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no butch on tv so i just pick a guy and go "what if he had boobs under there." call that lesbian entertainment

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I love once upon a time. imagine being a human man. with a doctorate. and a successful therapeutic practice. with no fucking idea you’re actually a fucking cricket

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they were in love here

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I loved the evil girlgroup

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Once Upon a Time’s Unintentionally Accurate Politics of the Enchanted Forest

One of the more hilarious things to me about Enchanted Forest politics as we see them in the show is that it actually maps as a geopolitical landscape quite well onto the world in which the Snow White story was drawn.  

Just to set a stage:   Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the folk stories and fairy tales we know today including Schneeweißchen in 1812.  The story had been circulating for decades and perhaps centuries before their publication thought the version as it is most well matched to theirs is probably from the late 17th or early 18th century.  

Germany as we know it is a country younger than the United States, only unified officially in 1871.  So at the time the Grimms were writing and in particular at the time that the Snow White story originated there were between 25-55 more or less (some more and some much less) independent states.  There were a handful of kingdoms (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) as well as Duchies, Principalities, and three large mercantile city states.  The politics between these states was obscenely complicated between economic might, military power, and intermarriage.  The above map is from 1789 to give you a sense of the place at the time the Snow White story was collected by the Grimm brothers.

Now let me present to you the Enchanted Forest.  A place with many kingdoms, some clearly richer than others (Midas versus George), some clearly more powerful than others.  Example:  

Regina and her armed guards walk into George’s castle unannounced and no one moves to challenge them.

Midas bows to Regina and she does not bow back.

We also have people like Belle’s family who are clearly noble families with castles and armies but who are not called kings.  The whole area can be crossed by horse back fairly easily, some of these kingdoms are very small in land mass according to the show, and they share a common culture.  I’d say Regina is a bit like the monarch of Prussia.  The big bully on the block who may not technically be over the others but that the others aren’t about to try and antagonize, while Midas might be the king of Bavaria, and George the king of Saxony, and Maurice would be like the prince of Schaumburg-Lippe or the duke of Anhalt (somewhere tiny but still a sovereign).

You could even extend this because relative to the Enchanted Forest peoples you have Arendelle which is based loosely on Norway (though Sweden is more appropriate for the politics of the 18th century since Norway was part of Sweden).  Cold, weirdly foreign, and you need a boat to get there.  And Camelot is a lot like the English (including antagonistic relationship with Scotland which was only merged with England in 1707 under the Act of Union): peopled by duplicitous arrogant assholes who don’t bath enough and who bully their Scottish neighbors.

I am in no way suggesting that the writers of Once Upon a Time deliberately set up their world building to match the fairy tale their show was based on.  But boy did they do it by accident to an amazing degree.

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OUAT Costume Designs by Eduardo Castro (4/?)

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all eldest children are obligated to leave their hometowns as early as possible lest they succumb to the various generational curses

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ONCE UPON A TIME 5.19, Sisters

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And what exactly do you think fairy tales are? They are a reminder that our lives will get better if we just hold onto hope.

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ouat + dogs.

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you know who else in funny? Neal. I cannot get over how much of a loser he is. And the fact that he thought he ever stood a chance when it came between him and Hook??? Guy Liner McPuppy Eyes? Emma walks into his his line of sight and his world is instantly rocked. Killian Jones would NEVER get engaged to a random woman on the street because he was too scared to face Emma. Also Neal has zero drip. Man is wearing a dirty t-shirt and sweatpants 100% of the time. Hook is in dashing black pirate attire. He’s got a detachable hook for a hand and has alluded to having ~other~ attachments for it as well. Baelfire calls his dad “papa” despite being a grown man. “When I win your heart, Emma, and I will win it. It will not be because of any trickery. It will be because you want me.” Neal baby i’m so sorry but you could nevvvverrrrrrr

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GOD. why did I draw this anyway. He's lost so much.

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And here I was hoping to make an entrance.