Let's Catch Up | fairy tales, feeling uncomfortable & events

hi guys I thought we just have a little catch-up video today little chat about some things I've been up to some things I've got coming up because that seems like the casual thing that we should be doing on a Sunday before I get started I will mention the last video that I uploaded was another in my series of dissect a poem videos with Jen if you think that you're not a fan of poetry or poetry scares you or intimidates you in any way then head over to that video it's a series where I do like a group discussion where we can talk about the intricacies of a poem and I find it very fun and I know that lots of you do too so yeah if you find poetry intimidating or if you already like poetry and want to have a chat head over to that video I will link it in the description box down below also if you are a writer of poetry and running some writing workshops in March on poetry there are two spaces left on my poetry in the fairytale Writing Workshop they're online you can take part wherever you happen to be if this is of interest details are in the description box down below so and I would like to tell you about three events firstly before I talk about some stuff I've been getting up to you I've got three events coming up in March and if you're me about to any of them it would be so lovely to see you so the first event is on Saturday the 10th of March and this is a Royal Festival Hall in London it's a Saturday evening tickets are five pounds and it is full polari so the polari salon is this time at women of the world festival polari is an lgbtq+ evening and we're LGBTQ first writers read their work and I'm headlining this event and I'm so thrilled to be doing that one because it's a quick evening and I'm always here for queer stuff as a queer person and there and also because normally when I do events for my book the beginning of the world in the middle of the night I read a small extract and then we have an in conversation event where I chat about the creation process and creation process creative process and all of that stuff which I love to do but this evening is different so it is where I'll be performing some of my work so if you want to come and see me read an entire thing then please do come along and as I said it's a roll in London and I'm really really super excited about it and details are in the description then on Thursday the 15th of March in the evening I'm giving a talk slash slash lecture at the East Grinstead Museum in East Grinstead on the history of disfigurement and fairytale East Grinstead is a really fascinating place it's where a lot of people were sent after the first world war who had facial disfigurements and it's become known as the town that didn't stare because so many people live there who had facial disfigurements and because of that they're running a series of lectures by different people on various areas to do with this Vickerman and as I said mine is on fairytale and disfigurement and it's a completely free thing to come along to but you must register and as I said details are in the description box down below you can get there it would be lovely to see you then on Tuesday the 20th of March at 7 p.m. I am chairing the event with the rather excellent Holly back at waterstones Piccadilly in London now Holly Black is the author of many things to do with fairy tales and her most recent one is the cruel prince which I'm reading at the moment it's all about Fay and changelings and getting swept away to fairyland I'm kind of rather in love with it and it's really I know it's a book that's hit me at the right time as well and because I'd been ill it's filling me with the warm fuzzies and all these beautiful and descriptions of people with you know antlers and just it's just it's just my jam and I'm very excited to be doing an event with Holly and the publishers accidentally sent me two copies of the cruel prince so I thought I would do a giveaway so if you would like to be in with a chance of winning a copy of this glorious book then just leave a comment down below and I will pick a winner excuse me at random and let's say after the 10th of March and the giveaway is open internationally just comment saying you'd like to be emptied and then also say something else and don't just say me please leave a comment to do with something that I'm talking about in this video so that we can you know have a chat and all that stuff and I will pick a winner at random after that date so those are the three events I've got coming up at least at public ones I'm doing some other things as well going into a school for World Book Day with Franklin which I'm super excited about but yeah those are the three public events that are coming up in March so you can come along to you and as I said it's always really really lovely to see you so please come along if you can and so speaking of fairy tales and disfigurement I thought I would tell you about two films I went to see this week and the first one was absolutely amazing and if you can go and see it please please please please please go and see it it's called a fantastic woman and I went along to a preview screening it wasn't like a special screening a painter go and see it but I don't think it's out in the UK for a couple of weeks and but it's a Chilean film it's up for best film in translation at the Oscars this year I really do think it should be more up for more Oscars and Daniela Vega who plays and the main character in this film is phenomenal and I really think that she should be up for Best Actress but never mind and this film is just all kinds of perfect it's just directed beautifully it's truthful and important and really well balanced as I said this is a Chilean film it's about marina she is trans she is in a relationship with a man who dies and then it's about the impact that has on her life and how everyone who knew him reacts to her in the aftermath of his death and it is just it's incredible this is an own voices film it's spectacular please go see it and the other film that I went to see this week was the shape of water I went to see it last night and a lot of you have been asking me what I think of this film and because it takes a lot of boxes for me it's dark fairy tale let's get onto Toro etcetera etcetera and so I thought I would briefly tell you my thoughts here as well on that film and I will keep it as spoiler free as possible so the shape of water I will leave a link to the trailer down also leave a link to the trailer of a fantastic woman in the description box as well so the shape of water is kind of a reverse tale of the Little Mermaid it's about Eliza and who is mute and she longs to be in water and various different forms some of those sexual and actually what I really appreciated in this film was having a main female character who was older than perhaps your average female protagonist in the film who was in charge of her own sexuality I appreciated that and Eliza is played by Sally Hawkins the Little Mermaid is of course about a mermaid who gives up her voice and experience its physical pain so that she can walk on land and abuse missed my video where I talked about the history of the Little Mermaid I will link that down below and whereas this film is the opposite of that in many respects because Eliza is as I said mute she can't speak and she has these scars on the side of her on the side of her neck that look like gills and she has all of these these feelings towards waterless there's kind of longing what I really liked was when I watched the film it was like reading a book because of so much linking imagery and throughout at the beginning she is trying to work out what shoes to wear that day and she looks longingly at a pair of shoes in a shop she really likes copying dance moves that she sees on television so and this this is longing to dance which the Little Mermaid does have but also is kind of a reference to to Cinderella and land-dwelling fairy tales which I really really liked and the film was very beautifully shot and I thought that was there was lots to commend about it however I was saddened that they didn't choose to cast a mute or deaf actress to play Eliza Eliza's and death but the deaf actress would have been able to use sign language in the way that Eliza does and it would have really brought something else of the role and was miss the opportunity casting directors and also throughout this film there is a tendency to slip into the trope that we all know I don't like with linking villainy and disfigurement and goodness and healing and if you haven't seen my video on villainy in this big event I will link it down below it's not something that is it's not quite as Oh Ventus James Bond but it's definitely in there and I found it very uncomfortable those parts of the film and the bad guy I mean this is also something that I'm personally going to find very uncomfortable because the bad guy he loses two of his fingers which are then sewn back on but they rocked and he pulls them off like he can't be healed he's rotted on the inside therefore he's rotting on the outside etcetera etcetera but you know anyone who is shown in a film to be bad through the loss of fingers is probably gonna not sit well with me right I mean that's quite a personal thing so I was disappointed by that because it's lazy there are a few lazy things and this like you know US versus Russia it's a it's just it's just falls into some trophy things I just I get so removed from the film when I see things like that and I'm so taken out of it that I I I'm unable to be sucked back in entirely and therefore I just can't immerse myself in the film so if those are my thoughts on the shape of water it is good and also I would like to sit down and kind of put apart all of the imagery in that because as I said that part in particular really just warmed me but definitely go see a fantastic woman because it is well fantastic and as I mentioned before I have previously uploaded a video on the link between villainy and despicable in media but I also said in that video that I would at some point talk about the importance of seeing yourself and media and other kinds of representation which is I think gonna be in my next video and mostly what I saw growing up watching films as a seeing myself in that kind of way in the disfigurement kind of way was linked with evil but there were a few other things that that were important to me all have stuck in my mind and I would like to talk about that so that will be when I talk about next time and I think I might do a weekly vlog this week perhaps we shall see I am feeling quite a bit better and weekly vlog is something I'd like to do not every week obviously but occasionally it's quite fun to do and if you would like to see my previous vlogs I will leave a link to my blog playlist in the description box down below as well so that's everything that I wanted to talk to you about today three events come along if you can writing workshops if you're interested and I would love to know your thoughts on the shape of water and a fantastic woman if you have been see it and if you would like to enter the giveaway to win a copy of the cruel Prince Brite wholly by Holly black then please do so as well that's all for me today I hope you guys have a great Sunday and I'll speak to you very soon Lots picture [Music]

Channel: Jen Campbell

Views: 7,922

Rating: 4.9344263 out of 5

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Id: mBqr0G_ptEQ

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 18 2018