Wednesday, March 26, 2014

SNOW vs FROZEN

Hi Everyone,

Snow White was the first Disney movie I ever owned and I watched it religiously as a child. The movie was Disney's first feature and was made in 1937.

A few days ago, I watched Frozen and realized just how much our world and fairy tales have changed. I also realized what messages the old fairy tales were sending to young boys and girls.

SNOW WHITE
Protagonist: Snow White
Skills: Dancing. Baking. Cleaning. Napping.

In Snow White, our heroine foolishly bites the poisoned apple that a stranger/creepy old lady (the evil
queen in disguise) offers her. She then falls into an eternal sleep while the men in her life, the seven dwarfs, chase down and take care of the evil queen; a woman who's only motivation for her evildoing was that someone else was just a little prettier than she was.

So, not only did our heroine get herself into this mess by being pretty and foolish, she also remains inactive in solving the issue at hand.

Don't get me wrong, it is completely fine for a MC to make mistakes...as long as he/she tries to fix what they did wrong.

Luckily, the handsome prince, a character we really don't know that well, shows up and saves the day
by offering Snow White a Loves First Kiss/True Love's Kiss.
Our protagonist awakes, the prince swoops her up in his arms, and takes off with Show White on his steed.

In short: Girls, it's okay to be foolish and unproductive because a cute boy will come along and save you at some point. Boys, buckle up, you have to do all the work in the future and fix your woman's problems...no pressure.

Again, this was 1937, but it does reflection the era that was and would remain common for quite sometime, where women stayed at home and men had to do the work.

Fast forward 77 years to Disney's most recent movie Frozen , where they spin Hans Christian Andersen's tale The Snow Queen into something new.

SPOILER ALERT.

FROZEN
Protagonist: Anna
Skills: Fearless. Stubborn. Selfless. Delivers a mean right hook.

Although out heroine, Princess Anna, is somewhat naïve about love in the beginning, she doesn't set out on her adventure because she's running away from her problem like Snow White did, but to proactively help her sister, Elsa.

When things later go haywire Anna ends up with a "frozen heart" and can only be saved by an Act of True Love. The words 'True Love's Kiss' come up.

As it turns out, the act of True Love is not preformed by a handsome price that pops up to save the day, but by Anna herself when she sacrifices herself for her sister.

In addition, the handsome prince Hans--who Anna earlier thought she wanted to marry--turns out to be a douche bag. Anna's real love interest, Kristoff, a rugged mountain man, swoops in and offers to take care of Hans for her. Anna refuses and clocks the prince in the face herself. Hurrah! Victory for all...except Hans.


Xoxo,
Mia

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

2014 Las Vegas Writers Conference

Hi Everyone,

As I've mentioned briefly, I'm very excited to join the faculty of the 2014 Las Vegas Writers Conference!

Between April 24 - 26, I will be on an Agent/Author panel along with my very own agent, the lovely Elizabeth Kracht. This session will allow writers to ask any questions they might have about agent-author relationships.

As some of you may know, I was a screenwriter before I became an author. Because of my years of screenwriting studies and trying to break into the madness that is Hollywood, the wonderful people of the Las Vegas Writers Conference have granted me the pleasure of holding my own workshop.

My class: Using Movie Structure to Strengthen your Plot (it's a working title) will be about taking the precise structure of screenplays and implementing them into your manuscript to help improve pace and plot. I'm hoping this workshop will help other authors as much as it has helped me!

I'm incredibly honored and grateful to be apart of the Las Vegas Writers Conference faculty and would like to send a big thanks to the organization! 

If you are a writer, or just interested in attending:

Click Here to Join!

 

Here are some of the other work shops:


* Dialogue, it is not just people talking
* Plotting First Draft to Final Draft
* That’s How We Roll: Setting up an Author Tour both Online and Offline
* Self editing for fiction writers – Edit yourself
* Multiple point of view
* Author/Agent panels – The relationship and how it works
* Building an Author Platform Self-Publishing Demystified:  Taking the Reins of Your Own Publishing Journey
* Building Your Own Writing/Publishing Empire:  Strategies for Turning One Book into a Full-Time Living
* Ten Ways to Upgrade Your Manuscript
* Savvy self-publishing; bonuses and traps of DIY
* Workshopping the Query
* Creating Characters
* Balance – How to intertwine narrative, description & dialogue


Xoxo,
Mia