Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Zoolander

Before I begin, I want to point out a couple guidelines to this blog. I'm not really here to spoil the movie. I'm not going to be talking about the plot-points and such. It's mostly going to be about the setting. Secondly, I have not seen the sequel, so I will be ignoring it entirely. With that said, let me begin.

I have for a while considered the movie Zoolander as a legitimate fairy tale. Even though it is a comedy intended to make fun of the often bizarre world of male modeling, the presentation of it strikes me more within the realms of fairy fantasy. If you can look past all the obvious humor, what you may find is that this movie is filled with fairy creatures that look similar to us... but clearly deviate away from what makes human beings what they are.

The movie places a distinction between a standard human being and a male model. The models are out-rightly depicted in a similar manner to an alien. They are entirely alien to this world. And that provides for a lot of humor, but it may also exist as a good example of the strangeness, the uncanny valley, we experience when we come face to face with fairy creatures in the woods.

Fairies operate on very specific pathways of thought and practice. They obsess over only the things that they are wont to obsess over. They cannot be changed, but they can learn and adapt. If you were to come across a fairy, they might look human and even speak your language, but you will notice that something is off.

Zoolander makes it very clear who the humans are and who the fairies are. Now... fairies are usually a lot smarter. The male models in Zoolander all seem to be idiots. But another way to look at it is that they are simply alien to our normalcy. They don't understand anything we do because they are not from here. You need only to look in their eyes to know that something isn't right... at least not right from our perspective. They don't belong here.

In reality, fairies are just what we call fallen angels and demon hybrids. Both of them are likely to give us strange feelings when we meet them. We'll notice that disconnect with our reality when we look into their eyes. The things they choose to talk about won't make much sense either. But whatever the case, they still function and do their best to adapt to our world.

I do recommend the movie. It is very funny and it was entirely intended to be a comedy to make fun of the stupidity that exists within the model industry. But just keep in mind that some works of fiction can be used as examples of other things. And in this case, I think Zoolander makes for a very good modern day fairy tale.

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6 comments:

  1. Derek's and Hansel's ridiculous, impossible disguises are like fairy glamours. Mugatu and his henchwoman Katinka are both intelligent, clever and VERY strange. They ARE fairy creatures, even in the ways they look and the methods they use. There's very powerful "magic" used at the end of the movie.

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    1. Yeah, I remember that! It was very much a glamour situation.

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  2. Good storytelling goes deeper and touches on things that are not so obvious. Even if they did not intend to tell a fairy tale, the way the subject matter was handled certainly leans in that direction. Either way, the distinction is made between models and everyone else.

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  3. I agree, I would consider Zoolander a fairy tale. The male models are indeed like fairies, off and ignorant of normal. The movie is hilarious and I would recommend it to anyone.

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    1. it's still a comedy but the uncanny valley is very present and visible.

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