Showing posts with label fairy tale study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairy tale study. Show all posts

Saturday, November 14, 2020

The New "Fairy Tale TV" Website & Searchable Database Has Launched!

There is now a brand NEW online resource for fairy tales used in television and streaming media programming!

The site is called 
and looks like this:
(the FTTV letters standing for Fairy Tale TV) 

It's based on (but will be continually expanded from) the teleography of the wonderful 2014 scholarship book, Channeling Wonder, edited by Pauline Greenhill and Jill Terry Rudy, printed by Wayne State University Press. 
The book is not just an excellent study, it is also very accessible to read and useful for all types of educators. This is both a fun read and educational! We highly recommend this book, as we do with anything Pauline Greenhill and Jill Terry Rudy are involved with. These folks make it their job to keep up with shows and media from all over the world, to keep track of how people are using fairy tale narratives and motifs. (A pretty awesome job, if you ask us!)

And yes, the aim is to make the website as currently useful as possible, so you will be able to find shows that appeared after 2014, and are airing now, too. 

We also want to be sure to point out that this website includes an excellent blog too, carrying over from the original Visualizing Wonder blog, with interesting articles and musings on how fairy tales are being used in TV and media. We'll return to this shortly. First let's explain what the main website is for.

The new FTTV website gives this brief description on the front page, so that people looking to use the database, have an idea of how to use it in their own work and studies:
Database of Fairy Tales in TV Shows, Movies & Other Media
The Fairy Tale TV database is our collection of TV shows, movies, and other media that fit the description of both fairy tale and television. It is a searchable database that categorizes the media by series and episode title, genre, broadcast date, and tale type.
 
It can be used to see all instances of a single tale type, sort through different series’ use of fairy tale and genre, visualize the relative distribution throughout the decades of tale types and fairy tale television, and provide data for many other research questions. The database is most useful when analyzing FTTV across time and tale type in pursuit of either a broad view or in looking at specific examples of FTTV in certain genres or tale types. 

Jill Terry Rudy reading her co-authored book - check out how that book came to be HERE. The article simply explains how this area of study began and has revealed just how widely fairy tales are used in TV

It also gives a brief summary of the Data Visualization used on the site (interactive and accessible graphics! charts! correlating data points with fairy tale types!) as well as the Teleography of the project, which is still under construction.

If you're studying tales in the media, or trying to hunt down those shows that have influenced your own fairy tale work, then you're probably already excited to dive in. 

If you're an artist, writer, or other creative (instead of, or in addition to being a scholar) and wondering if it might be useful to you too, the answer is also YES! (The awesome illustration t the head of the post, used on the cover of Channeling Wonder, is a gigantic hint of the treasures available here.)

Let's tease you a bit with some of the current articles available to read on the blog, to give you an idea of how this information is, and can be, used, as well as why it's important to pay attention to how fairy tales are being used in media today:

Halle Bailey as Disney's new Little Mermaid & Yara Shahidi as the new Tinkerbell
The site gives a great example of how the database can be used, and we're adding it below:
Say, for example, you’re interested in looking at every episode that has to do with the tale type “Cinderella.” Click “filter by tale type” from the drop-down menu next to the search box at the top, type the query into the box, and hit search. Alternatively, type directly into the box next to the heading title above the “Tale Type” column. Both return the same 10 pages of Cinderella-related tv shows. That’s a lot of Cinderellas! Maybe too many. Let’s try narrowing the search by filtering by genre. Type “animation” into the little box next to the “Genre” heading. Now you only have the Cinderellas that have been animated. You can further refine your search with the “Show Date,” “Episode,” and “Series” columns in the same way.

Let’s try searching for something a bit broader. Clear your search preferences with the red “Clear” button on the top right. We’ll use the “Refine Search” box on the left to search for both Cinderellas OR Little Red Riding Hoods. Click “show more” under “Tale Types” in the box, and select all tale types you are interested in. The search will return all episodes that are tagged with either fairy tale. That’s a pretty big list. Filter the search to only shows produced in the 60s and 70s by typing “1960” and “1979” in the “Date Range” box. You can further refine the search with any of the filters for genre or series. Try searching for a specific episode or series within the filtered results by using the large search bar. Clicking “Clear Filters” will clear filters from the left box but will keep results from any search bars.
Hansel & Gretel in "The Simpsons" (TV series) and "Disenchantment" (Netflix series), both created by Matt Groening
You can start your search with any of the tagged categories—episode, series, genre, date of production, or tale type. Don’t be afraid to get specific or go exploring for more obscure series or tale types.
If you're thinking this would be great to explore for fun, you'd be right! This database, because it is working with fairy tales and tale types, is like an idea generator and connector, and a great way to find those shows and episodes you know you've seen but can't remember which series they came from or when. 

(Note: Don't be like us when you do a search and immediately start trying to type in the search box. Nothing will happen - and you'll look as silly as we did! When you click on the database link and a new search page comes up, click on the FILTER button FIRST and select it to ALL, or a different preference to get started, otherwise, it will seem like it's not working, even though it is. We don't want you to feel as foolish as we did when we finally figured it out...)

One note we want to address, as the question came up in a special online launch on Friday this week, of the newest book in the series, Fairy-Tale TV (also by Jill Terry Rudy and Pauline Greenhill, published by Routledge): 

The term "television" or "TV" might not seem relevant or correct in these streaming platform days, but in reality, people still talk about "what we're watching on TV tonight" so the term has stuck. 

Since the term "TV" is also attached to the series of books published so far under this specialized area of fairy tales studies, it helps to underscore this is an established, and developing area of study as well, and, as media becomes ever-more integrated into our daily lives, a very important subject for ongoing fairy tale study.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

3 Scholarships Available for "Rapunzel's Circle: Finding Enchantment Under Quarantine"!

Rapunzel by Wenjia Tang

A special note from Dr. Brittany Warman (also charmingly known as "Briarspell" on her social media accounts), Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic's co-founder, folklorist, teacher, writer and a slew of other giftedness - regarding the new course we just posted on, "Rapunzel's Circle: Finding Enchantment Under Quarantine": 
We should also mention that we're offering THREE full scholarships for this course,
so please e-mail us at
carterhaughschool@gmail.com
or watch our Facebook group for more information on that :).

How awesome is this? More than a few are having serious financial issues with the important and life-saving, but also challenging order to #stayathome, so now more folks can be involved, by-passing this difficulty altogether. (Our Fairy Tale Professors ROCK!)

Hope to see some familiar faces and/or names in the course next week!

"Rapunzel's Circle: Finding Enchantment Under Quarantine" - A New Fairy Tale & Folklore Course, Designed Specifically To Help Us Weather This Pandemic Storm

by Antonio Mora

Feeling overwhelmed, tired, frustrated, trapped and worried about so very many things?

Us too.


Having trouble finding magic in your days?

Us too.


Wishing fairy tales had answers or at least some refuge and hope?

We have something to offer!


Carterhaugh's School of Folklore and the Fantastic have gently been offering light and hope via social media, especially through their community on Facebook, on Instagram and sharing inspiring posts on their blog - which we recommend subscribing to.

As mentioned in a previous post, they've even offered a huge list of free resources aka "Rapunzel's Toolkit".

But now they're offering even more, specifically to help folks of the fairy tale and folkloric persuasion, in finding rest, solace, hope and community during this time of upheaval.

Fairy tale professors Dr. Sara Cleto and Dr. Brittany Warman have created a special course, designed to help RIGHT NOW:

"This course draws deeply on folklore and fairy tales to help you weather the storm. Our mission is to re-story you, to connect you to the community and combat loneliness, to inspire you creatively, and to help calm your restless mind.
(That is this-coming MONDAY folks!)
The course will include live lectures, an invitation to our private Facebook group, access to all the fairy tales we discuss, weekly fairy-tale incantations, and so much more. This course is, above all, about community. It is about coming together during a time of crisis and loneliness to meet with other, like-minded folk and form a space where compassion is alive and magic is still afoot. Your spark hasn’t gone out - we will find it together."
And if you want to take part but the last thing you feel you can manage is something else on your plate, you should know this course is designed, not as an intensive study, with tons of reading, huge projects or assignments but as something you can flit in and out of, whenever you find a few minutes of downtime. You can dip your toe in and get wonderfully refreshed in just for 10 minutes, or soak for a few hours and deep dive to your heart's content - it's up to you and the course allows for both approaches.

Here's an overview of what will be focused on in the weeks to come:

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO SIGN UP
This 4 week course is being offered at a lower than usual price to be more accessible to folks, and Carterhaugh offers different payment plans to make it easier too.

It should also be noted that these courses are a GREAT way to find other fairy tale folk and become part of a community. You are not alone at home, or in your quirky folkloric and enchanted interests! There are many folks out there like you (like us!) and these courses are a great way to discover thoughtful and kind people from all over the world - and, importantly right now, in a very safe way. Connecting while social distancing is made possible through communities like this one and creates a great introduction for when we can wander the world safely again, perhaps this time to share coffee, tea and conversation with new friends.

Note: Rapunzel's Circle logo for Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic by Cheryl Honeycutt

Friday, November 29, 2019

Give A Truly Folkloric Gift This Season: A *New* Winter Folklore Mini-Course Or A Self-Guided Long Course In Fairy Tale Classics! (Psst! BlackFriday Deal Alert!)

The award-winning Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic have TWO new courses enrolling, a winter folklore mini-course and a self-guided master course on fairy tales... AND they're both 15% off right now with code WINTERMAGIC! (Sale through Monday 12/2/19.)

Here are some more details to entice to you join - or gift! - the growing community of folks avidly learning about folklore and fairy tales under the guidance of folklorists Professor Brittany Warman and Professor Sara Cleto. We got the chance of a fly-by catch-up with our fairy tale professors to ask them a couple of fun questions for you about the courses as well... (see the text in blue below each of the course descriptions):

The first course is perfect for the Winter Season and has been created by popular demand after the rousing success and high attendance in Carterhaugh's Halloween mini-course. The new interactive Winter course begins on January 8, 2020:

Enrollment is OPEN for our new mini-course “Kindling a Light in the Darkness: Winter Folklore and Fairy Tales”!
Let’s face it: the long dark of January and February is BLEAK. Once the December lights come down, the turkey (or, if you’re like us, Tofurkey and every last potato in town) has been gobbled up, and the fizzy champagne countdown to New Years is over, facing the cold winter months can feel seriously depressing, And so, we want you to join us in kindling a light and sharing a story or two when the year seems darkest.
By popular demand, we’ve conjured up another interactive Carterhaugh mini-course for you, poised right in the coldest and loneliest time of year. We invite you to take shelter from the wind and snow, pull up a chair by our fire, and gather round for stories, fellowship, and rituals to warm you down to your toes. Through a combination of video lectures, written tales, extra resources, and group discussion, we will lead you through some of our favorite winter folklore and fairy tales!
For more info and to enroll, visit HERE.

Speaking of favorite Winter folklore, we couldn't resist a pop-quiz question on the topic for the Carterhaugh School Fairy Tale Professors:

OUAB: You are having a decadent Winter Feast and need to invite: one folkloric character, one fairy tale person, one ghost and one animal. (Don't worry. They have promised to keep their hooves/paws/trotters off the table). Whom would you invite to your festive evening?

SaraPersephone (because, between bouncing back and forth between the underworld and the surface, she's learned to be a good conversationalist with all kinds of different people), Lady Mary from the fairy tale "Mr. Fox" (because she's one of my fairy-tale heroes - girl is FIERCE), the Ghost of Christmas Present (because he'd be so happy to be there), and Tatterhood's goat (because she is a fine and noble steed)!

BrittanyThe White Cat (who yes, is from a fairy tale too, but fairy tales are folklore, sooooo 😝!), the 13th fairy from “Sleeping Beauty” (because one simply does not NOT invite her, as we all know!), the Ghost of Christmas Past (bc I’d love to have a peek back in time of a Christmas with some of those I’ve lost over the years), and one of Santa’s magical reindeer (probably Vixen, I always loved her name!)

BONUS FOR EAST COAST FOLKS: For those interested in the darker side of Christmas, Yule and Winter holiday traditions and tales, on December 17th, 2019 there is a LIVE Profs and Pints talk in Washington DC – “You Better Watch Out: A Look at Terrifying Holiday Folklore Around the World” – A little note: these live sessions have been SELLING OUT so if you're genuinely interested in going, grab your tickets ASAP HERE. Here's a taste:
Today, the December holidays are all about joyous magic, warm evenings curled by the fire, and celebrations of the good in the world. Traditionally, however, the winter season also ushers in the terrors of the dark and the cold, teaching us to bar doors, whisper warnings, and, above all, to be good for goodness sake. 
While many are now familiar with the holiday terror of the Krampus, this talk will explore a few less familiar, but no less frightening, folkloric characters of the season. 
You'll hear tales of the Icelandic Jólakötturinn, a gigantic cat that devours naughty children, and learn how to best the Welsh Mari Lwyd, a skeletal horse with a taste for song and poetry. You'll get to know the Eastern European Christmas witch Frau Perchta and trace the history of the sometimes mischievous, sometimes terrifying Yule Lads and their monstrous mother, Grýla.
The second offering is an in-depth master course in the classic fairy tales, consisting of ten comprehensive lessons:

Introduction to Fairy Tales
A self-guided course through classic tales and traditional folklore

Once upon a time...
A girl in red walked into the woods with a basket for her grandmother. There, she wandered from the path, talked to a strange wolf, was eaten, was saved.

Or, once upon a time…
The girl, who did not wear red, went into the woods. She met a werewolf, chose the Road of Needles instead of the Road of Pins. She performed a striptease for the wolf, tricked him, and ran back home, and slammed the door behind her.

Or, once upon a time…
A girl, once more in red, walked into the woods. She wandered, talked, was eaten. She was not saved, and she remained in the wolf’s belly.

A teeny preview of one of the beautiful
'grimoire' pages created for participants
to download & collect into their
own personal study volume.
To read the info-goodies you will have
to join..


In this self-guided online course, “Introduction to Fairy Tales,” we welcome you across the threshold of Carterhaugh to explore a collection of wonder tales from around the world- stories you may know, stories you may think you know, stories that are strange and unfamiliar. Through a combination of video lectures, supplemental readings, and extra resources, we will introduce you to the wide world of fairy-tale scholarship and provide the history, context, and tools to begin analyzing these stories and applying them to your own life.

For more info and to enroll, visit HERE.

Applying fairy tales to one's own life felt like it deserved a pop-quiz question too. Sara & Brittany very kindly humored us with wonderfully reflective answers...

OUAB: As you explain in this course, fairy tales are classified by their "tale-type" or "the things that happen in the fairy tale" and can sometimes reflect people's lives. While therapists can use this as a tool of exploration, just for fun, what would you each say is a "tale type" you feel reflects an aspect of your lives? (To make it harder we're nixing the reply of regularly losing shoes like Cinderella...)

BrittanyI’m going to have to go with “Sleeping Beauty” for this question. Most people know it’s my favorite fairy tale, but I also feel a deep connection to the story. All my life I’ve been shy, quiet, and typically not too willing to stick up for myself... sleeping, in some sense. But the older and more confident I get, the more I feel I am “awakening” from that, awakening to the person I’m truly meant to be. And that, to me, is kind of what “Sleeping Beauty” is all about.

SaraThe answer I give to this question will change depending on the day, but today, it's "Snow White." "Snow White" was my least favorite fairy tale growing up, because I thought Snow White was really weak and passive - and I wanted so badly to be strong and confident. As I've grown older (and given this fairy tale a lot more thought), I've realized that "Snow White" is a story about survival and success, despite incredible odds. I've grown much more compassionate towards Snow White herself (who is only seven years old in the Grimm version!) and more compassionate to myself, especially when I think about my own challenges through the lens of this particular fairy tale. 

Thanks Sara & Brittany! We love the humor, delight and insight you bring to every conversation - even pop-quizzes!

We at Once Upon A Blog have participated in a few Carterhaugh courses and highly recommend them both to people new to fairy tale studies, as well as those looking for something a little more in-depth. Both Sara and Brittany are wonderfully enthusiastic while being well-researched and clear in their unique tag-team style teaching. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else, and best of all, being based in an online format, their courses are available for ANY enthusiast, no matter their background, level of education, or location (yes - there are students joining from all over the world!) and they are committed to making this learning opportunity available at an affordable price. They are forever expanding their courses and the ways in which they are teaching and we feel lucky to have seen the formation of this wonderful school that was recently awarded the Dorothy Howard Prize, as recognition of
excellence, relevance, and innovation in folklore education, by The American Folklore Society. (In case it's not clear - this school is considered excellent by all those professional folklorists you respect!)

We hope to see some of you in the courses to come!

Friday, October 18, 2019

Maleficent As A Modern Day Mélusine

Image
[Art: ‘Melusine’, from “Les grandes Sataniques de l'histoire de la Légende” by Roland Brévannes, Select Bibliothèque, 1907]
Maleficent (Disney 2014)
Note: This theory/exploration was put together for #MythologyMonday back in August on Twitter*, by our Editor Gypsy Thorton, using the character limited format. We have expanded and reworded some of her tweets for easier reading (starting below our intro and the dragon flanked with stars).

This is a set of linked tweets (known as a 'thread') exploring the possibility of Maleficent (being a dragon-shape-shifter) as a modern variant of Melusine. (When Gypsy contributes fresh content, she will inevitably find a way to reference fairy tales, no matter what the theme is.) We, too, believe there is a fairy tale link to every topic and situation under the sun...

With Maleficent: Mistress of Evil opening in theaters today, we thought it might be fun to expand the thread for a blog post, even though it has no real bearing on the Disney's live-action Maleficent movies... or does it?
Melusine and Raymon by Troy Howell
Who was Melusine? (A Quick Refresher)
(Description via Storytelling Toronto):
Melusine is both a mythic and historical character in French legend. She is best known for her secret: that every Saturday, she had to disappear into the bath, where the lower part of her body took on the form of a serpent. 
Melusine was a great queen and benefactress. Her mother was a “maiden of the wells,” a fairy from the “Lost Isles” of Avalon. Her father was a mortal king, the king of Albany, now Scotland. Melusine became entangled in mortal life, married, and had ten sons who were powerfully gifted and cursed. She was said to have built many cities and abbeys, some of which still exist in France. This mythic queen left her imprint on the physical landscape of France and Scotland, and her baffling story draws us back to early Christianity and the demonization of the enchantress.^
Melusine escaping: Cover of
'The Legend of Melusine' (French)
by
Michèle Perret (artist unknown)
As she was finishing her story-thread on Twitter, Gypsy found a recently-published scholarly compilation for which one of the contributors apparently had similar thoughts, including a discussion of the link in their paper. She included mention of the book at the end of her tweets (see end of the post for the title plus a description and relevant excerpts we were able to hunt down) but we had hoped to obtain a copy to read before sharing it all here. Unfortunately, this is one of those uber-expensive volumes (upwards of $100!) so, apart from some interesting sneak-peeks via previews (which we will also share excerpts of below) we're just going to have to keep it on a watchlist.

In the meantime, we remain thrilled that some medieval literature and legend experts had also found a connection to Maleficent, taken their scholarly skills, time and effort to do comprehensive research, then published an exploration of the concept as part of their work. Their discussion of Maleficent's story having included some of the Melusine narrative in a modern form, though, is only a portion of one of the included papers in the book. From the excerpts we've been able to glimpse in previews, all other aspects are just as interesting. We are looking forward to the time we can read it in full. (Details and links at the end of post.)
Enjoy!

* * * Dragon on LG G5 * * *
Today's theme for #MythologyMonday (August 29, 2019) is #MythologicalCreatures, so let's talk shapeshifting dragons, female ones; especially one in particular: Maleficent, but not as she's usually considered.

Imagine Maleficent as a 'modern' day Melusine, as some versions of the legend say Melusine was. (Not a mermaid, or typical fairy, but perhaps a type of fairy-wyvern hybrid, which fits with the text).
Image
[Art: The Marriage of Le Belle Melusine, Jessie Bayes, 1914]
Now imagine Melusine/Maleficent as a younger, more innocent creature. One day, when she was happily wandering in the woods, she met -some versions say rescued- a young French lord, Raymond of Poitou, and they fell in love.

Before long they were to be married. He didn't know she was Other and, in love, promised to give her the privacy of a private bath on Saturdays - with no peeking - ever!
Image
[Art: Nataša Ilincic]
Melusine was a prize for the Nobleman; not only was she beautiful, she made him 'lucky'. In reality, she used her dragon-hoarding abilities to attract wealth & built castles for him. She was very fertile, giving him ten children, with not a single hybrid among them to give her away, though they did have unusually large teeth and brilliant eyes...**
Image
[Art: Julius Hübner 'Die schöne Melusine' 1844]
But Melusine's husband (Raymond) had a jealous brother who 'bedeviled' Ray with doubts about Melusine's faithfulness. Eventually (after at least ten children had been born) Ray gave in to his brother's decade-plus of mind-poisoning, and he finally broke his promise to Melusine, spying on her. He discovered her in her marble bath in partial-dragon form and, his mind already set against her, recoiled in horror.
Melusine / Illumination, Flemish, c. 1410–1420, attributed to Guillebert de Mets.
“Melusine s’enfuit transformée en vouivre” (Melusine flees disguised as a dragon).
Betrayed and heartbroken, Melusine spread her dragon wings as she backed away to the nearest window then, with a cry, fled the castle forever.
Image
[Art: The figure of Melusine, at the 16th century sculpture garden of Bomarzo, Italy.]
Though poor Melusine had fled for her life, she was heartbroken and missed her family. It was said she could sometimes be spotted, high above the castle, weeping. (Legend says you can still see her on moonless nights.)

Some say Melusine was a fairy, or mermaid or a serpent but don't believe it - she was a dragoness.
Image
[Art: by coucyi on Tumblr]
Did Melusine end up taking residence in a castle that crumbled to ruin over time and failing fortunes?

Did she become bitter and cynical about true love, vowing to thwart foolish young noble women, cursing them to sleep before they could have their freedom -and their love- betrayed?
Image
[Art: Eyvind Earle concept painting of "Maleficent" as the Dragon from Sleeping Beauty. (Walt Disney, 1959) ]
And did she finally give in completely to her true draconic nature when a young princess, hailed the Dawn of the New Age+, was about to make the same mistake she once had in the woods, only to tragically become a trophy once again, only this time on a Prince's wall?

We'll never truly know. All we can say in certainty is that loving a dragoness is not for the faint of heart.
#MythologyMonday #Maleficent

[To trace more scholarly musings on Melusine, this book may be of interest: "Melusine’s Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth"]
Image
Description:
Melusine's Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth
Editors: Misty Urban, Deva Kemmis, and Melissa Ridley Elmes
In Melusine’s Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth, editors Misty Urban, Deva Kemmis, and Melissa Ridley Elmes offer an invigorating international and interdisciplinary examination of the legendary fairy Melusine. Along with fresh insights into the popular French and German traditions, these essays investigate Melusine’s English, Dutch, Spanish, and Chinese counterparts and explore her roots in philosophy, folklore, and classical myth. 
Combining approaches from art history, history, alchemy, literature, cultural studies, and medievalism, applying rigorous critical lenses ranging from feminism and comparative literature to film and monster theory, this volume brings Melusine scholarship into the twenty-first century with twenty lively and evocative essays that reassess this powerful figure’s multiple meanings and illuminate her dynamic resonances across cultures and time. 
Contributors are Anna Casas Aguilar, Jennifer Alberghini, Frederika Bain, Anna-Lisa Baumeister, Albrecht Classen, Chera A. Cole, Tania M. Colwell, Zoë Enstone, Stacey L. Hahn, Deva F. Kemmis, Ana Pairet, Pit Péporté, Simone Peger, Caroline Prud’Homme, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Renata Schellenberg, Misty Urban, Angela Jane Weisl, Lydia Zeldenrust, and Zifeng Zhao.
* * * Dragon on LG G5 * * *
Almost a month after Gypsy's story thread, one of the editors, Dr. Melissa Ridley Elmes, added this tweet for the #FolkloreThursday theme of the week: Mythological Creatures
Since first finding Melusine's Footprint, we have tracked down some previews and excerpts that include discussion of Maleficent. Here's a small taste:

[From Misty Urban's paper: How the Dragon Ate the Woman: The Fate of Melusine in English:]
... in what might so far be the closest reunion of the dragon and the woman on the screen of a blockbuster film: Disney's 2014 live-action Maleficent, which re-envisions the supernatural fairy enchantress of the Sleeping Beauty legend into a figure much like Melusine. With horns on her head highly reminiscent of the headdress Melusine wears in late medieval and early modern woodcuts, the fairy Maleficent otherwise appears human in form save for a pair of wings, of which she is deprived in the course of the movie by a false lover. The Maleficent of this film harbors strongly protective maternal instincts and is a powerful enchantress with unlimited resources who can physically transform her kingdom at will and who is its recognized ruler. While male betrayal is a prevalent motif, the emotional charge of the narrative rests on the way that the two central female characters lift the curse on each other: Maleficent herself breaks the curse of the death-like sleep she laid on Aurora, and an awakened Aurora consequently restores her wings to Maleficent, who, in a film moment highly evocative of Melusine's final exit transforms into  winged creature, exits the castle that entraps her by shattering a stained-glass window, and then flies about the parapets, screaming, as she sends the malicious King Stefan to his death. [Urban pp. 386]
Melusine - Illumination, French, 15th century.
"Melusine escapes Raymond in Dragon form / Melusine appears to breastfeed her sons". Illustration to the "Roman de Melusine" of the troubadour Couldrette (1401). Ms français 383, fol. 30, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale.
And, an excerpt from the final paper, commenting on what this anthology volume adds to the already extensive scholarship published on Melusine:
Urban's contribution reveals that the decades following second wave feminism have witnessed the return of a polymorphic Melusine in innovative new interpretations. Constrating with premodern tendencies to soften Melusine's hybridity, young adult fiction has endowed the fully serpentine character with an apotropaic role, while the metamorphic, aerial Maleficent, who sits at the heart of a Hollywood fantasy film exploring women's protective and destructive qualities, strikingly revels in her alterity. [Colwell, pp. 398]
You can purchase the book HERE at the publisher's website. This includes a list of the papers included. Each 'locked link' still gives you a limited preview (after clicking on the chapter title), and is great food for thought, even just having a glimpse. Alternately you can find a copy (often cheaper) HERE on Amazon.

And if you go see Melusine, er Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in theaters this weekend, drop us a line, a comment or tag @inkgypsy on Twitter, and let us know your impressions.
^ You can read a more detailed story-like summary of Melusine, including why she had to bathe every Saturday in semi-dragon form, HERE. (Note: the website is in French - Google translate gives you the gist but knowing some French helps!) Otherwise, Wikipedia's Melusine entry has a lot to offer and link you to, if you want to begin a "deep dive".

‘Melusine’, from “Les grandes Sataniques
de l'histoire de la Légende” by Roland Brévannes,
In case you are interested in joining in on social media and saying 'hi', Gypsy does her best to visit three different Twitter weekly events (even if only briefly, or toward the end of the time frame). They are:
#MythologyMonday
#FairyTaleTuesday
#FolkloreThursday
Just put the hashtag in the search box to find all the tweets. Everyone is welcome to observe, tweet and contribute and each week usually has a theme, though off-topic mythology, folklore or fairy tale information, art, and questions are OK too. You can just search the hashtag and read without posting, or reply and have a discussion, or add a new tweet to the content - whatever you'd like. Just be sure to add that day's hashtag so people can see your comments. Each group has a lot of overlap and all of them are very friendly folks.

** Wondering what happened to those large-toothed, brilliant-eyed children?  Here you go (via Castles, Celtics & Chimeras):
The Ten Children of MélusineMélusine gave Raymond ten sons. But the count, though very proud of having so many children, was not always very comfortable looking at them.
1st: Urian - who became king of Cyprus - was "in every way well-formed, except that he had a short and full face, a red eye and the other person [blue and green], and the largest ears that have never been seen to a child;
2nd: Eudes , had an unquestionably larger ear than the other ";
3rd: Guion , had "one eye higher than the other";
4th: Antoine, handsome and well made like his brothers, except that he wore "a lion's paw on the cheek, and before he was eight, he became hairy, with sharp claws"
5th: Renaud , had only one eye, but remarkably piercing;
6th: Geoffroy , had a 3 cm canine that came out of his mouth;
7th: Fromont , who became a monk at Maillezais, had a hairy spot on his nose;
8th: Horrible , incredibly tall, had three eyes, and he was so ferocious that before 4 years old he had killed 2 of his nannies ".
9th: Thierry , was normal;
10th: Raymonnet , was normal too.
+ Aurora (Disney's chosen "princess name" for Sleeping Beauty, who, in the animated classic, which Maleficent references, grows up being called 'Briar Rose', or just 'Rose' by the three fairies, Fauna, Flora and Merryweather.)