Fairy Tales for Children

"They lived happily ever after" is the most common finishing line of any fairy tale we have read in our childhood or in the fairy stories we read for our children today. It sounds so positive and poetic, & happy and hopeful. 😊😊😊😊

More than boys, girl children seem to be attracted to these tales. Why is it so? May be for the simple reasons that 

(1) girls/women are the lead characters of the tales, 

(2) fairies are always girls/women and 

(3) these fairies turn girls of the stories angel-like and bless them abundantly😇! 

Boys prefer ultimately different stuff, thankfully 😂

What are the beautiful sides of these fairy tales?

• The punchy or attractive titles (mostly the girls' names or their description for Eg. Cinderalla, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast)
• The vibrant colours used in the books
• The expensive fairy-like dresses used to depict the lead character
• Magical/Fantasy side to it.
• The palace, garden and similar environment in which the story is set
• The typical fairy-tale ending, very positive and hopeful

Given these, I strongly recommend not to read these stories for children for the following reasons. (you may take out those fairy tales you have to check this interpretation. Therefore, I did not give examples here)

• Most of these stories revolve around BEAUTY and FAIRNESS of the girl lead
• We often come across STEPMOTHERS and STEP SISTERS, those cunning ones and beast-like, that ABUSE the girl
• CURSE occupies a prime position in many fairy tales
• It is mostly a PRINCE that saves the girl at the end, the saviour
• The girl's story is supposedly settled happy once she GETS MARRIED to the prince and steps into the palace

There can be few more added to these points, but I restrict to the key ones that are not at all positive for a child to read or for a parent to read for the child. There are hundreds of stories for our children on earth, why these so-called fairy tales???!!! Definitely these tales are not just good vs evil, it has more hidden venom.

P.S.: I once heard from a group of male college students studying English literature in a rural area that they had never heard of Cinderalla story. I said good that they did not learn about child-abuse and girl-abuse at their early age.

Anthology movies 😕

In a way happy that theaters are closed for a while 😂, as I don't get to watch movies these days (as sadly written in one of my previous posts). Unfortunately I am against Tamilrockers kind of stuff for almost a decade and a half now 🙏

The last movie I watched on silver screen is SILLU KARUPPATTI, my daughter calls it "sweet movie"😋, given its name😄. After a pause, there were more than a couple of reasons to watch this movie, a female director (largely appreciated for this work), heartwarming reviews (on newspaper and internet), the cute posters (like the one below) and an instinct that it would woo all age groups (including my daughter).

I least expected four short films!!!! 😕 But yeah, they kept me glued to the screen (though my spouse had to move out with my daughter as it did not impress her a bit😝). There were few connecting points (both tangible and intangible) apart from the major link LOVE 💗💙💚💛💜💝💓 Interpretation of love! for different age group, gender, marital status, social and economic background. It was so soft and gentle, unlike most tamil movies! Yet, I was so perplexed as to why four short films are put together and the director has NOT CONNECTED THEM!!!!

Later I found that this category of movies are called "Anthology movies" which had its origin in the first quarter of 20th century. Since then many attempts are made; and many did not succeed for variety of reasons. A brief search on google lists few Tamil movies (eg. Aviyal, Bench Talkies), to my surprise, that fall under this category. Even Maniratnam's Ayitha Ezhuthu is listed.  I never felt (even now) there were/are three films in Ayitha Ezhuthu. They were intertwined from first to last, unlike Sillu Karuppatti (as I have not seen any other Anthology movie). And there is one film "Aei Nee Romba Azhaga Iruka" directed by Vasanth where five music directors composed five songs, one each 🎹🎸🎻🎺🎷🎵 Will that fall under Anthology type too!!?? I dunno 😛

Now, What I wonder is this!!! During those days, there were no avenues such as YouTube or Short film contests or such platforms for budding directors to showcase their talents to find a bigger way. Therefore, two or more would have joined, created their pieces and put together as a feature film, then. But now, there are umpteen number of ways to release one's short films!! Why then choose ANTHOLOGY type!!?? 

As a laywoman who watches only Tamil movies (other languages strictly with subtitles only 😜), it was certainly a new and beautiful experience to watch this kind. But the same could have been watched in Youtube or other medium, had they been released as short films and it would have reached mass audience (younger generation who prefer internet to theaters) and enjoyed profit too probably. In such case, I don't understand why choose Anthology in place of conventional feature film?! Will there be more such movies in future?! Will this type attract more budding directors to give a shot under established (production) banner?! Is this a relatively easier film making style?! Is this profitable?! Will this module be preferred by audience as they are getting bored with the usual types?! May be... May be not...

Whatever, wish more good movies (for kids too) are made!!! 👀