Fairy Tale and Film

Fairy Tale and Film
impression of the US military. While Mottram suggests that this final 
gesture was potentially created to appease Warner Brothers, the result 
is, as he terms it, ‘a heist thriller with a political conscience’ that makes 
its criticisms of the war clear (2006: 268). The unlikeliest of heroes, 
these soldiers may dream of becoming kings, yet are finally rewarded 
only by the fact that they have done the right thing, both in aiding the 
people they have officially been sent to help and in returning the gold 
to its rightful owners.
13
Such tales revise suggested elements of ‘Jack 
and the Beanstalk’ in affirming an interesting redistribution of wealth. 
Treasure is liberated from corrupt organisations, returned to those who 
genuinely deserve it, and the idea of war profiteering is thus given a 
new slant in narratives that aim to entertain yet also make us think.
14
While the narratives assessed differ quite extensively in their con-
clusions, there is an increasing tendency to warn against criminality 
as the path to progress and to insist that money, if not the root of all 
evil, is at the very least a questionable aim. The idea that money can’t 
buy happiness is a cliché, commonly attributed to those who already 
have enough of it, yet in their attitude to wealth many films repeat a 
curiously puritan sense of caution. Thieving may be something of an 
art form for Grimm heroes, but taking money belonging to others, as 
occurs in 
A Simple Plan
and 
No Country for Old Men
(even if the true own-
ers are not necessarily very deserving), is firmly repudiated, almost as 
if a moral test is underway, even in relatively secular times. The appeal 
of seeing underdogs triumph in adverse, often dangerous, conditions 
is likely to fuel many films to come, yet the appeal of easy money and 
its life-changing potential has also been counterbalanced by caution-
ary narratives that reiterate certain tales of old in suggesting material 
desire is a tainted dream, vainly trying to assuage us that we are better 
off without money (evading mercenary interest) and should value the 
things that really matter. A familiar moral coda is thus underlined, reit-
erating a need to be cautious about our aspirations and not lose sight 
of what’s truly important. Affluence is often equated with extreme arro-
gance in the fairy tale, divesting figures of humane qualities, and char-
acters that steal from hoarding witches and ogres run the risk of simply 
emulating their enemies, leading us to ask where the fault-line between 
vice and virtue lies. Given the extreme ambivalence of the narratives 
discussed, there are no easy answers, yet while fairy tale fantasies about 
vast fortunes have an understandable (perhaps perennial) appeal, it is 
notable that many modern variations on the theme can’t bring them-
selves to applaud such dreams without reservation. It is not so much 
that ill-gotten gains tempt bad luck (simply because they haven’t been 

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Wealth through Stealth 
91
‘legitimately’ earned) but that money seems to bring out the worst in 
people – in most cases at least. 
Inequality, a marked imbalance of power, opportunism and sheer des-
peration all serve as motivations for the criminal acts discussed, yet, as 
we have seen, those with power and privilege are equally prone to com-
mit crimes, and are often far more reprehensible, capitalising on their 
greater ability to cover their tracks. As to the figures who set about even-
ing the odds, lured by the promise of prosperity, a continued gender 
discrepancy remains. Females seeking to get rich quick often fail, despite 
some notable exceptions, with ambition and ruthlessness often more 
negatively perceived than with male peers. Ruth Bottigheimer observed 
this tendency in the 
Grimm Tales
, a collection published two centu-
ries ago, claiming ‘tales of female rascality are notable principally for 
their absence’ (1987: 20), and it is sobering to consider how much this 
remains the case. Far from seeking to swindle their way to a fortune, or 
securing a kingdom for themselves, stealthy fairy tale heroines confine 
themselves to relatively modest forms of misbehaviour, whether it be 
sneaking a free meal from their boss or deceiving prospective husbands 
about their skills.
15
For the most part, women who steal or cheat are 
often reproved, and murder is only justified in very specific conditions. 
In some interesting cases, however, intrepid females confront expec-
tation, particularly when placed in a situation that requires all their 
ingenuity to survive. In pointed contrast to tales in which courage and 
craftiness are deployed to secure a spouse, women must use these same 
traits to evade a dangerous liaison. The next chapter focuses more fully 
on these women, and the monstrous men who pose a threat to them, 
reprising the motif of unlikely heroes by charting the rise of the female 
victim-turned-vigilante.

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92
4
Dangerous Liaisons: Demon Lovers 
and Defiant Damsels
The flipside to fairy tale romances, and the fantasy of living happily 
ever after with a stranger, are encounters with beasts who cannot be 
romantically redeemed and who offer death, rather than deliverance, 
to the women they become involved with. Murderous suitors have 
become popularised in various tales, presented as duplicitous figures 
who have killed former partners and have no qualms about doing so 
again. ‘Bluebeard’ (ATU 312) is a familiar text in this regard; its serial-
killing husband is exposed by a wife who narrowly avoids becoming 
his next victim and manages to put an end to his crimes. This chapter 
examines contrasting versions of the tale and the way various female 
protagonists face the same perilous situation, evaluating the attributes 
that enable their survival. The attraction of such tales is the sense of 
dread evoked, the mystery that unfolds and the plot turns involved – 
all conspicuous elements of the thriller. We are invited to identify with 
characters who are often marked by a degree of naïveté, and experience 
the thrill of witnessing their ordeal, as well as applauding their eventual 
triumph. The fact that extreme danger is located at the hands of suitors 
and spouses is particularly notable, provoking imperilled females to 
utilise considerable resources when they realise the true nature of the 
men in their lives and work to expose and undermine them. Such tales 
draw upon an often obscured lineage of cautionary tales that explicitly 
confront the romantic inclinations of many fairy tales, a theme cinema 
has continued. From damsels in distress to the female detectives (both 
official and unofficial) who confront killers and put an end to their 
crimes, films have not only exposed deceitful and dangerous men, 
but increasingly championed the women that defy them. How has 
the relationship between the murderous Count Bluebeard and his wife 
been critically understood and creatively reimagined? To what extent 

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Demon Lovers and Defiant Damsels 
93
is female curiosity and inquisitiveness rewarded or punished in related 
tales in which women are forced to confront murderous men? Do such 
narratives form an antidote to romantic ideals? And what are we to 
make of the abiding interest popular culture has shown in this theme? 
Fairy tales rarely explore examples of domestic disharmony. In our 
most popular tales marriage is presented as the resolution of a heroine’s 
problems, not the start, and the idea that husbands might pose a threat 
to their wives, potentially using lethal violence against them, creates a 
discomfiting image, at odds with the romantic ideals often invested in 
the fairy tale. Far from upholding a belief in true love and abiding happi-
ness, the potential risk of making the wrong match, and finding oneself 
subject to a controlling or cruel man, is an unappealing prospect – 
the opposite to a wish-fulfilment fantasy – yet all the more important 
because of this. The idea of betrothal to a stranger, taking up residence in 
a new home, and becoming subjected to ill-treatment, is the frighten-
ing scenario that informs ‘Bluebeard’, yet the theme was by no means 
instigated by Charles Perrault, even if his version is the one we know 
best. Stories in which a serial-killing fiend is encountered by a hapless 
woman date back to antiquity, often including stirring examples of 
female retaliation.
1
Perrault’s ‘Le Barbe Bleue’ (1697) is one of the most 
controversial versions, due largely to questions of blame on the wife’s