Utopia, dystopia, and cultural controversy in 'Ever After' and 'The Grimm Brothers' Snow White'

John Stephens, Robyn McCallum

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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    Abstract

    Two film retellings of fairy tales from the 1990s exemplify how familiar fairy tales can be reshaped to address major cultural preoccupations. On the one hand, the utopian narrative 'Ever After' affirms neohumanistic values such as deep memory, knowable origins, and teleology in narrative and culture. In contrast, 'The Grimm Brothers' Snow White' is postmodernist and dystopian, hybridizing apocalyptic and Gothic narrative structures and themes, and drawing on modern phenomena such as 'the beauty myth,' to present characters playing out an old story to an outcome which resists both teleology and closure.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)201-213
    Number of pages13
    JournalMarvels and tales : journal of fairy-tale studies
    Volume16
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished - 2002

    Keywords

    • fairy tales
    • motion pictures
    • utopia
    • dystopia

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