Classic Fairy Tales Research Articles

”I kamp og på flugt”. Om H. C. Andersens Den lille havfrue gendigtet som en beretning om handicap

The present paper offers a study of two contemporary English-language reworkings of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid: one by the M. Sickafoose (1995) and one by A. Woon (2016), from the perspective of disability theory. In each of them, the original tale has been reframed into a story featuring a young girl striving to approach her inability to walk while drawing inspiration from the original tale. Due to their use of intertextuality, the texts to be analyzed are discussed as examples of the so-called postmodern fairy tale, aimed at interrogating the relevance of classic fairy tales through the act of retelling. In spite of similarities in terms of theme, plot outline and character construction, the versions selected for the analysis differ in terms of ending scenarios, offering two complementary messages concerning Andersen’s tale. While exploring the changes in the overall understanding of disability underlying the original and the two contemporary versions, the analysis aims to determine the potential of Andersen’s fairy tale as a possible frame of reference while confronting handicap in the social reality of the present era.

Breaking the Magic Spell of the Feminine Fairy Tales Through Subversion: Angela Carter’s Wolf Trilogy

This study, analyzing Angela Carter’s three fairy tales: “The Werewolf”, “The Company of Wolves”, and “Wolf-Alice” comparatively with Perrault’s and Grimms’ versions of “Little Red Riding Hood”, aims to show Carter’s subversion of Perrault’s and Grimms’ versions. It presents different reasons why fairy tales have been changed and rewritten over years. Afterwards, dwelling on the motives behind the urge of the feminist writers to create revisions of the classical fairy tales, it specifically displays how and why Carter altered the classical fairy tales, interestingly drawing on an earlier version while rewriting her own versions. Thus, it concludes that Carter, with her revisions of the fairy tales, wanted to break up with the norms of the patriarchal society reflected in Perrault’s and Grimms’ versions, and she desired to subvert the idealized and coded gender roles. All these points contribute to the originality of the study. Key Words: Fairy Tales, Perrault, Grimms, Angela Carter, revisions of fairy tales, subversion

Archtypology of the Figural Antagonist in Classical Fairy Tales and Other Culture-Forming Stories

The present study focuses on the semiotic profile of a literary character acting as a villain/antagonist (Propp) as one of the central factors of the existential problem situation (the de facto “originator” of problems), which represents a general theme in the folk fairy tales and/or culture-forming stories. The aim of this paper is neither to cover all the principles and manifestations of antagonists exhaustively, nor to present a complete typological description of antagonistic characters, but to cover those basic forms and most frequent or otherwise essential attributes that canonically standardize and significantly universalize the archetype of an antagonist in the selected range of narratives. The issue is approached from the perspective of literary theory (with an emphasis on the morphological, structural, and thematic analysis of the literary characters), and it is materially and argumentatively based on the representative sets of folklore and culture-forming narratives (Aarne-Thompson-Uther’s international catalog of fairy tale types, world myths, canonical texts, etc.), as well as on their national (Slovak) variants.

Narrative Space and Transtextual Dialogues in Emma Donoghue’s 'Kissing the Witch'

This article aims to introduce a critical reading of the narrative space of Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by the Irish author Emma Donoghue. In this collection of rewritten fairy tales, Donoghue not only thematically reimagines the popular classical fairy tales penned by Grimms, Beaumont, Perrault and Andersen, she also makes the protagonist/narrator of each story the narratee of the next one, allowing for a dialogue between diverse figures from oral and written tradition across cultures. The narrative strategy and framing technique deployed by Donoghue enables a transtextual space of gathering where previously objectified and focalized female characters of canonical tales engage in dialogue through storytelling. The possibilities offered by this transtextual agency of rewriting will be explored from a narratological perspective, paying particular attention to gender-informed politics of reimagining canonical narratives. As examples of “rewriting as displacement”, according to Doležel’s categorization, the tales in Kissing the Witch create story-worlds that affirm transgression and flow against all forms of stabilizing and restricting mechanisms of normativity. Talking back to the canon and literary convention through first-person narratives of classical fairy tale characters, the collection offers an unsettling example of the liberating potential of storytelling against ossified and ossifying power mechanisms.

Chinese Female Writer Zhang Yueran and Fictional Features of Her Prose

In this paper, the author analyzes the fiction of contemporary Chinese female writer Zhang Yueran (b. 1982). As a radiant and influential representative of the post-1980s generation in contemporary Chinese literature, Zhang Yueran is considered to be one of most talented and strong young writers. Post-1980s Chinese writers are known by depiction of young people’s lives in big cities with elements of magical realism, however, unlike the most Post-1980s Chinese writers, Zhang Yueran focuses more on the characters’ subjectivity and their pursuit of love (parental and romantic). Her complex characters thrive for love and happiness, but also suffer from loneliness and lack of parental attention. Zhang Yueran’s writing is visceral and almost poetic in its use of metaphor. The development of Zhang Yueran’s prose can be divided two key periods. Her early works are aesthetic psychological thrillers about unhealthy love, inspired by classical fairytales that end with a character’s death and self-destruction: while the language is beautiful and almost poetic, but there is a lack of narrative depth. In her second era, Zhang Yueran returns to realism and successfully combines style and deep narrative by contrasting scenes of cruelty and mercy. At the moment her latest novel “Cocoon” embodies all significant fictional features from the perspective of both style and narrative.

The Female Character Struggle to Obtain Equality in Beauty and the Beast

In the patriarchy system, women have restriction in delivering thoughts and action, accessing education, and obtaining rights. However, they struggle hard to attain equality in those aspects in their life. Hence, the study aims to find out the restriction experienced by women character named Belle and how she fight against the restriction to obtain her freedom and independence as women. While the original "Beauty and the Beast" story has roots in classic fairy tales, modern adaptations, such as the one by Elizabeth Rudnick, transform it into a contemporary literary work. This book, applying the theory of Liberal Feminism, can be seen as a form of challenge or movement within the postmodern era. Using the theory of liberal feminism espoused by Rosemarie Tong (1980) those two issues will be analyzed through reading book entitle “Beauty and the Beast” by Elizabeth Rudnick’s (2017). The library use in this study is to help the writer to analyze the data regarding to the issues in the novel.

“New Wine in Old Bottles”: Ethical Literary Criticism, Adaptations and Angela Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood

This paper reexamines the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” and, in conjunction with Angela Carter's adaptations, “The Werewolf”, “The Company of Wolves”, and “Wolf-Alice”, reimagining and analyzing the story from the perspective of literary ethics. Both the original version of “Little Red Riding Hood” and Carter’s adaptations exhibit strong ethical consciousness. Carter’s artistic creation is deeply influenced by European traditional fairy tales in many aspects. The tragic endings of “Little Red Riding Hood” and Carter’s adapted version, “The Company of Wolves”, symbolize the disruption of ethical order. In both versions, the breakdown of ethical order is a result of violating ethical taboos, usurping ethical identities, and allowing free will to dominate, disregarding rational will. The conclusions of these two ethical tragedies serve as a warning to people: any violation of ethical taboos, trespassing on identity, and disruption of ethical order will bring punishment. Meanwhile, Carter’s adapted versions also illustrate the artistic charm and value of tragedy, as well as the practical significance of upholding ethical order. The paper analyzes key themes such as gender, power, morality, and self-awareness in the adaptation and explores how these themes can be reinterpreted through literature, placing the story in a contemporary context to enhance its relevance.

“When I’m a Human Being”: race, bodies, and power in Disney’s adaptations of “The Frog King or Iron Henry”

In the summer of 2020, Walt Disney Theme Parks announced plans to reimagine the popular attraction “Splash Mountain” in the theme of the 2009 feature-length animated film The Princess and the Frog. As only the third Disney feature-length animated film to showcase Black characters prominently, The Princess and the Frog seems perfectly poised to replace the Song of the South—critiqued for its romanticization of race relations after the American Civil War—in the Disney parks. In this adaptation of “Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich” (“The Frog King or Iron Henry”), Walt Disney Animation Studios introduces its first Black princess. While a hardworking, self-starter princess of color is a step towards representation, the film’s portrayal of non-white characters reinforces a hierarchy of race and class which privileges the wealthy white characters while relegating characters of color to the bottom rungs of human society and into non-human bodies. This essay explores the intersection of gender, race, and class in Disney’s adaptations of the classic fairy tale “Der Froschkönig” from the Grimms’ 1812 variation and the plans to reimagine it for Disney theme parks. In conversation with adaptation studies, narrative theory, and feminist theories, this contribution interrogates the underlying messages of prejudice and -isms in The Princess and the Frog that reinforce twentieth- and twenty-first-century prejudices against people of color, women, and the working class, rendering the proposed update of the “Splash Mountain” attraction into a modernization of the problems already recognized in the current ride.

On Definition of Concepts “Fairy Tale” and “Magic Fairy Tale”

The article addresses the definitions of “fairy tale” and “magic fairy tale” within the context of Vladimir Propp’s morphology of the magic folktale. It delves into the observations made by numerous scholars regarding the structural similarities in fairy tale narratives, such as Carl Gustav Jung’s attribution of fairy tales to the collective unconscious and Alexander Veselovsky’s attempts to identify narrative structures. Critiques of existing classifications, which permitted the categorization of a single fairy tale into multiple categories simultaneously, provided the groundwork for Vladimir Propp to derive a sequence of events-functions through the analysis of a corpus of fairy tales. This sequence of 31 event-functions subsequently formed a distinct class of magic tales, defined by the adherence to established order. However, Propp himself acknowledges the potential inclusion of other works, such as myths, legends, and chivalric novels, within this category. Within the scope of this article, efforts are made to define the features of the genre “fairy tale” and to contemplate an alternative name for one of its classes, namely “magic fairy tale.” The necessity for a different name for the class of “magic fairy tales” arises from Propp’s observation that the term “magic” may not fully align with the content, considering the existence of fairy tales devoid of magical elements. Through the analysis of classical fairy tales from various cultural backgrounds, the main objectives of fairy tale narratives are identified: entertainment, education, preservation and transmission of cultural values, teaching of native languages, and cultivation of aesthetic sense. Additionally, characteristic features are revealed that aid in distinguishing prototypical fairy tales from other genres within Vladimir Propp’s morphology.

From "Bildungsroman" to "World Classic Fairy Tale": The Translation and Reception of "Bambi" in Modern China

The translation and reception of "Bambi" in modern China have transformed a "Bildungsroman" into a "World Classic Fairy Tale." In different historical periods of modern China, "Bambi" has played roles in "Bildung education", "inspiring national spirit", and "projecting ideals of love and peace". With changes in historical contexts and the adaption of the film, "Bambi" has ultimately been shaped into a world classic fairy tale and widely accepted.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall! Are all stepparents wicked? Impressions of stepparents’ role in the fairy tales

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore stepfamily representation in fairy tales and their animations on YouTube. The data was collected via document analysis in the study. The data source of the research is Grimm's fairy tales which are classical fairy tales. The results demonstrate that stepmothers identify with the stereotypical wicked women, both in the book of Grimm’s fairy tales and in the animations of these fairy tales. Also, stepchildren were imaged to neglect and abuse, and it was determined that the stepfather was hardly visible in fairy tales. In line with these results, it is recommended to increase the awareness of families and educators of wicked stepparent stereotyping in children’s fairy tales.

REVISING FAIRY TALES FOR CHILDREN: PATRICK NESS’S A MONSTER CALLS AND TERRY PRATCHETT’S THE WEE FREE MEN

Manlove, and Andrew O’Malley, the first part of the paper historicizes the relatively recent cultural connection of children and fairy tales, specifically, the mobilization of fairy tales as vehicles for the lessons directed at the young. Against this background, in the second part of the paper, two contemporary children’s fantasy novels, Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men (2003) and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls (2011), are examined. The discussion of the two novels focuses on their critical attitudes towards classic fairy tales and the lessons aimed at children, which range from the promotion of unquestioning obedience and patriarchal gender stereotypes, to the normalization of social stratification and the assumption of a happy end. Pratchett and Ness, however, do not merely expose the problematic instructions of classic fairy tales; as twenty-first century fantasy and children’s books authors, they also write new ones. A Monster Calls and The Wee Free Men thus both subvert and appropriate the didactic aspects of the genre, in order to educate their (young) readers on the crucial matters of life, death, grief, justice, and duty.

Female Hero-Seekers in Folk Fairy Tales From XIX Century: Feminist Stories for Reading in Education

The aim of the paper is to present several fairy tales from Giuseppe Pitrè’s collection as a potentially interesting reading material for children. Since classical fairy tales in some cases depict traditional gender roles, they can present an obstacle to children’s gender construction. Therefore, it is also important to read those stories which do not have a stereotypical gender discourse. We found such stories in Pitrè’s collection of folk fairy tales from the 19th century. In the paper we present the analysis of the structure of several folk fairy tales from Pitrè’s collection. The analysis has been performed according to Propp’s structuralist method, while the task was to determine the morphology of those fairy tales dealing with female hero-seekers. Such heroines correspond to the feminist perspective and they are convenient for reading in education for the purpose of children’s constructions of gender not exclusively provided by normative canons. The model of critical reading, which we suggest for reading the analyzed fairy tales, has been founded on reader-response criticism.

Representations of the celestial bodies in fairy tale texts

This work identifies and records the errors and inaccuracies in representing celestial bodies in fairy tales. It also presents the alternative ideas that may arise in children due to these inaccuracies and errors. The qualitative content analysis examined the texts of 55 classic fairy tales by authors Andersen, Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. The results showed that the Moon, the Sun, and the Stars are not represented based on the scientific standard. Finally, the common characteristics of errors and inaccuracies and ways of using these fairy tales in teaching sciences are presented.

From “The Snow Child” to “Snow White”: Angela Carter’s Inheritance from Classic Fairy Tales

ABSTRACT This article is aimed at developing a Foucauldian power criticism to examine Angela Carter’s inheritance of classic fairy tales. Carter’s “The Snow Child,” inspired by the Grimms’ “Snow White,” has been considered a feminist rewriting in subverting a classic. By establishing a connection between the classic fairy tale “Snow White” and “The Snow Child,” this article examines the two as intertextual in terms of characters and plots, and echoes in the core of subversion as well. With the application of Michel Foucault’s concepts of discipline and punish, the article reveals patriarchy’s operating mechanism in the classic fairy tale—that is, how patriarchy manipulates and tames women. Through punishing the body and disciplining the mind, Carter’s “The Snow Child” explicitly presents the male’s manipulation of power on the female through body production, destiny control, and overt incest, while in the Grimms’ “Snow White,” a hidden clue exposes the operation of the patriarchal power mechanism over women, but in a more subtle way, revealing that patriarchal power disciplines women through brainwashing the mind and punishing the body. Research findings show that rather than being a tool to maintain patriarchal culture, classic fairy tales actually subvert patriarchy implicitly by exhibiting the patriarchy’s operating mechanism in producing “angels.”

POLARIZACIJA ŽENSKIH LIKOVA U VERZIJAMA BAJKI O PEPELJUGI, SNJEGULJICI, MATOVILKI I TRNORUŽICI

This paper,besides a short introduction that includes the genesis of a fairy tale as a genre and its historical development, focuses on the analysis of female characters, present in the four most famous classical fairy tales. The paper brings the perception of the above-mentioned characters among the survey participants, as well as the comparison of some of the most relevant data. A special attention was paid to the female protagonists who are defined as flat and polarised, due to some of their characteristics, virtues, or vices. Furthermore, this paper brings the survey which analyses characters through their suggested contrastive, black and white perception. The focal point is the discussion of the results, explaining the reasons why female flat characters are perceived as such, and whether their deeds and aspirations could be regarded as socially acceptable in the present time. Conclusions have been drawn on the basis of the survey results, carried out on a sample of 195 participants, aged from 16 to 23, among high school and university students.

An Analysis on the Influence of the Description of Gender Impression in Classic Western Fairy Tales on Children's Gender Cognition from the Perspective of Feminism

Feminism is a theoretical system that has gradually been flourishing in recent years. In the study of fairy tales, many scholars have analyzed the nature of the representation of some classic fairy tales on the hegemonic system of male discourse from the perspective of feminism. However, there is still a lack of unified explanation of the impact of children's readers on the formation of gender cognition. Therefore, this paper will use the implicit personality theory, summarize the cultural motif of western classic fairy tales, analyze the text of classic fairy tales, and analyze the impact of the description of gender impression in western classic fairy tales on children's gender cognition from the feminist perspective. The research shows that western classic fairy tales present a tendency to "filling in implicit personality", imposing ideal identities on females, and intensifying the formation of male gaze. All of them are not the embodiment of the solidification of the patriarchal system, which not only aggravates the formation of gender stereotypes, but also suppresses children's opportunities to explore their own possibilities. On the whole, they show a tendency to dwarfing and disciplining females.

Gender Representation in Classic Fairy Tales: A Comparative Study of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast

Grimm’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and De Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast are three examples of classic fairy tales that have been commonly told to children. The writers focused the study on the portrayal of gender representation reflected in these fairy tales. The writers used the descriptive qualitative method and feminist theory to analyze how these fairy tales portray gender representation. This study was expected that it could contribute to gender role discussion in children's literature and introduce children to equal gender roles to make them able to treat different gender equally. Unlike previous studies, this research focuses on traditional fairy tales and employs a qualitative methodology that involves close reading and content analysis. The writers found out that Grimms’ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella portray traditional gender stereotypes. Snow White and Cinderella support the domination of masculinity and submissive femininity, while Beauty and the Beast does not portray the traditional gender roles because the tale makes its female protagonist free to determine her life. The writers used a feminist point of view to analyze gender representation in the selected tales. It is expected that this study highlights the importance of critically analyzing gender roles in children's literature and the need for more diverse and complex representations of gender in fairy tales and other literary works.

“Happily Ever After” for the Twenty-First Century? Sex, Love, and Human Identity in C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia

For better and for worse, classic fairy tales have come under severe criticism as paradigms of sexist patriarchy in recent decades. Likewise, C. S. Lewis has been viewed as sexist, even misogynistic. While many fairy tale and Lewis fans might be tempted to dismiss all of these criticisms as nonsense, gender is one of the predominant discourses of our time, our questions and the varied answers are significant, and in this essay I consider how Lewis’ development of the fairy tale genre in The Chronicles of Narnia offers timeless, possibly even surprising, Christian wisdom. How does Lewis portray sex, love, and human identity in these children’s novels? How does he deal with the related “happily ever after” concept? Are his representations of fairy tale motifs in sync with the genre, or do his novels suggest a significant departure? When might Lewis even be in agreement with feminist critics of classic fairy tales? Which aspects of cultural heritage does he affirm and which does he reject? With the sixtieth anniversary of the 1956 publication of The Last Battle, we have another opportunity to reconsider these important questions for the twenty-first century.

A Transitivity Approach to Angela Carter’s Feminist Revision of “Snow White”

Angela Carter rewrites Grimm’s fairy tale “Snow White” from the feminist perspective and creates her short story “The Snow Child”. Carter keeps the indispensable element, namely the magic mirror, but renders it invisible. Through it, Carter secretly reveals the mirror images between the Countess and the snow child, providing new insight into the Countess’s motivation to kill the child. An analysis of the transitivity system in the short story reveals that Carter deepens the theme from ostensible “female jealousy” to “oppressed female seeking liberation” in an attempt to encourage target readers (adult women) to challenge patriarchal forces and seek liberation. It meets the propaganda of the second feminist movement to pursue women’s freedom and sexual initiative. An in-depth exploration of the feminist ideology in this rewritten work can not only supplement the one-sided interpretation of “The Snow Child” by previous critics, but also reveal Carter’s unremitting efforts to make the classic fairy tale get rid of the label of “a carrier of the toxic patriarchal myths that are used to deceive women”, help it meet the trends of the contemporary era, and inject contemporary meaning into the classic fairy tale.