The Princess Blog

USA today has finally released an article containing an image of the elusive scene containing all the Disney Princesses from Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet ! This scene was previewed at the D23 Expo last summer and locked up tight ever since. Now that they've finally released a screenshot of it, there appears to be something missing. Ariel, my favorite princess that I was most curious about isn't in the shot. It was pretty clear what all the other princesses were going to be wearing in the movie since they are always portrayed on stock art in their signature looks. Ariel, on the other hand, is a bit of a black sheep when it comes to a signature look. Sometimes she's a mermaid , sometimes she's a human, sometimes she's wearing the pink dress from the movie , and sometimes she's wearing a green dress that was never in any movie. It's just my luck that even after an image of the mysterious scene was finally released, I still don't have an a...

As you may or may not be aware, there was a pretty big screening of Disney's Beauty and the Beast  at the Hollywood Bowl this past Friday and Saturday. I wasn't there, so I can't give you a direct account of the experience like I did with  their Little Mermaid  concert , but I can save you a few hours of searching through social media and YouTube videos by summarizing my own findings. If you're wondering why I didn't bother buying tickets this year, it was a combination having already experienced my favorite movie at the Hollywood Bowl and not wanting to see Zooey Deschanel  attempting to recreate Belle's soprano. To be honest, I wasn't even aware that she could sing before the casting announcements for this event were made. If they didn't want to cast the original voices from the movie, why couldn't they just get Susan Egan to play Belle? It shouldn't count that she did it on Broadway  since Norm Lewis reprised his Broadway role as King Triton ...

Over the weekend, there was a big announcement that the first season of  Matt Groening 's first new show in 20 years will be released on August 17th. Unless you've been living under a rock, you're familiar with Matt's other shows, Futurama , and  The Simpsons , which has been running approximately since the dawn of mankind. The new series, which will release ten episodes for its first season on Netflix, is called Disenchantment (not to be confused with Disenchanted , the upcoming sequel to Disney's 2007 Enchanted ). In a surprise move for Matt Groening, Disenchantment will be starring a princess! Bean, our new heroine,  is described as a "hard-drinking princess who decided ruling a kingdom is boring and sets out on a series of misadventures with an elf named, err, Elfo and her very own demon, Luci." This is groundbreaking territory for princess culture in many ways. Even though very little has been revealed about the show thus far aside from four ...

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doué is the third adaptation of I've read of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" with the first being Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George and the second A Dance of Silver and Shadow by Melanie Cellier . All three books turn the mysterious underground world of glittering trees from the fairy tale into a nightmarish trap that they must find a way to escape. When I first read "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" as a little girl, I loved that the twelve sisters had a magical land they could escape to and find happiness that they didn't have in the real world. To me, that was the heart of the story, not trying to be free from a curse. That said, I didn't exactly dislike any of the adaptations I've read since it's always nice to see new takes on old stories. The Firethorn Crown tells the story of Princess Lily, who is aggressively pursued by unwanted suitors. As far as princess heroines go, Lily is pretty coo...

This will be my last developmental post for  The Stolen Jewel . I am pleased to announce that I will be developing it into a feature-length screenplay at  UCLA's Professional Program for Screenwriting Online  in the fall! I hope you've enjoyed the past few weeks of developing backstories for my characters before they go on their big adventure. Whether or not I will be continuing Story Saturday after this is still up in the air. People don't seem as interested in my short stories as my analytical posts, and it's difficult to come up with brand new worlds and characters every week. Please let me know if there's anything in particular you would like to see more of in The Princess Blog. You can also contribute to  my Patreon account  if you would like to decide the topic for my next post or contribute a guest post. The Stolen Jewel: Charlotte's Childhood When Princess Charlotte was eight years old, her aunt Denise let her play in the royal treasury for...

The latest Mysticons episode, "Game of Phones,"  began with Princess Arkayna calling up her newly-discovered twin sister Zarya and asking for her tiara size. "I don't do  tiaras," Zarya scoffed in response. Of course, in perfect comedic timing, the next shot was of a very unhappy Zarya sitting on a griffon with a small yet hilariously out of place golden tiara fastened to her short purple hair. This scene was very funny because it portrayed a symbol of femininity on a character who openly dislikes all things girly. It also goes to show how far the princess trope itself has gone  in modern times from being a symbol of feminity to being a symbol of strength. More and more princesses are now warrior archetypes , while damsels in distress have become all but obsolete. Of course, Zarya, in particular, is a special case. Like Proxima, the red herring in the "twin sister" story arc , Zarya was raised without a family or an identity. However, she and...

The Princess Search  by Melanie Cellier  is the unplanned fifth novel in the Four Kingdoms series . It came out last week, and I couldn't wait to read it. It is supposed to be a retelling of "The Ugly Duckling," but it was no more the story of "The Ugly Duckling" than The Princess Fugitive  was "Little Red Riding Hood," but the lack of predictability only made the story more enjoyable. The setting felt both familiar and new at the same time because most of the other books in The Four Kingdoms had a side character who was a prince or princess of Lanover, but since the main character in this book was not royalty, she had travelled to parts of the kingdom that the readers have never seen before. It was particularly nice to see the rambunctious youngest princess Celine again, who played a large role in both The Princess Game  and A Dance of Silver and Shadow . Since all of her sisters had married off, she was eager to find wives for her two brothers so she...

The Stolen Jewel: Prince Braydon Prince Braydon glared at a mountain of letters on his desk. Most of them were from wishful noble ladies who were desperate for his courtship in order to raise their status. It wasn't easy being the most eligible prince in the land. Many others would envy him to have such an admirable problem, but he knew better. There was far more to life than making women swoon and throw themselves at his feet. He was far more interested in learning to run a kingdom. His father had some unique ideas about being king. Even though Braydon did not agree with all of them, he found their discussions fascinating. "Finished sorting through your mail already?" asked King Mercer as his son cautiously entered the throne room. Braydon never knew what sort of mood his father might be in. "Why must read I them all? Most of these ladies are so vapid, writing about their hair and clothes and showering me with empty compliments about my appearance. I...

Well, that's a wrap. Once Upon a Time is finally over for good. Though the majority of the finale and  new season was underwhelming at best, I couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic by the final scene as the camera dramatically panned out from the half real, half CGI town of Storybrooke. I didn't start this blog until the show was already starting its final season so my opinion toward it in the context of The Princess Blog probably comes off as somewhat negative . When this season started, I had some strong opinions about the way it introduced its new princesses such as Rapunzel and Tiana  as well as the way it concluded the stories for its old ones such as Emma and Belle . Eventually, my rants stopped as the series tapered off into a slow build-up to the final episode. Was it the perfect send-off? No, but it was the best they could do with the convoluted multiverse that was formed over years of drawn out story arcs. The series finale called "Leaving Storybro...

This is a big week for Disney Junior's princess in training,  Sofia the First . After an indefinite hiatus, the show is back with a new episode every single day this week. There are going to be some pretty big ones including the introduction of a disabled princess and a return to Merroway Cove, where Sofia's mermaid princess friends live. Today's episode, "A Royal Wedding,"  was no exception. The episode was set during the wedding of Sofia's Aunt Tilly to Sir Bartleby, both of whom were introduced last season. Tilly is a fun Mary Poppins-like character who is the older sister to King Roland. She revealed in an earlier episode that she had inherited Sofia's magical Amulet of Avalor before it was passed down her. Sir Bartleby struggled to confess his feelings to Tilly because he was afraid she would be put off by his odd high-pitched voice, but she accepted him the way he was as soon as she learned the truth. However, none of that was addressed in their wed...

When Aya Ling , the author of  A Little Mermaid  from the Entwined Tales series , placed her novel  The Ugly Stepsister  on sale, I was hoping not to get too carried away. After all, the book looks like it could easily be a watered down  Gregory Maguire wannabe . However, as soon as I began to read the first paragraph, I was instantly hooked on this wish-fulfillment fantasy. Instead of another fairy tale retelling from an alternate perspective, the Unfinished Fairy Tales series is more like a live-action princess movie , in which an ordinary girl travels to another world and transforms into a princess. Even though the series is called Unfinished Fairy Tales , the books do not tell different stories like the Four Kingdoms or Timeless Fairy Tales series. Instead, all of the books are direct sequels about the same character and the same fully fleshed out "Cinderella" world, meaning that if you got hooked on the story from the beginning like me, you will be franti...

The story you are about to read takes place many years before last week's character study  for  The Stolen Jewel . It is an early attempt to build the history behind the world of Klingland. You may notice that I also tweaked a few things from last week's story, such as killing off Charlotte's parents. We writers can be so heartless at times. I'm looking forward to writing the final piece and learning what you all think about it. The Stolen Jewel: Setting Study Once upon a time, there was a kingdom known as Klingland that was infused with magic. It flowed through the oceans and poured from the sky. There was nowhere a creature could step without unleashing some sort of power from the earth. Over the course of thousands of years, the magic was soaked up into tangible jewels known as enchanted runes. The markings on the runes revealed what sort of magic they contained. Runes could be found everywhere. They were buried in the earth, washed up in the ocean, and fe...

There's certainly no shame in loving princesses when you're older . However, ever since I entered my 30s, I noticed that there were certain aspects of princesses and fairy tales that I could no longer relate to. I still believe in fighting for what's right and following my heart, but I don't view the world with the same wide-eyed innocence as I did when I was a teenager. Most princesses are roughly 16, and they tend to act their age. When we're younger, everything is new and exciting, and there are infinite possibilities for the future. Our lives may not be the easiest, but we've never been let down or had our heart broken yet. The older I get, the more I understand why queens are often portrayed as dark or evil . Though I still relate to Ariel's passion and desire for freedom , I probably act more like Megara from Hercules  or Kida from Atlantis . These animated heroines have been around long enough to see the world for what it is and don't feel the ne...

I was so thrilled when the sequel to The Little Siren  came out that I could not wait to read it. So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed  the Faraway Castle series by J.M. Stengl . The Siren and the Scholar  takes place six years after the events of The Little Siren . It is inspired by "The Little Mermaid," and it's my favorite adaptation  of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale that I've read so far . The book catches up with Kamoana and Tor, the titular siren and scholar that were introduced in The Little Siren . Just like the mermaid from the fairy tale, Kamoana becomes human to find Tor again. However, instead of giving up her voice, she gives up her memories of him, so she must find him without even know who she's looking for. His memories of her are wiped as well, causing a lot of frustration on his behalf as an intellectual. I loved the romance and emotion that went into this story. Kamoana and Tor had forgotten their time together but felt empty as a...

This is not going to be your typical  Story Saturday , where I tell an original short story with a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, I would like to do a character study for my next novel and/or screenplay, The Stolen Jewel . The story will take place in the same world as  my other books  and centers on a studious princess and her two  ladies-in-waiting . I have not written anything about Princess Charlotte or her ladies yet, so this is a litmus test of sorts to see how well they play off each other. Please let me know in the comments if you enjoyed reading about them and if you would like to see more previews of this story in the future. If I decide to turn it into a novella, it will go up on my Amazon page in paperback and Kindle formats as soon as I am finished. Otherwise, it will become my first project for the professional screenwriting program I applied to. I look forward to your feedback! The Stolen Jewel: Character Study Charlotte's mind was buzzing wi...