Clare Henney: Fairy Tales Revisited
Who isn’t familiar with fairy tales like Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, etc.? I think all of us have had these stories read to us as a child. I think Disney has also made sure that we’re familiar with these stories with the movie versions they have made of them.
Not everyone knows, however, that these stories were not as nice and pretty as they are today. The original stories as compiled by the Brothers Grimm were actually darker and more sinister. This is part of the inspiration of the TV show Grimm.
This show is a new take on the whole detective-themed, whodunit TV shows with the suspects (and sometimes, victims) being creatures from the darker, original version of these fairy tale stories. Basically the series revolves on the “what if” of these characters existing in present time and what is being done to protect the world from them.
Starring David Guintoli as homicide detective Nick Burkhardt, a descendant of the Grimms. In the series the Grimms are not just story-tellers but hunters of these supernatural creatures. Throughout the show Nick fights crime that were mostly caused by these creatures as he learns more and more about his role as a Grimm.
I find the show interesting because it is a different interpretation of the fairy tales as adapted to the modern world but sometimes it can get a little boring and dragging. Maybe if the add more action into it things can get a little bit more exciting. Good thing David Guintoli is really easy on the eyes. He’s like a young Christopher Reeve!
Speaking of fairy tales adapted to the modern world, another show that tackles this is Once Upon a Time. Unlike Grimm, this show keeps the more wholesome interpretation of the fairy tales but gives it a little twist: all the characters from the fairy tale world and transferred to the real world with their memories erased and are made to live normal, human lives, all so that the wicked queen from the story of Snow White can have her version of a happy ending.
In the real world, all of the characters are seemingly lost in their real world lives and cannot find the happy ending they had in their story book incarnations. Only one person knows and understands this: Henry, the son of Emma Swan and adopted son of the Mayor, who is actually the wicked queen and stepmother of Snow White herself. As the show goes on Emma, who has come to Storybrooke to live there and get to know her son who she had given up for adoption, will be entertaining her sons notion of the town being full of fairy tale characters. She doesn’t know that this is all true and that she herself is part of it as the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who she knows as Mary Margaret Blanchard and David Nolan. I like this one better than Grimm mostly because I’m a hopeless romantic. I love how Snow White and Prince Charming have this unrequited love in the real world (because he’s married to someone else) even if they are really meant to be together. I also love their take on Rumpelstiltskin and how he, along with the queen, ties all the stories together somehow. I find that character, played by Robert Carlyle, to be the most interesting of all because of his motives, the background of his character and how complex he is because of everything that has happened to him. I’d recommend both shows to anyone interested in fairy tales and stories connected to them. If you want something darker, go for Grimm. For the more romantic, wholesome fare, try Once Upon a Time. They’re both worth the watch.