#fairy godmothers

[adarkrainbow]

An example of the book's fascinating studies: as I said before, the chapter about Sleeping Beauty notices how fin-de-siècle authors, when "perverting" the tale, focused on the fairies around the baby's cradle - and Jean de Palacio notices that the names chosen for these fairies are very revealing of this "perversion".

Indeed, some authors in their twist-take on Sleeping Beauty, decided to name the group of fairies around the cradle. Anatole France, in his take on the Sleeping Beauty story in 1909, listed eight fairies: Titania, Mab, Viviane, Mélusine, Urgèle, Anna de Bretagne, Mourgue. Catulle Mendès, in 1888, had evoked in his work a total of 12 fairies - Oriane, Urgande, Urgèle, Alcine, Viviane, Holda, Mélusine, Mélandre, Arie, Mab, Titania, Habonde. Jean Lorrain did this list twice - once in 1883 including Habonde, Viviane, Tiphaine, Oriane, Mélusine, Urgèle, Morgane ; and another in 1897, simply removing Urgèle. As for Joséphin Péladan, he also did a double list: one in 1893, Mélusine, Morgane, Viviane, Mourgue, Alcine ; and another in 1895 to which he removed Mourgue to add Urgèle, Nicneven and Abonde.

These names can be taken as just random famous fairy names - but Jean de Palacio highlights that... They are not just chosen randomly, and all denote a way to discredit the fairies or to highlight their ambiguous if not negative nature. Of the recurring names four are taken from the matter of Britain, Arthurian and medieval legends: Viviane, Melusine, Anna de Bretagne (a variation of Anne of Britanny, an actual queen of France) and Mourgue/Morgane. Famous characters, right... But who is present here, around this baby's cradle to deliver gifts? Morgan le Fay, half-main villain of the Arthuriana half-healer of Avalon. Viviane, the good lady of the lake, oh yes... but also a shameless seductress who used Merlin's lust and love to steal his secrets and get rid of him. And Melusine - a national treasure, one of France's beloved legends... And a snake-woman with a strong demonic aura and devilish reputation. Viviane, Melusine and Morgan are all manifestations of the "femme fatale", of the deadly though seductive woman.

There is also a British influence at work here, since we have Titania and Mab, the two famous Shakespearian fairy queens. But Titania's reputation had already been soiled in Shakespeare's play by her mad love for a donkey - sorry, an ass ; as for Mab, in the minds of fin-de-siècle century, she is still strongly associated with the "materialistic atheism" of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Queen Mab". Not perfect example of "godmothers"...

But let's return to Mourgue/Morgue briefly. Yes, she is the Franco-British Arthurian character of Morgan le Fay... But she is also part of the Italian literary tradition thanks to the Orlando Furioso, where she is Morgana, the incest-born sister of the enchantress Alcina who... Oh look! She is there too! Alcina in French is "Alcine" and in the lists you find... Alcuine. Once again, a new discredit over the fairies, as you have two wicked enchantresses dedicated to the dark art - including a lustful old hag so vain she hides her true appearance under a glamour of youth and beauty.

Of the various fairies presented in this list, only Urgèle seems to be free of any same, flaw or negative side - but that's because she is the most "recent" of them all, and not an old literary heritage or cultural figure, but rather a fresh creation. Urgèle was created by Voltaire in 1764 for a short tale/fairytale of his, "Ce qui plait aux dames", "What pleases the ladies", and immediately taken back for an "opéra-comique" adaptation by Favart in 1764, "La Fée Urgèle, ou Ce qui plaît aux dames". And while Théodore de Banville made her a good fairy victim of a wicked enchanter in his comedy "Le Baiser", "The Kiss" ; it didn't refrain Michel Carré and Paul Collin to make her the wicked fairy of Sleeping Beauty in their theatrical-opera adaptation of the fairytale in 1904...

[As a personal note, if you are interest in the other fairy names, Habonde is a variation of Abonde - la fée Abonde was a figure of popular folklore and superstitious beliefs in medieval France, an embodiment of abundance and prosperity fought off by the Church and who was tied to the rite of leaving "meals for the fairies" on special nights such as Christmas or the Epiphany. Holda is of course the same as Frau Holda/Frau Holle of Germanic mythology ; Arie is a reference to "Tante Arie", a Christmas gift-giver of eastern France, and Nicneven is a variation of Nicnevin/Nicnevan of Scottish folklore. I have to admit I do not know about the origins of Mélandre or Tiphaine.]

[bestsistertournament]

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Unspecific Flowers Bracket !

Round 2 Part 2 Poll 4

Ianthe means "purple flower" in Greek

[evendumbo]

[hollowwhisperings]

KH Spec: Princesses of Light as Stars, part 2.

Part 1 went into the symbolism of stars within the KH series, specifically with respect to Paopu Fruit. It also began establishing the concept of Kairi as a "Star" in contrast to Riku's being a "Sun": astronomically identical, symbolically referential but ultimately distinct. Each "Sun" is a "Star" but each World, each Heart has its own personal "Sun": this is a concept I can see easily worked into the KH series as Kairi begins her own Coming of Age arc, as Sora struggles to remember his "Light", as CinderRiku reenacts The Objectively Best Direct-to-Video Disney Film.

While a later post will go into the Literal Instances of Kairi being a Star, and the metaphysics of "Starhood" within the KH setting, this post will continue with the Symbolism of Stars as pertaining to the Other Original Princesses.

The Original Seven

Kairi's co-stars in KH1 were, in order of appearance: Snow White (Tutorial/Sora's Dive to Heart), Cinderella (DtH), Aurora (DtH), Belle (DtH), Alice (Wonderland) & Jasmine (Agrabah).

While Kairi first appears in KH1's opening cutscene and in the Destiny Islands, her next physical appearance is in Neverland.

So, let us begin with the first chronogical Disney Princesses: Snow White, Cinderella & Aurora.

The Founding Three (+ Pinnochio)

While she does not have as much direct star imagery associated with her, Snow White is very much connected to themes that Disney (& the KH series) would retroactively connect to her: wishes, dreams & true love.

Snow White

Snow White's first appearance has her singing to her reflection in a wishing well (Disney would later establish that wishes could be made on stars in their next animated film, Pinnochio). The young princess wishes to have someone who loves her, someone she can love in turn.

Cue Appearance of an Anonymous, Eavesdropping Prince (this ended up becoming a Pattern, carried even into KH sans musical number).

Snow White later falls into a death-like sleep, a tradition passed on to Aurora & Sora. She is awakened by the joint forces of the Seven Dwarves (who love her & bully everyone in their way to saving her) and The Anonymous Prince. Her film attributes the latter's kiss as having the Power of Awakening: Snow White's story is one of Dreaming, Wishes, found family, cursed Sleep, True Love & Resurrection.

Incidentally, almost every significant event in Snow White's story features animated water: her scrubbing the castle courtyard, the wishing well, her tears of fright after being chased, tears of hurt from her & her animal friends, instructing the dwarves to Wash Their Dang Hands, the dwarves tearing up at hearing her story & upon her resurrection. It's also Notable that the Queen wanted Snow White's Heart... in a black box.

The Guiding Key: "When You Wish Upon A Star"

Between Snow White & Cinderella came Disney's Pinnochio: Disney's most Iconic song comes from that film, sung (I believe?) by the Blue Fairy.

Pinnochio, his story, his World, his Conscience (Jiminy Cricket) & the themes of his film have featured in every Kingdom Hearts game featuring Sora & Riku.

Dreams, Wishes & Stars are all Intertwined. Anyone can grow a Heart. So long as you try, Redemption is possible. True Love is Unconditional.

Pinnochio may not be a Princess nor Light himself but the KH series uses his story as Parable.

Cinderella

A kind young girl who sings "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes": Cinderella's song follows up on those in Snow White's & Pinnochio's films. Cinderella is a dreamer, kind and kind in the face of adversity. The Fairy Godmother gifts her faith with Free Transport, Emotional Support & Affirmment & a magical silver gown (magic & gown both animated in the same style as Starlight).

Cinderella features Dreams Becoming Reality, Magic being linked to Stars (as in Pinnochio), Wishes & Dreams being connected, found family & True Love.

The soap bubbles from Cinderella's chores were & remain amongst the most memorable scenes in animation: bubbles aside, Cinderella has no strong connections with water (though she cries, her tears are not emphasised in the animation).

Sleeping Beauty

Following directly in the examples of Snow White & Cinderella, Aurora's story is not actually told from her perspective but from that of the Good Fairies (her fairy godmothers). Aurora sings "Once Upon A Dream": since SB is not truly from Aurora's POV, sleeping through it almost entirely (ring any bells, Sora?), her song is less about Her & more about the Themes explored by preceding heroines: of dreaming of people & places beyond her sheltered home, of dreams & love being connected, of using dreams & stories as escapism. Her interactions with Prince Philip could be interpreted as his "going with the flow" to keep talking to a pretty girl... but, at least in BBS, Aurora's relationship with Philip is implied as beginning in shared dreams (Riku are you listening).

Blessed Sleep (replacing a curse of death) that holds a World in stasis. Dreams Becoming Reality. Found family, True Love & Resurrection.

Besides a dream-like dance in clouds (repurposed from the making of Cinderella) & the alternating dye of her birthday gown, Aurora has no true connections with water. Her name refers to a phenomena of light & there is no direct star imagery in the SB film itself.

Summary of Shared Themes:

Wishes & Music: "I'm Wishing", "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes".

Hearts: wanted in a Box; communicates wishes through dreams.

Dreams: cursed sleep, the nightmare forest chase, "a wish your heart makes", "Once Upon A Dream". In BBS, Cinderella's world is named "Castle of Dreams".

Hope: wishes, dreams, support of found family.

Water: "Snow" White, wash water, wishing wells, reflections, tears, soap bubbles, clouds, dye.

True Love: awakening & resurrection, the most powerful form of magic, something to fight for, something found in dreams.

Love & Resurrection: the go-to cure for sleeping curses.

All three princesses also have love through Found Families: Snow White finds family in the Seven Dwarves; Cinderella has her animals friends & Fairy Godmother; Aurora has the Good Fairies.

Star Symbolism: Connected By Song

Through the songs of these four films, the Pinnochio film's song acting as thematic touchstone, KH is able to connect each of these Founding Disney Princesses with the series use of star symbolism: Snow White's "wish" (to love & be loved) comes true through a "star" (she, through her kindness and willingness to help, inspires the love of the Seven Dwarves & the Anonymous Prince); Cinderella's Heart wishes for freedom from her life of servitude, a Dream made 'Real' through the compassion of Cinderella (the 'Star') inspiring her friends to help her in turn; Aurora's Dreams (her "wishes from the heart") allowed her to meet Prince Philip while the Love of her Fairy Godmothers empowered them to act against Maleficent & so rescue Aurora from death (via orchestrating a Heroic Rescue for Philip to play out).

Each of these Princesses acted as the "Hearts" of their stories, the Love they had & inspired in others leading them to create miracles both magical & mundane. Hearts are Lights & Hearts moved by Love cast the strongest Light (& Shadow) of all. These Princesses Love & are Loved in turn: the strength of their Dreams, their Wishes From The Heart, connect them to the Magic of Stars: to fairies Blue, Good & Godmother.

An Aside: Love as Freedom

This is a theme unsaid but strongly implied in all three films, given the era these heroines hail from. Marriage was a female's traditional method of leaving their childhood home, in both early 20th century North America & in Japan.

While all three princesses coveted "freedom", wishing for it outright would have given their audiences the impression that they were "selfish" or "irresponsible" (Cinderella was made for post-wartime America: her ability to retain her kindness & cheerfulness whilst doing thankless labour was why she was so beloved by audiences of the time & her animators, most of whom having been conscripted in some form or another).

Thusly, largely anonymous "handsome princes" acted as representations of escape, of joining society, of the world beyond childhood.

The KH series was made for contemporary audiences and is, at heart, Sora's Coming of Age Story: while Sora hadn't quite matured to understand the values these princesses held, he recognised in them that Hope can be powerful. When Aqua met Cinderella's Fairy Godmother in BBS, she was introduced to the concept of Love being the only true method of "defeating" Darkness (Riku's journey to self-acceptance enabling him to use his Darkness without suffering for it proves the point, and "love" is the implied requirement for the Power of Awakening)

[fracturedporcelaindoll]

Beautiful & Magical~

if ur having a bad day here is some fairy dust (i’m sprinkling it onto you)  ⋆｡°✩ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊✩₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ✩°｡⋆ .・゜゜・　　・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ ｡･:*˚:✧｡

[justgivemeabookplease]

Shrek 2, while a cinematic masterpiece, is also an interesting look at queerness and comp het.

Fiona is married so it's time to reunite with her parents. But instead of marrying a prince, she's married to an ogre. Not just that, but she's also an ogre. (Yes everyone knew she would sometimes be an ogre but that was when she was a child, she didn't know she would be an ogre for the rest of her life, and besides once she met the right prince she would stop being an ogre. She was supposed to stop being an ogre.)

But okay they're both ogres. We can still ask about when they'll have children because even if they're ogres they can still have kids, right? That's what married princes and princesses do so naturally that's what everyone does. Even if ogres might not be great parents (I've heard that ogres eat their young, is that something you people do?) it's still something that should be discussed.

And okay you can stay in Fiona's childhood bedroom filled with all the reminders that hey, everyone thought she was just a princess and princesses marry princes. Her toys left out from the last time she played with them. The prince slays the ogre. The princess offers a token of gratitude for slaying the ogre. Fiona wrote Mrs. Fiona Charming a million times in her diary because what else was she supposed to grow up to be?

And Harold, the Fairy Godmother says, you have to fix this, your kingdom can't be ruled by ogres. You were unfit to rule, to be loved, when you were a frog but I changed you, I made you better, I made you a prince. You know how this works. Think of your daughter's safety.

Shrek goes to the Fairy Godmother and oh honey, ogres don't live happily ever after. It's just not done. It hasn't happened in all of fairy tale history. You have to change the both of you to be happy. You have to present as a prince and a princess. It will be better. You'll fit in better that way. You'll be accepted that way.

[dommnics]

"A girl too lovely to be really true..."

I've never drawn Brandy's Cinderella before and thought it was time to cross that off the list. I so appreciate this adaptation for having a Filipino prince, what a dream! And Brandy's so angelic and perfect in this role.

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[cricketcat9]

They really do 😮

Fairy godmother cranes guide their confused gator back into pond

[musicalangel12]

Creating Magic

And that’s not a metaphor. So I’ve talked about this before but I’ve found myself leaning more and more into fantasy/paranormal. I’ve always been drawn to witches over other supernatural beings like vampires or werewolves. So I’m not surprised I’ve centered some stories around witches. Which means I need to create a system of magic for these stories and trying to figure out what pieces of lore to…

[catmask]

my fiance and i both have gay voice n we were out at a cafe today when a lady walked by w her young daughter who stopped dead in her tracks when she heard us talking, looked up to us w visible confusion/curiosity and after a moment of contemplation went 'mama thats boys!' very proud of her discovery nd i dont think that ive ever been clocked in a funnier way my whole life

[bestsistertournament]

Propaganda Under Cut:

Nut (Mother of Isis, Nephthys, Osiris, Set + Arueris): Forbidden to give birth any day of the year by Ra Nut with the help of Thoth tricked Khonsu to gamble away his moonlight and so doing so creating five extra days which allowed Nut to give birth to her children on those five days. Ra was furious but Nut did not regret her decision.

Fairy Godmothers (Adoptive Mothers of Aurora): Loving mothers who tried there best to provide and protect her from Maleficient. They knew when she turned sixteen they would have to return her to her birth parents which upset them but they knew that was how it had to be.

[yaraef]

Inspired to draw that scene from Team StarKid's Cinderella's Castle. (+a surprise Sir Hop-A-Lot and Crumb under the cut.)

The lighting on that set then (bright green with deep blue on the side) was so good that I had a strong impulse to just try and capture how I was envisioning the scene playing out in an illustrated fairytale-esque forest-scape-y thingy.

I really want to draw a Cinderella moment next - so hard to pick a specific scene!! I'll be thinking about it as I catch up on work rn. Hopefully I can get to it some time tonight. I did do a quick sketch of Rancilda that I'll post soon though!

It's been a wild couple of weeks, but I'm coming out the other side feeling energized~

[miriatwstuff]

I am objectively correct and you all know it /j

[the-worlds-between-pages]

Wish Of The Wicked by: Danielle Paige

Published by: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books, Bloomsbury YA Publication Date: November 7 2023 I wanted to love this book. I loved the cover and the premise so much. Unfortunately, the premise wasn’t executed well enough for me. There were so many pacing issues. Some chapters were slow and others fast. And those didn’t match the content in the chapters. Some of the fast chapters felt like they…

[weechoz]