Into The Woods

Warning

*This post contains some mild spoilers* 

Into The Woods is all about the journey, its not about the start or the end, its about that tricky bit in the middle, its "the climb", "the journey" or in this case, The Woods. A place full of darkness and mystery, it is the tunnel through which the light at the end shines through, where reality is warped and all is not as it seems.

Better than Frozen. Unlike Frozen Into The Woods maintains many of the traditional Disney conventions we all know and love. We see many of the conventions associated with the older Disney classics whilst entwining the Disnified narrative with elements from the original tales, an unusual convention that I really enjoyed, particularly where the dark and twisted original tale of in Rapunzel was included. Frozen was dubbed Disney's answer to feminism, however I personally feel Into The Woods is far more worthy of the title. For a start, in this production no character is perfect. Frozen portrays a style of female favouritism that causes the male characters to be conveyed as either, selfish liars, evil, or "ugly". In Into The Woods' every character has flaws, not superficial appearance based flaws or unlovable flaws like being "pure evil". The greatest example of this has to be the bakers wife, whom the viewer grows to love despite her flaws and even when she makes, what would in other Disney films be an unforgivable mistake, the viewer is still able to forgive her, echoing the reality of life not being black or white.

This is another thing that makes the production so relatable, despite the characters flaws you cannot help but love them, its not as black and white as most Disney films. Even the oh so modern Frozen, had its prejudices, when during the films climax the audience discovers Hanz has alternator motives, you instantly see him as the bad guy, forget the charm that we loved at the start and dismiss him as the villain. The characters are so much more three dimensional, everyone, male or female is a lovable bundle of flaws stitched together with good intentions.

One character especially flawed is the wolf but you really cannot help but love him. The humanisation of the wolf is such an important part of this film. This classic villain is reinvented as the charming yet manipulative stranger lurking in The Woods. Any viewer would be lying if they said they didn't get chills when they first heard Johnny Dept sing Hello Little Girl. It teaches the younger viewers that the "bad guy" is not always the monster that you imagine, he can be the charmer, the manipulator who lures you in before revealing his true colours. A poignant lyric in Little Red's song I Know Things Now reads "take extra care with strangers, even flowers have their dangers, and though scary is exciting, nice is different than good" this once again reinforces the fact that things are not always as they seem, especially when seen in the shadow of The Woods.

Visually Into The Woods is simply enchanting , it is not overly exquisite with lavish sets and props, it has that "quaint theater feel" to it, feeling more like a "proper musical" than a high budget Disney film. Every detail down to the the lighting and the set is perfect creating this gorgeous hybrid of film and theater. 

One vital area of the production that worked beautifully was the costume department. Colleen Atwood's designs are utterly gorgeous and you wouldn't expect any less from the iconic costume designer who has worked on costumes for productions such as Alice in Wonderland, Sweeny Todd and Snow White And The Huntsman. Its Oscar nomination for the productions costumes is not a surprise and is very much deserved. Reinventing many of the iconic costumes including Cinderella's dress into a golden ensemble, this worked stunningly, allowing the viewers to not form too many comparisons between the characters previous representations in the Disney animations.

Alongside the many established names were the two young budding stars Lilla Crawford and Daniel Huttlestone (whom you may recognise from Les Miserables) who fit perfectly into the star studded cast and there lack of experience was not evident despite this being Lilla's first ever film and only Daniel's second. I am sure that these two will soon be household names and will continue to thrive in the musical industry.

I am the kind of viewer who gets utterly addicted to a production, I cannot simply watch a film, love it, walk away and get on with my life. I will listen to the soundtrack on repeat, fall in love with the characters and obsessively re-blog gifs of my favorite scenes on tumblr. I would expect nothing less from a musical than a haunting and addictive soundtrack, one that has succeeded on keeping me hooked ever since I watched the film. 

The depth of the woods will pull you in to its murky shadows, the leaving you both haunted and enchanted.  

Elijah's Mermaid- Book Review

This book was recommended to me on Goodreads (a site I would highly recommend to any budding bibliophiles) based upon my previous reads.

Saved from the depths of the murky tames as a baby, webbed footed beauty Pearl is bought up and cossetted within the boundaries of The House Of Mermaids, a brothel, raised by the black veiled Mrs Hibbert and the slimy predator Tip Thomas, a man whom I cannot help but imagine as a Victorian rendition of Sacha Baron Cohen's Thenardier. Until she turns 14 her childhood is almost idyllic (if you can put aside the fact that she lives in a brothel) but then Pearl begins to realise that her upbringing has been building up to her being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile orphaned twins Lily and Elijah Lamb are being raised by their loving grandfather Augustus, an author. When the three children turn 14 their paths begin to cross and their lives become a lot more complicated. Throughout this book we see the characters evolve from simple and naive children into adults who soldier on through risk of being tainted by their situation.

The book is narrated by the two female protagonists Pearl and Lily, every other chapter switches between the two perspectives. This is a technique that I admire and would like to be able to apply in my own work. The authors empathy and ability to understand her characters at a more in depth level is one that inspires me to go on to read more of her works and is an admirable trait.

Elijah's Mermaid is set in Victorian England, in a land of brothels and asylums, where life is far from idyllic. The believably of the settings adds to the realism of the book and allows for more surreal themes to be explored without compromising the narratives believably. The book has a steady pace and the narrative unrolls quite slowly if you are used to faster paced literature. However one of the main reasons for its slow pace is due to Essie Fox's attention to detail, her beautiful in-depth descriptions and all round well executed literature is one of the key features to the book.

Fox's style is not too dissimilar to that of Ali Shaw's The Girl With Glass Feet, one of my favourite books to date and and Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child. Two of my favourite books that also successfully blend fantasy features with a sense of verisimilitude.

This book had me enchanted from start to finish! and is without doubt my favorite book that I have had the pleasure of reading and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to those who enjoy historical or fantasy based literature.I would also recommend this book to any lovers of classical art or literature as these are strong themes that run throughout.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic, Romance, Mystery

Star Rating: 5/5