Once Upon a Time: Twists on Classic Fairytales

Once Upon a Time is an ABC original series that takes all the classic fairy tales we've grown up with and weaves them all together, adding an interesting twist.  The Evil Queen (from Snow White) becomes fed up with watching everyone else, except her, get a happy ending.  So she casts a spell on their world called the Dark Curse, sending everyone in it into the real world in a town called Storybrooke, Maine.  Everyone who lives in the town is from the fairy tale world, but none of them remember who they really are, except for the Evil Queen of course. 

Once Upon a Time shows the fairy tale character each person in the town is using backstories of their lives in the fairy tale world.  These stories are still recognizable but not in the classic sense.  Let's take Snow White for example.  The classic story goes that the Evil Queen, Snow White's stepmother, orders her huntsman to kill Snow White, but he can't bring himself to do it.  He tells Snow White to run away so the Evil Queen can't find her.  That's when Snow White meets the seven dwarfs who she stays with.  Then, the Evil Queen finds out that she is still alive and gives her a poison apple making her fall into a deep sleep that cannot be broken...except for true love's kiss.  Prince Charming finds her and kisses her, waking her up and they live happily ever after.

Now for the Once Upon a Time version...SPOILER ALERT!!!

After Snow White's father suddenly passes she has a feeling that the Evil Queen wants to get rid of her as well.  When she is going for a walk in the forest the huntsman that the Evil Queen sent tries to kill her but is struck by how nice she speaks of the Evil Queen, understanding that she must do this, and let's her go.  She runs away into the woods only to find the house of Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, befriending them.  When the Evil Queen finds out Snow White is still alive she has wanted posters hung up all over the kingdom, Snow White was now a wanted criminal.  She became a bandit to survive, stealing food from markets and the Evil Queen's carriages passing in the woods, which is how she met Prince Charming, accidentally robbing his carriage, thinking it was the Evil Queen's.  He chases after her but she is able to get away to sell the jewels she stole from him.  He finds her again and throughout their journey together to find his mother's ring that she sold, they fall in love.  The problem is that the Prince is set to marry another women who he doesn't love.  The prince finds his way out of the marriage while Snow runs from the Evil Queen until they finally meet again--after Snow White is poisoned from the Evil Queen's apple.  Prince Charming kisses her and breaks the curse.  I would say they live happily ever after but Once Upon a Time is still in production, in the midst of releasing their 5th season, so you never know.

As you can see, the general plot of the classic fairy tale of Snow White is still there but with a lot of twists and turns along the way.  All of the characters' stories are like that, different and overlapping with one another's.  It is interesting how the same story about the same person can be so drastically different, but still true to the plot at the same time.  That just goes to show you how many different ways there are to tell the same story.

On a side note: I'm a huge fan of Once Upon a Time, so if any of the storytelling or the fairy tales interests you I highly suggest watching the show.  The pilot trailer is above so you can see for yourself.  It's a really interesting show that will keep you guessing who is who and how people are connected throughout the whole show.  The first four seasons can be found on Netflix.