Original Text: Grimm’s Fairy tales
I thought it would be interesting to take the tales of Snow White(Snowdrop), Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty(Briar Rose) from Grimm’s Fairy tales and recreate them into a video game. What I have noticed is that many adaptations of these classic tales such as Disney’s versions and some modern versions such as A Cinderella Story(2004), Once Upon a Time(2011-2018), and Snow White and the Huntsman(2012) all possess some of the same elements or what I would call an adapted version of the “hero’s journey” by Joseph Campbell. Cinderella’s call to adventure comes in the form of wanting to go to the ball/festival and being guided by her fairy godmother or spirit of her dead mother in the original tale. While with Snow White, it is the threat of her evil stepmother wanting her dead. In Sleeping Beauty, it is the lure of the evil fairy’s curse that is triggered on her fifteenth birthday. All these women or girls go through a version of the hero’s journey, but ultimately they do not complete the process. It takes a man or prince in most of their cases to save them from their fates. Especially with the me too movement and the overall movement for women’s rights that a video game geared towards women would be a good idea to create a modern adaption of these fairytales. It seems that a lot of video games out there are geared towards a male dominated audience, I know there are some role playing/interactive apps with a female protagonist.
Proposed Title: Twisted Fairytales
Plot Idea: I have a general idea for the plot. I want the video game to give back a sense of power and individuality to these princesses by allowing them to go on their own adventures. Perhaps each character would be playable and their story would have multiple levels to pass before they could “win” or get their happy ending. In the case of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, up to the point where they fell under their respective spells should be the backstory. The game starts when they are asleep; it is in their dreams that they have to work to free themselves from the spell. The prince could still exist but they might first encounter him in the dream world. Cinderella could be in an alternative version of her world when the fairy godmother casts her spell. In all their stories, the wicked stepmothers and fairy are trying to take over the kingdoms. It is only in defeating them in the dreamworlds that they can be defeated when the spell breaks.
Sadie, this is an interesting way to give power back to the women of classic fairy tales! As soon as I started reading your idea, I thought of those old "choose your own adventure" books, only from the perspective of the princess. I like the idea of the princess being responsible for saving the kingdom, and she could even have her choice of "allies" - some weaker than others - that represent the different relationships she encounters.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good. When I was a child. I had a ds and Gameboy. I played a princess game on there that was similar to this one. The game included Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine and Ariel. Are there going to be levels of different villain's in the game? Will the happy ending come after all the princesses are freed?
ReplyDeleteI think there could be either different villains or the same villain that you go against or their minions and it just takes time to defeat them overall. i am thinking of Mario Bros. a little bit in the sense that you always go up against Bowser or one of his minions many times. Yes, I believe the happy ending should come after they are freed, but it should be difficult to reach that point.
DeleteI absolutely love the fact that your remix pertains to issues our society is facing today. The idea that the princess wouldn't need the prince to "wake up" or win the game is really interesting. What I think is even more interesting, however, is that you decided to choose a video game as opposed to another Disney movie - I like that a lot, especially considering the fact that, as you mentioned, your game would be geared towards women and video games are typically advertised for men. I'm not really a Disney princess fan, but your pitch is definitely intriguing!
ReplyDeleteSadie, I like this idea and so would many of the students who have taken my fairy tales first-year seminar! As you have pointed out, there are lots of good fairy tale remixes out there that give the female characters more agency and more of a role in shaping the story instead of just relegating them to the role of damsel in distress. Taking this idea a step further and turning it into a video game where literally you as the player have control over how the story turns out is a great way to combat the negative message of lots of those Grimms' tales, which are all about preserving the status quo and teaching fairly punitive lessons. I like Nina's idea of the game ending once ALL the princesses have their happy ending too.
ReplyDeletei think this a really cool concept; it would feel totally different to actually have an immersive experience of these tales without needing the help of a male character in the story. By using a video game, users would not only be able to see the story played out differently, but literally play it out themselves, which is super neat.
ReplyDeleteSadie- I agree with everyone else: this idea is brilliant. I love the idea that your game would include elements of the classic tale and then enhance the plot further to give the princesses a sense of empowerment. I think the Kingdom Hearts series of games would be a good source of inspiration for a game like this. Disney remixes with Final Fantasy to turn their classic animated stories into levels for the game.
ReplyDeleteYou are right! I totally forgot about Kingdom Hearts, a lot of the elements in those games be implemented here. It would be interesting to be able to pick your own guide to join you on the path to freedom or happily ever after.
DeleteI think, too, that you get so much creative flexibility by setting the levels in the dreamworlds instead of the princess' reality. Would each of their dreamworlds look different, or would they be pretty similar to the worlds they know? Do you think you would do any crossovers between their stories this way? The dreamworld could also be a cool way to integrate modern references to strengthen your message to audiences even more than you already have.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I was not too sure about that. The dreamworlds could look different to be honest, ideally there should be some challenges and issues. It could be done in a modern setting as well like you said. The dreamworld could connect the stories together.
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