And they lived happily ever after … but what happens after “happily ever after?”
When you’re a kid you never wonder about where the seven dwarfs went to live after Snow White ditched them. Did she have them continue to work in the mine, whistling while they did it, despite their decision to let her live in their house rent free? Perhaps the wicked queen wasn’t so wicked after all; maybe she was just suffering from a broken heart or came from a bad home.
Fairytales were written hundreds of years ago but still remain relevant to this day. ABC’s show “Once Upon A Time” brings the classics of the past to the present and gives them a new twist. Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) is not the sweet, docile princess from the Disney movie. She has taken on the modern standard that women can be their own heroines and save themselves. No more is the knight in shining armor necessary as a woman is capable of saving a kingdom.
The romance is not dead, however. Snow still has her prince, although in the first season, she has no recollection of who he is. The residents of Storybrooke are under the spell of the evil queen, Regina, until Snow and Prince Charming’s (Josh Dallas) daughter, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), can break the curse.
It seems that every fairytale you’ve ever watched as a child, sitting in front of your TV, singing along, has come to Storybrooke. Flashbacks to past lives of each character display how all magical fairytale creatures are actually intertwined. In the second season, the curse has been broken, and magic is on its way.
If you thought the evil queen Regina (Lana Parilla) wasn’t treacherous enough, just wait until you get a load of her mother Cora (Barbra Hershey), who also plays the Queen of Hearts in an alternate reality similar to Storybrooke. The popularity of “Once Upon A Time” has spawned this alternate reality, the spin-off “Once Upon A Time in Wonderland,” which follows Alice and the search to find her lost love.
Bringing fairytales to the small screen has been done before. NBC premiered the show “Grimm” on October 28, 2011, only five days after “Once Upon A Time.” “Grimm” only brought in 6.56 million viewers, while “Once Upon a Time” brought in 12.93 million viewers. With millions of people tuning in, networks are starting to realize the common thread – people want to be taken away to another world when they watch TV.
Reality TV has taken over, and while Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty clearly show the amount of time and effort put in by the people in the writers’ room (note the hint of sarcasm), it’s time to bring back television shows that aren’t about glorifying bad behavior and no talent “stars.” It’s time to show kids there is more to the imagination than just becoming the new reject on “16 and pregnant.”
Isn’t it time to show kids, little girls especially, that you can be your own hero of the story?
I believe we all deserve a little magic in our lives, even if it is only on TV.
