New Film: The Sorcerer and the White Snake

Here's a change for SurLaLune, a new film based on a Chinese folktale, Legend of the White Snake, that is making the press rounds now. And judging from these trailers it is visually stunning. Makes me want to watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon again.

From Action stars put modern twist on classic fairy tale:

Veteran action star Jet Li and action director Tony Ching haven't forgotten their adult audiences, even though their latest movie is the children's fairy tale "The Sorcerer and the White Snake."

The movie, based on a Chinese fairy tale much like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, made its world premiere out of competition Friday at the Venice Film Festival.

Cast members said they recalled first hearing the classic tale from their grandmothers.

But Ching says he sought to put a modern twist on the fable by mixing action with special effects. He says "the idea was to blend Chinese tradition, which is martial arts, with Western technology."

There's more about the tale on Wikipedia, with more links to learn more. Here's an excerpt:

The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend, which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation. It has since become a major subject of several Chinese opera, films and television series.

The earliest attempt to fictionalize the story appears to be The White Maiden Locked for Eternity in the Leifeng Pagoda (白娘子永鎮雷峰塔) in Feng Menglong's Jingshi Tongyan (警世通言), which was written during the Ming Dynasty.

At its most basic, the story tells of a young scholar who falls in love with a beautiful woman, unaware that she is a thousand year old white snake that has taken on human form. A monk intervenes in order to maintain nature's law and casts the white snake into a deep well at Leifeng Pagoda.

Over the centuries the story has evolved from horror story to romance with the scholar and the white snake-woman genuinely in love with one another, but such a relationship is forbidden by nature's law. There have also been variations on the telling of the story : like the thousand year old white snake have met the boy before and the story continues as reincarnation; or the white snake's offspring being a reincarnation of Wenchang Wang.

An additional character is a hundred year old green snake (or in some cases a carp) that has also transformed into a woman, and serves as the white snake-woman's soul sister and confidante.

Zhou Long Wins Music Pulitzer For Fairy Tale Opera

From Zhou Long Wins Music Pulitzer For Fairy Tale Opera by Tom Huizenga:

Chinese-America composer Zhou Long has won the Pulitzer Prize for music with his opera Madame White Snake. The work received its world premiere in a production at Opera Boston Feb. 26, 2010, conducted by Gil Rose.

Pulitzer officials described Zhou's piece as "a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West."

The story of Madame White Snake — a traditional transformation myth, not unlike the Western Little Mermaid — is something that Zhou says every Chinese would know.

"It's very popular not only in China but in Asia. They've adapted it into movies and television series," Zhou said in a telephone conversation earlier today. "But this is the first modern, Western opera form sung in English."

Isn't it nice to know that the Pulitzer rules don't automatically disqualify music inspired or drawing from fairy tales for inspiration? Remember that The Little Match Girl Passion by David Lang won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2008 so this isn't a fluke.


Yes, I am looking at you National Book Foundation.
Congrats to Zhou Long!
 
And if you are interested, here is a book copy of the story in English to read, Madam White Snake (English-Chinese). I haven't seen a recording of Madame White Snake available yet.