Page 59 - Secondary School BEATS

is overrat-
ed as is a myopic fo-
cus on finding the right man and
marriage. In contrast, the retellings offer a wider
range of emotions making the stories more compelling to read
(or watch). In the television series, Once Upon a Time, I met identifiable Fairy
Tale characters in a web of interconnected retellings playing out ordinary lives with complicated pasts
in the contemporary world of Storybrooke. In the book series, The Land of Stories, I charted the ad-
ventures of half-mortal twins Alex and Connor, as they jumped into a book of fairy tales, introducing
modern day goods and ideals to the characters they meet. I felt part of the interaction between two
worlds. In fairy tales for Millennials by Bruno Vincent Sleeping Beauty wakes up woke, there is some
trolling, a porridge pop-up and Red Riding Hood critiquing the wolf for appropriation of granny
culture.

Relevant much? Just like the futuristic twist given to the classics by Marissa Meyers in The Lunar
Chronicles. Even though shows like Ever After High and movies like Descendants 1,2 &3 owe their
popularity to fairy tales, they have managed it to bring them to generation next.

There is a certain allure to the untold and the unknown that retellings offer. In the rabbit hole of my
imagination, I often wondered What could have been? and What if... Retellings answer them and go
beyond to open a gateway of imagination outside the realm of possibilities for readers everywhere.

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