Hansel and Gretel

In its original form, 'Hansel and Gretel' is a German fairy tale, recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister, who are left by their father and his second wife alone in the forest, to die. When the children reach a house constructed of cake and confectionery, they are  threatened by the cannibalistic witch who lives there, deep in the forest, but they manage to save their lives by outwitting her. The tale has been adapted to various media, and you can even find different versions of it.

Tonight I wanted to share with you an animation film by Gianna Ruggiero, inspired by the 'Hansel and Gretel' story, but clearly not the classic fairy tale. It was produced at the Ringling College of Art and Design, where I think some of the best animation films around are made! If you want to visit Gianna's blog, it is here.

I feel I can identify with this fairy tale at the moment. You may have heard that a lot of people in Europe and the rest of the world would like to let Greece default, you may even be one of them. Nobody will blame you for thinking so, in fact there are some people in Greece who, paradoxically, believe it would actually do us good to default in the long run. A lot of Greeks are leaving for other countries (and better lives) at the moment, where working will actually bring them a stable future. I feel hurt for so many reasons already, but I identified with this fairy tale because I think our European neighbours are like the father and his bad wife, talking about leaving us in the forest to die. I can't help feeling like that, it's just how gloomy things are right now. Thanks, Gigi, for the lovely film. We don't know each other, but I wanted to say your film made me feel better. Hope we can be Facebook friends, too.