Fairy-Tale Retold: Snow White as an Warrior Princess

Some of you already know I'm a sucker for retold fairy tales. That I love to see how different authors, artists, actors and directors put their stamp on such well-known stories. One of my favorite movies of all time is Ever After with Drew Barrymore (the movie all my girlfriends and I have memorized).

So whenever the movie industry decides to take a stab at retelling a famous fable, I'm always eager to see how it turns out. There hasn't been much of that lately, but I keep my eye out.

This is the year that out of all the fairy tale princesses, Snow White gets to be revamped and finally be made cool. She's got a starring role in ABC's drama Once Upon A Time, got retold in this year's earlier release Mirror, Mirror and now she's looking at a brand new tale, Snow White and the Huntsman, as the trailer above shows you.

Personally, I wasn't too crazy about the concept of Mirror, Mirror, but I absolutely love Mary Margaret/Snow White's character in Once Upon A Time, and as you might guess, I am super excited for the vision in this movie. I think I would watch for the sets and costumes alone, Charlize Theron looks beautiful, deadly and ferociously evil as Ravenna, the Evil Queen. She has bones on her royal gown! How more wonderfully evilly foreboding can you get? The whole "mirror, mirror on the wall" is excellently re-imagined. Kirsten Stewart's finally got the chance to kick butt and save herself this time around (though as far as I'm concerned, she's brilliant as Bella Swan; I can't imagine anyone else but her), riding into battle with armor, wielding a sword and leading the charge against Ravenna. Plus, they have flaming ballistas. You can't go wrong with that.

Another thing you can't go wrong with, Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman (I hope they're going to give him a name; we just can't call him "Huntsman" the whole movie)! I am not adverse to more Chris Hemsworth in the world, let me tell you. I am loving the world they're introducing here; Snow White's no warbly-voiced servant girl with a bob; she's trapped in the dudgeon ready to fight for her life when she gets the chance. The Huntsman is no mindless, softhearted Queen's lackey, he's a rough and ready brawler with an ax! And the Evil Queen...shiver-inducing and maybe a little unhinged. The only thing as scary as her is Disney's original version of the Evil Queen, tall crown, flowing purple cape and all.

Since I'm a swords-and-charges girl at heart, I am completely looking forward to the battle/fight scenes. I shall be in line to watch it first chance I get!

Over & Out,
Rachel

More Pinning

Sometimes I see the stuff and Pinterest and I go, "Oh look, INSPIRATION!"

For what, I'm really not sure. But it's still there and super pretty. Here's some my favorite stuff.

This is just the stuff that I like. I'm not following any kind of theme here! 

I think the next time I go on a pinning rampage on here, I will. Follow a theme, I mean.

Over & Out,

Rachel 

Songs of District 12--Daughter's Lament

I am a liar. Of immense proportions. Here I am, all, "This is going to be my LAST Hunger Games post. I don't have anything more to say on the subject."

Well, it turns out I do. Mainly:
I love this song. I think this fits District 12 perfectly. I love it so much that I think this is how The Hanging Tree song in the book might've sounded, if we had been given a tune. And I won't make anymore wild claims, like "This is last Hunger Games post! I promise." Well, now I make no such promises. I can't help when inspiration and enjoyment strike.

Over & Out,
Rachel

Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder

...for eleven days, that is.  I thought I'd pen down some thoughts before I, for all intents and purposes, disappear into the wild blue yonder.

I also promise that this will be my last Hunger Games themed post, because now that I've read the books and seen the movie, I can offer some insight on both.

Thoughts on the movie:
1) Jennifer Lawrence was flipping perfect as Katniss. She wasn't wooden, she wasn't a hard-core warrior maid, she was a young woman with remarkable talents put in extraordinary circumstances. She nailed Katniss's fierce survival instincts and love for her sister Prim.
2) On Prim, Willow Shields was also perfect--delicate and young and gentle enough so that we too, would volunteer in her place.
3) I want to marry Josh Hutcherson for being the perfect Peeta. No, really, he was amazing. Earnest, sincere and had the just the right touch of devotion to Katniss.
4) Amandla Stenburg as Rue was adorable and made me cry. I wept bitter tears in the theater during the lullaby scene and the riot in District 11.
5) "That is MA-HOG-ANY!" Oh, Effie, your cluelessness was pitch perfect. Thank you for creating memetatic mutation.

On another note, Gary Ross also did a brilliant job with one of the things I was most concerned about, the violence featured in the story. Thankfully, there were no drawn-out close ups of the bloodbath at the Cornucopia. Quick flashes of violence and then the image of the bodies laying about was much more effective and wrenching. The curly-headed boy...gah, in way, that was even more traumatizing than Rue's death, because it only sinks in later...that little boy had no chance of survival.

Now, onto something that's been bothering me for the last couple of weeks, as the hype for the movie got more and more widespread. There seems to be a kind of schism between those who like The Hunger Games and those who like The Twilight Saga. Well, I'm going to put in my two cents and then I won't talk about it anymore, because I'll have said my piece.

STOP COMPARING HUNGER GAMES TO TWILIGHT. STOP TALKING TRASH ABOUT STEPHENIE MEYER.  For that matter, STOP TALKING TRASH ABOUT TWILIGHT. THE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS ARE NOT BEING FAIR.


Okay, I'm done yelling for now. But, seriously people. It simply isn't fair to compare the two stories, despite the similarities on the surface, because THEY ARE NOT THE SAME STORY.  I read both series and you know what? I liked them both, for different reasons.  Yes, the Hunger Games deals with important themes like love, war, violence, devotion and loyalty. Yes, the Hunger Games is an excellently written story. We all know that. No one is denying it. But for crying out loud, what call is there to be mean about the supposed superiorities to The Twilight Saga? What call is there to be mean to Stephenie Meyer who, just like Suzanne Collins, was fortunate enough to create and write a world that's become so huge? So what if you don't like Stephenie Meyer and her characters and world she created? So what if you don't like the flipping Twilight movies? No one is asking you to watch them! No one is yelling, "Hunger Games suck, Twilight rules." Rather, the opposite is happening and I, for one, am tired of it.


Enough with the madness, people. Suzanne Collins and Stephenie Meyer let us live in their fantasy worlds and are kind enough the share them with us. Let's thank them for that, shall we? And move on.

Okay, then, I'm done with my rant. I promise you all, this my last Hunger Games themed post and until something truly earth-shattering happens (like the casting for Finnick Odair is released), I'll refrain from bending your ears until then.

Getting Off My Soapbox I Am Over & Out,
Rachel

The Perils of Pinterest

Yes, I'm an addict. No, I am not ashamed.

Since I'm still on a Hunger Games kick, here some of the images from the site that I especially love, and what give (to me at least) better images for the story.

This song has officially taken over my life.

This scene made me break out in goosebumps.

I volunteer as tribute!

How I imagine Katniss in her armor and mockingjay bow.

Here's what SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED when Peeta was rescued.

How I think Katniss looked at the very end of it all.

More to come, stay tuned!

Over & Out,

Rachel
  

I Have Excellent Friends

My best friend Kirsten sent me this, with the simple subject line, "Thought of YOU! :)"
It's so nice to have friends who understand me.

Thoughts on The Girl On Fire from The Girl Who Reads

This week, I bought the Hunger Games trilogy at the book fair at my mom's school. I just finished all three books just last night.

And then I lay down on my bed and cried, something I have never done after reading a series. Reading The Hunger Games trilogy was like being in a war. You watched people you grew to like and love die terrible deaths, people are irreparably damaged and fractured, and in the end, it's hard to tell who's really won and if it was all worth it.

(The rest of this post is full of spoilers, so don't read if you haven't finished the series yet. Consider yourself warned.)

The Hunger Games was wrenching enough--reading about young men and women dying a variety of gruesome deaths isn't very pleasant, but watching Katniss and Peeta struggle to survive and maintain their humanity just adds to it all. Katniss's fierce drive to survive in the arena and protect her family, while being completely clueless about the secrets of her own heart is something I think anyone can relate to. We've all had intense, complicated situations that require all of our attention and energy, and we leave the inner workings of our  own hearts completely out of it, because it's just too much work to try and figure it out. In The Hunger Games, that's really what it's all about, survival.

Catching Fire was like being on a roller coaster, the stakes going higher and higher and the whole time you're thinking, "It can't get any worse. It possibly can't get any worse...it just got worse." And it just keeps going. Katniss and Peeta are put through the wringer emotionally, mentally and physically. They're put through a perverse "Victory Tour" of the the twelve Districts, with President Snow looming over them, breathing out threats and murder. In order to survive, Katniss and Peeta are forced to pretend (to a certain extent) being desperately in love, to keep their families and District 12 safe. They're falsely engaged, and then forced back into the arena with past Hunger Games victors. Before, Katniss had only one goal in the arena--stay alive and come back home. Now, it's reversed: make sure Peeta survives, no matter the cost. While all Peeta wants is for Katniss to live. And then, just when you think we've reached the very top and they can't get put through any more without being irrevocably damaged...the roller coaster starts going down at terrifying, breakneck speed. With bombs attached. Shrapnel goes flying in every direction. And us, the reader, is desperately trying to figure out how to come through it all without being emotionally scarred from everything that's going on.

Mockingjay is the limit, the absolute limit. You come away feeling like you just watched your loved ones die in a war. Peeta is captured, Gale is being consumed by vengeance against the Capitol, and it wouldn't surprise me if Katniss could be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She's the face of the rebellion, the titular Mockingjay, but she hides in remote places and tries not to think about all the damage she's gone through. She has screaming night terrors with all people who've died, the loved ones that are lost coming back to haunt her.

But as before, Katniss eventually finds one driving force--rescuing Peeta. If that means becoming a pawn for the rebels when she's just got through being a pawn for the Capitol, becoming the Mockingjay, then so be it. She's not much of a savior, our Katniss--she's a terrible actress and she can't follow orders to save her life (literally). She gets too attached to who her superiors call "the wrong people" and no one, as Haymitch says, should let her make the plans. But through sheer grit and fight and indomitable will, Katniss overcomes. She lives. Is she damaged? Yes. Has she lost almost all the things she's cared about? Without a doubt. But does she go on, does she survive the unthinkable? Always. Katniss can't do anything the easy way; the girl has fire in her and she's a fighter born. We love her for that and we too mourn the dead: Cinna, Finnick, Boggs and Prim. And though we've cried and mourned and howled in protest for the terrible things we and Katniss have had to go through, these lines makes it all worth the suffering:

"That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.
"So after, when he whispers, 'You love me. Real or nor real?'
"I tell him, 'Real.'"
~Katniss Everdeen, Mockingjay, page 388.

My soul was lifted for that alone.

Over & Out,
Rachel