So, lately, I've been hooked (pun not intended) on "Once Upon A Time." A TV drama series that circles around, you guessed it, our favorite fairy tale stories. I see the whole show as a fanfiction kind of thing. It has a modern twist to the stories that most, if not all, of us, have grown up with. Setting? A small town called Storybrooke in Maine whose inhabitants are all story book characters. The catch? The Evil Queen from "Snow White" casts a curse that transported everyone, and more, from the Enchanted Forest, to a place where magic doesn't exist. The result? No one remembers who they really are.
Snow White believes to be Mary Margaret Blanchard, a selfless and caring elementary school teacher, Jiminy Cricket is believed to be Dr. Archie Hopper, the town's psychologist, and the Evil Queen herself? Well, she made sure that she still had power over everyone by naming herself Mayor of this small town. Now, why am I watching this ridiculously addictive show? No, it's not because of all of the beautiful people in it (Captain Hook, and literally everyone else on the cast, I'm looking at you). No, it's not because I want all of the beautifully designed costumes to myself. And it's certainly not because I low-key / high-key want to be an awesome huntress like Snow White instead of the potato that I grew up to be. It's simply that I believe in magic.
Last year, as a senior in high school, I took an English seminar class on fairy tales called Literature of Fantasy and Fairy Tales. It was a course that basically lived up to its name. We explored the origins of the Disney adapted stories that we've grown to love. We discussed the importance of these tales. And no, they are not just for children. Actually, the uncensored un-Disney-fied (not a word, I know, I'm in college, duh) original stories are heavily gruesome and traumatic (not really, but they might as well be). So not just for children. But the adapted versions, the ones that we are most familiar with, are literally for everyone.
As non-children, we have grown to look at fairy tales as nothing more than child's play. Magic, dragons, fairies -- they don't exist, so why waste time on these things? As we get older, we all forget the valuable lessons that these stories have taught us. A recurring theme in most of these stories is hope. Hope is everything. Hope is the magic that happens in these stories and, believe it or not, in our real lives. Hope is powerful, especially if you're believing in the right thing. On that note, there is something very important that must take place while one hopes -- believing. Every hero must believe in themselves to overcome whatever obstacle that is impeding them from continuing their journey. Mulan had to wholeheartedly believe in herself in hopes to defeat the Hun. Storybrooke has to believe that good always wins in hopes to stay with their loved ones.
What I'm trying to get at is that hoping and believing can make anything happen, just like magic can make anything happen. Life will never be easy, but with the right amount of hope and belief, things will get easier. Become the hero of your own fairy tale. Fight your own dragons with your own magical powers. Find your own fairy friends that will be your support system in your journey. Believe in yourself and hope that one day you'll become the person that you've always wanted to be. I believe in hope and I believe in believing. I believe in magic.
