Fairy tales started out as oral stories passed down from generation to generation. Originally, fairy tales were about any hard to believe story, often containing magic, fairies or other fictitious characters. The Brothers Grimm were two of the first authors, and the most notable and well known, to document the ancient stories. Their first book of German fairy tales, entitled Children's and Household Tales, was published in 1812. This leads many people to believe that the two brothers made up the stories we all know and love, but in reality they merely collected the stories they had heard and compiled them in written form. Charles Perrault is another notable author of fairy tales. His book Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: The Tales of Mother Goose was published in 1697.
The concept behind this storybook is that not all fairy tales were intended to have happy endings. There is often much more pain and anguish than the Disney versions we are all so familiar with contain. Most of the stories in this storybook come from the Brothers Grimm, but the story about Sleeping Beauty is derived from Charles Perrault's version. The following stories attempt to "set the record straight," so to speak, about the events each title character experienced. The princesses have gotten a modern day make-over, with lives full of jobs, husbands and children. They live in present day, but their stories still remain as fantastical as necessary to stay true to the original text. The most noticeable difference is that each girl has been remodeled to resemble a character from the popular television show, and recent movie, Sex and the City.
Sex and the City is a show about four thirty-something women who live in New York City. They are very candid about their lives, particularly where men are concerned. There is Carrie who writes about their life experiences in a newspaper column on the show, and serves as narrator for this storybook. Her greatest struggle is trying to find a balance in her life. Charlotte is a hopeless romantic and never without a strand of pearls. She wants the white-picket fence, husband and kids type lifestyle. Samantha is the most open and the most promiscuous. She isn't afraid to take any kind of risk, as long as she doesn't compromise who she is or what she wants. Miranda is married to her career and she likes it that way. She would rather climb the corporate ladder than settle down and get married. The most common setting for the four of them is having brunch at some cafe or restaurant in New York. Through Carrie's storytelling, each woman will get a chance to share their side of the story that everyone thinks they know.
