Reading/Watching Log
This week is light on books, but has my thoughts on Snow White and the Huntsman and other various bits and pieces for up-and-coming television shows.
Snow White and the Huntsman
Well, I enjoyed it, but only because I had seen the lukewarm reviews and so set my expectations accordingly. But after getting sucked into the beauty and majesty of the trailer, as well as all the potential that a premise as awesome as “Snow White as an Action Movie” could have delivered on, it was a disappointment. Three things really stuck out for me.
1) Snow White as an action movie is, as I said, a great idea. Unfortunately it ends up being an incredibly generic action movie. There was an escape scene, a chase scene, a hunt scene, a fight scene, a restful scene, a battle scene, and then a one-on-one confrontation scene. None of it was hugely original or interesting, there were no twists or surprises, and nothing that made me go “oooh.”
Queen Ravenna isn’t defeated by Snow White in anything that comes even close to a satisfactory way. There is no cunning involved, no strategy or clever trick, no irony or beauty or skill or grace that is utilized in order to take her down. Instead they used the well-worn technique of a Chekhov’s Skill: a fighting move that is taught to Snow in the middle of the story, and then conveniently remembered in an utterly anticlimactic defeat that doesn’t take into account any of Ravenna’s weakness that could have been exploited. It’s just kinda boring.
2) Whoever wrote this script wasn't remotely interested in its source material. Snow White is one of my favourite fairytales because of the depth of its meaning and symbolism. The drops of blood, the turn of the seasons, the mirror and all it implies (reflections, looking at one’s true self, the future), the colour red, the stages of womanhood (one woman grows up as the other begins to age), innocence and corruption, the apple (temptation, the fall), the coma-like death, the kiss of life - I mean, you could write a thesis on all this stuff and how it all weaves together. Here, however? Nothing interesting is done with it, there is no exploration or thematic depth to it at all.
Take Snow White for example. She’s described throughout the story as the Chosen One. One character says “she is Life!” (you can hear the capital letter). But what does it mean? She can take down a troll by staring at it and the white stag gives her its blessing, but there’s no context to either of these things. They happen because she's chosen and she's chosen because the script says she is. By themselves they mean nothing.
(Okay, there MAY have been some attempt to justify this, as I remember some vague references to Snow’s blood, and the implication that this was how she was able to kill the Queen when no one else could - but again, none of it is explained and so it’s meaningless).
Then there’s the Queen. She’s given a tragic backstory which demonstrates that her beauty was a spell cast by her mother in order to save her when an army raided their village. But beyond the brief flashback sequence, this is never elaborated on, and it never quite fits with whatever Ravenna’s motivation is in conquering kingdom after kingdom. She's vengeful or something. And she hates men. I guess.
The mirror is a non-entity. We never learn where it comes from or what its powers are. At one point it's established that only Ravenna can communicate with the gold-shrouded figure in its depths (her brother watches her speaking to it, but can only see her and not the mirror manifestation) but ...so what? Once again, it's a plot device that goes nowhere and doesn't do anything. The dwarfs are equally pointless. They’re clearly only there because they’re a part of the fairytale, but the film has no idea what to do with them, and they could have been cut out completely with very little difference made to the actual plot. Snow's coma after biting the poisoned apple makes no sense either. The "rules" that surround her death and subsequent awakening aren't explained - it just happens because that's what happened in the fairytale.
Basically, everything that makes the fairytale so powerful is glossed over into the aforementioned generic action flick.
3) The movie is called Snow White and the Huntsman. This was another great idea. In the fairytale, the huntsman is a low-key but pivotal figure. He’s ordered by the Queen to take Snow White into the forest, murder her, and bring back her heart as proof of the deed. But he can’t go through with it, and urges Snow to run away. He then kills a deer and takes its heart back to the Queen: whether this is to save himself or to buy Snow more time is up to you to decide. He then disappears from the story entirely (though some versions mention that the Queen has him killed when she discovers his deception).
In this case, the act of killing Snow White is given to her brother Finn. When she escapes, the Huntsman is brought in to track her down. The story runs on the query that, having done this, what if the Huntsman decided not only to spare her life, but to protect her? And then to train her in warfare so that she had a fighting chance against the Queen? That’s a damn good idea right there, but again the movie just doesn’t make it interesting as very little effort is put into exploring their dynamic.
The Huntsman is a typical drunkard brooding over his wife’s death and who has his hope rekindled on meeting Snow White (cause she’s special or something). Snow White relies on him for protection, and ... that's about it really. There's ONE attempt to subvert/depart from the traditional story, by adding a love triangle with Snow's childhood playmate William (another non-entity) and with it being not his kiss, but the Huntsman's that awakens her from sleep. But it’s so half-baked, unresolved and again - practically meaningless - that it’s difficult to care.
So yeah, I'm afraid I wasn't hugely impressed - at least not by the story and characters. But its visuals are glorious, particularly Ravenna's gowns/hair/makeup (at one point she wears a sinister-looking spiked crown that I would KILL to see Katie McGrath wearing) and I could spot the homages to other stories: the White Stag was clearly based on Hayao Miyazaki's Forest Spirit in Princess Mononoke and the trolls and fairies looked exactly like Tony DiTerlizzi's illustrations in The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Here, just enjoy the glorious preview. It tells/shows you everything you need to know...
Once Upon a Time
So is it wrong that I’m a little disappointed that August ended up being Pinocchio instead of Baelfire? I realize that the writers still have Bay up their sleeves, but he was an established and interesting part of this particular mythos, and Pinocchio...well, isn’t. I'll reserve judgment until the real Bay shows up, but it still seems a bit of a lost opportunity.
The Queen's thwarted attempt at seducing David was nicely played - for a dreadful moment I thought that he was actually going to go through with it, but thankfully he's managed to claw back some of his respectability. He's going to be loyal to Mary, even if he's not technically with her. But Regina was the most fascinating character in this sequence, particularly since her decision to try it with David was spurred on by Mary's infinite forgiveness and patience. There's a lovely moment when David leaves and she smashes the mirror (hey, that's another obvious thing that never happened in Snow White and the Huntsman) in which she realizes just how low she's sunk and how "untouchable" Snow and Charming really are. They are good and she is evil, and I think she sees that for the first time - even if it was just for a second when she sees her own reflection.
There were some nice tiebacks in to the pilot episode, especially with deal that the Blue Fairy and Gepetto made, and the scene between Pinocchio/Emma by the tree was beautifully shot. Likewise, all the links to the theme of truth/lying/belief were well used through the character of Pinocchio. And we finally get an answer to the pages August put in the book (though I get the feeling that the writers initially did this without really knowing what to do with it, since this was a rather anticlimactic resolution to that particular plot-hook).
Only two episodes left!
***
Korra has come to an end, though I have yet to see the final two episodes (which I believe were aired in a one-hour special). The internet cops found the site where I was watching it, and so I haven't been able to track them down on-line yet. It's going to be a task trying to avoid spoilers, but hopefully I'll have seen it soon and be able to write down my thoughts on the series as a whole. Right now, I'll say that the story was more tightly plotted and mature than its predecessor, but I had nowhere near the same level of investment in its characters.
***
Still reading through the first book in T.A. Barron's Merlin saga, which bears virtually no resemblance whatsoever to the TV show. However, there are rumours floating around that this series is next in line to be adapted for the screen, so that should provide some interesting wank among the fanbase (I'm hoping along the lines of the Sherlock/Elementary drama).
That said, despite avoiding Merlin spoilers like the plague, I couldn't help but see a few pictures of Angel Coulby in her new costumes. This was my general reaction (except that the kid toned it down a little):
In other news, I now officially own a copy of Kate Mosse's Labyrinth. There's a new second-hand book shop opened in the local shopping mall and I made friends with the woman behind the counter who told me she would be on the lookout for any copies of it (saves me from buying the thirty dollar one at the university bookshop). I got a phone-call from her yesterday, and a copy had come in! Now it's just a matter of deciding whether to read it first or hold out for the mini-series. With images like this being released, it's going to test my willpower...
Ooh...the pretty....(can't quite figure out what's on Katie McGrath's forehead though)...
Snow White and the Huntsman
Well, I enjoyed it, but only because I had seen the lukewarm reviews and so set my expectations accordingly. But after getting sucked into the beauty and majesty of the trailer, as well as all the potential that a premise as awesome as “Snow White as an Action Movie” could have delivered on, it was a disappointment. Three things really stuck out for me.
1) Snow White as an action movie is, as I said, a great idea. Unfortunately it ends up being an incredibly generic action movie. There was an escape scene, a chase scene, a hunt scene, a fight scene, a restful scene, a battle scene, and then a one-on-one confrontation scene. None of it was hugely original or interesting, there were no twists or surprises, and nothing that made me go “oooh.”
Queen Ravenna isn’t defeated by Snow White in anything that comes even close to a satisfactory way. There is no cunning involved, no strategy or clever trick, no irony or beauty or skill or grace that is utilized in order to take her down. Instead they used the well-worn technique of a Chekhov’s Skill: a fighting move that is taught to Snow in the middle of the story, and then conveniently remembered in an utterly anticlimactic defeat that doesn’t take into account any of Ravenna’s weakness that could have been exploited. It’s just kinda boring.
2) Whoever wrote this script wasn't remotely interested in its source material. Snow White is one of my favourite fairytales because of the depth of its meaning and symbolism. The drops of blood, the turn of the seasons, the mirror and all it implies (reflections, looking at one’s true self, the future), the colour red, the stages of womanhood (one woman grows up as the other begins to age), innocence and corruption, the apple (temptation, the fall), the coma-like death, the kiss of life - I mean, you could write a thesis on all this stuff and how it all weaves together. Here, however? Nothing interesting is done with it, there is no exploration or thematic depth to it at all.
Take Snow White for example. She’s described throughout the story as the Chosen One. One character says “she is Life!” (you can hear the capital letter). But what does it mean? She can take down a troll by staring at it and the white stag gives her its blessing, but there’s no context to either of these things. They happen because she's chosen and she's chosen because the script says she is. By themselves they mean nothing.
(Okay, there MAY have been some attempt to justify this, as I remember some vague references to Snow’s blood, and the implication that this was how she was able to kill the Queen when no one else could - but again, none of it is explained and so it’s meaningless).
Then there’s the Queen. She’s given a tragic backstory which demonstrates that her beauty was a spell cast by her mother in order to save her when an army raided their village. But beyond the brief flashback sequence, this is never elaborated on, and it never quite fits with whatever Ravenna’s motivation is in conquering kingdom after kingdom. She's vengeful or something. And she hates men. I guess.
The mirror is a non-entity. We never learn where it comes from or what its powers are. At one point it's established that only Ravenna can communicate with the gold-shrouded figure in its depths (her brother watches her speaking to it, but can only see her and not the mirror manifestation) but ...so what? Once again, it's a plot device that goes nowhere and doesn't do anything. The dwarfs are equally pointless. They’re clearly only there because they’re a part of the fairytale, but the film has no idea what to do with them, and they could have been cut out completely with very little difference made to the actual plot. Snow's coma after biting the poisoned apple makes no sense either. The "rules" that surround her death and subsequent awakening aren't explained - it just happens because that's what happened in the fairytale.
Basically, everything that makes the fairytale so powerful is glossed over into the aforementioned generic action flick.
3) The movie is called Snow White and the Huntsman. This was another great idea. In the fairytale, the huntsman is a low-key but pivotal figure. He’s ordered by the Queen to take Snow White into the forest, murder her, and bring back her heart as proof of the deed. But he can’t go through with it, and urges Snow to run away. He then kills a deer and takes its heart back to the Queen: whether this is to save himself or to buy Snow more time is up to you to decide. He then disappears from the story entirely (though some versions mention that the Queen has him killed when she discovers his deception).
In this case, the act of killing Snow White is given to her brother Finn. When she escapes, the Huntsman is brought in to track her down. The story runs on the query that, having done this, what if the Huntsman decided not only to spare her life, but to protect her? And then to train her in warfare so that she had a fighting chance against the Queen? That’s a damn good idea right there, but again the movie just doesn’t make it interesting as very little effort is put into exploring their dynamic.
The Huntsman is a typical drunkard brooding over his wife’s death and who has his hope rekindled on meeting Snow White (cause she’s special or something). Snow White relies on him for protection, and ... that's about it really. There's ONE attempt to subvert/depart from the traditional story, by adding a love triangle with Snow's childhood playmate William (another non-entity) and with it being not his kiss, but the Huntsman's that awakens her from sleep. But it’s so half-baked, unresolved and again - practically meaningless - that it’s difficult to care.
So yeah, I'm afraid I wasn't hugely impressed - at least not by the story and characters. But its visuals are glorious, particularly Ravenna's gowns/hair/makeup (at one point she wears a sinister-looking spiked crown that I would KILL to see Katie McGrath wearing) and I could spot the homages to other stories: the White Stag was clearly based on Hayao Miyazaki's Forest Spirit in Princess Mononoke and the trolls and fairies looked exactly like Tony DiTerlizzi's illustrations in The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Here, just enjoy the glorious preview. It tells/shows you everything you need to know...
Click to viewOnce Upon a Time
So is it wrong that I’m a little disappointed that August ended up being Pinocchio instead of Baelfire? I realize that the writers still have Bay up their sleeves, but he was an established and interesting part of this particular mythos, and Pinocchio...well, isn’t. I'll reserve judgment until the real Bay shows up, but it still seems a bit of a lost opportunity.
The Queen's thwarted attempt at seducing David was nicely played - for a dreadful moment I thought that he was actually going to go through with it, but thankfully he's managed to claw back some of his respectability. He's going to be loyal to Mary, even if he's not technically with her. But Regina was the most fascinating character in this sequence, particularly since her decision to try it with David was spurred on by Mary's infinite forgiveness and patience. There's a lovely moment when David leaves and she smashes the mirror (hey, that's another obvious thing that never happened in Snow White and the Huntsman) in which she realizes just how low she's sunk and how "untouchable" Snow and Charming really are. They are good and she is evil, and I think she sees that for the first time - even if it was just for a second when she sees her own reflection.
There were some nice tiebacks in to the pilot episode, especially with deal that the Blue Fairy and Gepetto made, and the scene between Pinocchio/Emma by the tree was beautifully shot. Likewise, all the links to the theme of truth/lying/belief were well used through the character of Pinocchio. And we finally get an answer to the pages August put in the book (though I get the feeling that the writers initially did this without really knowing what to do with it, since this was a rather anticlimactic resolution to that particular plot-hook).
Only two episodes left!
***
Korra has come to an end, though I have yet to see the final two episodes (which I believe were aired in a one-hour special). The internet cops found the site where I was watching it, and so I haven't been able to track them down on-line yet. It's going to be a task trying to avoid spoilers, but hopefully I'll have seen it soon and be able to write down my thoughts on the series as a whole. Right now, I'll say that the story was more tightly plotted and mature than its predecessor, but I had nowhere near the same level of investment in its characters.
***
Still reading through the first book in T.A. Barron's Merlin saga, which bears virtually no resemblance whatsoever to the TV show. However, there are rumours floating around that this series is next in line to be adapted for the screen, so that should provide some interesting wank among the fanbase (I'm hoping along the lines of the Sherlock/Elementary drama).
That said, despite avoiding Merlin spoilers like the plague, I couldn't help but see a few pictures of Angel Coulby in her new costumes. This was my general reaction (except that the kid toned it down a little):
In other news, I now officially own a copy of Kate Mosse's Labyrinth. There's a new second-hand book shop opened in the local shopping mall and I made friends with the woman behind the counter who told me she would be on the lookout for any copies of it (saves me from buying the thirty dollar one at the university bookshop). I got a phone-call from her yesterday, and a copy had come in! Now it's just a matter of deciding whether to read it first or hold out for the mini-series. With images like this being released, it's going to test my willpower...
Ooh...the pretty....(can't quite figure out what's on Katie McGrath's forehead though)...