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The Shamans and Swords of K-Pop Demon Hunters
The Shamans and Swords of K-Pop Demon Hunters Welcome to Tales from the Box Office where Fox and Sparrow moonlight as TV and Movie reviewers who focus on the myths and monsters behind the fictional folklore fanfare! In this part, we will focus on Shamanism and Huntr/x. K-Pop Demon Hunters is the blockbuster of the summer and it was only just released in June! The movie which was produced by Sony Pictures Animation and co-directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans features a fictional K-Pop girl group called Huntr/x who just so happen to also be demon hunters. This post…
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The Flower Queen’s Daughter: A Fairy Tale Retelling
Welcome back Travellers to another tale that will remind you just how fun some fairy tales can be and fall in line with the current trend of myth retellings. The Romanian tale of “The Flower Queen’s Daughter” is definitely a version of the seasonal Persephone story, however, this one includes lots of mysterious old people, flirty Dragon mothers, runaway mares and a Flower Queen (plus her daughter). Stick around till the end for our Five Fantastic Finds on: Images from Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book with illustrations by H.J. Ford. The Flower Queen’s Daughter A young Prince was out for…
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Caledonian Boar Hunt: Atalanta
The Greek Myths are an interesting web woven from characters with intermingled fates, recurring archetypes and motifs. Find out how the Caledonian Boar Hunt relates to not just Atalanta but Heracles, the Argonauts and Prince Meleager.
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Princess Aubergine: Baingan Bádsháhzádi
Princess Aubergine is a Punjabi story of a beautiful fairy, wicked Queen, cursed necklace and an unlikely romance. Read the story, listen to the podcast and dive deep into the tropes/sources with us!
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Betrothed and Beheaded: Siya and Maadi
Siya and Maadi tells the tale of the ill-fated lovers in legends popularized from the Wagadou Empire. Virgin sacrifices, Decapitating Serpents, a Man in a (bad) disguise make up this tale that poses the “Greater Good” question we ask ourselves at every major movie showing.
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Saint George: House of the Dragon Slayer
The famous legend of “Saint George and the Dragon” is as iconic to the English as Jack and the Beanstalk and a Christmas Carol. The original story was a lot more intense than the abridged version we all know. For our ‘Five Fantastic Finds’ you can hear about religious myths and canon, damsels in distress, the origins of slaying dragons, the etymology of George and the cost of hiring a hero. If you haven’t listened to the story yet, be sure to listen here or download it wherever you listen to your podcasts! Let us know what you think in…
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Tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab
The tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab is one of the greatest in the epic literature world. Listen to the story here or below! Kay Kavus’ reign was eventful, but sadly, not all that happened was productive or good. Kavus was captured again, started many more conflicts, and got deceived into building a chariot to fly to the sun. Eventually, after all his failures, he became humiliated and humbled. Well, at least for a while. To see the previous stories, be sure to check out the two previous posts/episodes from Shahnameh. Rakhsh’s Lost Days We return to our hero, Rostam, who…
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Rostam: Horsin’ Around
It’s finally time for Rostam! Our previous episode kicked off our trilogy on the Shahnameh or “Book of Kings,” an epic by Ferdowsi on the history of Persia’s Greatest Kings and Heroes. We last spoke of the Hero Sam and his son Zal so if you are interested in knowing more about them, then make sure to check out our previous episode! Today, we will continue our series on the heroes of the Shahnameh. Rostam is the archetypical Iranian hero and predates the Shahnameh as a long-standing folk hero. He is among the Greatest literary heroes, including others like Gilgamesh,…
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Shahnameh: Sam, Zal and Rudabeh
The Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) by Hakim Abu al-Qasim Mansur is one of the world’s greatest Epic poems, detailing the history of Iran’s Kings and Heroes. He is known as “Ferdowsi Tusi,” which is actually a title meaning “The Tusi Poet from Paradise”. The work has morphed with every retelling, and the stories have existed prior to Ferdowsi penning them down. In the poem, Ferdowsi says that his book is a collection of stories that he painstakingly collected. To see a list of the author’s sources and a brief history, click here. The Epic itself starts from the beginning of…
Tales from the Enchanted Forest 