When I first saw this week's template photo for LMAC #204, I thought of a medieval scene: a moat, a village of serfs living on the periphery of the castle--something on that theme.
Template by @shaka for LMAC #204
Then I thought, that's so obvious, and the tower caught my attention. Once I noticed the tower, Rapunzel came to mind immediately. In this classic fairy tale there is the inevitable damsel in distress and a prince who, in one way or another, provides a means of escape.
The verse that is at the heart of this Grimm's fairy tale has been repeated by millions of children over the centuries (mostly girls). Verse copied from Project Guttenberg)
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair
A sorceress repeats this phrase daily to the damsel, who is trapped in a tower. A prince hears the refrain, copies it, and the damsel lets down her hair to him. Happiness and love follow (eventually).
I liked this fairy tale when I was a child. As I grew to maturity, this one and others of its ilk (Snow White, Cinderella) began to grate on my nerves. Did I need a prince to make me happy? Isn't that what the fairy tale teaches us? A prince and love will redeem us and we will live happily ever after.
That, dear readers, is a recipe for disaster.
I'm not the first person to turn this fairy tale model on its head. One movie that comes to mind is the 1998 film, Ever After. In this movie, Drew Barrymore as Cinderella turns the tables on the prince/damsel model.
She rescues him. Note this Youtube scene where Cinderella carries the Pince on her back and rescues him from a band of honorable gypsies.
In my collage, Rapunzel lets down her hair while the forest burns all around. Animals and people climb up her hair to the tower and are carried away by a rescue helicopter.
I guess the tower is fireproof 😁
Elements used in making this collage were from both the LMAC internal image source, LIL and from Pixabay. I thank the following contributors for helping me bring my collage to life.
Fire background
@teungkulik
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/15284Dog
@yaziris
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7639
Donkey
@muelli
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/6529Raccoon
@redheadpei
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/6321Fox
@redheadpei
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/6942Skunk
@redheadpei
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/10634Policeman
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/6255Deer
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7474
Rapunzel
Prawny
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/fairytale-fairy-tale-enchanted-1735367/Fire
Ylvers
https://pixabay.com/photos/forest-fire-fire-boat-rapids-smoke-432877/Man climbing
https://pixabay.com/photos/climb-climbing-wall-sports-485938/Kitten
rihaij
https://pixabay.com/photos/cat-kitten-red-tabby-red-cat-climb-1134615/Rope ladder
Clickr-free-vector
https://pixabay.com/vectors/knot-knots-rope-sail-nautical-312006/Helicopter
ingewallumrod
https://pixabay.com/photos/sea-king-helicopter-rescue-aviation-1686727/
I used Gimp, Paint, Paint3D and a fire filter from Lunapic to create the effects.
The smoke effect at first was attempted with a Lunapic filter, but that seemed to obscure the elements in the image:
So I went back to Gimp and manually applied several smoke frames to let the elements be more visible.
LIL is not only a valuable image resource for the Hive community, but is also a way for community members to participate in LMAC. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from it. Learn about the procedure here.
Every week we offer prizes to twelve finalists in the contest, but it's not only the prizes people create for. I, for example, don't compete but spend hours giving vent to my imagination. Others in the community have developed the habit of 'speaking' through collage.
This week's contest is still running. You have until Monday (March 25) evening to join in the fun. Details, here.
As @shaka has said many times, everyone is an artist. I may not be an artist in the technical sense, but LMAC allows me to nurture my own unique artistic voice.
Thank you for reading. Peace and health to all.