge, fairy tale romp that is aimed towards children (it will premiere on Disney Junior) but delighted even this fully grown grown-up. Granted, this grown-up has a very high threshold for whimsy, but this children’s show is the real deal. Fairy tale’s own Maria Tatar—who, amongst her many …
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The Clothes Make the Fairy Tale: “Goldie and Bear” 1.2 Review
For new viewers and readers, Goldie and Bear is Disney Junior’s latest fairy tale-themed television show. It’s cute and clever and computerized-cuddly. The season premiere confirmed that this show could prove its mettle. And most wonderfully, this second episode bought my viewership by showcasing my obsession, the one and only Little Red Riding Hood! Goldie and …
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Introducing America to TV Commercials
On the first day of July in 1941 a few lucky New Yorkers with televisions tuned in to the WNBT station to see their Brooklyn Dodgers take on the visiting Phillies. The handful of baseball fans who got to their television sets early for this broadcast were about the experience history: they were about to see the …
When is a Tale not a Fairy Tale?: “OUAT” 5.1 Review PART 1
Season five is now upon us! The glitzy, cringe-fest, character-studded opera that we love, hate, and hate to admit we love, is back. ABC’s Once Upon a Time (OUAT) opened its season five with “The Dark Swan,” returning to the dilemma we last left: will Emma be more Savior or Dark One? MINING WHAT MATTERED That said, …
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Redheads and…Dead Heads?: “OUAT” 5.1 Review PART 2
We return to the season five premiere of ABC’s Once Upon a Time (OUAT), which we first covered in this post. OUAT is known for its character-a-minute cameos, but this week featured the best untamed mane in the business: Merida, from Disney/Pixar’s Brave. AUDIENCE ACCESSIBILITY It’s a good season for Disney/Pixar’s Brave–not only does Merida appear in this premiere but she’ll …
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Pied Piper in Police Procedurals
Picture the scene: police tape, a music institute, a car, and inside the car, a well-esteemed music teacher—or what’s left of the well-esteemed music teacher. Crawling over him and in him and through him are the furry bodies of nightmares, rats. Music, crime, rats. What comes to mind? For me, anytime music and rats are linked, I think …
The Artistic Revolution of the 1960s
In Donald Haase’s “The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F” Wolfgang Mieder uses the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin to describe the practicality and efficiency of using folklore and fairy tale iconography in advertising. He likens the pied piper to a “symbol of the world of advertising” who would “play his pipe ever …
Makeover Merida? Not Here!: “Sofia the First” review Pt 1
October 12th finally marked the entrance of Princess Merida (from Disney/Pixar’s Brave) in Sofia the First: “The Secret Library.” Sofia the First, Disney Junior’s princess escapade show for kiddies, has the same fanfiction-y pleasure as ABC’s Once Upon a Time, with Disney Princesses often cameoing to impart advice, songs, and general royal screen presence. Interestingly, Sofia the First has been known to change …
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