After we dug into some background Easter Eggs http://www.onceuponatimepodcast.com/snow-white-following-emma-in-the-ouat-pilot-ouat-secrets/ in the Pilot, let’s dig into the mythology of the Pilot, involving Emma.
Emma’s arrival in Storybrooke parallels classic Fairy Tales mixed with tales of Heroes, as well.
In OUAT, we know that Emma will be The Savior/The Hero to break the curse and save those in Storybrooke from a life frozen in time with no knowledge of who they really are, even Emma’s parents.
Emma’s father rides a trusty steed to enter new lands, Emma drives a yellow VW bug to enter the place of her destiny.
The Hero now has arrived in the cursed creation of the Evil Queen – Storybrooke, and Emma stops right in what I call, “The Magical Intersection”. Many incredible things happen there, and now it begins.
Note: The Rabbit Hole sign is not out, as a matter of fact, very few Storybrooke stores (Standard Clocks, etc) are shown. I would think because this was the Pilot, and they weren’t sure if it would be worth the cost until the series was picked up for more episodes of Season 1. The library sign was up (Notice the sign looks different, too) –
The Hero is here. It doesn’t really look like it yet, but wait…
The foot of the Hero touches the cursed ground, and…
The land itself reacts with an electrical burst. It’s as if Storybrooke ‘knows’ that redemption from the curse is now a possibility. As the Hero has arrives, someone comes to meet her. An unlikely pair of sentinels, Archie Hopper and his dog, Pongo. Archie’s approach was not to defend and fight off The Hero, but to greet and report back her arrival to the one who is in charge, Regina.
Note: See that the shops behind Emma have tarps covering the signs.
As Archie leaves (after pointing that the Mayor’s house was down in the direction of Gold’s Pawn shop), we can hear him whistling “Give a Little Whistle” from the Disney classic, “Pinocchio”, and also pops open an umbrella, giving two nods to Jiminy Cricket from “Pinocchio”.
“Give a Little Whistle”
Emma brings a lot of lightening sparks! When she first arrives in Storybrooke, giving birth to Henry, when she was a teenager at the carnival with the Snow Queen (can’t remember her name) and I think there are others but I cannot remember them all.
Other references to fairy tales: Emma sees the wolf in reference to The Huntsman and “Snow White”. Ruby wears A Red Hood or scarf in reference to “Little Red Riding Hood.” Mr. Gold name in reference to gold thread he makes as Rumple. The clock starts working when Emma decides to stay. Leroy whistling in the cell.
RumpleLove: The Snow Queen’s name was Ingrid.