A comprehensive analysis of fairy tales as historical relics and dynamic cross-cultural products. To understand the distinctive nature of the fairy tale as both uniquely regional and (for the most part) universally recognizable, we’ll start with a question: What do we mean when we call something “a fairy tale”? (Also, what is the difference between a folk tale and a literary fairy tale? Who wrote the Arabian Nights? What about Grimm’s Fairy Tales? Which came first, Yeh-hsien or Cinderella? Why do we remember the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel but not the duck?) An additional consideration of fairy tale aesthetics, tropes, motifs, figures and structural classifications or tale types will guide our inquiry into the fairy tale form. Finally, in order to understand the fairy tale as a narrative underpinning or intertext for more complex forms of storytelling, we’ll first study the “classic” fairy tales (from Little Red Riding Hood to Blue Beard) and their variations, before turning our attention to the application of fairy tale elements in film and literature.
- Teacher: Barbara Tannert-Smith