I just finished reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling, her little collection of fairy tales that play a role in Deathly Hollows. It started off a little slow and pedestrian, but by the end there were some fun pieces. I think she tried a little too hard with a couple of the stories to hit the notes that traditional fairy tales hit and point out how fairy tales morph over time and according to audience (through Dumbledore's running commentary), but there were a few that were pretty fun and might have been right at home with the Brothers Grimm.
Fairy tales are interesting little creatures. Mostly because they did morph and change over time. Back when I was in college one of the group papers I had to write dealt with the variations of Cinderella and how it changed. If you've never tracked down the original versions of some of the fairy tales you think you know, you really should. Sex and violence aren't new to prime time TV. It's often interesting to see what Disney did to those old tales (among other storytellers).
I believe there's a new annotated version of The Brothers Grimm running around that's supposed to be pretty good and it tracks some of those changes. Also worth a look.
4 comments:
I think that you are a fan of the comic series Fables, yes? If not you should try it. It is my hope that if/when they make it into a TV series they maintain the sex, violence and humor.
I've heard of Fables, but not actually gotten around to reading it yet. It's on my I'll get to it at some point list. ^_^ And it seems like they did just announce that they were turning it into something... I think it was a TV show.
I do need to read the originals. I think I may have them somewhere. I wondered if that book was any good. I'll have to get it if for nothing else to complete my JK Rowling collection.
It's ok. It's not great, but ok. It does get better as it goes.
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