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Baba Studio Prague, Brother Grimm, Fairy Tale Tarot, James Finn Garner, La Fontaine, Little Red Riding Hood, Magic Realist Press, Pedro Almodovar, Politically Correct Fairy Tales, Snow White, Talk to Her
My childhood room would be only scarcely lit by a bedside lamp when the time would come for me to take off towards the dreamland, albeit – the land of fears haunted by bulged eye monsters would be a more realistic description.
In the silence of the late evening, upon hearing my mother’s hurrying steps approaching the room, i would pray to my childhood’s god to spare me, at least one night… But, mother was determined and ruthless. She would open the door swiftly and with that look in her eyes which i feared more than anything, in a voice that sent galloping chills down my spine she would exclaim: Sweetie, it’s time for your goodnight story!
PleaseGodSpareMeAtLeastThisOneNightLetMeSleepWithoutNightmaresOfMonstersWithBudgingEyes – my personal mantra had failed miserably once again. Mother was punctual – and inconvincible: one story every night.
Every single night, every bloody night she would read to me those horror tales of mistreated orphans and evil step-mothers and wicked old witches and people who were turned into beasts… In shivering voice, i would ask: Mom, could we skip one night, please mommy…
But, nothing could change my mother’s resoluteness, firmly grounded on books by Dr Spock and other luminaries of the time. Also, given that the point was for me to be bilingual – the stories would be read twice, first in our language, then – the same blood chilling story, only in another language, just in case some intimidating detail of neglected animals and bullied children had bypassed my ears.
I would pull my green plaid blanket over my face and i’d squeeze its ends so strongly that my fingers would become almost numb from the grip. That blanket – it had a soul, you know, and it had a name too – Beche. The blanket was my friend, the only one i had in those difficult times, except the toy dog with an unpronounceable name; the three of us were united in the late evening’s suffering.
After having carried out the usual bilingual reading punishment, mother would kiss my wet from tears cheek, she would wish me good night and go away, closing the door behind her. She betrayed me night after night. She would go to the fully lit living room to laugh at TV sitcoms with her accomplice, my father, while the blanket, the dog and i would be left at the mercy of the silent, dark night and creepy fairy tales characters who seemed to come alive in my turbulent dreams…
That being said, remember the movie “Talk to Her”? It’s one of my all time favorites, and Pedro Almodóvar is one of my favorite directors, i just adore what this guy does.
Anyway, in his movie shot in 2002, Benigno, whose name implies he’s harmless, benign – in his capacity of personal nurse – is looking after Alicia, a ballet dancer who fell into coma. Have you seen the movie? How did it make you feel, the realization that Benigno, harmless as he was, debauched the unconscious woman? Creepy, right? Awkward enough for Almodóvar to shoot the movie about it? Oh, really?
And the charming prince trying to make it out with comatose Snow White, that does not make you sick in your stomach? How hypocritical is that?! To me, the latter fact was utterly disturbing – and one of the main reasons i weeped during the infamous repetitive story telling in two languages…
And what about Hansel and Gretel, the poor kids abused by evil step-mother while their biological father stood and watched, who were later on in the story stalked by cannibalistic witch? The only meaning i could make of that one is that it’s really bad for you to eat sugar and white flour on empty stomach!
Not to mention Bearskin, who suggests that the only way to earn fortune and marry the love of your life is to skip showering for seven years , that’s – after having sold your soul to the devil… The fact that his bride’s both sisters – quite expected, if you ask me -committed suicide, does not seem to cast a tiniest of the shadows on the newly wed’s beaming happiness! I mean, why would it?!
Here me, o, peeps! Unless you plan to be covering the overpriced, long lasting and quite ineffective psychoanalysis once your children grow up to be anxious and neurotic adults – spare them of Brother Grimm, La Fontaine and other usual suspects!
It’s the new era, at bedtime, read to them James Finn Garner instead! In the stories of our times – Snow White and the queen become good friends and contribute to the sisterhood, while earning world-wide fame and the prince gets a real job at the spa (as a tennis pro – and that’s fairytale-ish enough for a bed time story!)
The Little Red Riding Hood, a feminist of third generation, is taking an immune system boosting brisk walk through the environmentally protected woods and carrying gluten-free low-carb snacks for her grandmother, a mature adult perfectly capable of taking good care of herself…
That’s a kind of story you want to tell your kids at bedtime in 21st century and, to illustrate the narration, you can pull a Tarot card along the way…
L.R.S.
Fairy tale Tarot; A.Ukolov and K. Mahony, artwork by I. Triskova
Little Red Riding Hood – A Politically Correct Fairy Tale by Jim Garner
Snow White — A Politically Correct Fairy Tale
🙂 My mother would have been the happiest person on earth if I had asked her not tell me stories. She hated doing that 😛
Really nice post ..
PS – I loved “talk to her”!
Thank you for reading and commenting, shalinjena! Oh, Geez, we should have swapped mothers during the formative years lol!!!
I know what you mean, agree with what you say really – but there’s just something almost primal about those stories and myths that come from a time before time began, almost.
I can’t imagine a world without them, and while I love ‘deconstructing’ them and finding new ways to make them modern, I’m kind of glad I had that early thrill of horror when I first discovered them as a child.
You have my sympathies though – they definitely wouldn’t be my bedtime reading choice!
Of course, Anne! They are enriching fables with usually good morals… but i would prefer – have i had a choice – to study them at a bit more mature age… like, at Uni lol! (I did study folklore and legends later on at Uni – and even my own fiction oftentimes goes categorized as fairy tales! ;)) Thank you for commenting, much appreciated!
I loved your story about bedtime tales. It is funny how those fables were so well loved and now have been made into horror movies, like Red Riding Hood. They were epic tales that parents read over and over to their children. You are not alone!
Thank you, dear Judy! OMG, i haven’t seen the movie yet – and i really want to! I’ll look it up in ten days or so when i move to Moscow! (We have only one movie theater here – and it either schedules projections at wee hours, or there is something else going on, but i am regularly missing movies! 😦 )
Hope you meant this to be funny…. *cos it sure made me laugh (the fairy tale part) I have not seen any of the movies…. it is very well written (in my opinion) 😉
Yep, dear Jim, indeed it was meant to make you laugh! 😀 I think you would like “Talk to her” – it’s so unusual, never seen! And, what matters to me (***spoiler ahead***) the ending is happy in its own way! Not the traditional ‘happy end’, but something really different! I don’t know about is this copyright infringement by the uploader , but here it is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ziMfafMJo
Thankyou !!! 🙂
It is early Sunday morning in this part of the world~ I will watch it later this evening.
Sounds very interesting!
I will let you in on a secret (don’t tell anybody.. LOL)
Some of the best movies/stories for me… do not have happy endings (as in real life).
Years ago when we were young teenagers I went with my girlfriend to watch a movie in the big city…. this was a big deal then for 15 year olds.
The movie was about a crippled girl in a wheelchair (who was beautiful), a (nice) crazy kind of guy fell in love with her … her parents hated him & his recklessness … he would get her out of the wheelchair & throw her into her parents swimming pool (much to their disgust) then dive in and play with her/encourage her/save her (from herself & her overprotective? parents… to cut a long story short… she fell in love with him ( he was a pilot & a stunt pilot) on their wedding day he was flying to the wedding & died when his plane crashed on the way.
You could hear lots of people in the theatre sobbing loudly at this point (right near the end of movie)… my girlfriend & I included.
It was a long time ago & I don’t remember the name of the movie … I do remember though how close for a while it bought us together/even closer together 🙂
It’s amazing how clearly we remember the movies that had big impact on us – even if it was several decades ago! I am like you, i remember even the dialogues from some movies i’ve seen , like, back in the eighties! That movie you are saying about – it does sound most interesting! Definitely an artistic one, i wonder who directed it… Must have been someone of the big names! Haha, i bet you’ll love Talk to Her, it is weird – but in a good way! 😉
I haven’t seen “Talk to Her” but will look around for it.
Fairy tales are horror tales and always have been. Murder, revenge, jealousy, monsters – you name it, they had it. I was talking to someone in a post recently about “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde. My mother bought the record and we would listen to that – it was horrific! I would never read fairy tales to my children and if I did I would change the ending 😉
Dianne, here it is, my friend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ziMfafMJo Enjoy! Thank you for taking the time to read my entry – i really, really appreciate that, given that you are answering hundreds of comments on your Freshly Pressed post! ❤ Congrats once again, dear friend, i am so proud of you! xxxx