Fairytale Theory and Explorations of Gender Stereotypes in Post-1970s Rapunzel Adaptations GARY FORSTER Submitted for the degree of PhD De Montfort University June 2015 Fairytale Theory and Explorations of Gender Stereotypes in Post-1970s Rapunzel Adaptations Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………. ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… iii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………….. iv 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 01 2. The Grimm ‘Rapunzel’ (1812-1857)…………………………………………… 33 3. Rapunzel Poems………………………………………………………………… 46 Anne Sexton: ‗Rapunzel‘ (1970)………………………………………………… 48 Olga Broumas: ‗Rapunzel‘ (1977)……………………………………………….. 59 Liz Lochhead: ‗Rapunzstiltskin‘ (1981)…………………………………………. 65 Patience Agbabi: ‗RAPunzel‘ (1995)……………………………………………. 72 4. Rapunzel Short Stories, Novels, and Graphic Novels………………………… 84 A. Claffey, R. Conroy, L. Kavanagh, M.P. Keane, C. MacConville, S. Russell: ‗Rapunzel‘s Revenge‘ (1985)…………………………………………………… 84 Emma Donoghue: ‗The Tale of the Hair‘ (1997)……………………………….... 88 Marina Warner: ‗The Difference in the Dose: A Story After ‗Rapunzel‘‘ (2010) 105 Donna Jo Napoli: Zel (1996)……………………………………………………... 116 Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale: Rapunzel‘s Revenge (2008)…………………. 125 5. Film Rapunzels………………………………………………………………….. 141 Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair (1978)…………………………………………… 142 Barbie as Rapunzel (2002)……………………………………………………….. 152 Shrek the Third (2007)…………………………………………………………… 157 Tangled (2010)…………………………………………………………………… 162 Into the Woods (2014)……………………………………………………………. 176 6. Commercial Hairy-Tales……………………………………………………….. 184 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………. 206 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………... 214 Selected Rapunzel Adaptations and Appropriations…………………………. 223 Acknowledgements Dreams of having a PhD seemed sheer fantasy—a fairytale all my own; for helping me move closer to realising my dreams, I express colossal thanks to Professor Andy Mousley. Extensive meetings, telephone calls, judicious pruning, and honey! This was a PhD course that I‘ll always remember fondly. Thank you for championing my project and vision. For advice and inspiration, and for enabling me to study adaptations at the highest level, commendation must be given to Professor Deborah Cartmell, who invited me to review an article for Adaptation, to mark essays and exams, and to present my research at screenings. Thank you DMU for the funding to do what I enjoy most (lecture), to attend and chair the East Midlands Universities PGR conference at Derby, and to present papers on ‗Rapunzel‘ and fairytales at Leicester and Cardiff (Folklore Society AGM). These adventures took me out of the ivory tower and into the real world—and onto a motorway for the first time! This PhD has therefore been life-changing on many levels. Final thanks to the students who listened to my ideas, and to everyone reading this work. ii Page Abstract Although Rapunzel criticism habitually concerns literary fairytales, this thesis contributes to the field a sustained examination of the feminist and patriarchal uses to which Rapunzel has been put, with close attention to the range of media, forms, and styles into which ‗Rapunzel‘ has been adapted, from 1970 onwards. It argues that each adaptation appropriates ‗Rapunzel‘ to repeat or disturb gender ideologies, and also extends or contracts the scope of the fairytale and its feminism. Underpinned by memetics, selective adaptation and fairytale theories, and Adrienne Rich‘s concept of ‗re-vision‘, individual chapters focus upon redrawing the boundaries of what makes a (feminist) Rapunzel adaptation a (feminist) Rapunzel adaptation. The thesis also examines the difficult question of why Rapunzel motifs or ‗memes‘ have persisted and whether this is due to the power of cultural ideologies or to certain universal human urges to which ‗Rapunzel‘ ostensibly appeals. As what is meant by feminism changes from the 1970s through to the present day, the selected works are considered in terms of terms of second- and third-wave feminism and postfeminism. Chapter 1 (the Introduction) establishes the approach and rationale. Chapter 2 examines the Grimm ‗Rapunzel‘ variants of 1812 and 1857 as a prelude to examining the ideological uses to which Rapunzel is put post-1970. Chapter 3 focuses on how four feminist poets subject the memes and morals of ‗Rapunzel‘ to different feminist revisions, and thereby challenge the patriarchal meanings invested by the Grimms. Chapter 4 extends this work by examining a feminist moral fable, two complex short stories, a psychological novella, and a graphic novel, in order to draw contrasts between celebratory and darker, more disturbing ‗post-fairytale‘ feminist Rapunzels. Demonstrating the many genres and media into which feminist Rapunzels have been translated, several adapters use the tale on behalf of various kinds of individualism and subjectivisation, and suggest a movement toward greater psychological complexity and interiority in their treatment of Rapunzel memes. Chapter 5 focuses on how Rapunzel memes translate to screen in the feminist reworking Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair (1978) and the postfeminist adaptations Barbie as Rapunzel (2002), Shrek the Third (2007), and Disney‘s Tangled (2010) and Into the Woods (2014). Chapter 6, the final chapter, further extends the analysis by examining Rapunzel‘s general prevalence in the cultural imagination, namely in adverts and on television. By assembling and giving fresh analyses of rare and well-known Rapunzel tales, the chapters critique the gender essentialism in fairytales and reinstate Rapunzel iii as key to fairytale debate. This research has led to the conclusion that post-1970s Rapunzels Page exemplify how fairytales appropriate or discard memes in accordance with the possibilities of genre and medium, as well as with the changing face of feminism over the last four decades. List of Figures Chapter 4: Rapunzel Short Stories, Novels, and Graphic Novels Fig. 1 It Ain‘t Me Babe…………………………………………………………………… 126 Fig. 2 Wimmen‘s Comix………………………………………………………………….. 126 Fig. 3 Twisted Sisters…………………………………………………………………….. 126 Fig. 4 Princeless………………………………………………………………………….. 126 Fig. 5 I Kill Giants………………………………………………………………………... 126 Fig. 6 Captain Marvel……………………………………………………………………. 126 Fig. 7 Coalescing Images of a Sunset……………………………………………………. 127 Fig. 8 Pervading isolation: Rapunzel alone………………………………………………. 129 Fig. 9 Insurmountable wall like the Colosseum………………………………………...... 129 Fig. 10 Finding origins and a world outside……………………………………………….. 130 Fig. 11 Flashbacks matching present events………………………………………………. 130 Fig. 12 Meditative and entwined with nature yet scared and seated in a foetal position….. 134 Fig. 13 A map in Rapunzel‘s Revenge that parallels Nintendo‘s The Legend of Zelda…… 136 Chapter 5: Film Rapunzels Fig. 14 Judy Chicago. The Dinner Party………………………………………………….. 143 Fig. 15 Riddles of the Sphinx (1977)………………………………………………………. 144 Fig. 16 Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair (1978)…………………………………………….. 144 Fig. 17 Gothel staring outside……………………………………………………………... 146 Fig. 18 Transition to live action…………………………………………………………… 146 Fig. 19 An inspector calls: called to adventure……………………………………………. 147 Fig. 20 An image of a beauty is leered at by a spy………………………………………... 147 iv Fig. 21 Tower block maiden and a sense of height………………………………………... 147 Page Fig. 22 Rapunzel captive in an urban apartment…………………………………………... 147 Fig. 23 Artwork of Rapunzel and Gothel as lovers………………………………………... 147 Fig. 24 Echoes of Sexton‘s ‗Rapunzel‘ (1970)……………………………………………. 147 Fig. 25 Rapunzel as a love doll……………………………………………………………. 149 Fig. 26 Mirror image: courting…………………………………………………………….. 149 Fig. 27 Familial catharsis………………………………………………………………….. 149 Fig. 28 Called forth by women…………………………………………………………….. 150 Fig. 29 Expressing her ideas………………………………………………………………. 150 Fig. 30 Encapsulation of the Tensions and Feminist Ideas in the Film…………………… 151 Fig. 31 Rapunzel (and Fairytales) Repackaged and on Display as a Plaything for Girls…. 153 Fig. 32 Barbie as Rapunzel (2002)………………………………………………………… 154 Fig. 33 Cinderella (1950)………………………………………………………………….. 154 Fig. 34 Creating art and a portal to pleasure………………………………………………. 156 Fig. 35 Rapunzel as her own Fairy Godmother…………………………………………… 156 Fig. 36 Creating a series of ball gowns……………………………………………………. 156 Fig. 37 A masked Gothel wears Rapunzel‘s hair………………………………………….. 156 Fig. 38 Militant Feminists and Women on Display……………………………………….. 159 Fig. 39 Theatricality and Feminine Artifice……………………………………………….. 161 Fig. 40 Narcissism and Empowered Female Consumers………………………………….. 167 Fig. 41 Rapunzel as ‗Spectacularised‘ Subject……………………………………………. 167 Fig. 42 Rapunzel appropriating the (male) gaze…………………………………………... 169 Fig. 43 Boa-constricted Aladdin in the jaws of death……………………………………... 169 Fig. 44 Paratextual Materials: Tangled as Classic Adventure and Romance……………… 171 v Fig. 45 The monstrous feminine…………………………………………………………... 173 Page Fig. 46 Gothel as malevolent other: identical aliens………………………………………. 173 Fig. 47 Rapunzel: The Blonde Years (2008)………………………………………………. 176 Fig. 48 Tangled (2010)…………………………………………………………………….. 176 Fig. 49 ‗Rapunzel‘ as Classic Fairytale with Archetypal Family Dramas………………… 179 Fig. 50 Rapunzel the Healer, Bride, and Commodity……………………………………... 181 Chapter 6: Commercial Hairy-Tales Fig. 51 Twisted Fairytale Campaign: ghd (2009)…………………………………………. 190 Fig. 52 Parmalat (2005)…………………………………………………………………..... 191 Fig. 53 Disney: ‗The Real Princesses of New Jersey‘ (2011)……………………………... 199 Fig. 54 Bloomingdales ‗Rapunzel‘