Once Upon A Time: A Timely Tale For A Modern Era (Cline)

## Introduction

### **How The Show Came To Be**

Once Upon A Time first aired in October of 2011. The setting of the show is in a fictional town of Storybrooke, Maine, where its residents are from various fairy tales. The residents are transported by a powerful curse from their world to what they refer to as the "real world" of Storybrooke. When they are transported they lose their memories of who they are and they make fake identities for themselves. The show was created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. The episodes consist of a storyline in Storybrooke as well as flashbacks from before the characters were cursed. There was a spinoff series made in 2013 called Once Upon A Time In Wonderland as well.

### **Known Spoilers Vs. Speculations**

In the reading Spoiling Survivor it discusses a fan that goes by the name of ChillOne. ChillOne was a huge fan of the show Survivor, he was was such a big fan that he went searching for spoilers of the show. While he was searching for spoilers he stumbled across a list of the cast who were going to get cut off from the next season. He then posted this information to the internet and went through a lot of grief because of it. This brings up the question is it ethical to share a known spoiler vs. a speculation? Once Upon A Time is similar to the show Survivor. *Spoiling Survivor* uses this statement, "Survivor asks us to speculate about what happened. It practically demands our predictions." Once Upon A Time does this as well, fans like to speculate what will happen in the upcoming episodes. Another point *Spoiling Survivor* brings up is Collective Intelligence.

Spoiling Survivor uses this quote, "No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity. Collective Intelligence refers to this ability of virtual communities to leverage combined expertise of their members." What fans can't know or do on their own they can do together. For example my friend Heath and I like to talk about the episode after it airs and we also like to predict what could happen in the next episode. Another thing that I think is somewhat ethical is when Once Upon A time will preview the next episode. When shows do this they give the fans something to talk about and let them predict what will happen. According to Once Upon A Time fan website, fans have been speculating on which character cast the most recent dark curse. There have been many discussions similar to this and these are speculations.

## **Knowledge Communities**

What is a Knowledge Community? According to Wikipedia a Knowledge Community, "Is a community construct, stemming from the convergence of knowledge management as a field of study and social exchange theory."  In words it is a group of fans who come together to find out information and discuss about their obsession. One example is the Once Upon A Fan website. This website was made by a group of fans for other fans to come discuss things that happen in the show. On the website there are tabs such as Forum, Meet The OUAF Staff, Merchandise and Fan Art. The Forum is where fans can click on different topics of the show to discuss. A big twist that fans didn't see coming is in the 2 hour episode that aired 3 weeks ago. This twist is that Emma was about to lose her true love Hook to death, and in order to save him she had to turn him dark as well. When this happened fans freaked out all over. After Hook finds out what Emma did to him a hatred begins to grow for her. Another big discussion on the website is which characters heart was used to create the dark curse. This discussion happened before the episode aired,and there were many different speculations about it. Some fans said Lancelot and some said Violet. The heart that was used was Merlin's because his true love was the very first dark one and since she is a part of Hook she had to crush the thing she loved most.There are also many fans speculating about what will happen in next weeks episode. In the most recent episode, Emma returns all the memories of her loved ones including her own. When she gained her memories back she realized what Hooks plan was. In the end of the episode we see Hook open up the portal to the underworld and all the past dark ones are alive again. Fans don't know for sure how the portal got there or what Hook's plan is but they do know all hell will break loose.

Another form of Knowledge Communities are social media pages. There are many social media pages that fans have made. One in particular that I'd like to discuss is the Instagram fan page that goes by the name of OnceUponATime518. This Instagram page contains spoilers about what is to come in the series. But in the bio of the page it doesn't warn fans of spoilers. One of the spoilers that is on this page is who the new characters are going to be. One can clearly see on this page who the new characters will be. It also contains part of what is going to happen in the next episode. When I first found this page I didn't know that there were going to be spoilers on it. But since it does have spoilers, the question that crosses my mind and maybe some other fan's is whether or not this page should be banned. Jenkins argues that, "If you are eager to share information but are hesitant to spill it all out here, I suggest contacting someone privately." What he is saying here is that if a fan knows information that isn't supposed to be known, and they are wanting to share it, that they should share it privately. They shouldn't post it for the world to see because they could get grief.

Another big fan page is the Once Upon A Time Wiki. The page currently has 1,883 pages on it and the last time it was updated was 2 hours ago. On the home page there are tabs for the cast, the episodes, the characters, books and even the writers of the show. The page has a chart of the family tree, a poll of who should be the LGBT relationship in the next season and links to all the characters bios. The poll brings up an interesting point that some TV shows have. Some TV shows are starting to have homosexual relationship. According to Fox's website, "The study reviewed 97 scripted TV programs scheduled to air in the upcoming season on the broadcast networks, counting a total of 701 series regular characters. The study found that 31 of them are LGBT characters." This shows that more and more tv shows are becoming comfortable having their characters be apart of the LGBT communiuty. On the OUAT wiki, "The characters that fans think will have an LGBT relationship are Mulan and Ruby. Their percentage is at 44.3% with Merida and Mulan coming in second."  In the image of the poll it shows when the poll was made and how many people have already taken it. This pole was made exactly one month ago and so far 377 people have voted on it.

## **Interpretive Disputes**

There are many discussions about the recent episodes of Once Upon A Time. A lot of these discussions are fans predicting what could happen or wanting to know more information. These discussions are what is know as Interpretive Disputes. Some of them aren't arguments, they are just discussions about what will happen next in the show. OUAT has so many twists and turns in each episode that there is a lot to discuss. Let's look at some of the things fans are discussing in these online communities.

### **Which Characters Are Returning In The 100th Episode?**

This is one of the most discussed topics about the show. Fans are desperate to know who will be returning for that episode. There are rumors of which characters are confirmed to return for this episode. The characters consist of Cora, Pan, Sidney, Cruella D'Vill and the Blind Witch from Hansel and Gretel. Hades is supposed to appear in some episodes but isn't confirmed for the 100th episode.

### **New Characters and Worlds That Are to Appear In This Season**

There are a lot of discussions about which new stories will be coming to Once Upon A Time. The big story that is coming is the story of Hercules. Hercules, Meg and Hades have been cast and are supposed to appear in the next episodes. In the last episode, the portal to the underworld was opened and who other than Hades rules the underworld? This kind of gave fans a hint on to who was supposed to come. Another spoiler that gave fans information is a new shop is to appear in the show. Only the most powerful of characters have shops in Storybrooke. Fans are wondering who is the keeper of the boat to the underworld, and it has been confirmed that Hook's father is the keeper. Hook's father has been cast and the actor is going to be Adam Croasdell. Fans are wanting his character to be Davy Jones, but it hasn't been confirmed. Another question fans are discussing is What New Worlds and Realms Should Appear in the Show? Some fans are wanting to see Narnia and some are wanting to see Olympus.

### **Who Do Fans Love/Hate?**

There are many characters that have come and went in OUAT. One of the discussion pages on the OUAT wiki is who do you love/hate? Fans are saying that they used to love hook when he wasn't a dark one but now that he is, they don't like him as much. He is claimed to be, "Shallowly Good." Because Emma didn't tell Hook she turned him into a dark one he hates her with a passion. In the latest episode Hook told Emma he wants to hurt her like she hurt him. Then in the preview for the next one Emma says, "I will protect my family, even if it means I have to kill you." This brings up the question, who is going to die? It seems in every episode someone's heat is broken or someone dies. But this mystery is what keeps the show going. If we knew, it would be a boring show.

Another character that fans don't know if they like or hate is Emma. Emma's background in the show is that when the curse was cast she had to be put into another realm so she wouldn't be hurt. The other realm was the "real world." Emma grew up an orphan in the real world and was put into many foster homes. She met Neil and then they had a child but didn't tell him. Emma had to give up the child, who is Henry. Once Henry grows up, he is given a book that has the title Once Upon A Time. This book consists of the fairy tale stories we all know and love. Henry starts to believe that the stories in the book are real and that the people in the town are the characters. Emma in the beginning of the show was the savior, she saved Storybrooke from the original curse that was cast by the Evil Queen. But throughout the seasons Emma starts to turn dark and eventually becomes the dark one. She becomes the dark one to save Rumple from death. Fans don't know what to think of her because she is dark and has changed a lot as the dark one. She doesn't let anyone help her and she ends up hurting everyone she cares about.

## **Remediation**

The show Once Upon A Time is an example of taking classic fairy tales and giving them a different ending or putting twists into them. Instead of Prince Charming marrying Cinderella he marries Snow White. In fact in this show Cinderella doesn't have a man, she is a single mom trying to go through school. Another big twist in Once Upon A Time is Belle's story. She does marry a beast but not in the way you think. She marries Rumple who is the Dark One. Because he is the Dark One, the man inside him is almost gone. He is in a way a beast, but then Belle starts to bring back the man he used to be. But the biggest change in Once Upon A Time is with the Evil Queen (Regina). At first in the show she is Evil because Snow White betrays her trust. For the next few seasons she tries to kill Snow White but then once Regina adopts Henry her outlook on life changes. She goes from being the Evil Queen to a good mother and a genuine person. She does find her true love and happiness. Regina's character shows that people can change from bad to good if they really try. Let's look at some forms of Remediation of this series.

### **Fan Art**

Fan art is an example of Remediation, there are hundreds of fans who like to create fan art. This is made by a fan and it is Emma as the Dark One. Emma was a very popular person for Once Upon A Time fan art. Another popular one is Emma and Hook. Their relationship has been through ups and downs, from their first kiss to Hook almost dying in Camelot. Hook loved Emma from the minute he met her but once she turned him dark, that love was gone. She only did it to save him but because she didn't tell him she lost all of his trust. I chose this fan art because it is a perfect example of Hook's relationship with Emma. He tries to get to break down her walls and no matter how close they are physically, he can never be that close to her mentally. There are some bad examples of fan art, such as the inappropriate ones where the characters are naked. But fan art is very cool to look at.

### **Fan Fiction**

Fan fiction is a very popular form of remediation for anything really. There is fan fiction for TV shows, book series and many other things. The author of the fan fiction feels like they have control of what happens next with the characters in the story. It gives them a sense of power and responsibility. In my research of fan fiction I found many different topics. I found some that involve homosexual relationships, some that have the future of Rumple and Belle and the most popular are about Hook and Emma. This is an example of fan fiction by the name of *For Once, Let Go by A Whisper Of Grace.*  In this piece of fan fiction, "Emma picks Henry up from her long-time friend Killian's house after her job has turned his short babysitting role into an overnighter." I read this piece and it made me think a lot about what the future looks like for Emma and Hook. The writer put a lot of thought and effort into it, and I think it is a work of art. Some people wouldn't consider fan fiction art but it does have artistic value. There isn't one specific definition of art but fan fiction is created for the experience of reading it. It causes the reader to think about what could happen in the text it is about. Fan fiction consists of different possibilities that the characters in it could go through. Such as in this piece Emma and Hook are lifelong friends. That could happen in the show if they both can get the darkness out of them.

## **Additional Links**

Once Upon A Fan

Once Upon A Time Official Site

Once Upon A Time Fan Site

Once Upon A Time Wikia

Fan Fiction with Emma and Hook

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Henry Jenkins, "Spoiling Survivor." Course Readings, HUM211
2. ↑ Once Upon A Fan: http://forums.onceuponafans.com/
3. ↑ Wikipedia Definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge\_community
4. ↑ Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/onceuponatime518/
5. ↑ Statistic From Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/10/05/study-number-gay-characters-on-tv-at-all-time-high/
6. ↑ Once Upon A Time Wiki: http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Once\_Upon\_a\_Time\_Wiki
7. ↑ The OUAT Wiki Forum page, Spoilers: http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:247199
8. ↑ OUAT general discussion page: http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:253974
9. ↑ Fan Fiction Example: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11619972/1/For-Once-Let-Go