MirrorMask Musings

The Sketches on the Wall Tell our Story

Sat, 10 May 2008 12:27:51 GMT

Title: The Sketches on the Wall Tell our Story
Rating:Teen
Summary: A glimpse into Helena's life after the movie.

She sits on her bed as black ink flows across white paper; the lines are sharp and tight as her hand moves with graceful fluidity. Escaping her predestined lined path, she gives the picture a smile of satisfaction. She stands easily and places the picture on her wall amongst the others, and her hand delicately brushes over her previous pieces with a fond familiarity. Yawning, she stretches her arms high above her head to loosen tense muscles and goes to bed.

“Well it took you long enough.” A familiar voice behind her whines in agitation.

Helena turns around and grins at her traveling companion, business associate juggler (BAJ, as he’s started to call it), and most definitely not-boyfriend.

“It’s good to see you too Valentine,” she replies around a smile.

His painted face quirks into a pleased smile at the use of his name, “Well yes, hello there to you too, Helena. Care for a walk?”

He proffers his arm to her and she easily takes it as though they’ve been doing this for years.

“Where are we going?” she asks nonchalantly.

“No idea.” He says, but his gentle grip on her arm never wavers.

There’s a new kid working at the circus, and he kind of reminds her of him, but at the same time not at all. They’ve got so many things in common- he’s ditzy, and he’s a bit silly and maybe just a bit anxious when he’s around her, and it’s all she can do not to smile. He’s also real, and warm, and he can’t juggle nearly half as well as he can, but he’s learning.

“I’ve always wanted to join the circus.” Is almost like ‘I’m a very important man; I’ve got a tower.’ And she easily assures him that he’ll fit in just fine in to their tight-knit family.

His skin is warm under hers as her fingers absently migrate to interlock with his. She reads his expression of surprise easily; his mouth opens slightly and the lines on his face tighten a bit. Their eyes lock.

She inches closer to him and he gives her fingers a soft warning squeeze. They’re so close now; she can feel puffs of his warm breath against her lips. She can’t tell whether she wants to kiss him, or really just wants to pull off his mask, wants to see if he’s the same as the new boy. It’s a quick choice, and his breath catches as she presses a chaste kiss to his lip that feels like a lightening strike, and maybe it feels just a bit like that L word that Valentine has a hard time saying.

Pulling back quickly she laughs at his flabbergasted look, “Well, are you going to show me the rest of your tower or not?”

He sputters and nods, head turning and he’s heading toward a new room, but he’s still holding her hand in his.

“What’re you doing?” that boy asks as he curiously looks over her shoulder.

“What does it look like?” the words are catty, but her tone is playful.

“Looks kind of like you’re drawing- a cat?” he asks curiously.

“Close,” a pause, “it’s something that eats books, you can’t show fear to, and loves a good riddle.”

His face goes blank with confusion and a soft laugh escapes her lips. The look changes and it’s like he’s caught up in how good she looks when she’s happy. He pauses to lock eyes with Helena’s right before he leans in and presses the slant of his mouth to hers. His lips feel familiar, but altogether new to her, and it’s like, but so unlike the chaste kiss she gave him.

“Bathing in fish, told ya, it’s what all the rich people do!” he says brightly as he reclines back in a bath full of fish.

Her face scrunches up, “Eww.”

“Eww? D’ya see that disgusting look you’re giving me? I should be the one saying eww.” He reprimands her.

She shakes her head, a smile forming to play on her lips, but then she notices something- he’s naked (albeit still wearing his mask), and the only thing covering him is the fish. Helena finds her self blushing brightly as she realizes this.

Valentine notices her quiet, “What? What’s wrong?” he notices the blush next, then looks down, his voice starting to panic, “Oh- OH, uh-“

He stand up without thinking, and Helena covers her blushing face, now laughing uncontrollably while he’s fumbling around and trying to find a towel.

They celebrate the night that he has his first performance- it was brilliant.

“Did you see? That was great, you were great.” He’s excited, almost hopping around.

She smiles and laughs- their in his trailer, him talking a mile a minute about how happy he is. He stops and stares at her a moment, a quiet solemn look covering his face, “You are great.” And it almost feels like ‘I love you’.

She soon finds him kissing her again, and she finds she likes it. Her hands intertwine in his hair, his reaching around her waist. He breaks away first, gasping for air.

“D’ya… d’ya think you might want to go out on a date?” he asks, out of breath and nervous.

She leans in again, her forehead presses against his, and she tells him one word.

They’re lying on a hill, her head on his chest, while he regales her with stories about the constellations above. She’s pretty sure he’s making it up since she’s caught him telling different stories for the same set of stars a few times; it doesn’t really matter though, she’s content to listen.

He’s stroking her head, and it’s comforting and it feels like home. Lost in her thoughts, words slip freely from her, “Are you the same person?”

She doesn’t explain what she means, and he doesn’t really ask. The silence extends on for ages before he softly says one word.

Tue, 06 May 2008 03:17:50 GMT

There is a wall.

Perhaps you've noticed it before, perhaps you haven't.

But you certainly haven't noticed the crumbling before. So you take a closer look. And on the other side of the wall is a place unlike any you've ever seen before.

And now you're curious.

But should you cross?

Dare you discover what lies beyond?

fandom_crash is a multi-fandom RPG where all stories co-exist, each separated from the others only by physical barriers that are slowly falling apart. Will your character give into their curiosity and start to explore this strange new land? Come join us and find out.

APPLICATIONS ※ RESERVATIONS ※ RULES
WORLD CREATION ※ FAQ ※ WORLD INFO
TAKEN CHARACTERS

ABOUT THE MIRRORMASK MANGA

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:44:15 GMT

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=129638

NRAMA: Whatever happened to the MirrorMask prequel manga? Who's been tapped to work on the project? Any other info about the project that you could reveal?

TB: I can’t really say much about MirrorMask right now, other than that it’s been backburnered for the time being. We’re really focusing on Return to Labyrinth and Legends of The Dark Crystal right now. Hopefully, we’ll get things going on MirrorMask eventually, but I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime real soon.

28 Mirrormask icons

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:19:27 GMT

28 Mirrormask icons

1. Comment and credit pipsqueak_icons if you take
2. Textless icons are not bases
3. Follow the fake cut to my icon journal and enjoy!

Samples:

x-posted to _fandom_icons_ , mirrormaskmovie and mirrormaskicons .

(giants orbiting)

Most likely a Two-shot

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:30:12 GMT

Title: I'll Be Missing You
Author: Vaz1201 (heartless_vaz)
Rated: K+
Disclaimer: I do not own MirrorMask.
Genre: Romance/Friendship
Shipping: Slight Valentine/Helena.

I remember her very well, even after the whole battle we had against The Queen Of Shadows.

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:39:44 GMT

totally geeked out when i saw this... thought i'd share...

it gets me so pumped !

Soundtrack?

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:31:12 GMT

Hello all! ^^ I stumbled over this community and had to join! :] Like everyone else, I love MirrorMask! Though I was wondering, does anyone know of any sites where I can quickly get my little paws on the soundtrack? I'm completely in love with scores of the movie! Thanks!

Mirrormask Books

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:27:40 GMT

I was wondering what everyone thought of the companion books to the Mirrormask movie, the children's book, illustrated film script, and alchemy of mirrormask.

random musings

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:55:29 GMT

- Hey, where's that "MirrorMask" prequel manga? Is it coming or isn't it? Hmmph!

- Stephanie Leonidas. Nude scene. Oh God. I know it's none of my business and Stephanie can do what she likes, but I'm not sure I'm ready to see the image of Helena Campbell CENSORED FOR SMALL CHILDREN. My problem, not hers. I don't want to see Harry Potter naked, either, although Daniel Radcliffe probably needs to establish that he has range as an actor.

- Man, "Crusade In Jeans" is slow-witted crap. Although it does have the faint moral that people should always bone up on history if only in case they're propelled back in time by some implausible time travel mechanism and encouraged to join the Children's Crusade/slavery scam. Stephanie Leonidas is magnificent in a sadly limited and ill-scripted role, bringing dignity and grace to a character who isn't terribly bright.

- I wish I had a quarter of Helena's pluck.

- I still find bunny slippers strangely alluring and attractive and I cannot explain why.

- Why does the nurse have Helena comb her hair when Helena visits her mum in the hospital? Helena's hair looks fine! Lovely! Splayed across her exquisite brow, highlighting her eerily perceptive gaze...

- Pingo the Mime is awesome.

Fic and fanhaiku

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:53:54 GMT

Reach Through (Helena/Anti-Helena | K | 1,007w)
Mirrors images don’t reveal everything.

Five Other Ways Helena Might Have Met Valentine in the Real World (Helena/unValentine | K | 219w)
Five other ways Helena and unValentine might have met in the real world.

Ebony and Pearl (Dark Queen/White Queen | M | 381w)
The Dark Queen and the White Queen, despite their conflict, understand one another.

Haiku: Strewn, Yin and Yang (Queen of Light/Queen of Shadows | K)

MirrorMask ColorBars

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:39:54 GMT

Color Bars of...

Helena Anti-Helena Valentine Valentine/Helena Shadow Queen Queen of Light Prime Minister.

By the way, I shall be making a moodtheme of MirrorMask (Valentine/Helena most likely) and icons in the near future, so keep a look out.

Stardust

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:50:58 GMT

I saw Stardust and I feel a little disappointed. It seemed like they left a lot of stuff out, there were these random plots going on that didn't tend to lead anywhere...or when they did they would end suddenly. It was a good movie, but I think I have to read the book now to fully appreciate it.

Hi

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:40:34 GMT

I'm new to LJ, my mom told me to try it out so here I am, but I really like the movie Mirror Mask, it reminds me of being a kid and dreaming about flying bird men and creepy stuff like that lol. If you have an ?s please don't hesitate to ask.

Neverwhere

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:05:29 GMT

Has anyone read Neverwhere? Because I think the one character Marquis is very similar to Valentine. It's cool to see how much they are alike and that is one reason why this novel is one of my favorites of Neil Gaimam's.

Stardust anyone?

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 01:00:39 GMT

I know this is a little off topic, but I was wondering if anyone was considering seeing Stardust. This is one novel of Neil Gaimen's many that I have not read yet, but I think the movie looks fabulous and who knows maybe the mainstream viewers will be lead to Mirrormask if they enjoy Stardust a lot.

Amazon Deals

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:23:13 GMT

Amazon has two of the Mirromask books marked down. Mirromask (children's edition) is $3.99 and Mirrormask: The Illustrated Film Script is $9.99. However the book Mirrormask (children's edition) only has about two left in stock so you need to buy it quickly if you want one.

Stardust

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:28:14 GMT

A couple days ago I went to see a preview of Stardust, based on the Neil Gaiman novel. Gaiman didn't write the screenplay, but the movie stays reasonably close to the novel. A few characters/episodes are cut, condensed or otherwise slightly altered but the filmmakers remained true to the story and I really liked the film. (I'm going to another preview of the film next week and have started up a community for the film, stardustfilm in case any of you are interested.)

Anyway, after I saw the film I decided to re-read the novel which I hadn't read since shortly after its original release back in the 90s and I got to thinking about what a shame it was that there's no MirrorMask novel. I have the illustrated film script, but it's not quite the same as an actual novel. Today I was looking up something else on Amazon and I found a Mirrormask novella, written from Helena's point of view and was really excited until I saw the $100.00 cost. Before I even think of spending that kind of money, I'd like to know if anyone here has it and if you think it's worthwhile, that seems awfully, awfully pricey to me.

Dave McKean DVD collection

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:50:29 GMT

Hey everyone! Your moderator-guy here.

This is from the Dave McKean LJ group (I didn't even know exists until now).
http://community.livejournal.com/davemckean/23697.html

VERY EXCITING:

Keanoshow, A Collection of Short Films by Dave McKean

In this stunning showcase of seventeen short works from designer, animator, and director Dave McKean (Mirrormask), surreal and evocative images combine with strange and original stories, to create a world of memory and dreams.

Blending live-action, drawings, collage, and computer animation--the films included in this definitive collection share sensibilities with his award-winning comics (Sandman, Cages, Mr. Punch, Signal To Noise) and children's books collaborations (The Wolves in the Walls, Coraline). From the disquieting ghost story "N[eon]" to the playful creation narrative "The Week Before", these films evoke both the earliest experiments in silent cinema, and the most contemporary of digital creations. The film "Show + Tell" traces the evolution of McKean's moving picture works, and his mall, trusted team that would progress to making feature films.

Disc contains:
Short films: The Week Before (23 mins.), N[eon] (28 mins.), Displacements (22 mins.), Whack! (14.5 mins.), Dawn (9 mins.)

Extra Moving Things: Sonnet No. 138, Raindance 7, Reason, Reminded, Kodak - Take Pictures Further (documentary), A Short Film for Adobe (documentary), Signal To Noise (sampler), Show and Tell (documentary)

Music films: Buckethead "The Ballad of Buckethead", Lowcraft "One of Us", Izzy "Una Furtiva Lagrima", Iain Ballammy/Stian Carstenen

Extra Still Things: Biography, Essay 25 Lessons a Second, Photography portfolio, Illustration portfolio

Amazon has it up for pre-order here for $19.99: http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Mckeans-Keanoshow-Book-Col/dp/B000P6R5V6/

EVEN BETTER is that DeepDiscount.com has it on pre-order for $13.55 with FREE SHIPPING!
http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=16763552

helena's art

Wed, 02 May 2007 02:39:39 GMT

could anyone tell me the artist that did all of helena's art for the movie? is there a gallery somewhere online i could view some of it?

thanks.

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 03:20:46 GMT

Wow! I totally didn't expect there to be a community for this movie! Have any of you ever seen Dark Crystal or Labryinth? They're not as good as mirrormask, but still ok.

lecture notes

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:30:17 GMT

My lecture on "MirrorMask" went rather well, although I had to make it brief so that I could finish up some other work. It made me think I might not be completely hopeless as a teaching assistant next semester. Thanks for everyone's help!

Anyway, I thought I'd post my lecture notes and then you could all pick them to pieces and point out the bits that are crushingly obvious and the parts that are completely wrong. And then I could patch it up and use it again. Gaiman is rather popular in the mythology courses.

Lecture Notes

- MirrorMask - a cinematic exercise in duality
- the sense that every person, place and idea has two sides, two distinct, opposing manifestations
- a good example -- the two giant floating statues in the sky
- script descriptions: Helena walks towards the thing that looks like a floating statue. As she approaches, it looms over her. It is two figures, balancing against each other, each the size of a spaceship; a male figure gravitationally attracted downward, the other female figure attracted upwards. So long as they push against one another, they hover perectly in space, about twenty feet off the ground.
- the primary philosophy of this film; the need for balance.
- the Prime Minister says, when sending Helena on her quest, says that the balance has been broken.
- that's illustrated by the shadows eating the giant that's tethered to the ground but floating up
- Without balance, the two giants are alternatively swallowed by the ground and floating off helplessly into the sky
- without balance, people, places and ideas are split apart and destroyed
- Helena is trying to stop that
- the idea of dual personalities, dual temperaments, dual natures, and dual identities are raised and present throughout the film
- the most interesting divide in the film is the character of Helena's mother, who is portrayed in two different very different ways
- the Dark Queen wants a daughter who is regimented, controlled, wholly obedient, and essentially enslaved. It's interesting that she wants A daughter, not a specific daughter -- when Helena protests that she isn't the Dark Queen's daughter, the Dark Queen replies, "You'll do." In essence, wanting a daughter, but really wanting someone to fill in an open space, the unoccupied position; the place of a mindless cog who does as she's told and serves her function. A pet. She strokes the princess-version of Helena like she's petting a dog. And Helena, when she's possessed, moves in very rigid, sharp, stiff movements -- like she is on strings. Helena also plays with a doll version of herself -- strokes its hair the same way the Dark Queen strokes Helena. Suggesting that the Dark Queen sees a daughter as ornamentation. Furniture designed to impress.
- this is how Helena sees her mother.
- but it is not the only way in which Helena sees her mother; we don't see much of the White Queen, but when she does appear, her role is very simple; it's to encourage Helena, to tell her to try, to say that yes, she can do something worthwhile. When Helena sees the sleeping White Queen and the Prime Minister is saying everything is hopeless and there's nothing Helena can do, a white rose blossoms in the White Queen's hands -- basically pledging her faith in Helena.
- and later, in the dreamlands, when the monkeybirds have dropped Helena off by the pond, Helena sees the White Queen oblique slash her mother AGAIN -- and her mother encourages her to keep trying.
- this is probably where the movie is most effective at depicting duality; essentially, this drama Helena is embroiled in is her trying to work out her conflicted feelings about her mother, wanting to save her and needing to escape her.
- there's at least two of everything in this movie; two dads, two Eric the musicians, two Valentines -- but only one MirrorMask.
- the MirrorMask itself, in its mere description, is an object of duality.
- when you wear a mask, you're deciding what people see when they look at your face.
- but with the MirrorMask -- if you wore a mask that is a mirror, then other people looking at your face would see their own. To wear it is to make someone else see themselves when they look at you.
- as though you've switched places.
- it's a great magical object for a film about duality -- a very good visual. And I think that's the strength of this movie; to have the visuals reinforce the internal theme of the story.
- often, this visual theme is really the only coherent thread of the story.
- i think this movie has a very interesting visual direction to bring it's characterization to life, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to declare it to have life-defining ideals and philosophies. I think that can often be a mistake -- to elevate what's meant to be a fun and mysterious piece of light entertainment to being some sort of principled doctrine of infinite applicability.
- because the thing is, this film doesn't exactly hold up when you examine its internal logic.
- for one thing, the film isn't consistent on whether or not the dreamworld is just a dream or if it's really happening. I'm not saying that it leaves it open to interpretation or uncertainty --
- it contradicts itself.
- at the beginning of the film, Helena is telling a story with her sock puppets. and she basically delivers a huge portion of Valentine's dialogue. "I'm a very important man." "I have a tower." And then Helena's own dialogue which comes later in the film, "If we can't get away from her, you're a very dead man." And there's actually a doll hanging above her bed that looks exactly like Valentine. Same mask.
- this would imply that it really is all of Helena's dream.
- the ending of the film, however, says one thing and does another.
- Helena's dad makes no reference to her being gothed out, and getting the clothes, the cigs, the hair done up, the chips, the boy -- and everything Helena sees the Anti-Helena doing -- well, it's during the day. Presumably the day after Helena visited her mum at the hospital.
- but when Helena wakes up, her mum's had her operation. Earlier in the film, her dad said, "It depends on what they find tonight" when asked about the op. So the entire dream sequence takes place overnight. Presumably, this means that Helena did dream the whole thing, because the Anti-Helena simply couldn't have done any of her extracurricular activities over the course of six to eight hours.
- yet, Valentine shows up at the end, implying that it wasn't just a dream, that it really happened.
- on one level, this is another instance of the film's duality; a dream Valentine, a real-world Valentine.
- except that everything previous, the monologue at the beginning, the Valentine doll and Helena waking up reinforces that it was ONLY a dream. Only this tag scene doesn't fit.
- the reason for this is because if you read Gaiman and McKean's original outline, it really is just a dream. And the script follows that outline quite closely, supporting the "it's only a dream' direction.
- From original outline: "At the end, well, if this was reality, mum would die, but we should give her something, cancer can go into remission. There should be a completely rational reason for her mother's state of health. Her fantasy was a visualization of the battle over her mum's body under the surgeon's knife."
- except that, for whatever reason, this tag scene has been added on the end.
- it doesn't make sense on a literal level
- but it's consistent with the theme of duality.
- you could see it as dreams slipping into reality, as a sign that Helena can mingle the positive aspects of her dreamworld with the positive aspects of reality, an indication that Helena's dreamlife won't be dismissed from mind
- and you could also see it as what happens when a writer diverges from his original outline because he thinks it would be cute.
- I guess what I am saying is, enjoy MM, have fun finding mythic motifs in it, there are a ton --
- but do remember that this movie is the product of a human imagination -- just like yours.

lecture assistance!

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:01:53 GMT

A professor offered me the opportunity to guest-lecture on "MirrorMask" in her class. Being unqualified to teach anyone about anything, ever, I naturally agreed. So now I'm here, asking for help. What should a lecture on this movie be about?

The thing is, while I love this movie, I don't actually understand it. I appreciate Neil Gaiman's gift for delicate wording and dialogue, layered character interactions and visual flair. I adore Dave McKean's dreamy art-deco direction and his jarring yet rhythmic style. And Stephanie Leonidas isn't bad as an actress. :-P I mostly like this movie because Helena is so awesome. She's witty, clever, funny, daring, brave, courageous, and a bit stupid, a bit egotistical, and an extremely poor judge of character. (Anyone who failed to realize that Valentine was untrustworthy ought not to venture outdoors without adult supervision.) But the story itself... why is Helena unfamiliar with this dreamworld when she drew the whole thing? Why does Helena need to be introduced to Valentine when she's made up a story about him in the very first scene? If the Black Shadows are merely looking for the Dark Helena, why are they also eating up the dream world if the Dark Queen just wanted her kid back? What's the MirrorMask all about, anyway, what's it supposed to do? Did any of the dream actually happen, considering Dark Helena's inhabitance of Helena's life for a few days/hours has left no impression (her dad doesn't say anything about it at all)? Is the Valentine at the end the Valentine from the dreamscape having entered the real world or the 'real' version of Valentine and if there was a 'real' version of Valentine, were there TWO of him in Valentine's future fruit dream?

If anyone of you understand this movie, would you explain it to me?

Hello!

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 02:34:38 GMT

I know this is kind of an odd post, but I'd love to have more Mirrormask buddies to chat with-- especially if they're into fanfiction or maybe even roleplaying. Anyone?

If anyone's interested in talking Mirrormask with me, just add me on Skype (princessraizee), AIM (themagicnumber27), or MSN (themagic27@yahoo.com) and drop me a line! I'd be more than happy to talk! :)

Mods, if this is against the rules, go on and delete this or whatever. I'm just itchin' to fangirl ramble about the movie with a new friend. :)

Mirrormask video

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 07:48:10 GMT

I just finished my first Mirrormask music video, set to Loreena McKennitt's "Marrakesh Night Market." The singer is a little hard to understand, so I included the lyrics in this post. I hope you like it!

Marrakesh Night Market

They're gathered in circles
the lamps light their faces
The crescent moon rocks in the sky
The poets of drumming
keep heartbeats suspended
The smoke swirls up and then it dies

(Chorus) Would you like my mask?
would you like my mirror?
cries the man in the shadowing hood
You can look at yourself
you can look at each other
or you can look at the face of your god

The stories are woven
and fortunes are told
The truth is measured by the weight of your gold
The magic lies scattered
on rugs on the ground
Faith is conjured in the night market's sound

(Chorus)

The lessons are written
on parchments of paper
They're carried by horse from the river Nile
says the shadowy voice
In the firelight, the cobra
is casting the flame a winsome smile

(Chorus)

Video:

neilgaiman.info

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:41:54 GMT

neilgaiman.info is a wiki devoted to all things Gaiman.

Currently the page devoted to Mirrormask is pretty paltry. Anyone want to take a stab at it?