If there is one genre that has captured the imagination of people in all walks of life throughout the world, it is the fairy tale. Yet we still have great difficulty understanding how it originated, ...evolved, and spread--or why so many people cannot resist its appeal, no matter how it changes or what form it takes. In this book, renowned fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes presents a provocative new theory about why fairy tales were created and retold--and why they became such an indelible and infinitely adaptable part of cultures around the world.
Drawing on cognitive science, evolutionary theory, anthropology, psychology, literary theory, and other fields, Zipes presents a nuanced argument about how fairy tales originated in ancient oral cultures, how they evolved through the rise of literary culture and print, and how, in our own time, they continue to change through their adaptation in an ever-growing variety of media. In making his case, Zipes considers a wide range of fascinating examples, including fairy tales told, collected, and written by women in the nineteenth century; Catherine Breillat's film adaptation of Perrault's "Bluebeard"; and contemporary fairy-tale drawings, paintings, sculptures, and photographs that critique canonical print versions.
While we may never be able to fully explain fairy tales,The Irresistible Fairy Taleprovides a powerful theory of how and why they evolved--and why we still use them to make meaning of our lives.
The Enchanted Screen Zipes, Jack
2011, 20110127, 2010, 2010-01-01, 2011-01-27
eBook
The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films offers readers a long overdue, comprehensive look at the rich history of fairy tales and their influence on film, complete with the ...inclusion of an extensive filmography compiled by the author. With this book, Jack Zipes not only looks at the extensive, illustrious life of fairy tales and cinema, but he also reminds us that, decades before Walt Disney made his mark on the genre, fairy tales were central to the birth of cinema as a medium, as they offered cheap, copyright-free material that could easily engage audiences not only though their familiarity but also through their dazzling special effects. Since the story of fairy tales on film stretches far beyond Disney, this book, therefore, discusses a broad range of films silent, English and non-English, animation, live-action, puppetry, woodcut, montage (Jim Henson), cartoon, and digital. Zipes, thus, gives his readers an in depth look into the special relationship between fairy tales and cinema, and guides us through this vast array of films by tracing the adaptations of major fairy tales like "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Snow White," "Peter Pan," and many more, from their earliest cinematic appearances to today. Full of insight into some of our most beloved films and stories, and boldly illustrated with numerous film stills, The Enchanted Screen , is essential reading for film buffs and fans of the fairy tale alike.
"Jack Zipes takes us beyond Disney and DreamWorks to the many films that draw on fairy-tale sorcery for their cinematic power. With fierce analytic energy, encyclopedic inclusiveness, and imaginative verve, he enlivens an expansive history that reaches back to Georges Méliès's enchantments and ends with the complex grotesqueries of Pan's Labyrinth and Little Otik ." Maria Tatar, Harvard University
" The Enchanted Screen is a labor of love and a major work of scholarship, encyclopedic in reach and rich in sustained and detailed thinking. The ‘unknown history’ of fairy-tale film is lucky to have found such a skilled and dedicated narrator." Stephen Benson, University of East Anglia Norwich
"Last year, Zipes (emer., Univ. of Minnesota) contributed a foreword for Fairy Tale Films: Visions of Ambiguity (CH, Mar'11, 48-3760), a delightful collection edited by Pauline Greenhill and Sidney Eve Matrix. This year, Zipes presents an extensive, well-organized study of fairy tales in the film genre. Zipes's knowledge of films from a wide variety of cultures is admirable. In the silent era, fairy tales provided filmmakers worthy material free of copyright expense. From the 1930s on, the film industry was able to put old wine into new bottles with both color and sound, a la Walt Disney and filmmakers in other parts of the world. Taking a fresh approach to major films, Zipes avoides the heavy use of jargon and instead offers clear, direct commentary on the films themselves and their oral and literary sources ... Zipes gives the reader 10 pages of endnotes, 12 pages of bibliography, 38 pages of filmography, and a thorough index--all in fine print. The influence of this book will extend for decades. Summing Up: Essential. All readers." CHOICE, June 2011 (R. Blackwood, City Colleges of Chicago)
"The true achievement of this book is its astute, perceptive, and thought-provoking discussion ... This intellectually stimulating book should be informative and enjoyable for a wide range of readers. At once a satisfying read and a valuable reference source, this is a solid and worthwhile scholarly effort." Mihaela Mihailova, Yale University ( The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , 2011)
"The subtitle of the book is The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films ; what Zipes has done in this book, as he has done in all his work, is to make that history known." -Children's Literature Association Quarterly
"This colossal book offers a thorough and yet whimsical overview of the foundational role of fairy tales in filmmaking. Zipes, with his usual acerbic wit and inspiring expertise, takes readers on a journey through the historical facets of fairy-tale films, ranging from major studio productions to little-known art pieces. While the scope of Zipes' research and the acuity of his analysis alone are breathtaking, the passion with which Zipes writes about this subject impressed me deeply. The themes to which Zipes returns again and again in his interpretations - home, the uncanny, the family - provide powerful explanatory frames that help make his case that "most fairy-tale films have deep roots in oral and literary tales and re-create them with great imaginative and artistic power" (xi). Indeed, Zipes demonstrates this point and in so doing, provides the rest of us (fairy-tale scholars, film scholars, and scholars in adjacent disciplines) with an essential companion for research, teaching, and entertainment." Jeana Jorgensen, Journal of Folklore Research
Preface
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part I
1. Filmic Adaptation and Appropriation of the Fairy Tale
2. De-Disneyfying Disney: Notes on the Development of the Fairy-Tale Film
3. Georges Méliès: Pioneer of the Fairy-Tale Film and the Art of the Ridiculous
4. Animated Fairy-tale Cartoons: Celebrating the Carnival Art of the Ridiculous
5. Animated Feature Fairy-Tale Films
Part II
6. Cracking the Magic Mirror: Re-Presentations of Snow White
7. The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood Revisited and Reviewed
8. Bluebeard's Original Sin and the Rise of Serial Killing, Mass Murder, and Fascism
9. The Triumph of the Underdog: Cinderella’s Legacy
10. Abusing and Abandoning Children: "Hansel and Gretel," "Tom Thumb," "The Pied Piper," "Donkey-Skin," and "The Juniper Tree"
11. Choosing the Right Mate: Why Beasts and Frogs Make for Ideal Husbands
12. Andersen’s Cinematic Legacy: Trivialization and Innovation
Part III
13. Adapting Fairy-Tale Novels
14. Between Slave Language and Utopian Optimism: Neglected Fairy-Tale Films of Central and Eastern Europe
15. Fairy-Tale Films in Dark Times: Breaking Molds, Seeing the World Anew
Bibliography
Filmography
Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. An acclaimed translator and scholar of children's literature and culture, his most recent books include Relentless Progress: The Reconfiguration of Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling; The Collected Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Giuseppe Pitré; Why Fairy Tales Stick; Hans Christian Andersen: The Misunderstood Storyteller, Beautiful Angiola; and The Robber with the Witch's Head , all published by Routledge.
We tend to minimize the everyday stories we tell, but each and every one has its significance. Each indicates a manner or mode in which we endeavor to sort out our experiences so that our lives will ...become more pleasurable and meaningful. We depend on our stories just as we depend on the stories of other people. Yet, somehow, we never realize how powerful our storytelling is and how we can use storytelling more fruitfully to change and enrich our lives. Why is it that we have so much difficulty realizing the meanings of the stories we tell and receive? This is a question that raises a complex problem about how storytelling is managed and manipulated in contemporary North America and other western countries. I do not presume to have the answer to the question. Instead, I discuss a few of the problematical aspects of storytelling in Western societies and argue for a reintroduction of storytelling into schools at all levels and in all languages. In the final part of my essay, I present a few concrete examples from the works of Januzs Korczak, Gianni Rodari, and the Neighborhood Bridges Program in Minneapolis.
In over 1,000 entries, this acclaimed Companion covers all aspects of the Western fairy tale tradition, from medieval to modern. It provides an authoritative reference source for this complex and ...captivating genre, exploring the tales themselves, the writers who wrote and reworked them, the artists who illustrated them, and much more.
Can fairy tales subvert consumerism? Can fantasy and children's literature counter the homogenizing influence of globalization? Can storytellers retain their authenticity in the age of consumerism? ...These are some of the critical questions raised by Jack Zipes, the celebrated scholar of fairy tales and children's literature. In this book, Zipes argues that, despite a dangerous reconfiguration of children as consumers in the civilizing process, children's literature, fairy tales, and storytelling possess a uniquely powerful (even fantastic)capacity to resist the "relentless progress" of negative trends in culture. He also argues that these tales and stories may lose their power if they are too diluted by commercialism and merchandising.
Stories have been used for centuries as a way to teach children (and adults) how to see the world, as well as their place within it. In Relentless Progress, Zipes looks at the surprising ways that stories have influenced people within contemporary culture and vice versa. Among the many topics explored here are the dumbing down of books for children, the marketing of childhood, the changing shape of feminist fairy tales, and why American and British children aren't exposed to more non-western fairy tales. From picture books to graphic novels, from children's films to video games, from Grimm's fairy tales to the multimedia Harry Potter phenomenon, Zipes demonstrates that while children's stories have changed greatly in recent years, much about these stories have remained the same-despite their contemporary, high-tech repackaging.
Relentless Progress offers remarkable insight into why classic folklore and fairy tales should remain an important part of the lives of children in today's digital culture.
Speaking Out Zipes, Jack
2004, 20041115, 2004-10-15, 2004-11-15
eBook
In his successful Creative Storytelling , Jack Zipes showed how storytelling is a rich and powerful tool for self-expression and for building children's imaginations. In Speaking Out , this master ...storyteller goes further, speaking out against rote learning and testing and for the positive force within storytelling and creative drama during the K-12 years.
For the past four years, Jack Zipes has worked with the Neighborhood Bridges Program of the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, taking his storytelling techniques into inner-city schools. Speaking Out is in part a record of the transformations storytelling can work on the minds and lives of young people. But it is also a vivid and exhilarating demonstration of a different kind of education - one built from deep inside each child.
Speaking Out is a book for storytellers, educators, parents, and anyone who cares about helping kids find within themselves the keys to imagination.
Jack Zipes has published and translated over a dozen volumes on and about stories, fairy tales, and storytelling. Cofounder of the Neighborhood Bridges Project, he is one of the most widely respected scholars of fairy tales and a passionate advocate for storytelling in education. He is Professor of German at the University of Minnesota.
This article is adapted from a lecture delivered to the teaching artists in the Neighborhood Bridges Program of the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis on October 27, 2014. It examines the ...widespread historical and current popularity of tale type ATU 325, "The Magician and His Pupil" primarily through the lens of Hegel's "Master and Slave" dialectic.
The fairy tale may be one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in ...which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives - their behavior, values, and relationship to society. As Jack Zipes convincingly shows, fairy tales have always been a powerful discourse, capable of being used to shape or destabilize attitudes and behavior within culture.For this new edition, the author has revised the work throughout and added a new introduction bringing this classic title up to date.
Why is there a contemporary fairy-tale boom in Germany, not to mention in the United States and other parts of the world? Because there have been excellent studies about the influence and heritage of ...the Grimms' tales up to 1990-I am thinking here of Donald Haase's book The Reception of Grimms' Fairy Tales, an informative collection of essays, among others-I want to set the discussion of the legacy of the Grimms' tales in the German sociocultural context of the last twenty-five years and begin by discussing some of the more recent popular manifestations of their stories. ...Grimms' fairy tales constitute not simply a book but many books.
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