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Today's guest post comes from Titania who blogs at Fishmuffins of Doom. She also wrote a guest post on Misty's blog that includes a giveaway! Make sure you read her thoughts on her favorite dark fairy tales!
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Fairy tales are adapted into films all the time. The most famous of these are the Disney films that eventually eclipsed the original tales they were adapted from in the minds of most of society. Here are a few reimaginings of fairy tales in film that don’t tell the story word for word, but tell it in a way that is completely unique from what has been seen before. Here are a few of my favorites:
Hard Candy
Hard Candy is the story of 14 year old Hayley who meets Jeff, an adult photographer, at a coffee shop after they have been chatting online for a while. They go back to Jeff’s apartment and drink screwdrivers. You think you know exactly where this is going to go, but you are terribly wrong. Jeff passes out as the result of a spiked drink and spends most of the movie tied up and tortured, physically and mentally. Hayley is like an avenging angel for every girl who was abused or raped. She is convinced that Jeff is a pedophile and possibly involved in the rape and murder of a local girl and is willing to do what it takes to make him confess. Throughout the course of the film, I switched sides so many times. It’s difficult to say through most of the film if Hayley is psychopath or a justified avenger and if Jeff is just a normal guy or a guilty pedophile. This is not an obvious adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. It’s not an easy thing to identify the true Big Bad Wolf like in so many other retellings. This film is both brilliant and manipulative. Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson deliver flawless, realistic, and alternately sympathetic and alienating performances. Highly recommended.
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes is a Korean horror film that tells the story of Sun-Jae, a woman who leaves her husband after discovering his infidelity. Her daughter was spoiled by her husband and only cares about him. Her friends are rude and blunt without any concern for her feelings. One day on the subway, she finds a pair of beautiful pink shoes and takes them home. She feels better when she wears them, but notices that other women seem to covet them, even her young daughter who steals them from her. Her rude and inconsiderate friend attacks the girl and takes them for herself before being killed in a most horrific way. These shoes seem to be followed by violence and death and Sun-Jae needs to figure out how to save her daughter and herself before it’s too late. The Red Shoes is a gruesome fairy tale on its own about greed, vanity, and dancing severed feet. This K-horror film adapts it beautifully, even acknowledging the 1948 film of the same title by including a ballet subplot. The film is even gorier than the tale and features an atmospheric creepiness as well as in your face blood and gore. As a whole, it’s suspenseful and tells a semi-ghost story and semi-murder mystery. The ending is a bit convoluted, but as a whole it was creepily enjoyable. I would also recommend other K-horror fairy tale adaptations for those interested, such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel.
Black Swan
The ballet Swan Lake is based on a variety of folk tales from Germany and Russia and tells the story of Princess Odette’s tragic love story that usually ends in her or her love’s death. (There are several alternate endings to the ballet.) Black Swan is the story of Nina Sayers, an ambitious ballerina obsessed with perfection. Her dream role is to play the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, but is seen to have not enough passion or emotion to do the role. She is finally given the role after convincing the director of her potential. What follows is her descent into madness as she struggles to prepare for her dual role as the White Swan and the Black Swan. She experiences hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. In a twisted way, her story reflects that of the ballet. Nina at first is Odette: innocent, naïve, and fearful. Thomas, the director at first embodies the Prince, but later is more like the Sorcerer. Odile, the Sorcerer’s evil daughter, is Lily, Nina’s ballet rival. They look alike, as in the ballet, but Lily primarily wears black, while Nina wears white. Lily is also mostly ruled by emotion and is more impulsive, which is true of Odile. As she becomes increasingly paranoid, she suspects Lily of deception and trying to take her role as Swan Queen, much like Odile tries to steal Odette’s love away. It’s an interesting modern interpretation of the original ballet with a psychological twist and it’s just a great film. Everyone acts exceptionally well, especially Natalie Portman as intense and driven Nina Sayers. The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful and complements the film well. Every aspect of the film works in harmony and is something truly exceptional.