Introduction
19
by figures such as Angela Carter and Gregory Maguire. Films discussed
include revised versions of ‘Snow White’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘Hansel and
Gretel’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, question-
ing the extent to which parody and playfulness have superseded the
ability to take anything seriously, and contrasting positive and negative
evaluations to ask what constitutes a radical rewrite today.
The genres have been chosen because of their thematic resonance
with fairy tale tropes, demonstrating the persistence of identifiable
motifs and their engagement with contemporary concerns. As is appar-
ent from this overview, I have tried to avoid simply including films that
I ‘approve of’ in some way, including examples that may contradict a
point in order to make clear the underlying ambiguities of any group
of films. Restrictions of space have required me to be fairly selective in
terms of the number discussed and the degree of detail provided, yet
all are assumed to be familiar films (or are otherwise easily available)
with the accompanying aim of encouraging the reader to contribute
their own awareness and understanding to the critical evaluation made.
Although I have endeavoured to marshal a convincing argument I don’t
expect my views to be unquestioningly accepted but hope instead to
fuel further discussion and consideration of key ideas. I have also opted
to assess popular well-known examples simply because I feel many such
films merit attention yet appear to have been critically overlooked,
seemingly on the basis of their popularity, with the attendant assump-
tion that crowd-pleasers are inherently conformist vehicles, without
any other aim than making money. Sadly, snobbery and elitism are as
prevalent among folklorists as film critics, which is particularly surpris-
ing given an oft-voiced interest in uncovering progressive potential in
tales. This kind of criticism is regrettably quite common, appearing to
lose sight of the fact that a major incentive in relating films to fairy
tales is their applicability as barometers of widespread concerns. Marina
Warner puts the point eloquently in reminding us that ‘cinema desires
the audience’s pleasure and consciously observes its possible constitu-
ency, its tastes and interests, as a storyteller in the bazaar responds to
its audience’ – negating popular cinema thus precludes our ability
to denote prevailing attitudes, as well as significant changes.
11
The intersection of films and fairy tales is a subject that has long been
a fairly exclusive preserve (limited to contributions to specialist jour-
nals such as
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