Friday, December 12, 2008

Chapter 8 Hanseldee and Greteldum

I love fairy tales! And how cool is it that he mentions Paducah?!

So, can you think of any stories you've read that remind you of fairy tales? Anything with an evil stepparent? A "prince" who rescues a fair maiden? A jealous "queen"?

I can't help but be reminded of Harry Potter. He has horrible stepparents and although a handsome prince doesn't come to his rescue--a big, hairy semi-wizard does. (Think back to the first novel when Hagrid appears.) I also think about how when he's at school, it's like Cinderella at the ball--all of the magic works. At midnight/summer break, it's back to his normal, dreary life.

Your turn. Think of a short story, novel, TV show, or movie that reminds you in some way of a fairy tale. Explain why.

27 comments:

Austin said...

Hmm, this was tough for me. But once again Septimus heap comes to my rescue. In the third book, a evil queen is awakened in the form of a ghost that was sealed away in a remote part of the castle. She hates the new princess and repeatedly tries to kill her and in doing so spreads a plague everywhere. If you think about it it sort of relates back to Snow White. The queen wants what she has, her beauty, and in the case of Septimus Heap her kingdom.

Beas-Girl said...

The movie "While You Were Sleeping" reminds me of "Sleaping Beauty" except in reverse. Instead of the girl being asleep it is the boy. When he wakes up they are supposed ot fall in love, but this fairy tale has a little twist...she falls for his brother.

Victoria said...

I have to agree that I love fairy tales too.And aside from the most blatant disney fairytales made into animated movies, i would have to say that the very girly movie 27 Dresses reminds me of Cinderella. Even though the main character Jane doesn't have an evil step mom, she does have a prissy sister who bosses her around, and she is a slave to her own inability to say "no" to anyone. And true to it's colors, there is a "prince" Kevin, who is pessamistic and unexpectedly saves her from her self-destructive behavior and they live happily ever-after.

Torian said...

The movie "A Cinderella Story", is a modern, teenage version of the original Cinderella. It has the same elements of the original story, such as a selfish/evil step-mom and step-sisters, but has some normal teenage delimmas like going to college and prom.

walker said...

Ok, so I think of Peter Pan. The children are living with parents that don't believe in fairy tales or far away places. Peter comes to the children's rescue and they have their fun then it's back to everyday life. But the children do learn to always believe. I'm not big of a fan of fairy tales. Too far fetched for me.

Blake said...

So uh yea, Star Wars. Dont know why but it does. I guess simply for the fact that it is set in the future and most fairy tales are are set somewhere inconceivable to our minds, if i'm making any sense at all. Also because of the internal conflict with Luke and all the power that he is obtaining. I'm not a nerd. But yea, as haley said, fairy tales aren't really my cup of tea. They are "too" made up.

Ash-Daddy said...

I love fairy tales because they have so many simple concepts that still hold true. If you really think about it, all the princesses had to endure hardships before they ended up living happily ever after. For that reason,Pride and Prejudice reminds me of a fairy tale. Even though Elizabeth can't stand Mr.Darcy at first and he is condescending to her, they end up realizing that social boundaries can't keep them from falling in love, and in the end, both have to lay aside their pride (hence, the title) to be together.

RoyEarlMcClain said...

In the movie "Hook" an accountant was originally peter pan. But he grew up. Then his kids are kidnapped and taken to netherland and he has to rescue them. He has to learn to be peter pan again and banish hook for good. He runs into several speed bumps but he accomplishes his task and finally wins his kids love.

Ambizzle said...

The movie "Hoodwinked" is based off of a fairy tale. The movie is basically about the movie "little red riding hood". The movie is about how little red has to protect her candy secrets that are in her grandmothers cookbook. It still has the plot of bringing goodies to her grandmother and the wolf dressing up as her to get information.

Golfin' Weasel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Golfin' Weasel said...

With the evil stepparent, I can only think of Cinderella. My movie relation I would think is the Wedding Singer. When Adam Sandler is singing at a Barmitzvah a fat kid is sitting by himself dejected because he was rejected by a girl. So Sandler enlists the help of a waitress, Drew Barrymore, and she (the prince) comes and picks him to dance with out of all the others.

faithe said...

The first movie that popped in my head was "Enchanted". I don't know if you would technically count it since it truly is a fairy tale. The princess comes out of her fairy tale and arrives in New York. The prince comes to her rescue and saves her from the evil witch.

karson said...

when i think of a fairy tale i think about an old testament about moses delivering the jews out of slavery. this is like a fairy tale because moses and the jews was trying to escape he called on god to depart the red sea, they went and walked on dry land through the sea and when the enemys came the sea closed in on them and drowned them.

b.buurman said...

I also love fairy tales. Something big and amazing always happens at the end, but just like ordinary people they have to overcome obstacles. The obstacles are usually more glamorous than our every day troubles though. The movie Ella Enchanted comes to mind. She's under a spell that makes her do whatever she's told, but in the end she overcomes it and of course falls in love with a hunky prince.

Big_daddy_alex said...

im not much into fair tales but i have to say sherk is my favorite of all time...it proves that no matter what happens you can over come it...it shows pretty much all the fairy tales in one - two movies, and he gets the girl like all make believe stories!

Anonymous said...

I absolutly love fairy tales. I love how no matter what happens there's always a happy ending. The movie that comes to my mind is "The Perfect Man". In fairy tales, there's always a prince charming who's perfect at everything he does. In this movie, a young girl tries to hook her mom and one of her friends uncle up. She portrays him to be Mr. Right and believes that he's the one who will finally make her mom happy again.

Lexi said...

I love fairy tales to...A movie called 'A Cinderella Story' reminds me of 'Cinderella' since she has a mean step-mother who always makes her clean the diner and took over the diner after her father died...Hilary Duff played the girl who couldn't go to the dance, but went behind her step-mother's back and went anyways...I didn't know if that counted, but I couldn't really think of anything else...

christina :) said...

o i do, i do love fairy tails! i can recall in one movie called "ever after", her dad dies and her step mom takes over making her pretty much just a slave. I hate the beginning of these movies, but it never fails i end up loving the ending. It can't get much better than a happy ending. Those are the best endings to a movie. Although you usually know whats going to happen, you still want it to actually happen.

Dianna said...

Is it trying to say that people in Paducah wouldn't understand anything but something related to fairy tales? He compares a young couple getting lost to Hansel and Gretel. So I guess just about anything that was scary could be related to that. In Wrong Turn, a group of friends take a wrong turn and get lost and end up getting killed by crazy people. Then in the Shining, the old guy comes to the little boys rescue when the ghosts try to take over.

andrea said...

A Cinderella Story is like a fairy tale because the girls fater dies and she has to grow up with an evil stepparent and then at the end she gets the guy she likes and gets to go to college and the stepmother has to suffer.

Jana7 said...

i think shrek because he is going after a princess and there is a king and he is a knight like figure saving the princess from the dragon

Jessi said...

An example of a fairy tale, but not so much is A Great and Terrible Beauty. In it a girl that has lost her mom, goes to a boarding school and realizes she is part of a magic order, and gets a taste of the magic and then loses it, and it's like Cinderella.

Rachel said...

A movie that came to my mind is Matilda(spelling?). Matilda is born into a bad family and has special powers, but after meeting her sweet teacher, she falls in love with Matilda and adopts her.

Josh Barkley said...

If you think about it all the movies that are love stories of chick flicks are like fairytales because they all have happy endings and every fairytale has a happy ending.

Дилан said...

Any damsel-in-distress story has its roots in fairy tales. So in an action novel/movie where the queen/girlfriend/daughter is captured by the Russians/Nazis/Zombies/Martians, it echoes old stories about saving the queen and running off to live happily ever after. Usually there is a sacrifice made by the rescuer.

In Star Wars, Princess Leia is captured by Darth Vader and Luke and Co. have to rescue her, but it costs Obi-Wan his life.

JANA2 said...

i think of aladdin. its basically the best disney movie ever. also aladdin is like the knight in shining armor by coming into her life and saving jasmine from having to marry jafar.

Kenbo! said...

When i think of fairy tails i think ofit in kinda a oposite way i like to imagein myself in the role of the prince who comes from nothing to be rescued by his princess like in my favorite movie never back down tyler moves from the midwest all the way to florida his father father was killed in a car wreck his da had been drinking an he let him drive his my holds him responsible so he is sort of a outcast in his own home and in his new school he meets up with baja the princess an goes threw a journey of becomeing a fighter to stand up for himself an knock the crap out of baja's bf who is the villen he does this an gets the girl classic with action i love it