Fairy Tale and Place: Between Portland and Storybrooke, PT 1

When it comes to fairy tales on television, the big heavy hitters are, of course, NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s Once Upon a Time (OUAT). Both of these fairy tale shows are live-action and share a protagonist that is introduced to the hidden, fairy tale world. These protagonists, Nick from Grimm and Emma from OUAT, first inhabited our world—Nick from Portland, Oregon, and Emma from Boston, Massachusetts. In the course of the shows, both Nick and Emma encounter the other-wordly. Nick unearths a hidden society of fairy-tale and dark creatures in …

Beauties and Beasts on TV: The Problem with Rumbelle

In honor of BYU’s December stage production of “Beauty and the Beast,” we will be looking at the lovely beauties and the brutish beasts on our weekly television screens. And luckily, we have a slew to choose from. Courtesy of our twin site, FTTV.byu.edu, we are able to trace the tale’s appearance on numerous shows from Rocky & Bullwinkle to Saturday Night Live to even Muppet Babies. In this post we will concentrate our efforts into the shipping (as in relation-ship) …

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 also appear in Sofia the First’s “The Secret Library,” appearing October 12. But honestly, it’s no surprise that OUAT is jumping on the Brave train, not after OUAT’s last season focusing on Disney’s Frozen.  …

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, in an episode filled with Saviors and Dark Ones and Tilda Swinton-esque hairdos, what sparked my fascination most was a side character, surprisingly. Ladies and …