Netflix sent me a box of #StreamTeam goodies to throw an Ever After High viewing party this month, and it has been on my to-do list all month. It didn’t happen, but here’s what did: Abigail opened the box, and Lucas made a verb out of it. “It’s an unboxing, Mama.” Yup, that’s one too many YouTube videos in his life. Abigail tore her way through the goods, then stole away beneath the dining room table, where she found a natural DIVISION LINE and made it one between Rebels and Royals, then asked me to write labels for each side. The photo pretty much says it all. (I totally “ran away from home” and camped out beneath our dining room table, too. Though I did so with Jam for Frances. I believe there’s a magical world that lives beneath tables, because when you’re a kid, it’s all yours. Parents usually don’t get down that low, or want to fit, especially when there’s the option of chairs. But I totally see the appeal, even now, as an adult. The dining room especially because to children, it’s usually off-limits).
Ever After High: Welcome to Ever After High, a boarding school for teens destined to follow in their famous parents’ fairytale footsteps. Only this is high school, and that spells drama. Some, like Apple White, Daring Charming and Blondie Lockes, embrace their “happily ever afters,” while others, like Raven Queen and Cedar Wood, choose to rewrite their stories — which could change the fate of every one else at school.
My lowdown: I love the whole debate on Chance vs. Choice, Free Will vs. Fate. Here, it’s Royal vs. Rebel. My high school yearbook quote right beneath my winged hair photo? “‘Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved’ William Jennings Bryan.”
Viewing the pilot episode fanned some creative flames. How original this idea is, and how awesome it was to see it on the screen. The teenage children of fairytale characters, all in boarding school together, some eager to follow in their royal parents’ footsteps, as is Snow White’s daughter “Apple,” while others want to come out from their parents’ shadows and be seen for who they are as individuals, and some who downright want to change the course of their lives (which may impact others’ happy endings). Only, poor Prince Charming. In modern tales, he’s always such a douche.
Side Salad Note: One of these days there’s going to be an episode (not really, I’m making this up) revealing that the ugly stepsister from Cinderella’s tale was actually the most selfless kindly human being we could’ve known. And that Cinderella was actually in need of meds, that’s all. That’s why she was always losing shit, running from clocks all paranoid, drumming up a fairy godmother, and talking to the birds and squirrels. Yeah, I’d make one hell of a children’s book author.
I handed my young Rebel a sparkly feather pen and a sparkly notebook pad, which I inscribed with these words:
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten…
“Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield
I can’t imagine there are ANY children on Team Royal. Doesn’t everyone want to be a Rebel? Though, by that logic, wouldn’t it stand that to be Team Royal is actually being a Rebel?
Themes: Destiny, Fate, Prophecy, Conformity, Rebels, Royals, Genealogy (Family Tree), Wheel of Fortune, Fortune Tellers, Fairytale, Fractured Fairytale, Individualism
As a Netflix #StreamTeam member, I receive a complimentary subscription to Netflix in exchange for sharing one post each month about Netflix movies and TV Shows, though I often share more often because, let’s face it, I own the verb “over-share.” As always, all opinions are mine, though you’re welcome to agree with me. Or not.
