Goldilocks in US Politics

I am not going to get political here on the blog--we need a few places to escape campaigns, don't we? But I was amused by this headline and the news that the GOP candidates have been invoking Goldilocks recently.

From Mitt Romney Upbeat After Strong Debate, Compares Newt Gingrich To 'Goldilocks':

"Speaker Gingrich said the debate before last night -- that the crowd wasn't allowed to cheer, and so he couldn't do so well because the crowd was too quiet," said Romney, referring to the NBC News debate where the audience was asked to hold its applause. "Then last night, he said the crowd was too loud. It's like Goldilocks. This porridge is too hot, this porridge is too cold."

But Romney's not alone, from the same article:

Former Sen. Rick Santorum also recently invoked Goldilocks, saying Gingrich was "hot, radioactive" and Romney was "cold, timid" -- but he was "just right."

Okay, candidates. How about Sleeping Beauty next? That one should be easy! Emperor's New Clothes and Cinderella are way too easy. Extra points and my vote if you can invoke Bluebeard or Robber Bridegroom! Or Twelve Dancing Princesses--now that would be amazing.

Picture Book: Me and You by Anthony Browne

While I have Goldilocks on everyone's brain today, I wanted to share a somewhat recent release (2010) that I missed until I few weeks ago and have been saving until Goldilocks was on my mind. The book is Me and You by Anthony Browne as author and illustrator who has offered us interesting fairy tale visions in the past.

Book description:

A small bear goes for a stroll in the park with his parents, leaving their bowls of porridge cooling on the kitchen table. Meanwhile, a girl with golden hair is hopelessly lost in a big, frightening city when she comes across a house with the door left invitingly open. Inside are three bowls of porridge in the kitchen, three chairs in the living room, and three comfortable-looking beds upstairs, and no one seems to be home . . .

For me, it's hard to see Goldilocks in a fresh way, but this book definitely puts a different twist on a the tale and makes it a different story. Goldilocks is not the brat she is in so many versions, think James Marshall's version in particular which I also adore.

France Month: Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Marion Billet

Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Marion Billet is more of a play book than a book, but it is cute so I had to share it as part of France Month. It has pop-up book qualities and it has joined my personal wishlist.

France Month: Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Vanessa Hié

 

Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Vanessa Hié has been published in two editions with two different authors credited for the text. The book on the left is in print while the one on the right is out of print. Either way, I found these illustrations witty and fun. I couldn't find internal imagery from the in-print edition which would be interesting since it is a different shape and must use the illustrations differently.

But the pompon hair on Goldilocks emphasizes her youth and sells the story to me.

France Month: Boucle d'or et les trois ours by Gerda Muller

 

Boucles d'Or et les trois ours illustrated by Gerda Muller is actually available in many languages including English, French and German (Im Bärenhaus) but the illustrations I have to share are with French text, so I am counting this one as a French Month entry. But I can offer descriptions in English, so everyone wins, right? The English and French editions are still in print, the English being the most recent while the German is out of print.

Book description:

When Goldilocks goes to collect flowers in the wood she gets lost and stumbles upon a pretty house in a clearing. She looks inside and sees a table with three chairs: a big chair, a medium chair and a little chair, and in front of each chair is a steaming bowl of porridge. The porridge smells so good, and Goldilocks is so hungry, that she opens the door and walks inside. But this house belongs to three bears: a big daddy bear, a medium mummy bear and a little baby bear -- and they'll be back soon. This is a beautiful interpretation of a classic story. Gerda Muller's timeless, intricate illustrations offer wonderful extra detail for children to enjoy. From the very first page, she includes big, medium and little versions of birds, squirrels, mice, plates, umbrellas, slippers, and more. Children and parents will notice new things each time.

About the Author

Gerda Muller was born in 1926 in Naarden, Holland. She attended the Fine Arts School of Amsterdam and later on, Ecole Estienne of Paris. She illustrated over 120 books for children and worked with many publishers. Her books have been translated in many languages. She is the illustrator of four board books for younger children, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and Where Do They Go When It Rains? (all Floris Books).

I do love the detailing in these.

France Month: Boucle d'or et les Trois Ours by Rascal

Boucle d'or et les Trois Ours by Rascal is a picture book without texte with black and white illustrations. So in this one Goldilocks can have any color hair you imagine...

Book description:

Ce conte très célèbre est ici proposé dans une version sans texte. Simplement en noir et blanc. C'est le langage visuel, simple et original, qui permet aux enfants de reconstituer les histoires... ou bien de les inventer.

France Month: Boucle d'Or et les trois ours by Mélanie Combes (Illustrateur), Agnès Lestrade (de) (Auteur)

Boucle d'Or et les trois ours by Mélanie Combes (Illustrateur), Agnès Lestrade (de) (Auteur) is a Goldilocks offering in the same line of fairy tale books as last week's brunette Cinderella. This one has the same author but a different illustrator however. It's a fine version of the story, especially for its intended audience of young children, but nothing spectacular either.

Book description:

Une nouvelle collection de grands contes classiquespour les 4-7 ans! Un conte de toujours, des personnages merveilleux, des illustrations pour rêver et une fin comme vous ne l’avez jamais vue… Bienvenue dans la forêt des contes. Il était une fois une jeune fille un peu trop curieuse. Lors d’une promenade, Boucle d’or découvre une maison cachée dans la forêt.

UK: Celebrity Big Brother Fairy Tale Challenge

First off, I must issue my disclaimer. I have only seen part of a Big Brother episode once when I was visiting someone and had little control over my environment. If you love it, no judgment here. This is just to explain that I understand the concept of the show but have very, very limited firsthand experience.

But in my endeavours to show where fairy tales appear in pop culture (as where as everywhere else) I would feel remiss if I didn't mention that the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother had a fairy tale challenge this week. After all, it has had a lot of coverage this week, too, in entertainment news. I have no comments. I haven't viewed. I am rather ignorant, but still fascinated. Here goes:

From STV:

Most celebrities live a life that seems like a fairytale for us ‘normal’ people - but this week the contestants on Celebrity Big Brother have been challenged to do it for real, in order to be successful in their shopping task.

The stars – who include axed X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza, actress Natalie Cassidy, WAG Natasha Giggs and Loose Women’s Denise Welch – must work together if they want to get their hands on money for the house budget.

They have been tasked to carry out various tasks while playing the roles of much-loved fairytale characters including Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Geppetto. These include rescuing Rapunzel from the tower that imprisons her, and protecting the house from the Big Bad Wolf.

From UnrealityTV:

For this week’s shopping task, the Big Brother house and housemates have been transformed into a fairytale.

Yesterday, the housemates took part in the following challenges:

Rapunzel and The Prince – PASSED
The Prince (Gareth) managed to rescue Rapunzel (Georgia) from the tower by successfully climbing a near-horizontal ladder without falling into the deathly swamp.

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf – FAILED
Red Riding Hood (Natalie) and the Big Bad Wolf (Nicola) failed their challenge because they didn’t manage to complete it in the 60 second time limit. The budget is taken down to 500 gold coins (£500).

The Three Little Pigs – ONGOING
The Three Little Pigs have so far managed to keep their straw house up and will continue to be tested throughout the day.

Beauty and the Beast – FAILED
In the diary room, The Beast (Andrew) had to rate how attractive he was against his fellow housemates. In the living area, Beauty (Kristina) had to decide how The Beast would rate himself against them. As Beauty had less than 10 correct matches, they failed and lost a further 100 gold coins taking the shopping budget down to £400.

Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears – FAILED
This morning, Goldilocks (Karissa) and the Three Bears (Denise) faced an eating challenge in the diary room. Presented with three bowls of horrid porridge in the diary room – cow’s urine porridge, spicy porridge and fishy porridge – Goldilocks had to decide which bowl was best for her and eat it. The Three Bears then had to eat the remaining two bowls. As Goldilocks failed to eat a complete bowl and the Three bears failed to eat two complete bowls, they failed the task and lost a further 100 gold coins.

I blockquoted quited a bit, but these were some of the best descriptions, scary as they may be, as I could find.

Wow. Fairy tales are really taking over. Are you ready? I am! Although maybe perhaps not for this...

The images came from In Pictures: Celebrity Big Brother 2012's fairy tale task!