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This is kinda a Dear John Letter. I was in love with this show, with Once Upon a Time. Seriously in love. It happened pretty much at first sight, it was intense and at the beginning a love to grow with. It had highs but in the past months more and more lows. Now I am breaking up.
It hit me with the recent episode, “Think Lovely Thoughts” (3×08), why I felt a growing unease with this show going back as far as season one even. Despite that in the pilot it looked like this could be a show revolving mostly around female fairy tale characters, or fairy tale-ish characters in the case of Emma, and their stories being told in refreshingly new, modern way, this show is actually just another boys’ adventure. It’s basically Rumplestiltskin family his-story, the tragic story of a vicious circle of abandonment of boys by their fathers as sacrifice for power. Good old Freud would have his joy with it (keyword oedipus complex).
The thing is, that is not the story I thought the show promised at first to tell. I feel even a little cheated on now, because in the pilot, most of first season and even still during the first half of second season it looked to me like a show centered on strong, interesting female fantasy characters and their (inner) journey to grow as personalities, something that still is more of a rarity in fiction. I could take that it was still a little too much about women finding true love, aka the guy to marry and have kids with, because thankfully it didn’t turn the women into gossiping dolls full of how to look best for their knight in shining armour. It was a show offering new twists on fairy tales. The traditional as much as the Disney versions of fairy tales mostly annoyed me even as kid, they were full of princesses, being what people wished me to be (every girl should be a cute princess becoming a decent princess knowing her place) but what I wasn’t and didn’t want to be. OUaT intrigued me, because it seemed like finally there were some princesses giving a different image, one I could eventually identify with, and the show seemed to be mostly about them. And I was hopeful that it would give younger women and girls different ideas and empower them (which actually I think it still does, although the main big story is not about them anymore in my opinion). Right, it is foremost entertainment, but doesn’t exclude that it could be as well at least somewhat inspiring.
I realized now finally, that I was mistaken and had different expectations and hopes for the show than the showrunners have.
Of course this is the show of Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis and they can take it wherever they want it to or the money givers let them to. Wish them luck with it for the sake of their mostly brilliant cast and great crew, but the story they tell is not the story keeping me interested, no matter how good the writing, so I am gone. At least as regular viewer, the show still is sometimes entertaining, something for filling an hour if there is one left, something for casual fun.
It was a nice time, but now it’s time to move on.
[adrotate group="5"]¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯
🙁
"I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGICI am sorry as I enjoyed your perspectives as a different take on many things.
I think this season has tried to throw the characters off kilter on purpose and that leads to an uneven feeling that reminds me of Season 3 Heroes Problems .
With Heroes, which I was just as fascinated with as this one, I began to feel my enthusiasm drift away until I didn’t really like or care about too many characters by the end. I think OUAT benefits from corporate Disney cross promotion so may get carried longer, but in the end, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so I understand why you feel how you feel.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
I am sorry you are not going to watch OUaT anymore. I disagree on your view. To me I am relieved that they have male characters like Rumple, and PP because practically every fairytale they have covered thus far focuses on females. I think they did a good job as far as modernizing the original fairy tales.
Take Snow White: She originally ran away from her problems and trusted 7 dwarfs to provide and protect her. Our Snow is FAR more than that, she takes care of herself and stands up to her problems, and faces them head on.
The only male based fairy tales that A&E have covered is Robin Hood, Pinocchio, Dr. Frankenstein (if you consider that a fairy tale), The Pied Piper, Rumplestilskin (which in the original story only shows up 3-4 times through the entirety of the story, so he’s actually more of a side character in my mind), and Peter Pan which originally starts with Wendy and the Darlings and ends with Wendy and the Darlings. (Forgive me if I’ve forgotten any, and I’m not counting Jefferson because he’s from ALICE in Wonderland).
I’m all about girl power, don’t get me wrong, but I believe that the show should be equal to both genders not just all strong female leads.
Call me Old Fashioned, but that’s how I feel. And I think it’s a shame that after 3 seasons your going to give it up right when the plot is changing again.
Time to hide your crazy, and start acting like a lady.
I too am getting disillusion with the show to for almost the exact same reasons as the original poster stated especially after the last episode. Season 2, was a disaster and I really came close to quit watching the show all together that season in fact I doubt if I will make an effort anymore to watch the show. I thought it was just me but glad someone else feels the same way.
I am sorry you are not going to watch OUaT anymore. I disagree on your view. To me I am relieved that they have male characters like Rumple, and PP because practically every fairytale they have covered thus far focuses on females. I think they did a good job as far as modernizing the original fairy tales.
(…)
I’m all about girl power, don’t get me wrong, but I believe that the show should be equal to both genders not just all strong female leads.
Call me Old Fashioned, but that’s how I feel. And I think it’s a shame that after 3 seasons your going to give it up right when the plot is changing again.
I see it differently, because OUaT had been an exception in my view and now has become something which we get to see commonly on small and big screen. Most fantasy and hero stories on screen are about male heroes and anti-heroes, women are still an exception as protagonists. If we mostly get something like with the Avengers, a heroic female character in an ensemble. Besides that these had been good action movies, it is quite sad, that there still aren’t much more to name than Alien and Terminator Judgement Day, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and now Hunger Games. Oh, right, Mulan and even more important Brave as animated characters of course as well. And on TV we had Buffy, Xena, Charmed, Alias and far back as in the 70s Wonderwoman and Bionic Woman. At the moment we have Lost Girl and Orphan Black (there is a list on reddit which I mostly agree with). I am talking about fantasy story telling centering on strong female characters, not just strong female characters as one of the regular characters. It’s not just about women power (and please call it women power, we are not talking about girls here), it is about telling their stories. It’s not a question alone of screentime for a character, it is about which character is the connector, the center.
And there is my problem: in my opinion OUaT has become the story of the Rumplestiltskin male clan, a father and son narration, Rumple is the evil mind and manipulator behind the Dark Curse, Neal the lost son who had to be found, then grandson Henry was kidnapped and put in the middle as the possible boy to be Rumple’s undoing, Pan is the father and big evil for the moment … This way it is a classic “boys’ adventure” anti-hero story, nothing special for me anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy well written men’s adventure, so I will go and watch The Desolation of Smaug, Winter Soldier and others. I will even still watch OUaT whenever I want some casual entertainment, but I don’t care anymore more about the show, it’s no need to see thing, nothing I am invested in anymore, it has turned into casual amusement.
I am a little sad about this development, because I surely had first seen a different story in this show, though maybe that was wishful thinking or just a temporary thing. The show was not special to me for twisting fairy tales in new ways, actually think Grimm does a better job with a new take on fairy tales, and as being a darker show would be even more of my taste, but I preferred OUaT so far. And then there is the Canadian show Lost Girl with drawing on so many ways from myth, legend and fairy tales with its Fae world (a show which admittedly owned already before more of my fan heart than OUaT though, number of reasons). OUaT was special to me because it looked at first like they are centering it on the stories of female characters in a modern, empowering way (and not the traditional 50s women Disney model of only married with her true love a woman will find a happy ending; animated Snow, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty had to be saved by their princes, at least Belle was the savior of her prince but it started as sacrifice for another man, her father). I was willing to put up with some mediocre writing at times because of that. Looking back it is more of a surprise that I didn’t realize that earlier – guess they have to thank a brilliant cast and particular Lana Parilla and Jennifer Morrisson for that.
We have plenty of male leads on screen, so if it is about equality in my opinion it is more than due that in at least a few shows men take a back seat. Thought OUaT were one show for that, but I was wrong. I see that now.
Edit: I do give the show credit for drawing a slightly different picture of what it means or can mean to be a man, a more positive and less violent and less power celebrating image, particular with Charming, but as well with Rumple (driven by reconnecting with his son to not do it all like his father) or Hook (whose attitude is more than just superficial chivalry or gentleman/pirate code, despite that he sometimes as well is more of a typical charmer)I don’t see that changing in the future, I think it will stay more of a men’s adventure story. Even if the focus might go back somewhat to Regina or Emma after the winter break (it sure will not happen before), the show still will be mostly the Rumple clan story and not Emma’s, Snow’s and Regina’s anymore. I can understand that they are enamored with the spectacular characterisation of Rumple by Robert Carlyle, which simply calls for bringing Rumple so much into the center of the show, but it’s not what I was looking for. It’s their story to tell, but not the story interesting me. It’s ironic that my fave writer, Jane Espenson is the one who added with a great writing to make Rumple’ stories shine even more.
I share this to give an idea about one possible reason why people might stop being all excited about the show, and might not be aching to watch it when it first airs but are okay with watching it some time later, or even might stop watching at all (which I won’t, just becoming a casual viewer, which additionally means little interested in any merchandise). Was wondering if more have similar impressions and feelings about the show.
HappyEndings – maybe we can start an OUaT ex-lovers club, a place to revel in good old times and missed chances and lost dreams 😉 No show bashing aloud though there, guess you agree, criticism is okay but in civilised manner. Okay, maybe the kind of Regina’s snark should be allowed, but just the snark, not her destructive revenge taking manners.
¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯
And there is my problem: in my opinion OUaT has become the story of the Rumplestiltskin male clan, and father and son narration, Rumple is the evil mind and manipulator behind the Dark Curse, Neal the lost son who had to be found, then granson Henry was kidnapped and put in the middle as the possible boy to be Rumple’s undoing, Pan is the father and big evil for the moment … This way it is a classic boys’ adventure anti-hero story, nothing special for me anymore.
Yea, this is my main gripe about the show. Rumbles male clan the show Once upon a time theme is just about Rumble. I miss the moments where David and Snow actually get to talk to Emma about each other lives etc. We missed where Emma found out that Regina killed Graham the little stuff to me is important to make the story complete. 🙁
I am in the middle. I don’t mind focusing on BOTH male and female characters because it is an ensemble, so at times the spotlight must swing one way then the other to tell the tale. What worries people I think is that it won’t swing back, now that it has centered on Rumple. He has always been an important character, so I do not feel that has changed.
Ariel was one of the highest rated I think and it featured Regina and Snow heavily. So I think it is possible the writers will remember a lot of their audience did want to see women as the drivers of the action, not just passive participants, and try to recapture some of that, but the nature of the PP tale worked itself in this way. I guess it would have been too crazy to make Pan Rumple’s MOTHER (even though traditionally PP is played in the musical plays by women more often then men!). It would have definitely been innovative though, and undercut the feeling its just another story of men as Miril says.
I definitely have that feeling with Star Wars and LOTR–though I love both stories dearly. The women characters are clearly more in the background than the men, even if there’s one or two that have something important to do.
Well we’ll see if the writers can get back on track–OZ if they do it has several important female characters ( Dorothy, the witches, Ozma, Glinda) but they could also focus on the men (Wizzard, and Dorothy’s 3 companions) . It is all about how they choose to do it, if they do indeed go there next. I’ll wait and see.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
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