What is your favourite fairy tale and why?

By Madam Marie

I am back with doing BlogHer’s writing prompts… post to follow

I am a huge Disney fan.  I know, I know, he borrowed from the greats and made them his own, but think about it for a moment… Most artists and writers do borrow from the original and make it their own.  That is just the way the world works.  People borrowing from on another to either try to make it better, if not the same.  It is not illegal and it does not violate copyright law.  Copying and pasting to make it your own, and I have a couple of posts that speaks about that very problem.

Off -subject, let me focus

Anyway, like I said, I am a huge Disney fan.  I like the parks, the characters, all things Disney, so my favorite fairy tale comes from Disney.  I will have to say that my favorite fairy tale is The Princess and the Frog.  It is one of the newest movies, and yes, it is in book form, but the prompt did not say that it has to come from a book.  I have several reasons why this movie is my favorite.

            First of all, it is diversified.  It has several elements of that.  OK, dare I say it…. The female lead is African American AND she looks just like me.   OK, I do not expect anyone, but another African American dark-skinned female to understand this, but I will explain it.  When the entertainment world comes up with an African American character for some reason, they either go too dark or too light with the character in mind.  This includes drawn characters.  When I was little, there was very few I could see myself in, and Disney had none.  So, it seemed right to make her of African American decent.  Prince Naveen is not white, but either of Hispanic or Middle Eastern decent.  This was the first animated movie to do that.

            The music was upbeat.  OK, all of Disney’s movies has some climatic song, but I hate to admit it, but “Let It Go” from Frozen is a bit slow, but it fits for the scene that was drawn too, New Orleans in the Princess and the Frog is a lively place, even the swap area urged you to “Dig a Little Deeper” with Mama Ode. 

            How can you not love an alligator and a firefly?  Louie is the best.  He does not think he is an alligator, he just wants to play jazz, and he gets to towards the end of the movie.  (sorry for the spoiler alert for those who have not seen it.) It is the other people who have a problem with it. Ray, his love for Evangeline, who is actually a star, but he does not care, he just loves his Evangeline.  He gets to meet her too.

            Voodoo.  OK, I personally do not mess with that stuff.  I had some great aunts who did it, but I do not touch the mess.  My mom hated going to their house (OK, she went once, and my grandfather, being a Christian, did not like it).  Voodoo was the thing that got Prince Naveen in the mess he was in.   Dr. Facillier sings about “Friends on the Other Side”, and you do not want to mess them either.  Prince Naveen’s overseer loved it because that magic allowed him to become Prince Naveen while he was a frog.

These are some of the things that draw me to Princess and the Frog, and there is plenty more to talk about.  My only disappointment is in Disney and the Parks in regards to the characters.  When Princess and the Frog was released, there was much fanfare to them.  They even had a coronation ceremony to officially welcome Tiana into the Disney Princess fold. All the Princess up to that point was there, and it was done right there in New Orleans Square at Disneyland.  After a couple of months, with new shows featuring them on the riverboat, and a few other things, the characters sort of went away, except for events like Disney’s own version of Mardi Gras.  Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen finally were allowed to be in the newest castle show that started in May 2016, but none of the other characters can be seen anywhere else, even though Dr. Facillier can be seen with the other villains in a Halloween show. 

I invite you to seek out your own favorite fairy tale and comment in the section below.  Next, go to your writing journal, if you have one, and talk about your favorite fairy tale.