Since Keene's version of "The Juniper Tree" obviously did not follow the fairy tale "The Juniper Tree" I think that we should include the following scenes:
- Mother and father falling on hard times (scene should be really dry and empty) struggling with putting food on the table - it would be interesting to add a twist by maybe having Hansel and Gretel be greedy at dinnertime by asking for more bread, etc even to the point of taking the parents' food...
- Mother, father, Hansel, Gretel going into the woods, children falling asleep (like Erin said), and parents leaving them
- Instead of having them go back to their house using the pebbles, i think it would be interesting to keep portraying Hansel and Gretel as greedy and have Hansel start dropping breadcrumbs but have him end up eating most of the bread because he is hungry. (this portrays Hansel as selfish - i agree with Nikki that it would be cool to have Hansel be a villain as well as the witch)
- I think Keene would spend less time on the "witch" portion of the story. Maybe we can have the witch struggling for food (because of the famine or whatnot) which puts less blame on her, just like in "The Juniper Tree" where the blame is less on the stepmom and more on Johannes.
These are my suggestions!
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I like the idea of making Hansel and Gretel seem greedier by taking their parents' food, eating their bread instead of using it to mark the way home, etc. Making the children appear greedier would call into question the idea of the parents/witch as the villains of the story and the children as completely innocent. In "The Juniper Tree," Keene seems to question the traditional designations of villain/innocent as set forth in the Grimm's version and it would be interesting to do the same with Hansel and Gretel.
ReplyDeleteMaking Hansel and Gretel greedier than they are in the fairytale really would tie very well into Bettelheim's analysis of overcoming their "oral greediness" and "gluttony." This pushes the psychological aspect of the story behind the children's motivations and focus on food as all-important - which I feel is important to Keene's ideas in portraying fairytales in film as realistic.
ReplyDeleteI think making Hansel and Gretel greedier is a great idea! Keene takes much of the murder blame off the step mother in "The Juniper Tree", so I could completely picture everything being Hansel and Gretel's fault in the end. I also think it might be interesting going with the thought of taking blame of the witch if maybe the witch was fat and that is why the children had a food struggle with her, becauase they were both hungry and that could also lead to eating them.
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