'Twas a Dark and Stormy night...

[apple_pathways]

So, I have signed up for dark_fest, and here are the prompts I'm going to write:

Any fairy tale, Prince Charming/any, all those tales where Prince Charming rescues the princess? All different pincesses; all the same prince.

The Hunger Games, Katniss/Peeta, Katniss refuses to have kids, Peeta really, really, wants one.

This is what I need your help with:

If you've read The Hunger Games, do you think they'd have birth control? What sort?

As for the first prompt, a POLL:

[Poll #1675870]

Basically: campaign for your favorite princesses. I'm wondering which ones I should include. If you can make a case for why a non-traditional fairy tale princess should be included, I am all ears.

Also: I'm thinking of writing the fairy tale fic in verse. Is that a bad idea? :/


(Pardon me a moment while I pitch a fit. FLIPPING SNOW STORM! I was going to see the Decemberists tomorrow night, and now I'm not. The show has been POSTPONED. For when, you say? FOR WHEN? April 22nd. THE DAY I AM SEEING THE PIXIES. Mother F'er.)

Comments

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

WRITE IT IN VERSE. I will stand agog and applaud if you do.

Have you ever heard of the tale of the twelve dancing princesses? I ask only because it is thematically related to your prompt. In my head, anyway.

Also I am terrified that you brought this up seconds after I started writing an alternate version of Little Red Riding Hood and am now pulling on my tinfoil hat.


Epic HTML!fail was epic

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

See, Little Red Riding hood is my favorite fairy tale. It's all about sex and danger, and there are nifty, sexy costumes involved! It's too bad she's not a princess.

I do know the "Twelve Dancing Princesses"! Though I'd be reluctant to include them in my story, as they're not so readily recognizable to the casual reader. What's the thematic link?

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

IKR? Which is why I want to see what happens if LRRH runs off with the wolf instead :D

I wasn't suggesting you did - I remember a retelling which is also seriously unfamous (to the point where I can't even find it now) that had it so that the soldier blackmailed all twelve of them. And got away with it. It just kind of reminds me of the idea of a prince with a bunch of wives.

My brain is a strange place, really.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I hope I get to read your story once it's done...

No, I totally see the connection there! God, I love how twisted fairy tales are...

[creativeaminot.livejournal.com]

I chose two from above and forgot to check the last box...whoops. My 3rd choice is Giselle from Enchanted. I'm a dork and love that film with it's non-traditional take on a princess.

I totally just read that on their facebook page, I'm so sorry. Every time they come to Colorado they get altitude sickness and have to stop playing halfway through/cancel the concert because they can't breathe. However, there was one time where just Colin performed in Boulder and we dared him to drink Jager on stage...not the best idea, but it was hilarious.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I just can't believe that the ONE CONFIRMED DATE that I have plans in the next THREE MONTHS is the one that the concert is re-scheduled for! :(

I haven't seen Enchanted. (I know, I know: I should!) I just don't see that many movies!

I keep thinking that my list is too short, and there's some classic fairy tale princess I'm missing, but for the life of me I can't think of which one(s)...

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Rethought my answer twice now to the Hunger Games question. Have you read Mockingjay?

Are you fucking serious?! There's something about the irony of fate that makes weather and concerts and plans 3 months in the future unbelievably collide in a very bad coincidental manner. So sorry darling.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I have read Mockingjay! I've finished the trilogy.

I know! I just can't believe it! The ONE DAY I have solid plans in the next three months! My bestie (one of the people I was going with) just called and I told her I couldn't make the new date. She was bummed. :( I am bummed, too. :(

(Seeing the Pixies will still be awesome, but dammit, I wanted BOTH concerts! *foot stomping*)

[faery-fall.livejournal.com]

I suppose Belle from Beauty and the Beast doesn't count since the Prince/Beast doesn't really rescue her (well, once, from wolves, but... yeah), but she's my favorite. (What can I say - I related strongly to brunette girls who can navigate the world with a book in front of their face.)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I'm not counting Belle because she wasn't a princess before marrying The Beast. Otherwise, she is most definitely one of my favorites! Bookish girls RULE!

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

Snow White, for the reason that Snow White in the graphic novel series Fables rules. Rapunzel because all that hair has to be hot.

For the REAL neat princesses, there's Princess Kushana from 'Nausicaa and the Valley of Wind' and Princess San from 'Princess Mononoke.' Both of them action women!

I'm an anime geek. :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Anime geeks are most welcome here! BUT, I need classic fairy tale princesses for my fic--ones that most people would recognize in description. I think Snow White and Rapunzel are gonna make the cut. (Snow White is one of my FAVES, and Rapunzel is easily identified by her hair.)

I'm still disappointed no one else chose the princess from The Princess & The Pea. Perhaps I'm the only one who's read some really awesome re-tellings of the story? I mean, it's so full of subtext: why would a prince want a princess that delicate?

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

Right from the top of my head, I can't remember how that one goes... c.c Perhaps I should find one of those retellings.

I'm glad my princesses are likely to win. :D

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

The Princess & The Pea, in a nutshell:

A prince is looking for a "real princess" to marry. He invites them to his castle to spend the night. He piles their bed with cushions, feather matresses, and soft furs. The next morning, he asks them how they slept. They all say, "Oh, wonderfully! I slept like a dream!" and he knows they're not real princesses.

Finally, one night, a rain-drenched girl shows up requesting to spend the night, and claiming to be a princess. He offers her the comfy, overstuffed feather bed piled with comforts. The next morning he asks her how she slept, and she details a night of horrific slumber, tossing and turning, due to something hard in her bed, which she is sure has bruised her.

It was the pea he placed under all the layers of mattresses to test her. They marry.

Why would a prince want a princess who bruises so easily? There are some interesting re-tellings...

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

These are strictly in regards to Disneyfied fairy tales.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Do you have different answers for classic fairy tale princesses? (Personally, I like the traditional Little Mermaid better than the Disneyfied one...so much more noble and tragic!)

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, actual fairy tales vary.

I really like the Swan princess because she defies her parents to break the curse put on her brothers.

The Little Mermaid is definitely way more tragic and heroic and breaks my heart.

I adore the original Beauty and the Beast, Snow White Rose Red, The Princess on the Hill, geesh... I could go on.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge fairy tale fan--I have bound copies of both Grimm's Fairy Tales and Hans Christian Andersen's collected works. There's just something about a fairy tale that cuts right to the heart of you...

I also have several books of 'updated fairy tales' that really bring their dark undertones to the forefront. Love it!

[alias-amy.livejournal.com]

Ha! The "Which is your favorite princess" game is played in a continuous loop at our house.

Cinderella: She works hard and makes the most of an opportunity
Thumbelina: She's tiny. It's not easy being tiny, I should know.
The unnamed princess: PRINCESS LEIA!!! Best. Princess. Ever.

I do not like Ariel -- she's 16, she wants to run away with a guy she glimpsed from afar, and she disobeys her parents. Now that I'm a mother -- pfft! She's the worst influence ever.

The new Rapunzel though is pretty cool.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Ah, but these are CLASSIC fairy tales--a whole different animal! (Though The Little Mermaid might be even younger in the Hans Christian Andersen version...)

I am now ridiculously tempted to work Princess Leia into my classic fairy tales fic...

[katyscarlett76.livejournal.com]

PRINCESS LEIA!!! Best. Princess. Ever.
MTE!! Great minds bb!

And oh I never thought about that about Ariel before but v true!

[alias-amy.livejournal.com]

Another Princess Leia fan!! Yay! Who wouldn't want to be armed and roaming the galaxy leading the rebel forces?

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Best poll ever or best poll ever? I need more Disney/fairy tales in my fandom life.

My third vote is Pocahontas! (I guess I'm kind of going Disney classics, here) She totally counts as a princess, right?

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I...have no idea! Was Pocahontas a princess? I haven't seen that one!

Yeah, I realize a lot of people are going by their favorite Disney princess! It didn't occur to me it would be so hard to separate the classic tales from the Disney versions.

In any case, I'm glad The Little Mermaid is winning. ;)

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Well, it's iffy. She's the chief's daughter, so I think she's usually counted? It's very whitewashing, I guess, but even in the movie they have the English calling her the 'princess' and such. You should watch it, though! I think it's definitely the most beautiful Disney movie.

But Little Mermaid! If she wins out, are you thinking the classic tale then, not the Disney?

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

One of these days, I'll get around to that one... ;)

Yes, I plan to write about the princesses as they're portrayed in the classic tales. I'm pretty sure that's what the person who made the prompt wanted...she made a ton of them, and none of them seem to be Disney-specific. (I've seen, I think, most of the Disney movies, but not being a huge fan, I would have viewed most of them more than 20 years ago!)

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. I don't know the classic tales as well as the Disney versions, but they're amaaaazing.

[katyscarlett76.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I have a favourite princess, totally not down with the damsel in distress needs a man to save her thing, despite that being my nickname (because my parents spoil me, not through material means just by doing stuff for me, and because when I first started work I never made the tea, lol). But I loved Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and still do. But if you're not going strictly off classic fairytale princesses then the best princess ever has got to be PRINCESS LEIA!!! She's who I wanted to be as a kid!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I do love Princess Leia! But the prompt is for fairytale fandom, and so I don't think she'll count for my story.

I'm not a big fan of the Disneyfied princesses, either. However, I love classic fairy tales, not so much because I identify with the characters, but because I absolutely don't. They're a window into another world, one with different dangers and different values than those we have now. I love dissecting the stories, and speculating about what they were really about.