Showing posts with label Cinderella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cinderella. Show all posts

France Month: Cendrillon by Agnès Lestrade (de) (Auteur), Princesse Camcam (Auteur)



Cendrillon by Agnès Lestrade (de) (Auteur), Princesse Camcam (Auteur) looks rathering generic from the outside which is emphasized when one realizes this is part of series from the publisher. But then one looks at the interior and sees some charming illustrations with--wait for it!--a BRUNETTE Cinderella. I'm in love. So, tell me, is it slightly jarring for you to see the traditional Cinderella story with a dark-haired beauty? I'm used to non-white Cinderellas, but not non-white and non-blonde. I feel like I stepped into the wrong fairy tale.




Book description:

Une nouvelle collection de grands contes classiquespour les 4-7 ans! Un conte de toujours, des personnages merveilleux, des illustrations pour rêver et une fin comme vous ne l’avez jamais vue… Bienvenue dans la forêt des contes.
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A Collection of Vintage Fairy Tale Treasures By Marissa Meyer



Today is the day! Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is released today. (Here's an ebook link if you prefer that.) This book is burning up the internet with buzz and talk and I agree that it is a fun book that made Cinderella interesting even to me. (When you do what I do on a daily basis, Cinderella can get stale at times, I admit.) I've enjoyed many of Marissa's guest posts around the online book world the past few weeks--she's had some clever ways of giving us variety as well as emphasizing that this book has something for all sorts of genre readers, from romance to science fiction--and she didn't want to leave out SurLaLune. Instead of another post about her interpretation of Cinderella, Marissa decided to share, well, never mind, I'll let her tell you herself. Here's Marissa's guest post:

A Collection of Vintage Fairy Tale Treasures
By Marissa Meyer

When Heidi offered me a chance to write a guest post for SurLaLune, a blog that I’ve been a long-time fan of, it occurred to me that I should probably talk about my debut novel—Cinder, a futuristic retelling of Cinderella. But I’ve been talking an awful lot about my book lately, and instead I thought this would be a great opportunity to write about something entirely different, that I hope SurLaLune readers will enjoy: a virtual show & tell of my vintage fairy tale collection.

Although people have been giving me old copies of The Brothers Grimm fairy tales since I was a kid, my collection of old fairy tale things only started about two years ago when I was at an antique show with my then-boyfriend (now husband). I came across this set of tiles with fairy tale illustrations:

Tiles: Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Pied Piper, & Cinderella

I fell in love with them immediately, and have been looking for fairy-tale inspired pieces ever since. Luckily, my husband loves antique stores and estate sales as much as I do (his weakness being early-twentieth-century baseball memorabilia), so I have lots of chances to go on the hunt.

Some of my favorite pieces include this Cinderella cookie jar:


This xylophone that includes both fairy tale characters and other storybook favorites (Cedric/Little Lord Fauntleroy, Snow White, Pinocchio, Hansel, Gretel, the Swan Prince, Cinderella, Tyl Tyl, Mityl, Red Hood, Alice, & Nils):


And this Snow White lunch pail which has an adorable board game on the back:



Generally, I try to stay away from Disney items because they’re so common the collection would no doubt take over my entire house, although some Disney knock-offs are too cute to say no to. I also refuse to look on eBay, as that would take all the fun out of the treasure hunt. I estimate most of my findings to be from the 30s and 40s, though I’m by no means an expert.

Red Riding Hood tin tea set


Greeting Cards—the set includes both fairy tale favorites, such as Goldilocks and Snow White, and also nursery rhymes, such as Little Miss Muffet. Interestingly, Jack and Jill make an appearance, but both are illustrated as girls.
Snow White vase/figurine, a recent wedding gift, along with my camera-hogging cat


A block puzzle that makes up six different illustrations

One peculiar trend that keeps popping up is the case of the blonde Snow White, as opposed to the well-known “hair as black as ebony” trait. See the xylophone above, along with this Snow White embroidered pillowcase:


And also this German-made piggybank (which has Red Riding Hood on the other side).



I also have 13 plates from the 1970s, each representing a different tale (well, two of them are Rumpelstiltskin), but I think this post has gotten picture-heavy enough. Perhaps Heidi will be kind enough to invite me back to share them with the publication of Book #2. :) (Yes, please do! says Heidi.)

If you think you’d like to start a collection of fairy tale treasures of your own, the only advice I can give is patience and diligence. Just like with any collection that involves old things, I might go months and months without finding anything, and then I’ll stumble onto three great new pieces at a single antique fair. You just never know when something new will catch your eye.

If anyone has any questions about the pieces I have, I can try my best to answer them! Thanks for having me on the blog, Heidi, and letting me share with your readers.



Marissa Meyer debut novel, Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles, comes out on January 3. You can follow her on Twitter (@marissa_meyer) or become a fan on Facebook (facebook.com/lunarchronicles and facebook.com/marissameyerauthor).

Back to Heidi: Thanks, Marissa! This was a fun post and perfect for SurLaLune. You know us well here!
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Advertising: Cinderella and Cingular



I never saw this one! Uploaded to YouTube in 2006 so at least five years old. But it's a fun play on Cinderella.

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Book: Fractured Fables from Image Comics


 

I never wrote about this Fractured Fables (Hardcover), first because I came to it late, second because I am not at all well-versed in current comic books,* and lastly because I didn't look past the cover when I saw it, which to me, hate me if you want, looked very generic, like cheap fairy tale books at the dollar store. Nothing wrong with that, but not my usual interest or what I assume to be yours.



Then recently I stumbled across some sample pages from the book and I can fully admit I was wrong. I should know well enough by now to not judge a comic book by its cover, but at least I didn't suffer for my prejudgment forever. In other words, there is some great stuff within this innocuous looking cover. In fact, I learned that two of the pieces inside were nominated for Will Eisner Awards: Best Short Story Nominations--"Cinderella," by Nick Spencer and Rodin Esquejo & "Little Red Riding Hood," by Bryan Talbot and Camilla d'Errico.



So like a diligent SurLaLune keeper, I have ordered my own hardcover copy to investigate further. It hadn't arrived when I wrote this, but I am not worried. I know I will like it. It's has enough pretty and I respond well to pretty. A paperback edition is due out in late January, so you can wait for that if you are interested. I wanted a hardcover myself.



From the publisher:

Some of the comic book industries best and brightest use their talents to welcome the next generation of comic book readers with the kid-friendly anthology, Fractured Fables! Featuring an introduction by Bill Willingham (FABLES), this all-new, humorous take on our most beloved fairy tales boasts a cover by Madman Atomic Comics creators Mike & Laura Allred and all-new stories by award-winning creators including Jill Thompson, Bryan Talbot, Peter David, Ben Templesmith, Scott Morse, Doug TenNapel, Laini Taylor, Ted McKeever, Terry Moore, Bill Morrison, Larry Marder, Jim Valentino, Phil Hester, and New Yorker artist Shannon Wheeler, among others.



From an article, Comic book review: 'Fractured Fables' by Joseph Szadkowski:

Here are just a few of my favorites:

■ "Little Red Riding Hood" is updated by writer Bryan Talbot and finds the brightly dressed child on a direct path to the Big Bad Wolf's stomach until she displays some surprising skills. Painter Camilla d'Errico brings a bit of an anime influence to the action and makes me exclaim when viewing Red, "My, what gigantic blue eyes you have."

■ Doug TenNapel's "Rumpelstiltskin" turns the classic into a "Ren and Stimpy" episode. He dementedly uses a grotesque art style that chaotically blends with the sophomoric hijinks of a magic little man who can turn hay into gold, a grumpy king and a dumber-than-a-post future queen.

■ The adventure of "The Little Mermaid" turns much more ominous in the hands of comics scribe extraordinaire Peter David as her quest to live happily ever after with a human prince becomes a puzzling problem in podiatry. Artist Ron Ferrara offers ample arch support for the mermaid's issues.

■ Writer Nick Spencer's "Cinderella" satisfies through a fable more about the frustrations of an unhip fairy godmother than the abused princess while artist Rodin Esquejo's beautiful and Disneyesque art style puts the story near the top of my favorites.

■ "Rip Van Winkle" meets Len Strazewski's imagination and we enjoy a story about a conceited girl named Pipi Van Wrinkles who gets loaded on cherry cordials and learns her fate as an adult. The slapstick shenanigans throughout come to life thanks to the pop-art and retro-Archie-Comics-like stylings of Paul Fricke.


*Except for my few years of avid Superman collecting and reading in the mid 90s, so I am not completely ignorant of how the industry works. I had a large collection that was stolen when we moved to California although I had quit collecting at that point. But I gave up for good then. It was just too depressing. I was also raised around a brother who was a Marvel fan, so I've spent some time in comic book shops and it is my favorite set on Big Bang Theory.

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Free eBook: The Cinderella Curse by J. L. Penn



The Cinderella Curse by J. L. Penn is FREE probably only for the rest of today or through tomorrow since Amazon only allows these self-published titles to be free for three days.

Book description:

Please note that this is a novella equivalent to 70 pages of a hardback novel.

From the acclaimed author of Reunion comes the hilarious tale of a girl who whacks a witch, gets cursed, and becomes a pumpkin at midnight. Sound strange? She thinks so.

Cindy had a fairy tale life – well, not literally – but she was pretty and popular. Then one fateful autumn day, while picking apples, she encountered a real-life witch. After accidentally clocking the witch on the head with her basket of apples, the angry witch put a spell on her. As Cindy would soon find out, she was destined to live out her nights turning into a pumpkin at midnight. Talk about a crimp in your social life!

There is only one antidote for Cindy’s terrible curse - if only she knew what it was. Hilarity ensues as Cindy attempts to lead a normal life as a part-time pumpkin.
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It’s the Journey: “Beauty and the Beast” vs. “Cinderella” by Joanna Novins

An article comparing two popular fairy tales and their strength as romance plots can be found at It’s the Journey: “Beauty and the Beast” vs. “Cinderella” by Joanna Novins. Here's an excerpt of the article which spends a splendid amount of time praising Robin McKinley's Beauty. Why, yes, that is always a worthy activity...


The first few paragraphs from the article:

Though I’m not a gambler, I’d be willing to bet that “Cinderella” is the fairy tale most commonly retold in modern-day romances. What’s more appealing than the mistreated scullery maid who, with the wave of a wand, is provided a complete makeover, including fabulous shoes, and entrée to a ball, where a handsome prince instantly falls in love with her?

But in my opinion, Cinderella and Prince Charming are the laziest hero and heroine ever. Sure, there’s that whole grain sorting/floor scrubbing/impossible task so she gets magical help thing, but really, all Cinderella has to do win the prince’s heart is get a makeover and show up. As for Prince Charming, all he has to do is be tenacious in his efforts to find the owner of the size 5 glass slipper. Time consuming, yes, but heroic? Meh.

Nothing new for SurLaLune readers but sometimes it's nice to read about Beauty and the Beast and how so many adore the tale...
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Advertising: Cinderella and Moccona Coffee



Credits (via The Inspiration Room):

The Quest was developed at M&C Saatchi, Sydney, by creative director Ben Welsh, art director Michael Jones, copywriter Lizzie O’Hara-Boyce, agency producer Rod James.

Filming was shot on location in Montevideo, Uruguay, by Noah Marshall via The Sweet Shop, with director of photography Ian McCarroll, and producer Tony Whyman.

Post production was done at Digipost and Fin Design in New Zealand.

Music was composed for the spot by Elliott Wheeler via Nylon Studios, Sydney. Copies of the sheet music can be obtained by visiting the Nylon Studios site and emailing Mark.

Moccona is a brand of coffee produced by the Dutch corporation Douwe Egberts and popular in Australia and New Zealand. The coffee is regarded as one of the superior brands in the market. In my household Moccona jars are kept to store nuts and confectionery. The lid does look as though as it could have been formed by the sea.

This one's success inspired another romantic commercial for the product, not fairy tale related, but sweet.

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Call for Papers: Cinderella Conference in Rome


Okay, this is one I really want to attend. Especially after slaving over Cinderella Tales From Around the World the last few years, which will be coming out soon. But on to the real topic of this post:

CFP: Cinderella Conference in Rome

Cinderella as a Text of Culture
International Conference

University of Rome, “La Sapienza”

November, 8-10th 2012

Cinderella is one of the most beloved and well-known tales in Western culture. Invariably popular among the audience of children and adults alike, translated, adapted and reinvented in sometimes dramatically different versions, the story of Cinderella has been told again and again, in literature, music, theatre, film and other arts. It has also been the object of extensive scholarly research, beginning with Marian Roalfe Cox’s pioneering compendium compiled in the nineteenth century. Folklorists have recognized hundreds of distinct forms of Cinderella-related plots and subtypes throughout the Western World, and they have analysed the form and typology of the tale, as well as its development through time. Many methodological approaches have been applied to Cinderella, such as ritual, structural, anthropological, sociological and, more recently, feminist interpretations, alongside the influential psychoanalytical account of the significance of the tale in Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment.

However while mainstream research tends to emphasise the universal values and meanings of the tale, we would like to propose a different approach by considering Cinderella in its textual nature in relation to a given geo-cultural, historical, literary and mediatic ec(h)o-system. We are particularly interested in contributions that focus on Cinderella neither as an item of folklore nor as a universal story, but rather on the many Cinderellas that have populated Western culture past and present, and in different cultural and national areas. In order to investigate these phenomena, we invite you to discuss Cinderella’s various textual metamorphoses and account for significant differences in their textual, iconographic and mediatic realisations.

Topics and questions that may be addressed include: Giambattista Basile – Charles Perrault – Grimm brothers: textual interconnections and interactions;

Grimm’s Aschenputtel versus Perrault’s Cendrillon as literary texts: affinities and differences, reception and legacy;

What is the status of Cinderella among other fairy tales? How can we account for its particular appeal? Is it somehow different from other, or similar, rise- or restoration tales?

Travelling stories and intercultural canon formation: to what extent is Cinderella a “canonical” fairy tale? Is there an international fairy tale canon?

Translatio / translation

The circulation of the tale in European culture: audience typologies and reception, manipulation and ideology, cultural translatio;

Domestication: national identity and “nationalisations” of Cinderella vs. intercultural communication through fairy tale adaptations;

Iconological and imagological interpretations of Cinderella: diachronic and synchronic aspects of the tale’s visual representations;

The literary canon and medial adaptations (Cinema, Theatre, Music, etc.);

The colloquium is international in scope and attendance. The official conference languages will be English and Italian.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Ruth Bottigheimer (Stony Brook University)

Andrea Andermann (director and producer, Rada Film-RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana)

The conference is hosted by the University of Roma “La Sapienza” Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies

Organization
Scientific Committee

- Francesca Bernardini (University of Rome “La Sapienza”)

- Johanna Borek (University of Wien)

- Ruth Bottigheimer (Stony Brook University)

- Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère (University of Lausanne)

- Vanessa Joosen (University of Antwerp)

- Gillian Lathey (Roehampton University, London)

- Jan Van Coillie (Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel)

- Monika Wozniak (University of Rome “La Sapienza”)

Local Organizing Committee
Camilla Miglio, Martine van Geetruyden, Monika Wozniak (University of Rome “La Sapienza”)
Deadlines
February 28th, 2012
Deadline for the proposal of conference papers, with the submission of a 300-400 word abstract (in English) and a short bionote including the following information:
1. Postal address
2. E-mail address
3. Academic affiliation
The abstracts should be sent to the following e-mail address: cinderella.roma2012 (at) gmail.com

Enquiries

Monika Wozniak monika.wozniak (at) uniroma1.it
or
Camilla Miglio camilla.miglio (at) uniroma1.it

Web page: http://www.cinderellaroma2012.wordpress.com/

March 30th, 2012

The notification of admission will be sent to participants.
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Advertising: Cinderella and Levis



This is from 1991 and I don't remember it but I was in college then and watching very little television. This was the best quality video I found on YouTube but it has extra fluff at the end to skip.

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Advertising: Cinderella and Hanes Hosiery



I actually remembered this one. I was a kid and it stuck once I saw it again. Scary...

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Advertising: SoyJoy and Princesses



Advertising Agency: Dentsu Indonesia
Creative Director: Tashiaki Gomi
Art Director: Tommy Hartanto
Agency Producer: Alda Octaviani
Production Company: Luscious International
Director: Tina Bull
Executive Producer: Andrew Morris
Producer: Velly Sinay
Published: August 2010

Via Ads of the World and YouTube. These are more obviously riffs on the Disney fairy tale princesses, but perhaps that makes them even more interesting?

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Cinderella’s Sisters and Footbinding



Over the weekend, Maria Tatar offered a short blog entry--Cinderella’s Sisters and Footbinding--at her Breezes in Wonderland. It was a perfect posting moment for me since I had just returned home after a brief shopping trip that included a stop in the shoe department where all of the sparklies and six inch heels were on display. Personally, I forsook anything higher than a two inch and anything uncomfortable period in footwear when I quit toe shoes and ballet a little over twenty years ago. I was tired of achy feet and at sixteen I didn't see the point anymore. The point was driven home a few years later in college when one of my roommates--just a few years older than me--already had feet permanently Barbie'd after years of wearing heels because she was only five feet tall.

And, no, footbinding was a horrendous torture put upon girls and is very different, but a strong case can be made for what women do to their feet in the name of beauty in western cultures, too, with all the warnings about foot injuries and issues developed over time. And we do it voluntarily! Maria offered this image which makes another interesting argument:


But before she gets to that punchline, Maria was inspired by both her experience with Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding by Dorothy Ko and a new article in the Harvard Gazette, Unraveling a brutal custom: Foot binding in China tied to hand weaving, study finds, about footbinding. Here's the first few paragraphs:

Gasps echoed through the Radcliffe gymnasium on Wednesday as audience members reacted to the image of a woman’s foot, projected on a large screen at the front of the hall.

It was a foot in name only. The misshapen mass looked more like a hoof bisected by a crack. The deformity was the result of foot binding, a common practice in much of China until the middle of the last century that involved wrapping the foot of a young girl or woman tightly with a cloth to stunt its growth, explained Laurel Bossen, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

That particular type of bound foot was called “the three-inch golden lotus,” said Bossen. “That’s the ideal. It gradually broke the girl’s arch … you can see that the arch is just a crevasse on that foot.”

Maria likened the process to Cinderella and I'll add to the mix with another media article, one of many with the same story, from this past summer: Shoes Too Tight? There's Cosmetic Surgery for That from the Wall Street Journal via Fox News (since WSJ is archived now).

How far will some women go to fit into high heels? The menu of services at Beverly Hills Aesthetic Foot Surgery in Studio City, Calif., provides a clue.

There's the trademarked "Cinderella Procedure" — a preventive bunion correction that makes feet narrower. The clinic also offers the "Perfect 10! Aesthetic Toe Shortening" that invisibly trims toes that hang over the end of sandals or have to be crushed into tight shoes. There's also "Foot-Tuck Fat Pad Augmentation," in which fat from the patient's abdomen is injected into the balls of her feet to provide extra cushioning for long days on high heels.

"It's unrealistic to tell women not to wear high heels," said the clinic's founder, podiatrist Ali Sadrieh. "I came up with procedures that allow the women to function, pain-free, in the real world."

Those are exactly kinds of cosmetic procedures that a big group of orthopedic foot surgeons blasted in a news release last month.

"Shortening a toe to get into a tight-fitting shoe should not be a standard of care in any physician's office," said Donald R. Bohay, an orthopedic surgeon in Grand Rapids, Mich., and co-chairman of public education for the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.
Now I appreciate fashion and have had my fun with Project Runway and other shows in the past--if it's about design of any kind, be it guns or dresses, my husband's interested and watching--so I am not trying to sound all snobbery. But what dictates crazy shoes as high fashion? The only celebrities on red carpets allowed flatter shoes without high criticism are the pregnant ones and usually they are sporting spikes, too.

That's all I have to say because I have several more posts for the day and week to finish. But food for thought on a Monday morning!
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Cyborg Cinderella: Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer



Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles by Melissa Meyer intrigued me so much that it convinced me to break my own rule about reading trilogies. If you're curious, I usually wait until all three are published to read any--I buy and shelve to be read later if it's an author I want to support. My reasons are too many to discuss here. But Cinder tempted me and while I hate being stuck waiting for the next book, I am glad I read the first one. Meyer had an ARC sent to me and an extra one that I am giving away as part of the December Giveaway: Favorite Fairy Tale Things.

I'm not going to write a thoughtful review right now. I will simply say that this is Cinderella unlike I've ever read her before. The story was interesting and kept me reading along with Meyer's approachable writing style. Cyborgs are tricky and science fiction can turn off some genre readers who abstain from it on principle, but they shouldn't skip this one because I think it will appeal to a broader audience. It's definitely not part of the darker oeuvre the market is currently saturated with in fairy tale retellings, but it isn't sweet and happy either. Bad things happen. There is pain. The ending is curbending rather than cliffhanging which simply hurts more when you close a book with one. We are curious and left hanging with answers to questions but not so much that we don't feel completely unresolved--except perhaps for those most invested in the romance which is very much there but doesn't dominate.

And, of course, how she plays with the Cinderella story is always fun for fairy tale readers like us.

The book isn't released until January 3 but it is getting great publisher support (congrats Marissa!) and is sweeping the net with publicity. I'll join in the fun.

Book description:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

You can read the first five chapters online or download them for free to your Kindle or other devices, too.



There is also a prequel short story available for free online at Glitches by Marissa Meyer.

And Marissa has a blog where you can read to learn more about the book and her experiences getting to launch date and beyond...
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Disney Characters As Humans by Jirka Väätäinen


Discovered via What Disney Princesses Would Look Like If They Were Actually Human by Jamie Frevele from the artist's blog at Jirka Väätäinen.

From the article:

Jirka Väätäinen is a graphic design student at the Arts University College at Bournemouth in the UK, and he’s come up with some really interesting interpretations of what Disney's animated heroines would look like in real life using photo manipulation
I really enjoyed these and thought you may, too.




This is the most recent and strongest celebrity influence--definitely some Amanda Seyfried in his version of Rapunzel.










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