Tag Archives: fairy tales

The Dark Crystal

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“Another World, Another Time… In the Age of Wonder. A thousand years ago, this land was green and good, until the Crystal cracked. For a single piece was lost; a shard of the Crystal. Then strife began, and two new races appeared: the cruel Skeksis… the gentle Mystics.” (photo from The Dark Crystal)

Puppeteer Jim Henson (1936-1990) was born in Greenville, Mississippi on September 24. He created the Muppets, including Kermit the Frog, and Bert and Ernie, entertaining and educating generations of children via the daily TV show Sesame Street. He also oversaw The Muppet Show and several Muppet movies. But his non-Muppet feature, The Dark Crystal, was a stunning visual adventure into a fantasy world previously unexplored.

The Dark Crystal’s theatrical release in 1982 was overshadowed by competition over the Christmas of that year, including Tootsie and the already massively successful E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top 10 Fantasy Films list.

I always liked the Dark Crystal story line and the characters. It is a classic fairy tale in the style of the original un-sanitized Brothers Grimm collection; in fact, it was Henson’s intention was to “get back to the darkness of the original Grimms’ Fairy Tales”, as he believed that it was unhealthy for children to never be afraid. When he was conceptualizing the evil Skeksis, Henson had in mind the Seven Deadly Sins, though because there were 10 Skeksis, some sins had to be invented or used twice.

I remember the day in May, 1990 of Henson’s funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. All the Muppet characters attended and sang a medley of Henson’s favorite songs. Life magazine described it as “an epic and almost unbearably moving event.”

Weight Watchers and Fairy Tales

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The Viewmaster depiction of Hansel and Gretel, the witch, and her gingerbread house were among my favorite childhood illustrations of one of my favorite fairy tales.

The Viewmaster depiction of Hansel and Gretel, the witch, and her gingerbread house were among my favorite childhood illustrations of one of my favorite fairy tales.

I started the Weight Watchers program in late November because I refuse to buy new clothes — everything I own was getting too snug! I had always refused to dignify weight loss efforts in the past by going to Weight Watchers but this time I finally capitulated. It couldn’t hurt to give it a shot, right? So far, I have lost about 25% of my excess weight on the Weight Watchers program and aim to keep losing more until I reach my “goal” weight — and all my clothes fit properly again.

The “fat and jolly old elf” of A Visit From St. Nicholas is a kindly old gentleman who is well-disposed toward others. But he is the exception.Overweight people appear in fairy tales but the image of “overweight,” often tied to “jolly,” is not always so innocent. Overweight people, in the world that give rise to fairy tales, were often wealthy and their weight indicated just how wealthy — and lazy? they had too many servants as well as too much food — they were.

But sometimes being overweight as a code word for “greedy.” The giants in fairy tales (such Jack and the Beanstalk or Jack the Giant-killer, etc.) were also greedy and lazy as well as large and heavy.

Hansel and Gretel wanted to eat the witch’s house and were rewarded for their efforts by her attempts to eat them! Hansel hid his obesity from the witch by using an old, dry chicken(?) bone he found at the bottom of his cage rather than his own finger when she wanted to check his growing weight.

Hansel and Gretel were not the only ones to discover the dangers of eating the food of a witch. Folk tales from all over the world warn that eating the food of a witch, a demon, a djinn, a troll, an ogre, or the faeries can be a dangerous proposition. You might owe your youngest child in return, or be bound to your host for the rest of your life.

Hopefully, the Weight Watchers program will save me from all these possible fates. Fingers crossed — but all bets are off if I find a gingerbread house in Central Park!

Everything Was Beautiful… at the Ballet!

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The lobby of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, where the American Ballet Theatre performs.

The lobby of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, where the American Ballet Theatre performs.

Every year we get season tickets to the spring-summer fairy tale performances of the American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Center. This year’s season included La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and just concluded with the stunning production of Cinderella. Every year I fall in love with these stories and the music all over again — although the new production of Sleeping Beauty this year was very disappointing: the performances by the dancers were spectacular but the choreography itself and the costumes/sets were not exciting.

Cinderella’s tale is, of course, one of the best known fairy tales in the English-speaking world although there are so many variants of it from so many cultures that it probably ranks as one of the best known tales anywhere. (One version has been traced back to Egypt in 7 B.C.) For an interesting article on the history of the tale, click here.

One aspect of the story that is hardly discussed is the likelihood of anyone ever really having a godmother or godfather who was a fairy. In standard Christian practice, a godparent must be a baptized member of the Church and promises to raise the newly-baptized child in the faith. This means that a non-Christian was not eligible to serve as godmother or godfather. For a fairy to be eligible to serve as godmother, the fairy would have to have been a baptized convert to Christianity — a highly unlikely possibility as baptismal/holy water was considered anathema to fairy folk and immersion or sprinkling with the consecrated water would have incinerated the fairy! If a fairy DID convert and survived the baptism, this raises two questions. One was WHY would a fairy convert to Christianity? The other was much larger and did actually impact theology: fairies were non-human and there were serious questions in medieval western Europe about whether non-humans (ex. animals, who had no souls or angels, who had no bodies) could be saved. A fairy godmother — if one were to actually exist — would force many theologians to rethink their basic assumptions of how God works in the world.

But still, who hasn’t wanted a fairy godparent looking over their shoulder to protect them at least once in a while?!

My partner Elliot and I on the Grand Staircase of the Metropolitan Opera as we enter for this year's performance of "Cinderella."

My partner Elliot and I on the Grand Staircase of the Metropolitan Opera as we enter for this year’s performance of “Cinderella.”