The urchins and I have been watching the new TV series Once Upon a Time, and it’s been a good experience. It’s not LOST, but it does remind me of some of the best parts of that now-classic TV series. (Sometimes the reminders are intentional on the part of the writers, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, who also wrote for LOST. Lots of Lost Apollo candy bars turn up in Storybrooke, Maine, the setting for Once Upon a Time.)
So, as I said, it’s a good show. The premise is that a bunch of fairytale characters have been transported by the Evil Queen to Storybrooke in our world and have lost the memory of who they really are. Only the Evil Queen, who is the mayor of Storybrooke, knows who the people really are and that they’re under her evil curse. Sort of. Mayor Regina (Evil Queen) has an adopted son, Henry, and he spends his time trying to figure out who the people of Storybrooke really are in Fairyland and persuading his birth mother, Emma Swan, to “bring back the happy endings.”
The show alternates scenes between fairyland and the real world in Storybrooke (which isn’t really the Real World because it’s under a curse, if you see what I mean), and that’s where the fly in the ointment comes in. Without getting into too much detail or spoiler territory, there’s this one character, call him P.C., who has amnesia, even in Storybrooke world, and he has a wife he can’t remember at first. And it turns out he “has feelings” for M.M., who is his real wife and love from fairyland. But he doesn’t remember fairyland either, and neither does M.M. (Get it? If not, you’re not alone. It’s complicated.) Anyway, my kids and I are sitting here in front of the TV rooting for this amnesiac to leave his wife, who isn’t a very likable character, and get together with his “true love”, M.M. And I don’t like the way we’re being manipulated.
In its most recent issue, WORLD Magazine references a 2008 University of Chicago General Social Survey: “In it 81 percent of Americans responded that it is ‘always wrong’ for a married person to have sex with someone other than his or her spouse.” (P.C. and M.M. haven’t had sex, just kisses . . yet . . . except in fairyland . . . where they’re married to each other.) You see, we know what’s right and wrong, except when it comes down to cases. What if “his or her spouse” isn’t a very nice person? What if he’s found his True Love and he can’t control his feelings for her? What if she married young and made a mistake? What if husband and wife both want a new life, both want to find a new love or return to an old flame? What if the “married person” in question isn’t “someone out there”; it’s me, and I’m tired of being married to this person. My situation is different, doesn’t fit the normal rules. I should be allowed to find my own happy ending.
I don’t know where the writers of Once Upon a Time are going with this storyline. There’s a possibility that amnesiac P.C. isn’t really married to the annoying blonde he’s supposed to be married to, and then he would be free to pursue M.M. Nevertheless, I’m old-fashioned enough to agree with another fictional character, Jane Eyre, who had her own “hard case” of love and marriage to sort out: “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be.â€
Two things:
1. Have you read Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu? Your description of this tv show reminds me of it.
2. I know I risk being hanged for saying so, but this tv situation reminds me if the Anna/Mr. Bates situation in Downton Abbey. I’m rooting for them, but I wonder if I should be. 🙂
I couldn’t agree more with this post. And it’s interesting to me after reading Lauren Winner’s new book Stiil (that somewhat deals with her recent divorce) and An Atlas of Impossible Longing. The latter had a similar scenerio which left me feeling manipulated into wishing for a “happy ending” that involved the main character deserting his wife and child. Which just made me feel yucky and unsatisfied with what was at times a very good book.
And Amy’s comment is interesting…I’m rooting for Anna and Mr. Bates also. I guess I justify by that by thinking that Mrs. Bates first deserted her husband. But is is an interesting ethical/moral dilemma to think about.
I happily became sucked into the world of Friday Night Lights at your recommendation and I loved Lost. so now I’m thinking I’d like Once Upon a Time.
OUT-STAND-ING!!! I’m thinking you need the “share on facebook” button because I am dying to click share! 🙂
I’ve been enjoying “Once Upon a Time”, and I hadn’t thought of the Snow White situation as a metaphor for marriages that “just don’t work out”. The situation does make me uncomfortable (to say why, well, let’s just say that you quoted from my very favorite passage of Jane Eyre at the end of your post), but I wonder if your criticism holds within the context of the show’s story.
In the show, the real world isn’t the real world. The real world is the enchanted forest. Snow White isn’t Mary Margaret, she’s Snow White. And when she thinks she’s MM, it’s because she’s under the influence of a curse. So, she really is married to Prince Charming, and when it seems like she’s not, that seeming is an illusion caused by the curse.
On the other hand, under the illusion, she doesn’t know that, so when she romances Prince Charming, she thinks she’s committing adultery, even if she actually isn’t (’cause he’s actually her husband). But . . . she intends to.
Urgh! I don’t know. Maybe you’re right about the point they’re trying to make! It seems like the poor characters lose either way. Either they think they’re not committing adultery but actually are (because the Prince isn’t actually married to his Storeybrooke wife) or they think they are committing adultery but actually aren’t (because Snow and the Prince are really married to each other).
I confess to not reading your remarks in total as I stopped at the beginning with you saying this is a good show. You’re the second person I’ve seen who said that they liked it and I’m incredibly curious! Didn’t want to risk any spoilers by reading on.