One of the largest changes between the Fables comics, written by Bill Willingham, and
the original tales that are used as the source materials is the inclusion of personality for
many characters that never got a chance for their own personality to be conveyed. In
many of the original fairy tales, the tales themselves were too short in order for the author convey a sense of individuality. This is fixed later on with adaptations of varying lengths that could span from a short story to even a comic series that spans 200 issues, which is 4800 pages with its 24 pages per average issue! The Fables comic series is a large collection of fairy tale adaptations where most of the characters from the fairy tales all live together in a suburb of New York hidden from the “mundies”, which are the non-fable humans shown in the story at various sections to either assert a character quality or to impose upon the fables’ way of life. The main character of the series is Sheriff Bigby Wolf, whose name is obviously a play on Big Bad Wolf. It is inferred that
he is the same wolf from both Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood”, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps’ “Three Little Pigs”, and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” due to conversations had between between Bigby and other characters throughout the series. The largest supporting character is Snow White, who is the same Snow White from the Brothers Grimm telling. Both Bigby and Snow White develop over the course of the series to eventually becoming nearly unidentifiable by their interactions in later issues, which causes many relationships to be established giving way to learn of their distinct personalities.
the original tales that are used as the source materials is the inclusion of personality for
many characters that never got a chance for their own personality to be conveyed. In
many of the original fairy tales, the tales themselves were too short in order for the author convey a sense of individuality. This is fixed later on with adaptations of varying lengths that could span from a short story to even a comic series that spans 200 issues, which is 4800 pages with its 24 pages per average issue! The Fables comic series is a large collection of fairy tale adaptations where most of the characters from the fairy tales all live together in a suburb of New York hidden from the “mundies”, which are the non-fable humans shown in the story at various sections to either assert a character quality or to impose upon the fables’ way of life. The main character of the series is Sheriff Bigby Wolf, whose name is obviously a play on Big Bad Wolf. It is inferred that
he is the same wolf from both Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood”, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps’ “Three Little Pigs”, and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” due to conversations had between between Bigby and other characters throughout the series. The largest supporting character is Snow White, who is the same Snow White from the Brothers Grimm telling. Both Bigby and Snow White develop over the course of the series to eventually becoming nearly unidentifiable by their interactions in later issues, which causes many relationships to be established giving way to learn of their distinct personalities.
Bigby Wolf is unintentionally cruel towards the beginning of the comic series and it causes many of the fables’ to be scared of him and him to close himself off from the many other people who could actually be called his friends. The only person he opens up around is Snow White and it is because he flirts with her almost constantly, which eventually does end up with them being married. Bigby tries his hardest throughout the series to improve his relationships with others and becomes close friends with some of them. He does have an aggressive disposition that leads him to get into many fights or heated arguments with other members of the Fabletown community even though he is only looking for justice for the crimes that have been committed. Though he usually does his best to avoid starting any confrontation between him and others, he is no stranger to fighting throughout the comics and does avoid removing his glamour, so he doesn’t fully return to his wolf form that everyone is still so scared of around him. Eventually most of the characters, who are still alive from the beginning of the series, trust Bigby and fear him less due to how much he has tried to help the community and the amount of times his life has been on the line. Bigby typically is not very open about his feeling unless someone he is close to, in most cases Snow White, asks him. Though in the homeland, the land where all the fables originally were from, he was never anything that even resembled a sheriff, he manages his job very well throughout the series even receiving commendations from the other members of Fabletown from time to time. He even will sometimes wait before revealing he has solved a case if he feels like it could cause some drama to occur or give him a chance to show everyone he knows how to do his assigned job.
All throughout his time in the series he is looking for a chance to redeem himself for all the crimes he had committed in the homeland, which includes the killing of many mundies and eating some fables. He is also shown to be very cunning from very early on in the comic series. He would act angry and accuse people with no true merit and only a little evidence that could
even show a motive just to get their reactions to his words so he could decide for himself if the individual was involved. In his investigations, he is rarely wrong and usually claims to know the culprit very early on in the investigation. He often will slightly toy with the suspects in order to force them to embarrass themselves and further reveal their true natures, this is used by Bigby in order to enact a more accurate social justice to some of the more popular of the Fabletown community.
even show a motive just to get their reactions to his words so he could decide for himself if the individual was involved. In his investigations, he is rarely wrong and usually claims to know the culprit very early on in the investigation. He often will slightly toy with the suspects in order to force them to embarrass themselves and further reveal their true natures, this is used by Bigby in order to enact a more accurate social justice to some of the more popular of the Fabletown community.
From the very first arc of the comic series, the reader the could see that Bigby was in love with Snow White. He is very protective of her even going to the point where he could track her smell all through the entire day. He is also almost always trying to do the best for her and their eventual children even though Snow and the children were forced to move to the Farm, a place for un-glamoured fables to make residence and Bigby could not go due to the fear of Bigby that remained from the homeland. He eventually exiled himself because he felt he was too distracted to handle his job while being away from his family, which does show his dedication to his line of work and also him seeking out the best for his fellow fables.
It could even be said that the writers thought of the actual attributes of wolves when creating the character for Bigby. He shows many traits that have been recorded in wolves found in the wild. Wolves are typically highly social in that they interact with many people, but they are also known to have a singular presence in the pack, which most believe is due to the fact that each of the wolves is wanting to become the alpha. Bigby has countless interaction with people throughout each arc of the various stories in the series, but he remains a singular, feared presence throughout the community despite his efforts for redemption. While wolves are commonly referred to as vicious aggressive animals, they usually only attack if they feel threatened. Typically wolves are very protective of both the family and the pack, leading them from danger if able or even fighting if push comes to shove. This is similar to Bigby in the comics laying his life on the line for the people of Fabletown even killing in order to protect those that are still in Fabletown.
Snow White is one of the leading members in the political structure of Fabletown as Deputy Mayor and she even claims that she is the brain behind the Mayor. Though much like Bigby, Snow White also starts the story as a very cold and emotionless individual. Snow says this whilst telling Jack about his judgement, “Until you work off your punishment, Jack, you belong to us, body and soul. Don't even try testing it, or dark judgment will come down on you like the wrath of God Almighty”. (Fables) Prince Charming repeatedly tells others that her attitude is due to how she was treated back in the homelands. She was repeatedly left by the people that cared for her, in the comic series, like her step-mother, her sister, Rose Red, and Prince Charming. This left her with abandonment issues and with problems being able to form relationships with any other individuals. She is often seen as a solitary figure that does not really interact social with other people, leaving her only interactions of a business nature when it comes to her job. That even includes Bigby at the beginning of the series. She eventually begins to trust others as the series progresses. She becomes close with her sister again once Snow discovered that Rose had faked her own death in order to prevent a series of events from occurring. This influenced some of Snow’s later actions into her thinking for her own happiness for a change rather than for thinking for Fabletown. She does eventually get especially close to Bigby and that is only after having put their lives on the line repeatedly together time and time again. She has become a very independent individual over the course of the series and before she is about to try to fight one of the largest antagonists of one of the series arcs she says, “Brandish thinks his heart is cold? Mine's been made of stone since I was a child. Monsters of the woods couldn't kill me. The armies of kings, sorcerers, and empires couldn't. I'm Snow goddamn White. I look after myself. I look after my own. And I never lose.” (Fables Issue #133) Though her independence also does lead her to being put in desperate situations that involve her needing to be rescued by Bigby, which she immediately feels remorse over each time.
While Bigby at least slightly resembles his natural counterpart, Snow White shows a large character shift from the Grimm telling to the comic adaptation. Snow White in her original tellings never did any real fighting for herself. She was always shown to be co-dependent on other characters. She never showed her volition and courage and tried to rescue herself from whatever posed a threat to her. Instead she was alive sole because of other’s actions, She was rescued from the Queen’s attempts to kill her each time by people other than herself, showing no independence whatsoever. “And as she was so beautiful the huntsman had pity on her and said, ‘Run away, then, you poor child.’” (Grimm) Snow White was saved from a huntsman simply due to his pity. The comic adaptation of Snow White however had a remarkable amount of independence. She was shown to be able to handle herself in a fight and even be a leader in war. In the Grimm version of the story, Snow White was shown to be overly trusting the cases of the disguised queen coming and selling her wares. Though the comic adaptation of Snow White was shown to be much more disassociated with people, which could be because these events happened in the past and she learned from her mistakes. Also in the Grimm telling, Snow White was shown to have a avaricious nature of sorts. Even when she did question letting the peddler queen into the house, she changed her mind as soon as she saw her wares. When it came to the poisoned comb, “The child liked it so much that she let herself be deceived, and she opened the door.” (Grimm) Her comic counterpart however is shown to be selfless and willing to give up almost anything in order to help the people that she cares for.
Fairy tales are shown to change drastically over time and the inclusion of personalities in these stories are no different. What is the importance of personalities in modern adaptations of fairy tales? Personalities assist fairy tales greatly in showing the character’s point of view, agendas, and countless other aspects. Personalities can assist in keeping track of ulterior motives that may be hidden from some of the other characters in the story. Personality can show more of the character archetypes that are common in fairy tales, such as the hero, the villain, the trickster, and many others. In many adaptations, they can help uniquely identify characters in ways that haven’t been done before, whether that be by changing up their base character personality from the original stories or by adding a few traits that fit along synergistically with the fairy tale or even the natural version of an animal. Adaptations can even add in more events into the story so as to show how the character would react to an impasse or event and thus adding even more personality to the character. The inclusion of personalities in adaptations of fairy tales is an incredible way to spice up some of the extensive legends of the most well known characters in literature.
References
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- Coussens, Penrhyn W. A Child's Book of Stories. Jessie Willcox Smith, illustrator. New York: Duffield and Company, 1911.
- Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Household Tales. Vol. XVII, Part 2. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14; Bartleby.com, 2001.www.bartleby.com/17/2/. 5 Mar. 2015
- Halliwell, James Orchard. "Three Little Pigs." University of Pittsburgh. Ed. D. L. Ashliman. 23 Nov. 2008. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0124.html>.
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- Perrault, Charles. "Little Red Riding Hood." University of Pittsburgh. 21 Sept. 2003. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault02.html>.
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- Willingham, Bill (w.), Buckingham, Mark (p.), Medina, Lan (p.). Fables #1-149 (May 2002-February 2015), Vertigo.
- "Wolf Biology and Behavior - Western Wildlife Outreach." Western Wildlife Outreach. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.