Once upon a Time
Nov. 23rd, 2011 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bagheera_sanI watched "Once Upon a Time", all four episodes. It's an okay series - the premise is GREAT, but the execution leaves some things to be desired. My main complaint is that it is at once way, way too traditional in its interpretation of the fairy tale characters (it doesn't subvert them enough!) and yet not traditional enough - it's too Disney for my taste, but then I grew up with a) written versions of Grimm's fairy tales and b) the versions my grandma told me, oldschool style. In fact, the single most fond memory I have of my maternal grandmother is lying in her bed when I stayed over at her place (she had a big picture of Hansel and Gretel lost in the forest hanging on the wall) and listening to her tell me fairy tales as bedtime stories. She didn't own any books, so this may well have been genuine oral tradition. (Also she had some hilarious superstitions - every time we heard an owl outside the window she'd say, "Someone's going to die!")
At the same time the only Disney fairy tale movie I've seen is Beauty and the Beast, so I have no attachment whatsoever to their versions.
Why do I think it's too Disney? Mainly because of the costumes - I'd prefer it if they looked a little more historical (like Game of Thrones, for example) and less candy-colored. Also, the Evil Stepmother's sexy-queen-bitch outfit is terrible. It's like something the Rani would wear in her equivalent of the Doctor's sixth regeneration.
And - so far - the stepmother is just too stereotypically evil. She badly needs to be more ambiguous. That could easily be remedied. For example they could reveal that she genuinely loves Henry, even though she's a strict mom. I'd also like it if the way to break the curse was to redeem her - not in a magical change of heart (or return of heart...) way, but through character development.
On the other hand, Snow White and Cinderella, as well as their respective princes are too nice. Making Snow a thief for a bit is a nice attempt to subvert her story, but it doesn't really work, because thief!Snow and queen!Snow seem to be completely different characters. Cinderella is just lame. How stupid do you have to be to sign a deal with the devil without even reading the bloody contract? And the princes are virtually indistinguishable.
Ruby/Red Riding Hood seems like a modern cliche (i.e. Little Red Riding Hood is a story about a bad girl and sex) and so far she doesn't seem very interesting.
I'm not sure yet which character the sheriff is supposed to be, but I assume Big Bad Wolf, Huntsman or something like that. He's also dull.
Henry is okay, as far as child characters go, though sometimes he's a bit too plucky/adorable.
Rumpelstilzkin/Mr Gold is (obviously) my favourite, and I love what they're doing with his character because he's the only one who isn't easily put in a neat little box - he's skeevy but at the same time charming and elegant, he's evil, but so far he hasn't done any actual harm to anyone or even seriously tried, and I love the advice he gave to Cinderella when she complained about her sucky life - even if it's just to make her sign the contract, he tells her to change her life rather than whine. I have a feeling that while Rumpelstilzkin is a demonic character, and thus bound to deals and rules more than any other kind of fairy tale character, he also likes free will and taking charge of one's own destiny. Also, his accent is cute.
As for Emma: I wish she wasn't played by Jennifer Morrison. "House" has trained me to HATE Morrison's character, and even though Emma is a vast improvement over Cameron, something of that resentment still lingers. And (this is a general problem with American television) her character is too whitewashed, too nice for a woman who had a bad childhood and works as a headhunter.
I think other people did similar things with fairy tales and did them better - the comic series "Fables" for example is about fairy tale characters living in modern day New York. In Fables the characters retain their magic and remember their fairy tale world, their reason for being there is that they're refugees from an evil Empire started by Gepetto and Pinocchio of all people. Their Prince Charming is a womanizing hedonist (who was married to Cinderella, Briar Rose and Snow White) yet also essentially a good guy, and Snow White has her big romance with Big Bad Wolf. The main focus here are politics, powers struggles and action/adventure stuff (as well as subverting their fairy tale backstories) so it's perhaps no surprise that I like it a lot better. Another example is Angela Carter, whose interpretations are more subversive than fun, and I guess Neil Gaiman has done some similar stuff, like American Gods.
Another comparison you could draw is Lost in Austen, but held against that miniseries, Once Upon lacks the quirky, over-the-top wishfulfilment fantasy plus the humor that makes Lost in Austen so satisfying.
Basically, I'd like Once Upon to be grittier, funnier, and more daring, I'd like to be surprised and shocked rather than mildly intrigued. And there needs to be more Rumpelstilzkin.
At the same time the only Disney fairy tale movie I've seen is Beauty and the Beast, so I have no attachment whatsoever to their versions.
Why do I think it's too Disney? Mainly because of the costumes - I'd prefer it if they looked a little more historical (like Game of Thrones, for example) and less candy-colored. Also, the Evil Stepmother's sexy-queen-bitch outfit is terrible. It's like something the Rani would wear in her equivalent of the Doctor's sixth regeneration.
And - so far - the stepmother is just too stereotypically evil. She badly needs to be more ambiguous. That could easily be remedied. For example they could reveal that she genuinely loves Henry, even though she's a strict mom. I'd also like it if the way to break the curse was to redeem her - not in a magical change of heart (or return of heart...) way, but through character development.
On the other hand, Snow White and Cinderella, as well as their respective princes are too nice. Making Snow a thief for a bit is a nice attempt to subvert her story, but it doesn't really work, because thief!Snow and queen!Snow seem to be completely different characters. Cinderella is just lame. How stupid do you have to be to sign a deal with the devil without even reading the bloody contract? And the princes are virtually indistinguishable.
Ruby/Red Riding Hood seems like a modern cliche (i.e. Little Red Riding Hood is a story about a bad girl and sex) and so far she doesn't seem very interesting.
I'm not sure yet which character the sheriff is supposed to be, but I assume Big Bad Wolf, Huntsman or something like that. He's also dull.
Henry is okay, as far as child characters go, though sometimes he's a bit too plucky/adorable.
Rumpelstilzkin/Mr Gold is (obviously) my favourite, and I love what they're doing with his character because he's the only one who isn't easily put in a neat little box - he's skeevy but at the same time charming and elegant, he's evil, but so far he hasn't done any actual harm to anyone or even seriously tried, and I love the advice he gave to Cinderella when she complained about her sucky life - even if it's just to make her sign the contract, he tells her to change her life rather than whine. I have a feeling that while Rumpelstilzkin is a demonic character, and thus bound to deals and rules more than any other kind of fairy tale character, he also likes free will and taking charge of one's own destiny. Also, his accent is cute.
As for Emma: I wish she wasn't played by Jennifer Morrison. "House" has trained me to HATE Morrison's character, and even though Emma is a vast improvement over Cameron, something of that resentment still lingers. And (this is a general problem with American television) her character is too whitewashed, too nice for a woman who had a bad childhood and works as a headhunter.
I think other people did similar things with fairy tales and did them better - the comic series "Fables" for example is about fairy tale characters living in modern day New York. In Fables the characters retain their magic and remember their fairy tale world, their reason for being there is that they're refugees from an evil Empire started by Gepetto and Pinocchio of all people. Their Prince Charming is a womanizing hedonist (who was married to Cinderella, Briar Rose and Snow White) yet also essentially a good guy, and Snow White has her big romance with Big Bad Wolf. The main focus here are politics, powers struggles and action/adventure stuff (as well as subverting their fairy tale backstories) so it's perhaps no surprise that I like it a lot better. Another example is Angela Carter, whose interpretations are more subversive than fun, and I guess Neil Gaiman has done some similar stuff, like American Gods.
Another comparison you could draw is Lost in Austen, but held against that miniseries, Once Upon lacks the quirky, over-the-top wishfulfilment fantasy plus the humor that makes Lost in Austen so satisfying.
Basically, I'd like Once Upon to be grittier, funnier, and more daring, I'd like to be surprised and shocked rather than mildly intrigued. And there needs to be more Rumpelstilzkin.
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-23 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 02:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-23 10:31 pm (UTC)As you said, they're to straight forward in their use of the fairy tales. If not for the occasional bit like "Snow White is a thief and turns trolls into bugs" the characters would be entirely chliché. Same goes for the action going on in Storybrook. Mr. Gold has the charm of a used-car salesman, not very faustian. :/ (though I do admit I loved how he dealt with Cinderella, even though it made her come off as too dumb to live)
And the princes are virtually indistinguishable.
I have to admit, for a moment, I honestly thought they were one and the same character. I we can't distinguish them by traits of character, it'd be nice if they could give Josh Dallas a mustache like in Thor, to help along easily distracted (and perhaps a bit face-blind) viewers like me ...
You're also the second person mentioning Fables in connection with this. I think I really need to check it out. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 02:42 pm (UTC)Fables is good, not quite Sandman level good but 100 times better than Once Upon, and quite fun. It uses characters from non-fairy tale universes, too, like Wizard of Oz or the Jungle Book.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 02:55 pm (UTC)