Fairy Tale and Film

Notes 
171
Bibliography 
195
Filmography 
204
Index 
209
Contents

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viii
This work constitutes a key area of fascination; seeking to better under-
stand the kinship between fairy tales and contemporary film. My earlier 
book, 
Misfi t Sisters
, examined how film and television series with hor-
ror and supernatural elements could be seen to revise some familiar 
motifs. I was particularly drawn to a rite of passage theme discerned 
in a number of narratives, in which female protagonists were forced to 
demonstrate considerable fortitude and fearlessness to overcome vari-
ous perils. Like their folkloric predecessors, such heroines were forced to 
learn some hard lessons about the hazards of unhappy families, danger-
ous relationships and female rivalry; lessons learned in adolescence and 
beyond. This new book widens these concerns, in terms of both genre 
and gender, evaluating both male and female protagonists in a number 
of scenarios and the fairy tale tropes they can be seen to revise. It stems 
from a conviction that our understanding of film has much to gain from 
examining the repetition and revision of particular stories and themes. 
Cinematic retellings of ‘Red Riding Hood’, ‘Snow White’ and ‘Cinderella’ 
occur for a host of reasons, and the way each version tinkers with the 
tale reveals a great deal about their narrative flexibility, responsiveness 
to key social changes, and enduring level of appeal. The pronounced 
interest taken by the studios in repackaging fairy tales for a modern audi-
ence stems from this last point – the fact that they have pulling power. 
Multi-million dollar budgets, A-list stars and renowned directors are now 
regularly utilised to enhance this appeal, with the added attraction of 3D 
technology used to lure audiences back to the cinema, yet I believe we 
are looking for something more than spectacular entertainment from 
cinematic fairy tales. Like past audiences, happy to rehear the same tale, 
the point is not simply to pass the time but an experience that will stay 
with and sustain us in some way. I have selected some unusual examples, 
one might say unorthodox variations, in order to challenge preconcep-
tions about what constitutes a ‘fairy tale film’. Comedies and romances 
are discussed, together with thrillers and tales of terror, hoping to point 
out not simply how old many seemingly contemporary stories are, but 
how relevant they remain. 
In the opening to a televised version of 
The Arabian Nights
the heroine, 
Scheherazade, is reminded of the importance of telling tales by a master 
storyteller. ‘People need stories more than bread itself,’ he informs her, 
Preface

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Preface 
ix
‘they tell us how to live – and why.’ Although I wouldn’t go as far as to 
say that fairy tales are necessarily morality tales, with a lesson of some 
kind to impart, many of the most intriguing, arguably, have something 
to say about our hopes and aspirations, as well as our greatest fears. The 
driving force behind this research is to question how much such tales 
have altered in their cinematic treatments, and what this reveals. We 
have seen some important developments. Protagonists have matured, 
the contrast between villainy and heroism is often obscured, we tend 
to expect more from heroines than a wistful hope for romantic escape, 
and heroes are also asked to prove themselves in some interesting ways, 
defying attendant assumptions along the way. What do such tales have 
to say about what we want from life, and what we are prepared to do to 
get it? The examples discussed aim to question what constitutes a fairy 
tale film and to challenge some of the prevailing criticism surround-
ing this subject, yet it is presented as an unfinished tale (as they all are 
invariably) which the reader is invited to conclude. 
Research interests tend to be influenced by the personal, to some 
degree, and this work is no exception. In the preface to