Fairy Tale and Film

Finding Love and Fulfilling Dreams 
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New York, ultimately wins over a cynical divorcee, while his career-
ist girlfriend falls for the storybook prince Giselle has jilted, implying 
that while some may scorn romantic dreams ‘true love’ triumphs in 
the end. Although many were won over by its self-effacing premise, 
and Giselle defies the usual stereotype by not relying on her new man 
(saving him from harm in the finale and setting up a business mak-
ing fairy tale costumes to give herself some financial independence), 
some critics nonetheless regard the film as a regressive repudiation of 
feminist thinking. (See Bacchilega and Reider (2010) who similarly take 
exception to Dreamworks’ 
Shrek 
films, contending that while Princess 
Fiona evades the fate of a conventional princess in opting to marry 
an ogre, she remains a marginal character defined by her relationship 
to the hero.
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) The overwhelming negativity of such interpretations is 
reminiscent of the dismissive critical reaction to Lurie’s championing 
of the fairy tale four decades ago, similarly failing to find anything to 
commend contemporary fairy tale films, and regarding any seemingly 
progressive revisions with suspicion. This is particularly galling when 
certain films, singled out for praise, seem extremely questionable.
In fact, 
Ever After: A Cinderella Story 
(Andy Tennant, 1998) might be 
regarded as still more reprehensible, investing its heroine with a sense 
of political commitment, only to abandon her ideals for a less than 
inspiring romance with the film’s hero (Dougray Scott). Danielle (Drew 
Barrymore) may repudiate the standard fairy tale heroine ideal – strong 
enough to fell the knavish hero when he attempts to steal a horse, smart 
enough to outwit a group of gypsies and skilled enough with a sword 
to evade a would-be rapist – yet romantic ambitions ultimately efface 
any other consideration, making the film’s approval by some as baffling 
as it is frustrating. The problem for film-makers is how to update old 
stories in a familiar manner without replicating more negative tenden-
cies, yet also achieving maximum appeal. A heroine that leaves all the 
action to the men is evidently not very enticing for a modern audience, 
yet one who shows no interest in love is clearly a departure too far. 
Contemporary versions of ‘Cinderella’ may provide us with a love story – 
indeed, that archetypal story with the ball, the disguise and the lost 
shoe has inspired a number of cinematic retreads – yet the most inter-
esting examples provide heroines that do not simply rely on a man 
to make their dreams come true, and certainly don’t forfeit their 
ambitions as Danielle does. Some films may provide a lowly heroine 
with a time-honoured means of social ascent through an advanta-
geous romance, with 
Pretty Woman
(Garry Marshall, 1990) and 
Maid 
in Manhattan
(Wayne Wang, 2002) both tapping into a familiar fairy 

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30 
Fairy Tale and Film
tale ideal of exchanging a life of labour for one of wealth, yet this is 
clearly quite a regressive message. Of greater interest here are young 
women who forge their own social progression through education and 
work. Although it offers a clear contrast in this respect, Zipes views 
Working Girl
(Mike Nichols, 1988) as equally problematic, claiming ‘it 
is ridiculous to try to salvage these films for contemporary feminism 
by analysing how all the Cinderellas in these films demonstrate their 
talents and are active, humane, thoughtful and assertive’. In his view 
this merely ‘rationalises the sequence of demeaning behaviour that the 
female protagonists must exhibit: they must obsequiously learn the 
male rules of the game to attain status and wealth’, while ‘a true rebel-
lion is out of the question’ (2011: 189). It seems difficult to please Zipes 
in this regard, with success in the world of work derided for upholding 
capitalist values and any romantic affiliations denounced for affirming 
patriarchal convention, yet many of the films discussed here question 
what he terms as ‘the male rules of the game’, with women proving they 
have an equal right (and ability) to advance themselves at college and 
the workplace, with love interests often sidelined.