Top Five Retellings: Once Upon a Time

Yep, more Once Upon a Time.  Although it’s far from the greatest show out there, I enjoyed my summer watch, and I’m looking forward to new episodes this fall.  Expect a handful of posts on it in before then.  Today deals with the episodic flashbacks to the characters’ Enchanted Forest lives.  The show plays nicely with the original stories, at times subverting them unexpectedly and at others branching off in original directions.  My favorites – with definite spoilers – are below.

 

Little Red Riding Hood

 

Okay, the awkward parallels with menstruation are, well, awkward, but overall, I love Red being the wolf.  Werewolf stories are so often male-centric, and I like getting Red’s perspective instead.  After her brave and clever mission to find the wolf, it’s gutting to realize it’s her.  The show deals well with Red’s lycanthropy, gradually bringing her to acknowledge and own both sides of herself instead of trying to deny one or the other.

 

Grumpy

 

Just as one of the show’s (many) mantras is that evil is made, not born, Grumpy doesn’t enter the world with his trademark crankiness.  Rather, Snow White’s dwarf buddy starts out as optimistic, wonderstruck Dreamy, and his new name is given him by fateful circumstances and lost love.  However, his old potential remains and can still surface, given the right conditions.

 

Rumpelstiltskin

 

While Rumpel’s tragic villain origins are pretty standard practice, I love how this version really make the details of his story resonate.  First, Rumpel’s dark magic comes from an enchanted dagger bearing his name, and since he can be controlled by anyone wielding it, it’s logical that he’d respect the power in names.  Similarly, Rumpel’s penchant for dealing in firstborn children is more significant when you realize he’s spent centuries trying to find the son lost to him.

 

Snow White

 

Snow’s story itself isn’t too noteworthy, but my adoration makes me mention her.  Snow White in the Disney movie does nothing for me, so it’s shocking how great she is here.  Though she begins with hints of her helpless, saccharine predecessor, the queen’s vendetta against Snow forces her to grow and learn quickly.  In most of her flashbacks, she’s a tough, lively heroine who takes care of herself and, despite her struggles, has inner goodness and unquenchable hope.

 

The Mad Hatter

 

This is a great instance of the show really creating its own story.  Here, the Hatter is a man with a magical hat that opens portals between worlds, someone who’s hung up his immense power to raise his young daughter.  When the queen talks him out of retirement for one final trip, he heartbreakingly embodies another of the show’s mantras:  all magic comes with a price.  Not to mention, his debut also has a fantastic Storybrooke plot that digs into the show’s thematic heart.