#Czechoslovak Fairy Tale

[valerieandherweekofwonderz]

Vlastimil Harapes as the Beast in Panna a netvor / Beauty and the Beast (1978) dir. by Juraj Herz.

[mrsandman42069]

you've all seen the little lesbian girls but have you seen their funky walk?

this is all of the episodes i think but they're still in the original language, it's still entertaining tho, Amalka is a fairy and has powers and takes care of nature

[batri-jopa]

Manka and her men

What would Rumcajs and Cipísek do without that brave and faithful girl?

My annual use of coloured pencils of 2020: baby blanket design for workmate's god daughter Hania (Manka was named Hanka in polish version of the cartoon)

[60s-heartshaped-chevrolet]

SPECIFIC MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS #1

🌙✨ Gothic Fairy-Tale Films with Strong Female Leads ✨🌙

🍒❤️‍🔥Hey lovelies,

If you're like me find endless inspiration in the aesthetics of gothic fairy-tales, then you're in for a treat! I've created a list of enchanting atmospheric films, perfect for a cozy evening with your favorite tea.

To start with, of course, an absolute classic: a folk horror, menstrual tale with possibly the most aesthetically beautiful frames I've ever experienced in cinema. I constantly post something from this film on my blogs.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970): This surreal Czechoslovakian film follows young Valerie as she discovers a dreamlike world filled with vampires and magic. It's a visually stunning exploration of adolescence and awakening womanhood.

2. Daughters of Darkness (1971): This cult classic Belgian horror film features a mysterious, seductive countess who preys on young lovers in a deserted hotel. it’s a hypnotic blend of gothic allure and vampiric intrigue.

3. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979): Werner Herzog's remake of the classic silent version. The film captures the gothic essence with stunning visuals and a chilling, melancholic tone. It's a mesmerizing exploration of fear and beauty.

4. The Vampire Lovers (1970): This Hammer Horror classic stars Ingrid Pitt as the alluring vampire Carmilla, who preys on young women in a secluded 19th-century village. it’s a captivating blend of horror and sensuality.

5. Beauty and the Beast (1978): This dark fantasy film, directed by Juraj Herz, offers a unique and eerie retelling of the classic fairy tale.Ideal for those who love a blend of dark romance and fairy-tale magic.

6. Viy (1967): This Soviet horror film, based on Nikolai Gogol's novella, follows a young priest who must spend three nights watching over the body of a witch in a haunted church. With its eerie atmosphere, stunning special effects, and deep roots in Slavic folklore, it's a captivating blend of supernatural horror and gothic fantasy.

That's all for today. I have many more films like these saved on my watchlist, so once I find some gems, I'll make another list. You can also look forward to a list of my favorite old fairy tales adaptations.

Kisses 💌💌

[tiredcupofangry]

Some more

animated series that were on tv during my childhood (‘you live in Poland’ edition)

[belovedcartoons]

Malá mořská víla (1976)/Русалочка (1976)/The Little Mermaid (1976)

[waste-it-on-something-useful]

The Cassandra Cat (Czech: Až přijde kocour, also known as When the Cat Comes, 1963), directed and co-written by Vojtěch Jasný, cinematography by Jaroslav Kučera

[khaarl-i]

WTF is a “čert”

-a guide from a bilingual Czech

while English has words like devil and demon, čert is a slavic mythical creature, that doesn’t have an accurate name in other languages

Czech has three (common) words:

Ďábel - THE devil, ruler of hell, usually interchangeable with Lucifer

Démon - demon, used when talking about other creatures from other mythologies

(and the enigma) Čert

Čerti (plural) are the devil's minions. They either work directly in hell or are sent on earth (often as a punishment) to make deals with sinners and drag them into hell. However they’re commonly depicted as silly idiots or playful, mischievous tricksters. And selling them one’s soul is seen as confirmation of their own foolishness (make stupid choices, win stupid prizes).

They look like humans (mostly men, but you can come across a lady here and there), with added goat features- horns, tails and sometimes even hooves. Their clothes are haggard, often featuring furs, they’re covered in soot and other dirt.

While in old tales are seen as an actual threat, nowadays (in mostly atheistic czech society) they’re depicted as pathetic little meow meows- comedic relief characters, laughable villains and even love interests for princesses (turned into humans for their good behavior)

They can be found in basically every other czech TV fairy tale. While I have seen people suggest to just use the word krampus in english, because of the surface level similarities between the two creatures, I wouldn’t recommend it. Because A)they have widely different vibes B)some czech (and other slavic) might punch you in a fit of patriotism

Disclaimer: while creatures like this are in many (if not all) slavic folklores, under varying names, this post is centered around the czechoslovak version, because that’s what I’m familiar with

[harrowscore]

to take your mind of the foreboding WH movie adaptation disaster: Are there actually some non-English gothic titles you would like to recommend?

ohhhhh, what a good ask!

now, i'm actually not that well-versed in the gothic genre as i'd like to be, and if anyone has more recs they're welcome to add them to my list. but still, let's begin with:

gaston leroux, le fantôme de l'opéra (+ andrew lloyd webber's musical - which is hugely popular, as it should be! - and i'd also recommend the 1925 silent movie with lon chaney. it's probably the most faithful film adaptation of poto... too bad for that ending tho. there's also a prequel/retelling book by susan kay called phantom, which is very good - but not flawless - except i heavily dislike christine's characterization in this one; you can always read until the counterpoint section and call it a day)

victor hugo, notre dame de paris + the musical adaptation by riccardo cocciante. it's in french, but i also enthusiastically rec the italian version - you can find both of them on yt!

so, besides these two super famous classics, there's the poem the demon by mikhail yuryevich lermontov. you can find an opera rendition of it by anton rubinstein.

speaking of opera, béla bartók's bluebeard's castle - aka a gorgeous adaptation of the fairy tale by the same name. this version is particularly excellent, and there are also a lot of good album recordings on spotify. musically-wise, tho, it's maybe not easily accessible to people who aren't already familiar with opera...?

charles gounod's faust (again, an opera!) and various non-english versions of the story, like goethe's. by goethe there's also the poem der erlkönig. here a beautiful musical rendition by franz schubert.

panna a netvor aka "the maiden and the monster", my favorite beauty&thebeast movie adaptation. it's a 1978 czechoslovak film, you can find it here on yt with eng subs. and idk if i would say it's gothic but there's also the jean cocteau 1946 film + another french one filmed in 2014 starring léa seydoux and vincent cassel.

fyodor dostoevesky, the double

carlos ruiz zafon, the shadow of the wind (which i enjoyed, but i wasn't personally crazy about, though)

it's not gothic - it's magical realism, actually - but fans of the genre would possibly like gabriel garcia marquez's one hundred years of solitude for its themes

again, not gothic (i've seen it labeled as "dark academia" but. for some people anything is ~dark academia, including dostoevesky and the picture of dorian gray, for some unfathomable reason), but i'd rec vita nostra + its sequel, assassin of reality, by ukrainian authors marina and sergey dyachenko. there's an english translation and an italian one for my mutualiani, plus a third and final book coming out in, maybe, 2025.

the cabinet of dr. caligari + the man who laughs starring conrad veidt (😳😍) - the latter is an adaptation of the victor hugo's novel by the same name

for other movie recs, the original nosferatu + dario argento's suspiria (which has also a more recent remake by luca guadagnino of challengers fame)

fosca by igino ugo tarchetti. didn't read the novel, but i watched the musical adaptation by stephen sondheim, passion, here (and that's in english). again, idt if it's gothic or even gothic-adjacent but fosca's character has been compared and contrasted as a female version of the phantom of the opera by musical theatre fans, so. here it is.

now, for things i didn't personally watch/read so i can't vouch for them, but they seem all well-written/made nonetheless and belong to my unending list(s) of books to read/films to watch:

vampire hunter d. (anime)

john ajvide lindqvist, let the right one in (novel + movie adaptation)

marina enriquez, our share of the night + things we lost in fire (novel + short stories collection)

(mind you that these recs conflate a lot with the horror department. but i still think they could be interesting for gothic fans)

two book series that are written by english authors but i think they deserve more attention:

mervyn peake, gormenghast

jonathan l. howard, johannes cabal (which contains huge references to faust, dracula, and works by poe and lovecraft. the protagonist has also become one of my favorite characters of all time, i've fallen in love with him at first... page, i guess lol)

and that's it! again, if anyone has any other good rec, please feel free to add them!

[valerieandherweekofwonderz]

"I don't know if she's a Princess but she's beautiful. And somewhere here I lost her."

Tři oříšky pro Popelku / Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel / Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973) dir. by Václav Vorlíček.

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Enough with the woke remakes of old Disney classics where every princess is a raging girlboss and a feminist. We don't need it. Are they aware that other versions of those princesses already exist? Take the East German/Czechoslovak version of Cinderella. There Cinderella is a sassy badass who actually stands up for herself and shoots a crossbow better than the prince without it being obnoxious or too in your face with *the message*. And guess what in the end, despite being a strong female character, she marries her prince and lives happily ever after, because love doesn't make a woman weak.

There is also a Norwegian Cinderella and German versions of all the old Grimm fairy tales (including Snow White), and I bet many more. So why do we need a new Disney version that is "updated for modern audiences"? No one asked for it and I bet no one needs it. Enough with the remakes.

[minilev]

have you watched the czechoslovak "beauty and the beast" 1978 film? it's a gorgeous looking fairy tale and I think you might like it! also available on yt with subs!

Ah "Panna a netvor"! I'm waiting for the right mood, it's been on my watching list for a while, looks very sensual, very monsterfucking( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[ghost-orion]

something about over the garden wall is so specific to my childhood. maybe it's being a czech kid who likes old czechoslovak/ussr animation, which is fantastical and fairy taley and gets very dark for no reason, with big shapes and geometric imagery and things happening on a 2d plane, and talking animals and food, in the woods and in the fields, vague and abstract. it reminds me of sitting on the porch of our woods cabin, my grandma cleaning mushrooms we foraged for with her knife, me reading a fairy tale from a book with big letters and brown-toned illustrations, practicing my out-loud reading.

[doitinanotherlanguage]

Langblr Advent Calendar | 1 December 2022 | Tri orísky pro Popelku (1973; Three Wishes For Cinderella), dir. Václav Vorlícek

Hailed by critics as “a modern feminist take on the classic fairy tale” and “a European cult classic”, Tri orísky pro Popelku is a beloved wintry Czechoslovak/East German fairy-tale film that continues to be a popular Christmas classic in several European countries. The plot is based on a Czech variation of the classic Cinderella fairy-tale, written by the 19th century female writer Božena Němcová.

In the movie, a young woman, forced by her stepmother and stepsister into unpaid servitude, is gifted with three magical hazelnuts that can grant wishes. With their help, the girl’s life is changed dramatically as she manages to attend a ball forbidden to her, there catching the eye of a royal prince.

There’s also a recent Norwegian remake of the film, Tre nøtter til Askepott (2021; Three Wishes For Cinderella).

[belovedcartoons]

Malá mořská víla (1976)/Русалочка (1976)/The Little Mermaid (1976)

[kittyclowns]

Illustration of the tale "The Little Stars of Gold" in the publication "The Disobedient Kids and other Czechoslovak fairy tales", by Božena Němcová. Artist: Artuš Scheiner