This is a tv show that, seeing the title on your guide, you might assume to be one of the currently popular wedding shows featuring spoiled brides, money drama, the perfect dress, and the rest of it. However, this show is actually a fascinating glimpse into the gypsy, or traveler, culture of the U.K.
Each episode of course features at least one wedding and some of the preparation that goes into that, but it is a show more about the life of an average traveler girl. Weddings just happen to be the most important day in their lives, and the most frequent, or only, time they will make contact with a person who is not a member of the traveling community, the dress maker. The weddings are events of ridiculously impractical extravagance. Thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent on dresses and transportation and venues, but that's just one part of the show.
A more significant aspect of the program is allowing the audience into their very fascinating world. They have episodes dealing with how boys live and interact with each other, the lesser but still extremely ostentatious event of the first communion, that marriage is expected of each and every young girl, and what every day life is like. They show these strange juxtapositions, like how the girls dress very scandalously and scantly, but are in fact very pious and will not even spend time alone with a boy if there is no one else around, and how they spend most of their day cleaning and doing chores. The whole community seems to be fixated on appearance, and what other people will think of them, that they should be impressed. That also plays a role in the extravagance of their celebrations.
If you're looking for another wedding dress show, this one may not be for you (as their dresses are completely ridiculous) but as a study of a people that we don't really hear or know a lot about, this is a really interesting show.
Also, they made an American version of this show, and I recommend that you not watch it, it's a rip off of the original, and not a very good rip off. The people in the show almost seem like they're just average Americans who say gypsy a lot. I didn't commit to watching the American version of the show, but the episodes I did watch seemed to place more importance on the drama and the dresses. The original is more about the people and their culture and less about their tempers and greed. And it's better.
This is a beautiful film. It's the story of Sleeping Beauty told in modern times. The story opens with three fairies loosing track of time, making them late to the birth of their god-daughter. A powerful fairy casts a spell saying that the girl will die at 16 by pricking herself on a spindle made of yew wood. The fairies are upset by this news, but are not strong enough to lift the curse. They instead make modifications to the curse. The first fairy says that the princess will not die when she pricks herself, but will merely sleep for 100 years, the second says that the princess could sidestep her fate by living her life in a dream, and the third says that she could make it so the princess pricks herself at 6 and awaken at 16. And so begins the adventure.
We fast forward to the princess at 6 years old. She's an active girl who does not like 'girly' things. In fact, she wants to be a knight herself. She and her family are well aware of the curse and she tries to arm herself against sleep with countless alarm clocks. Her mother also gives her a necklace with a key on it. She puts this key in her mouth periodically when she faces obstacles throughout the film, and after that act a window of opportunity opens. The fateful day of her 'pricking' comes on the day of her ballet recital and she accidentally stabs herself on a hair ornament. She then travels to some underworld place where she must beat a boil-covered gatekeeper at some skull bowling, which she of course does and progresses on to a house with a mother and a son living in it. The mother takes her in, clothes and feeds her, and essentially adopts her for a time. The son is enamoured of her. He seems so fascinated by her and wants to always be near her, until he meets the ice queen who fills his heart with ice. He then seems to hate the very sight of her and eventually runs away. The princess goes on a journey to find him and comes to a kingdom of small people. After some initial danger, she meets with the king and queen of the land, who have unfortunately not seen her friend. They wish her well and send her on her way in a carriage dressed up like a little princess with some treats from the land. Unfortunately, the carriage is attacked by a group of gypsys. Before anything bad happens, a young gypsy girl comes forward and halts the attack, claiming the young princess as hers. She takes the princess home and they bond. Once understanding that the princess is looking for her lost friend, the gypsy girl gives the princess a deer to ride and tells her where she might find her lost friend. At this point in the story, the princess comes to a teepee in a barren winter plain with a mystic in it. The mystic tells her that her friend is a prisoner of the snow queen, but is very happy. The princess is unhappy with this and asks if there is anything that can be done. The mystic says no, but tells her how to get to a bush with red berries on it, saying that here her friend will return to her. The princess finds this bush with poisonous berries and, reasoning that to die in a dreams means to wake up in the real world, she eats the berries. She then wakes up at 16 to find a young man near her bed. We find out that this young man in the great-grandson of the friend she was looking for, and they develop a sort of relationship, but he leaves the castle where she lives periodically and does not take her with him. Her gypsy friend also finds her there and they... explore their relationship further. When her prince charming returns and they have relations, she asks to be taken out into the world with him, but he refuses. So, as in the past, she takes matters into her own hands and leaves by herself.
The princess in this story played a much more active role than other variations of this story. She was a very strong protagonist, and constantly refused to be the girly stereotype people assigned to her. In fact she puts herself to sleep by pricking her own hand because she doesn't want to be in the girly ballet. And never mind a prince, she wakes herself up too, by killing herself in her dream world. She actually takes it upon herself to go on a quest to save the prince. She is fearless and heroic and just what I would want my sleeping beauty to be. She takes matters into her own hands and doesn't take nonsense from anyone. This story is almost reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, as she's going through a dream world, and really, the two stories are quite relatable. Actually now that I think about it, I don't know why this connection hasn't been made sooner.
I really loved this film. It is beautiful to look at and engaging all the way through. There is some nudity at the end, but for the most part it's an innocent tale of discovery and adventure. If you can see it I recommend that you do.
This is a cute story about a little gypsy named Cinnamon who is free-spirited and fun. She can play musical instruments and dance with bears, but what Cinnamon has always wanted is to see what it's like to be a real princess. One day her wish is answered when a princess comes to get her fortune told by Cinnamon. The princess is so entertained by Cinnamon that she invites her to come live in the palace. Cinnamon goes to live at the palace obviously and delights in the fancy dresses and parties, but after a while she starts to feel sad and misses the freedom she had as a gypsy. The princess soon tires of her and gets new companions and the gypsy girl starts to feel very homesick. So one day instead of letting the maid dress and fuss over her, she leaves the palace in search of her home. She finds the bear she used to dance with and takes down her hair hoping he'll recognize her, and of course he does and they begin to dance.
This is a great story for young girls because, especially for the 'girly' girls, being a princess is such a big deal. They dress up as princesses, obsess over Disney princesses, and want so badly to be a princess themselves, and it's good to let them explore that part of their imagination. It is also important to let them see or realize the goodness in themselves that they may not necessarily need to be a princess to be great, though playing can be fun.
