Fairy Tale and Film : Old Tales with a New Spin / Sue Short, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 © Sue Short, 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978–1–137–02016–1 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Short, Sue, 1968– Fairy tale and film : old tales with a new spin / Sue Short, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. pages cm Includes filmography. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978–1–137–02016–1 1. Fairy tales in motion pictures. 2. Fairy tales—Film adaptations. I. Title. PN1995.9.F34S57 2015 791.43'6559—dc23 2014028335 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 Contents Preface viii Introduction: Fairy Tale Films, Old Tales with a New Spin 1 1 Finding Love and Fulfilling Dreams: Aspiring Underdogs and Humbled Heroines 21 2 Curses, Wishes and Amazing Transformations: Male Maturation Tales 50 3 Wealth through Stealth: Evening the Odds, or Flirting with Disaster? 71 4 Dangerous Liaisons: Demon Lovers and Defiant Damsels 92 5 Houses of Horror: Domestic Dangers and Man-made Monsters 113 6 Postmodern Revisions: New Tales for Old? 140 Epilogue: The Importance of Enchantment 163 Notes 171 Bibliography 195 Filmography 204 Index 209 vii Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 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 1 Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 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 Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 Copyrighted matrial – 978–1–137–02016–1 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.

Load more