Saturday, September 23, 2006

Fairytale Endings

I'm a guy who's a sucker for happy endings. Always have been - which is why I stay away from pathetic tearjerker tragedies and rail endlessly over delusional anti-romances with blah endings where one of the protagonists ends up taking a leap over the balcony and the other dies slowly of incurable lung disease.

Seriously. If I wanted mindless tragedy, I'd go to work.

When I was a kid, I used to stay up late past my bedtime with a torch under the covers just to finish the storybooks. Never could understand how anyone could put down a book when they haven't reached the end ( delayed gratification my foot! ). Always wondered how Cinderella was going to find that missing Swarovski crystal glass slipper and how Snow White would escape from the wicked clutches of her oddly psychotic schizophrenic stepmother ( with an obsession for eating live beating hearts? GROSS! ). Hell, even what was going to happen after our little Red Riding Hood bumped into the nasty Big Bad Wolf on her merry way to the old folks' home.

When the job starts to look pointless, when things start to look really bleak, when life seems to be leading nowhere, we always retreat to our childhood fables. Even as seeming adults in this cold, cynical world, we all hold on to our favourite fairytales - whether we hope for that enchanted fairy godmother to come by and grant all our deepest wishes or whether we hope for that prince charming to swoop down in a shiny Harley and lift us up from the pitiful squalor we're living in to some beautiful IKEA-inspired castle someplace.

Let's face it, there weren't any gay heroes back then - although I had my deep suspicions about the seven vertically challenged men who lived happily together in a gay commune. After all, Prince Charming certainly didn't diddle around with the growling Beast in a magical singing castle with dancing brooms and talking candelabras while he waited around for his sleeping beauty to wake up.

Still it didn't stop me from wondering every once in a while. Perhaps the Big Bad Wolf was actually having a torrid affair with the hunky Woodsman.


Fables!
A kiss for my sleeping beauty...

Take a look at dronio's art from deviantART. Don't you just love the gay modern take on Sleeping Beauty? Check out the cute details that pay homage to the original such as the delicate rose design on the tiles and the three little shampoo bottles with the names Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.

And I just love that sweet loving kiss on the forehead. :) Certainly appropriate for me and Calvin - since Calvin, the Lord of Perpetual Yawn is really hopelessly attached to sleeping.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

awww... that's so cute. i guess the reason most of us loves fairy tale ending is because even when the odds are against us, we're still optimistic that it could happend to us. btw, did you watch greys anatomy's premier last thursday?

nyonyapenang said...

a goodnight kiss and a morning wake-up kiss too. ;)

Anonymous said...

That's just a lovely illustration. And a goodnight kiss is just a nice way to tuck your Nick to sleep.

Anonymous said...

the pic is really interesting.. dont know exactly wat the feeling is but it's just interesting...

Anonymous said...

Oh, what a wonderful artist... all his stuff is so good. (I love his Wolverine!)

The yaoi group I'm in, Umbrella Studios, does a lot of similar stuff; our gallery: http://ustudios.dreamhost.com/gallery/

He, wonder if that guy's looking for a group? ^^

I like my fairy tales to be like that picture... with some wonderful realistic detail so it feels like perhaps, just perhaps, it could happen!

MrBunnyBan said...

Ooooo. Guessing which fairy tale the pics come from is fun. :)

Gay boy comes to London said...

A book I read sometime ago 'The uses of enchantment' where the author relates how fairy tails have masked meanings designed to instill certain things in children's minds, eg, the red in red riding hood relates to menstruation. I guess if that were true - some of the princes and princesses were definitely in the closet.

Anonymous said...

That's really sweet, my dear.

:-)

Annie said...

Holding torches under the covers must have caused a lot of fires at your house. No wonder your Mum keeps a close eye on you. Um, and Paul? I think you were drinking too much because Snow White had the wicked Queen. It was Cinderella with the psychotic schizo stepmother. Did you read the same books together, maybe? LOL!

HEY! and you say vertically challenged like it's a bad thing. Somebody needs a smack, I'll give Calvin the pleasure. :D

ZEYN, THE PERPETUAL STRANGER said...

ccol pic, paul!

Anonymous said...

Rub a dub dub a boy in a tub.

DonPato
San Jose

Sue said...

Try reading "The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy" by Anne Rice, writing as A. N. Roquelaure for a new adult twist on an old fable. ;)

A Bear in the Woods said...

I generally keep an old volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales by my bedside. They have helped me through many a rough patch.

RRP said...

nothing like gentle kisses on the forehead, on the cheeks, even on eyelids. i should know. :)

Las montaƱas said...

Little Pig, Little Pig let me in!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... most fairy tales originated from dark, disturbing stories. Even the sanitised, children's versions can't completely escape from themes such as death. I actually like my stories to end in a not-so-happy-ever-after fashion. Like The Little Mermaid.

Guess I like my fantasy tinged with real life :P

ash said...

awww... so sweet. What is it? Art week? *gasp* you're one of those kids who read with a torch under the blanket? I tried it once, and it was so warm under the blanket and heat from the torch doesn't help. Couldn't really concentrate on the fairy tale when you're sweating and shifting incomfortable. Haha...

I'm sort of divided when it comes to ending. Sometimes, i like sad endings rather than happy ending. Beause a tragic love story just put things into perspective that the world ain't all that cute animals and singing birds. Even super heroes die.

On another note, I have to agree with drownedglass. A lot of them are based on gruesome reallife events. Or at least some people believe so.

Anonymous said...

well just like sandra bullock saids in movie Hope Floats
"Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's everything in between that makes it all worth living." .
;) Baby Kimura

William said...

My fave is Hans Christian Andersen's Little Claus & Big Claus.

savante said...

I did watch the premier! it was great! Thank God for the internet, c!

Nothing like kisses to brighten up the day, nyonya.

It is a lovely picture, mark!

Just gives you that warm, gooey feeling inside, doesn't it, xavier?

Go ask dronio then, emily. he looks like a talented fella!

Daniel, was even cooler looking for the minor details.

Red riding hood and menstruation. Interesting analogy, gay boy.

Thanks, darlin.

Nah, it's a battery operated torch. Real torches would have had my mom screaming down the house, anniieieiieei....

Thanks, shah! And go say hi to dronio!

donpato, nothing better than a hot boy in a wet tub.

Read that actually! Damned kinky, sue.

You keep a volume of fairy tales by the bedside? it's kinda sweet, daniel.

Totally agree, ryan.

Or I'll huff, and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down, las montanas.

Harsh reality has to romanticized for the kids after all but I totally agree that most fairy tales have an undercurrent of darker passions. Perhaps as a parable of sorts to the kids, drownedglass?

Exactly what tales were you reading to make you hot and bothered under the sheets, ash? :)

That's such a cool line, josh!

Paul

S said...

Fairy tales are needed in our daily lives because they allow us to dream.