Fairy Tale and Film

Misfi t Sisters
I noted a particular fascination with Red Riding Hood, mentioning a 
maternal grandmother named after this character, and dedicated the 
book to the women in my family who have inspired me. I would like 
to repeat this intention by dedicating this work to one particular indi-
vidual, my late sister-in-law, Dani, who showed astounding courage, 
dignity and selflessness in her fight against cancer. On our last evening 
together I told her I’d be telling her daughter tales of maternal spirits 
guiding their girls from beyond the grave, and I’ll pledge the same here 
in print. The fact that mothers are lost in so many fairy tales doesn’t 
lessen the tragedy – or the keenness of our grief – but adds a new shape 
to it. Sometimes telling stories, and placing our faith in them, no matter 
how patently wish-fulfilling they may seem, is all that we have.

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1
Introduction: Fairy Tale Films, 
Old Tales with a New Spin
The downtrodden heroine who triumphs in the end; an enchantment 
that forces a male protagonist to change; the acquisition of fabulous 
riches – and their potential cost; marriage to a monster; and unhappy 
families rife with danger and abuse – these are all familiar narratives, 
with a history that extends back to some of the earliest stories people 
have exchanged. Cinema has continued this process, effectively telling 
the same tales (or, rather, variations on a similar theme) since the 
medium began, and the focus of this book is to examine this fascinating 
interrelationship, paying particular attention to contemporary narratives 
that take such tales as ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Ali Baba’ 
and ‘Bluebeard’, and give them a new spin. Films and fairy tales go back 
a long way. As scholars such as Marina Warner (1993a) and Jack Zipes 
(2011) have pointed out, the film industry’s interest in adapting fairy 
tales is evident from the earliest days of cinema, when film-makers were 
drawn by the familiarity of the material, its propensity for staging visual 
spectacle and potential to attract widespread appeal. In many ways not 
much has altered in terms of these incentives; a film industry, 
struggling 
to hold the attention of a global market, has ploughed consider-
able resources into reimagined fairy tales. A notable trend in adapting 
fantastical stories has been apparent since the mammoth commercial 
success of the 
Lord of the Rings
trilogy (Peter Jackson, 2001, 2002, 2003) 
and Tim Burton’s 3D 
Alice
in Wonderland
(2010), prompting a spate of 
remakes, including two versions of the ‘Snow White’ story released in 
the same year, pantomime renditions of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and 
‘Hansel and Gretel’, and revised treatments planned of virtually every 
well-known wonder tale, from novels such as 
Peter Pan
and 
Pinocchio
, to 
classic fairy tales such as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Cinderella’.
1
If the 
Disney Corporation once seemed to have a monopoly on such rewrites 

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2 
Fairy Tale and Film
this is no longer the case, with other major studios keen to invest in 
the current vogue for refashioned fairy tales. However, this is not their 
sole appearance on the big screen, with less conspicuous referencing an 
ongoing cinematic concern, from the industry’s origins to the present 
day. Film-makers have often borrowed motifs and plot features from 
fairy tales, albeit, as Maria Tatar puts it, better disguised (qtd in Gilsdorf, 
2013). In some cases this ‘disguise’ may amount to situating ideas in a 
contemporary context, or adding a few narrative spins. Nonetheless, 
we can often recognise a ‘Cinderella’ or ‘Bluebeard’ plot, partly because 
these are some of the earliest stories we hear, but also because we have 
grown accustomed to seeing fairy tale motifs redeployed in popular 
culture. Not only are they regularly referenced in music, advertisements 
and literary rewrites, they have served as the inspiration for a clutch 
of contemporary TV series such as 
Grimm
(NBC, 2011–), 
Once Upon a 
Time 
(ABC, 2011–), 
Sleepy Hollow
(Fox, 2013–) and 
Beauty and the Beast
(CW, 2012–) – many of which rely on our familiarity with conven-
tional tropes, as well as occasionally testing underlying assumptions.
2
Recent films have accordingly adopted a playful attitude to their source 
material, seeking to retell familiar stories in new ways. As a result we 
have a Snow White who does not simply rely on a passing prince to 
take her off to a better life – but ousts her rival and claims her right 
to the throne, a grown-up Hansel and Gretel who make it their mis-
sion to kill witches, and a version of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ where 
the villain’s plan to exploit giants for his own gain is simply copied by 
the film’s hero. Although it is tempting to assign progressive concerns 
to some retold fairy tales, many recent films appear to have a similar 
intent as some of the earliest film versions: visually inventive perhaps 
(3D replacing the tinting and special effects employed in ‘trick films’), 
narratively irreverent and often name-checking fairy tale characters in 
the title in the hope of attracting a wide (potentially worldwide) audience. 
Other examples are less conspicuous in their allusions – yet frequently 
all the more interesting in the readings they invite – sometimes aiming 
to prompt a reassessment of the plot. If a red hoodie worn at the end 
of 
Hard Candy
(David Slade, 2005) seems too subtle a reference to ‘Red 
Riding Hood’, the film’s marketing image has Ellen Paige, similarly 
attired, standing as bait in a giant mantrap, alerting viewers to expect 
a different take on the traditional tale. 
Freeway
(Matthew Bright, 1996) 
makes the same point in a title sequence of garish cartoons showing 
the fairy tale heroine (depicted in ‘seductive’ dress) under attack – and 
names its predatory male ‘Bob Wolverton’ for good measure. Both films 
seek to confront the idea (instigated by Charles Perrault’s version of 

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Introduction 
3
events three centuries ago) of a young female provocateur who is asking 
for trouble, inviting us to rethink assumptions about female sexuality 
and victimhood. Alternatively, a film may include a fairy tale reference 
not simply to question the assumed meaning of the tale, but to imbue 
the story with added significance. A Pinocchio doll that appears as a 
brief prop in 
The Fisher King
(Terry Gilliam, 1991) is arguably more 
relevant to the narrative than the medieval tale cited in the title, par-
alleling the hero’s required maturation, while the reading of Collodi’s 
story in 
AI: Artifi cial Intelligence
(Steven Spielberg, 2001) adds a sense of 
poignancy for the film’s own artificial boy who, by contrast, will never 
grow up. Just as fairy tales are far from ‘purposeless entertainments’ 
(Warner, 1993a), films that have drawn upon them are similarly deemed 
significant, revealing a great deal about what we desire (whether it be in 
the sphere of relationships, family or material success) as well as atten-
dant dangers and difficulties, yet how are we to define and discuss such 
films, especially given the varying tones and treatments of established 
narratives?
For over a century, films have reworked or referenced fairy tales in 
some way, yet their analysis has been subject to certain shortcomings. 
Film critics have tended to analyse fairy tale films as part of a sub-genre of 
fantasy, limiting discussion to examples such as Disney’s adaptations of 
classic tales popularised by Charles Perrault and the brothers Grimm, 
or epics inspired by the 
Arabian Nights
such as the ‘Sinbad’ tales made 
famous by Ray Harryhausen’s extraordinary effects work. Other films 
that draw upon fairy tales, such as 
La Belle et la bête 
(Jean Cocteau, 1946) 
or 
The Red Shoes
(Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, 1948) tend to 
be evaluated in different terms, usually as part of the directors’ oeuvre 
rather than via their narrative influences. Cinematic snobbery is doubt-
less responsible for influencing the way films are defined and discussed, 
for if the term ‘fantasy’ still carries a certain stigma, fairy tales are beset 
with additional (often negative and frequently erroneous) assumptions,