The Re-enchantment website – launched just last week – successfully recreates that strange and separate world of fairy tales. ”
" We need to get lost in order to make discoveries." Sarah Gibson’s words reverberate comfortingly once deep in the far-from-anodyne-actually world of fairy tales. For, in order to discuss the interactive online project Re-enchantment with director Gibson, it is first necessary to enter a deep, dark forest.
Then – provided a ravenous wolf does not chase you down – you must navigate using your wits alone the many twists and turns of the treacherous forest paths. Then – provided a hag doesn’t kidnap you – you must climb an inaccessible tower and enter the forbidden room. Finally – provided a psychopathic aristocrat doesn’t behead you – you must break the spell that imprisons Gibson from her plastic prison within the telephone. Or just get off the website and wait for the publicists to connect your call.
The Re-enchantment website – launched just last week – successfully recreates that strange and separate world of fairy tales. "People think they’re going to a normal website but then they discover all these layers of richness in it, which is part of what I wanted to do," Gibson explains. "I wanted to get that sense that people can get lost in the forest and find surprising things, or people can go on more of a search for particular meanings." Re-enchantment is indeed rich in both its mysterious aesthetic and the presence of many and varied open-ended meanings. Yet its main purpose remains to reintroduce adults to fairy tales, long relegated to the domain of children’s literature.
"Fairy tales have a complexity that we can link into our own experiences, and we can also see it reflected obviously in culture," Gibson says. She points to advertisements and feature films clearly directed to an adult demographic, but perpetuating motifs and themes found in fairy tales. Remember that Moccona coffee advert featuring the guy going on a quest to find the perfect [Moccona] coffee jar to fit his lid? He knocks on the doors of scores of seemingly homebound women, echoing Cinderella‘s glass slipper motif. Or the recurring theme of the bad guy’s secret room in the scores of crime shows on TV every night – clearly reminiscent of Bluebeard.
Gibson – also a practising Jungian analyst – found her interest in the darker side of fairy tales was piqued initially in the therapy room. The way her clients would often identify with characters from fairy tales demonstrated the stories’ continuing relevance for grown men and women. "I believe that if people can see their own life experiences in terms of story, they’re less likely to feel a victim of the negative things that have happened to them," Gibson asserts. "So, in a way, connecting with the stories is empowering."
The ability to connect with fairy tales is made manifest in Gibson’s work through its interactive element. Not only does the Re-enchantment website allow users to upload their own words, sounds and images; there is a two-day symposium called Fairy Tales Re-Imagined to be held at ACMI, allowing audiences to discuss fairy tales with a range of panelists: from shoe designers to academics; from Gibson herself to Jeff Lindsey, the creator of Dexter.
Gibson sees the interactive nature of both Re-Enchantment and Fairy Tales Re-Imagined as integral to exploring any one fairy tale: "I don’t think there is one correct way, one correct interpretation," she muses. "Because [fairy tales] have shape-shifted across time and cultures, I think it’s important that we can see them as taking in the ideas from social history or from popular culture or from psychology." Gibson – a veteran documentary filmmaker – concedes that the idea of somewhat surrendering her work to unknown contributors was a little hard to embrace at first, "But on the other hand," she hastens to add, "I’ve found enormous freedom. I can really look at something from various angles. And I mightn’t agree with certain angles, but at least I can put them in there and people can think about them. And also, when people add their own interpretation, then [the meaning of the project] starts to shift."
"Re-enchantment, our work up to this point," she concludes, "is just the beginning, really."
Fairy Tales Re-Imagined will be held at ACMI this Thursday March 10 and Friday March 11. Tickets are $40 ($30 concession) for both days, or $25 ($20 concession) for one day. You can visit the Re-Enchantment website at abc.net.au/tv/re-enchantment.
BY BIANCO DELANEY
