After reading Oscar Wilde’s story of, “The Happy Prince,” I decided to look further into whether there were any spinoffs of the story. Although I did not find exactly that, I did happen to come across “The Happy Prince” movie trailer. This movie is not necessarily about the story itself, but rather about the life of the author himself. It is a biographical drama of Wilde’s life and his last days, while at the same time obviously (as you can tell by the title) alluding to his story of, “The Happy Prince.”

Just by watching the trailer, I was able to notice many similarities between what was to come with the movie and Wilde’s childrens story. In the very beginning of the trailer we see the words, “He was a celebrity,” appear. I immediately thought of Wilde as being the Happy Prince when I saw these words, as the Prince in the story was very well known and embraced by many, so much so that he was a statue that watched over the city. However, later in the trailer we see that Wilde develops a relationship with another man. Does that ring a bell? Sounds a lot like the relationship that the Happy Prince formed with the Swallow. Not only because it was unheard of, but because of the circumstances. As both Wilde and this man’s relationship and the Swallow’s and Prince’s relationship progress, both “Happy Princes” (I guess it’s safe to call them) begin to get looked down upon by those around them. Even the settings of the Prince and Wilde’s death are comparable, both being cold winters where Wilde was, “dying on cold shame,” as stated in the trailer, and where the statue and Swallow died in the cold. We hear toward the end of the trailer Wilde explaining that, “[t]here is no mystery so greater than suffering. Suffering is nothing when there is love. Love is everything.” Just like Wilde, the Swallow and the Prince suffered together, loved together, and died together.