Netflix Is Adapting The School for Good and Evil, So I Read the First Book!
The School for Good and Evil is a middle grade book series released in 2013 with a similar plot to Ever After High and Descendants and with all the ambition of Harry Potter. Considering how popular this fairy tale-inspired series seems to be, I'm surprised I never heard of it until a little over a week ago when I learned that Netflix is turning it into a movie. Perhaps one of the reasons it was so overlooked is its super generic title, which sounds like it could be about literally anything. Most fictional stories are about the battle between good and evil. A better title would have been The School for Princesses and Witches, which would have been more eye-catching to lovers of fairy tales. Maybe the vagueness is good, though, since this book contains many horror elements that could scare off young fairy tale aficionados or particularly sensitive older ones like myself.
When I began reading The School for Good and Evil, I had many questions that were mostly resolved by the end, but not entirely. The author threw around so many contradictory ideas that the school that made no sense, even for a fantasy world. Ever After High, which came out the same year as this book, did a better job of creating a school for fairy tale characters because the classes weren't separated based on who is a "royal" or a "rebel," meaning students could study whatever they wanted just like a real school. The characters were all descendants of the famous ones from storybooks, which eliminated the issue of altering their childhoods. Here, students are kidnapped and forced to attend whichever school is chosen for them whether they want to or not, particularly in the case of Sophie, who spent her entire life dreaming of becoming a princess and is essentially thrown into a prison with a bunch of monsters who debate whether they should kill her or not upon meeting her. This school is also allegedly where every famous fairy tale character got their start including ones like Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, who all spent their childhoods in isolation and abuse. Attending a school where they were supported by friends and teachers should have changed the outcomes of their stories, but that is never addressed here.
There are currently six books in this series, and they are quite long, so I doubt I will be reading the rest. However, I will probably watch the Netflix movie to see how the dark imagery described in the book translates to the screen. There's an interview with the author at the end of this book about it being picked up for a film by Universal Studios back in 2013, but I doubt this is the same movie. I can understand why a well-known studio would have wanted to bring such a visual concept to the screen, so I'm not sure what happened to that version of the film. Netflix probably had to wait a few years to get the rights from Universal once the project was canceled. Considering how risqué Netflix tends to be with their content, I hope no children get traumatized by this film. Even though I was a little traumatized by the book as an adult, I found it to be a thought-provoking experience overall. I recommend The School for Good and Evil series to people who enjoy comics like Fables from Vertigo Comics or Grimm Fairy Tales from Zenescope, which mix the horror elements with well-known fairy tales. The Netflix film does not have a release date yet, but it is said to come out this fall.
Comments
If the target audience is specifically young (like say 2-7), then the trailers will usually promote positive values and general good feelings more explicitly. Think like how Nick Jr, Disney Junior, PBS Kids, and many Barbie projects (mainly the Barbie projects since the mid 2010s) advertise things like the power of friendship and all that.
If it's for older kids (like say 7-12), they'll usually highlight the more epic moments (mainly if it has heavy action or fantasy elements) with more moderated comedy (like how Tangled The Series or Glitch Techs are advertised) or really exaggerate the comedy if it's a wacky cartoon (like SpongeBob SquarePants or The Cuphead Show).
If it's for older audiences (older teenagers and adults) and it's not explicitly a comedy, they'll usually highlight the more epic moments and try to pass themselves off as more serious. Think shows like Castlevania, Supernatural Academy, or Invincible.
Based on the more serious nature of this teaser, it seems to want to be more serious and show that it's for older audiences.
-Second novel: a war between girls and boys
-Third novel: Everyone is compelled to be a villain (and once again you feel it could have ended here)
-Fourth novel: Wandering the world outside of the school (like in "Harry Potter", bad idea)
-Fifth novel: Same
-Sixth: Focalizes on the "tale" of the main characters (with Tedros succeeding to his father)
What disturbed me, as a princess lover, is while thrilled to be in a school like the one of good, the behaviour of students there imply that princesses are superficial and mean, and it is superficial and mean if you wish to be one. The question is, how will it be approached in the movie.
You are correct that companies own the intellectual properties to their characters. Therefore, if you intend to write something for profit, you are only legally allowed to use your own original characters, unless, of course, Disney were to hire you to write for them under contract. If you have a work you want to publish that uses copyrighted characters, the best place to do that would be a website like fanfiction.net. Let me know if you have any other questions and have a great weekend!