Ok, so I know I'm late to the party with Once Upon A Time by ABC, but I only signed up to Netflix a month ago and since exams finished (yay!) I've finally had the time to get some serious TV sessions in. I may or may not have just finished the 22-episode first season in 2 weeks. Netflix is dangerous when you're as lazy as me.
It's a great show- I mean, the production quality isn't exactly Lord of the Rings standard, but when a story is as fun as this one, it doesn't really matter to me. Of course, that is subject to debate.
First of all, the premise of the show; at the wedding of Snow White and her Prince, the Evil Queen (her stepmother) sets a curse that sends all fairytale characters to a world without magic, our world. So, all the Grimm characters (Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella et al.) are sent to 'Storybrooke' (I struggle with this name the entire time I watch the show) where they have forgotten who they are. A boy called Henry, the adopted son of the Mayor of the town, the formal evil Queen, reads a story book given to him by Miss. Blanchard (Snow White) and realises who all citizens of Storybrooke are. He then decides to find his birth mother, who he believes is the saviour to the town that is described in his book.
Sounds totally mental, I know. But the big thing about this show that I couldn't get over is how great it is for girls. And boys, actually, at showing girls doing it for themselves. So the classic stories always have the handsome Prince, true love's kiss and then the *gasp* moment when said Princess wakes up. Well, Once Upon A Time has girls wielding swords, guns and occasionally turning into beasties that aren't always the nicest (trying my hardest here not to spoil anything for those who want to watch it).
Don't worry, it also has a lot of unconscious Princesses and kissing too.
Two of the leading ladies of the first series are Snow White and her daughter Emma, who carry the plot lines in both the real world and fairytale world. In both cases they have to save either love interests or children, often more successfully than their male counterparts. This isn't to say that the boys play damsels in distress in this show, but I feel like that they actually play equal roles in progressing the plot, which is refreshing. Emma carries characteristics that I think male characters have typically carried; being hurt by her past and therefore pushing people away, as per male brooding love interests in stories like Twilight (thinking of similar audiences here).
I mean, it shouldn't be worth commenting on anymore, having girls doing the rescuing should be passed as normal in shows, but the excitement over the female characters in Game of Thrones shows that we just aren't over the idea of girls being physical characters, fighting and cursing. Emma and Snow are mothers in this plot lines, but that isn't labelled as something that means they should be protected, more that they're finding their inner lioness.
The only let down is the aesthetic side of things. Emma does a fair bit of running around and it almost always in heeled boots. I don't see any guys having to do that. Also fake lashes irritate me no end when they are as obvious as the ones in Once, simply because they look cheap and make the girls look ridiculous. Of course it makes sense with the genre of the show, playing on the fairytale imagery with fluttering lids. I don't know if I just take it too far, but why can't these women look normal? The boys do, bar those fairytale characters like Rumplestiltskin that have to be green.
This is a little bit of an excited rant, but I thought it was worth sharing my thoughts with you. Ironically I was eating an apple while writing this.
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