A Real Life Fairy Tale

As an unabashed Anglophile, I've always been "meh" about the modern Royal Family. (I prefer the underrated soap-opera-y goodness of E!'s The Royals. Like, I know it's trashy and ridiculous, but there's something comforting about it -- and it's kind of fun to imagine what goes on behind the closed doors of royal palaces. Us Weekly -- or one of them -- shows that celebrities are just like us, but are royals? I'd like to think so, but sometimes it's hard to imagine. Although articles like this make it a little easier -- Huffpost's "Experts Dissect Meghan Markle’s Mother’s Body Language With The Royal Family." Although it's weird to think of Charles -- arguably the villain in Diana's narrative -- as "the nice guy.")

But I digress.

The point is, I didn't wake up early to watch The Royal Wedding. I didn't have any plans to, despite thinking that Harry & Meghan make a more relatable couple than William and Kate ever did. But that's a can of worms for another day. But then my husband had the coverage on, and I was curious what kind of dress Meghan Markle was wearing as well as what celebrities were invited/attending. (Sidebar: I love that the cast of Suits were invited...to the ceremony at least. I don't know why, but it makes me happy. I see it as genuine affection.)

But I digress again. The point is, I got sucked into the coverage and as I was watching the highlights, two things struck me. One, how modern, American, and black the ceremony was (for a royal wedding) and two, how Meghan Markle was basically Cinderella -- in appearance, not necessarily her life story, proud feminist that she is. When I saw her walking down the stairs, Disney fan that I am, this is what I thought of:

via Cosmo

And, thankfully, I'm not alone. Check out this article from Cosmo, and this tweet: 

A Disney fairy tale turned reality. Meghan Markle is the real life Cinderella #royalwedding pic.twitter.com/DpLoYZZXiT

— Umeh and 99 others (@UmehOMA) May 19, 2018

Aaaand now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The Disney Version

I was talking with a student after class today about how Disney has a tendency to "Disney-fy" the original fairy tales it adapts -- giving the much-darker-tales a happy ending and omitting the "squishy" stuff. (See, for instance, the original ending to "Sleeping Beauty" or Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid.") We talked about "The Little Match Girl" in particular -- could Disney give that story a happy ending? (I think they could. They'd sprinkle a little pixie dust in the writer's room and bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, you'd have a Disneyfied story through rose-colored classes.)

Regardless, our conversation made me think of this post from Disney Memes:

One of these days I'll get around to reading those newly-discovered fairy tales. But I'd still bet that Disney could take one of those tales and turn it into a blockbuster.

Disney Wedding Special Coming to Freeform (a.k.a. ABC Family)

Disney is basically synonymous with "childhood" and "innocence" -- or, at least, that's the idea the company has worked hard to cultivate. 

But Walt Disney famously once said, 

"I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty."

And the Disney Parks are family vacation destinations -- after all, the best package prices are for a family of four (two adults, two children). Leaving aside the implications of this (what if you have a bigger family/more than two kids? what if you have a smaller family? what if you go with friends? what if you go with your someone special?),  Disney has never been just for children.

Lately, though, they have been consciously expanding their consumer base -- or, at least, their appeal to their consumer base. That is, parents are the ones who decide to take their kids, so adults are kind of always there. But, recently, there's been a clear effort to appear to parents as "adults," and not just as "caretakers of the tiny humans" (which, as a parent myself, I appreciate). That's the reason Disney has sunk a lot of money into the Downtown Disney (I think it's called Disney Springs, now?) renovation with restaurants and nightlife as well as into their restaurants.

But, perhaps most indicative of Disney's attempt to appeal to adults (specifically adult women) is their Fairy Tale Weddings.

And, if you want to learn more, you can soon watch a 90-minute special on fairy-tale weddings on Freeform. According to Broadway World (because I refused to link to US Weekly):

"The 90-minute special, which will air this spring 2017, will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the magical weddings and one-of-a-kind engagements that take place at Disney Destinations around the globe, including Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Cruise Lines. From fashion and products to world-class entertainment and décor, viewers will get a glimpse of the modern day fairy tale that Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings brand has been creating for 25 years."

#consumerism.

Lin-Manuel Miranda + Disney's The Little Mermaid

Yes, you read that right. Current It-Boy Lin-Manuel Miranda is teaming up with Disney on a live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

BRB. I need to go die of fangirl-excitement.

via EW

According to Deadline, Miranda will (1) co-produce the film (he's not writing the story but will "supervise" it) and (2) will write songs with Alan Menken.

The article mentions that it's an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" but...I'm pretty sure it's just going to be a remake of the 1989 Disney film (a.k.a. my first Disney love and obsession) as Andersen is a bit too dark for Disney. (Also, Chloe Grace Moretz is starring in that film -- and she's been adamant about it is darker and it's not the Disney version.)

All that being said...I have no idea what a "live-action" adaptation of a story about mermaids and evil sea witches and set largely underwater even looks like. I mean...I would imagine it's something akin to a "live-action adaptation" of The Jungle Book where by "live-action" they mean "largely CGI." Although, Annie Leibowitz made a bunch of Olympic swimmers look like convincing merpeople, so it could happen. (Still one of my favorites things EVER.)

I'll end with this final thought: I have complete trust in LMM. I know he's not writing the story (yet), but if anyone can pull off a live-action adaptation and make it new and fresh, it's him. After all, if you'd told me that Broadway's hottest ticket right now would be to a rap-musical based on the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, I would have laughed and epically eye-rolled.

Happy Birthday, Charles Perrault!

Loving today's Google Doodle in honor of Charles Perrault's birthday:

Not *technically* Disney-related, but tangentially related: after all, Perrault wrote (or "collected") some of the more "famous" fairy tales and Walt Disney based the 1950 animated Cinderella off of Perrault's version of the story. (Understandably, the Grimms' version of the story, "Aschenputtel," with the stepsisters hacking off parts of their feet and getting their eyes plucked out in the end didn't fit with the Disney way of things.)