Sleeping Beauty Multiple Fairy Tale Ending

After Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty…

Teliqua: Great ballet. And a full orchestra with it. Good deal: two for the price of one. The ending had me a bit puzzled though. The wedding act having that parade of fairy tales. Cinderella. Red Riding Hood. Puss in Boots. What was that all about?

Tawanda: Wedding entertainment.

Teliqua: Having all those extra stories in at the end seemed a bit gratuitous. I mean, a ballet is usually a standalone story. Don Quixote, Peter Pan, Swan Lake. Why throw in that medley of Cinderella and Red Riding Hood?

Tawanda: Interesting question.

Teliqua: Why didn’t they throw in Mickey Mouse?

Tawanda: Silly. Mickey Mouse is a character with many stories. Those others are one-story characters.

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Voice-over

The narrative arc of Sleeping Beauty experiences a series of tremors at the end of the ballet version.

Problem: Evil fairy casts a spell on Princess Aurora.

Conflict: Lilac Fairy attempts a fix but the willful teenage princess, ignoring the cautions of parents, grabs the spindle and falls into a coma anyway.

Solution: Enter handsome princess who kisses Aurora awake; wedding celebrations include medley of other fairy tales; a singing, dancing, happy ending.

But then... we get...

And as for Mickey Mouse? He started out in 1928 as a bumbling suitor of Minnie Mouse but morphed into a fixit man with a bunch of interesting friends. Now his name is a pejorative epithet for dysfunctional machines or procedures such as “Mickey Mouse outfit.” This would be hard to fit in.

Moonrise Kingdom Map

The story begins here but I can't see where it ends.

Wes explains the film story as a map with twists and turns…

Wes: The characters are capricious. The story is unpredictable. The bad characters mostly turn out good. Even the cantankerous lawyer Walt, played by you, at one point he’s self-reflective.

Bill: I see that. The line about most of my injuries being self-inflicted?

Wes: You got it. Melancholic tinges but we want a happy ending. Only the social services woman doesn’t back down from her shrill threats; we need her to drive the suspense. Lightning strikes Sam but he survives. He stands on the steeple in the storm but doesn’t fall. The cop is good. The bullying turns to teamwork. The storm heals.

Bill: In this happy film I get to look morose throughout it?

Wes: You do. Most of the time, think Lost in Translation. With flashes of ferocity and cynicism to contrast with Sam’s composed command. He’s an orphan with a calm core.

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Voice-over

And so they told the story of Moonrise Kingdom that way. Locations googled then fictionalized. A narrative with a map at the middle. A story that teeters on tragedy and mirthfully morphs into a dramatic denouement. Veers like a rabbit running. Verily worth watching.

Laura Bishop: I'm sorry Walt.

Walt Bishop: It's not your fault... Which injuries are you apologizing for? Specifically.

Laura Bishop: Specifically? Whichever ones still hurt.

Walt Bishop: Half of those were self-inflicted... I hope the roof flies off, and I get sucked up into space. You'll be better off without me.

Laura Bishop: Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Walt Bishop: Why?

Laura Bishop: We're all they've got, Walt.

Walt Bishop: That's not enough.

...

A win-win retribution: Wall Street II

Narrative Profile: Wall Street I (blue) & Wall Street II (red)

Wall II follows Wall I’s narrative… with a twist…
Saturday night was a good night to stay in and watch a movie. Except I watched two.
Two?
Two the same. Well a prequel  followed by a sequel. Wall Street the original and…
Money Never Sleeps?
The very pair. And they are so similar.
Because of Michael Douglas?
That but more than that. It’s the narratives. They have an identical narrative profile. But with a twist in II.
Ah. Bad old guy vs innocent newbie?
Bad old guy corrupts innocent idealistic newbie who then outwits bad old guy. Bud in Wall I gets a confession on tape of Gordon Gekko and Jake in Wall II derails Gordon with a movie of his grandson on CD. Media denouement, both times.
You’d think Gordo would have learned not to trust media.

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Voice-over
Media. You can imagine Oliver Stone thinking, “Bud wore a wire and taped Gordon to get him put away for twenty years. But in Wall II, I’ll have Jake give Gordon a film of his grandson’s ultrasonic scan (a representation of a representation) to reel him back into the family and give back the 100 million.

Wall I: Young idealistic newbie (Bud) uses medium of sound recording tape to attack Gordon. Destructive retribution.
Wall II: Young idealistic newbie (Jake) uses meta-media to subdue Gordon, defeat him, win the money back, and bring him into the family. A win-win retribution.