Charles Perrault, Fairy Tales And And How We Still Tell The Same Ugly Stories

Today’s google doodle is Charles Perrault. Well done Charles, you’ve made it! Fairy tale fascination is nothing new, children watch the Disney versions over and over, but as I grew older I realised there was something else to them, something…untamed.

A Jim Henson television programme from the late 80s told me that yes, there was something to that theory. Based on folk tales from the past they were often more unpleasant than the Disney versions – don’t let yourself be led astray, or such and such will happen.

Jim Henson’s Storyteller, Sapsorrow, an early version of Cinderella where she has to marry her father

That’s the gist of many of them: dark predictions if you don’t heed your guardian’s warnings. Little Red Riding Hood was much more The Company of Wolves than a story about a little girl avoiding a scary animal. In truth she was on the brink of sexuality and told not to talk to strangers on the way to her grandma’s lest they be an evil seducer.

But that’s not all they are. The listener no doubt felt a thrill of fear and disgust and the teller would delight in their reaction. They’re projections of worst case scenarios told safely indoors, the Urban Legends of their time. I got the same excitement and revulsion when I first discovered the Snopes website and saw society’s basest worries right there on the screen. There’s no PC filters here, everybody fits a stereotype and everyone wants to secretly maim you or put gerbils up you (neither sounds good).

Don’t blame me

Just like the Prince’s mother from Charles Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty plans to eat his daughter, stories are whispered of meth taking baby-sitters mistaking children for meatloaf and putting them in ovens. A still earlier version of Sleeping Beauty has the Prince impregnating the Princess IN HER SLEEP, while other versions have the mother-in-law not only eating her son’s first daughter but secretly, apparently for a laugh, feeding her to the King. All of which sound a little like the tales passed between lips of scary foreigners and drug addicts.

So next time you listen to a biased and poorly researched story told to you by the bloke in the office who heard it from Fred just imagine: One day there might be a cartoon version where they get married at the end.

Upcoming Event For Halloween: Cakeageddon, An Evil Fairy Tale Horror Farm… With Cake

My search for disturbing and gruesome cake continues (well, it passes the time) with this upcoming installation in Standalone Farm in Letchworth Garden City, London, from Oct 29 to Nov 1.

By Nathan Pask

Creepy cake maker Miss Cakehead will treat attendees to the inside of her disturbing mind and taste buds. The press release says:

“The event combines live horror action with cake for the first ever time, creating an incredible terrifying edible experience the likes of which have never been seen before. The family farm attraction taken over by renowned creative and food art curator Miss Cakehead for a special event targeted strictly at older teenagers and adults which features some of the world’s most infamous cake makers.

By Nathan Pask

Red Riding Hood chasing you through the woods and the remains of the three slaughtered little pigs strung up and dripping ‘blood’ (strawberry sauce) are just some of the CAKE treats in store for you when the mistress of macabre cake takes over Letchworth Garden City’s Standalone Farm every night from the 29th October to the 1st November. Cakeageddon – the World’s first edible horror farm – will be extreme gruesome cake at its most terrifying.

By Nathan Pask

Scattered around the farm will be a series of large scale cake installations which brave visitors will be able to tuck into if there dare… There will be plenty of nasty surprises in store as they go on their cake-walk though the night… Even the children’s play barn on the farm is touched by Miss Cakehead’s twisted mind, taken over by a nightmarish edible creation of Animal Farm.”

Well who wouldn’t want to go? I know I do! Below is a video of Miss Cakehead and previous scary confectionary projects. Enjoy!

The dark, pretty and disturbing body paint art of Lorie Hamel

French Canadian Lorie Hamel has gained multiple awards and press for her fantastic body painting.

On her Model Mayhem page she says: “I’m always looking for these textures, finishes and effects that transform my models. I innovate with different materials compatible with use on the skin. In this way, latex, gold leaf, gelatin, photo transfer and makeup, characterized my work and allow me to convey my creativity on the epidermis…I give as much attention to the composition and details. I am looking for all these features to achieve a true transmutation of the body, then breathes life into my painting and my art who turns into true living canvas.”

Witness the creation of a ‘cristal punk:’

Fantasmagoric!

“I just want to know what the time is!”

With Julie Fuselier

 

 

19th century Parisian death entertainment

La Belle Epoch (or golden era, roughly 1871 to 1914) of Paris certainly enjoyed life on the dark side. Not only were gory horror plays performed for those looking for late night thrills, a person could chat about philosophy and the meaning of death over a coffin table.

The Grand Guignol was a style of theatre steeped in gore and fear that continued right up until 1962. Rich and poor alike would go to a performance and prepare to be terrified. Read more here.

The Heaven and Hell nightclubs were fantastically intricate drinking spots. The Cabaret of the Inferno was described thusly:

“Enter and be damned, the Evil One awaits you!” growled a chorus of rough voices as we hesitated before the scene confronting us. Near us was suspended a caldron over a fire, and hopping within it were half a dozen devil musicians, male and female, playing a selection from “Faust” on stringed instruments, while red imps stood by, prodding with red-hot irons those who lagged in their performance.”

After this spectacle patrons would visit the Cabaret of the Sky, a much more divine affair.

The club I find most intriguing, however, is the Cabaret of Nothingness:

“Large, heavy, wooden coffins, resting on biers, were ranged about the room in an order suggesting the recent happening of a frightful catastrophe. The walls were decorated with skulls and bones, skeletons in grotesque attitudes, battle-pictures, and guillotines in action. Death, carnage, assassination were the dominant note, set in black hangings and illuminated with mottoes on death.”

To read more about these fascinating clubs visit here.

Well, there we have it, much more interesting than Euro Disney don’t you think?