Fairy Tales in Popular Culture
  • Publication Date: August 5, 2014
  • ISBN: 9781554811441 / 1554811449
  • 224 pages; 6" x 9"

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Fairy Tales in Popular Culture

  • Publication Date: August 5, 2014
  • ISBN: 9781554811441 / 1554811449
  • 224 pages; 6" x 9"

It wasn’t so long ago that the fairy tale was comfortably settled as an established and respectable part of children’s literature. Since the fairy tale has always been a mirror of its times, however, we should not be surprised that in the latter part of the twentieth century it turned dark and ambiguous; its categorical distinction between good and evil was increasingly at odds with the times. Yet whatever changes the fairy tale may have undergone, its cultural popularity has never been greater.

Fairy Tales in Popular Culture sets out to show how the tale has been adapted to meet the needs of the contemporary world; how writers, film-makers, artists, and other communicators have found in its universality an ideal vehicle for speaking to the here-and-now; and how social media have created a participatory culture that has re-invented the fairy tale. A selection of recent retellings show how the tale is being recalibrated for the contemporary world, first through the word and then through the image.

In addition to the introductions that precede each section, the anthology provides a selection of critical pieces that offer lively insight into various aspects of the fairy tale as popular culture.

Comments

“The Big Bad Wolf in comics. Red Riding Hood selling lipstick. Voluptuous Goldilocks as psychopath. Think you know fairy tales? Fairy Tales in Popular Culture examines the modern metamorphosis of fairy tales by looking at them through the colourful lens of popular culture. This is a text not to be missed for those keen on understanding just how steeped today’s society is in fairy tale mystique.” — Erin Robb, Langara College

“Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek provide an exciting and timely look at the fairy tale’s triumphant return and at its ability to remain provocative among adult audiences in the digital age. Accessible, insightful, and entertaining, Hallett and Karasek’s volume highlights the subversive cultural work of timeless stories that continue to enchant us.” — Rebecca Lush, California State University San Marcos

“Hallett and Karasek clearly have their finger on the pulse of contemporary fairy-tale retellings.” — Kirsten Møllegaard, Folklore

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION: THE FAIRY TALE AND POPULAR CULTURE

THE ART OF RETELLING

PROSE

  • The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Walrus, Gregory Maguire
    Introduction, Adam Gidwitz
    The Princess and the Frog, Robin McKinley
    Hansel’s Eyes, Garth Nix
    Snow, Glass, Apples, Neil Gaiman
    Ever After, Kim Addonizio
    Jack and the Beanstalk, James Finn Garner

POETRY AND LYRICS

  • The Three Little Pigs, Roald Dahl
    Mirror, Mirror, Shel Silverstein
    What Bugs Bunny Said to Red Riding Hood, Tim Seibles
    Hazel Tells Laverne, Katharyn Howd Machan
    Fairy Tales, Anita Baker
    Fairytale, Sara Bareilles

THE COMIC BOOK AND THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

ILLUSTRATION AND ART

THE STAGE

THE MOVIES

TELEVISION

ADVERTISING

NEW MEDIA

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

CRITICISM

  • Fairy Tales in the Age of Terror: What Terry Gilliam Helps to Remind Us about
    an Ancient Genre, Maria Tatar
    Disney and the Politics of Public Culture, Henry A. Giroux and Grace Pollock
    Folktales and the Comic Book Format, Gail de Vos
    Visualizing Little Red Riding Hood, Sarah Bonner
    Red Hot Riding Hood: A Babe in the Woods, Catherine Orenstein
    Another Bite of the Poisoned Apple: Why Does Pop Culture Love Fairy Tales Again?, Graeme McMillan
    “Once Upon a Time” Team: We Show Women Who Aren’t Afraid of Power, Emily Rome
    The Fairest of Them All, Alex Fury
    Magical Illusion: Fairy-Tale Film, Jessica Tiffin

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Barbara Karasek teaches at Vanier College, Montreal, Quebec.

Martin Hallett has retired from teaching and lives in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia.

They have published articles and presented seminars on folk and fairy tales and have been co-organizers of the Montreal Children’s Literature Conference.

— Only book to explore the contemporary pop-culture incarnations of the fairy tale
— 24 full-color, full-page illustrations
— Features advertising, graphic novels, contemporary art, and illustration, as well as adult and children’s literature
— Selection of contemporary criticism
— Selection of recent retellings show how each tale is recalibrated for the contemporary world, first through the word and then through the image