Once upon a time Happily-Ever-Afters, Prince Charmings and all things Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson fed my imagination.
As my reading preferences evolved, my fascination morphed into a new interest in the sub-genre – Fairy Tales Retellings. I realised that there is more to Fairy Tales than magic, wonder and a world neatly divided into good or evil, black or white. A world unexplored. A grey. It drew me to revisit Fairy Tales, this time from a different perspective. Interestingly, Fairy Tales were originally written for adults and later adapted as children’s tales in the 19th Century. The retellings take familiar characters and storylines, twisting them to mirror modern values.
The 21st Century authors dive deeper into familiar archetypes creating more complex and dynamic characters, revealing layers of emotions and even evoking sympathy for antagonists in readers, making them real, likeable even. Non-traditional publishing, audio books, podcasts, OTT platforms and cinema make allowances for creative minds to push the envelope, making way for new interventions in storytelling.
Personally, the darker and less-chipper tales fascinate me. I lean towards them because they shift the lens where a princess doesn’t need a prince to rescue her, there is no promise of a happily ever after and all stepmothers are not evil. They break stereotypes and outdated values written into stories. A woman transforming for the man she loves, be it Cinderella or The Little Mermaid, no longer concur with the ideals of equality and independence that I believe in. Perfection is overrated as is a myopic focus on finding the right man and marriage. In contrast, the retellings offer a wider range of emotions making the stories more compelling to read (or watch).
In the television series, Once Upon a Time, I met identifiable Fairy Tale characters in a web of interconnected retellings playing out ordinary lives with complicated pasts in the contemporary world of Storybrooke. In the book series, The Land of Stories, I charted the adventures of half-mortal twins Alex and Connor, as they jumped into a book of Fairy Tales, introducing modern day goods and ideals to the characters they meet. I felt part of the interaction between two worlds. In Fairy Tales for Millennials by Bruno Vincent Sleeping Beauty wakes up woke, there is some trolling, a porridge pop-up and Red Riding Hood critiquing the wolf for appropriation of granny culture. Relevant much? Just like the futuristic twist given to the classics by Marissa Meyers in The Lunar Chronicles. Even though shows like Ever After High and movies like Descendants 1,2 &3 owe their popularity to Fairy Tales, they have managed it to bring them to generation next.
There is a certain allure to the untold and the unknown that retellings offer. In the rabbit hole of my imagination, I often wondered What could have been? and What if... Retellings answer them and go beyond to open a gateway of imagination outside the realm of possibilities for readers everywhere.
Nandini Tyagi
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