Published in 2014, Marina Warner’s short novel, Once Upon a Time, discusses the breadth and oeuvre of the fairy tale genre, delving into its progression into children’s literature and the darkening of themes in recent years as part of a reclamation process. The novel is presented as a history of the fairy tale, spanning from the first mentions of the worlds of faery, on into the 21st century to look at adaptations, particularly film and theater re-imaginings of the words and worlds of the fairy tale. However, in the opening prologue, Warner offers the reader a metaphor, illuminating the history of the fairy tale as map, whose vast landscape encompasses the works of Perrault and the Grimm brothers as noted landmarks, but extends far beyond their
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However, Warner does not characterize the fairy tale in such a manner; she affirms that a happy ending is one of the defining dynamics of a fairy tale. She states, “The stories face up to the inadmissible facts of reality and promise deliverance. This honest harshness combined with the wishful hoping has helped them to last” (95). Placing the fairy tale firmly in the space of the nursery does not allow for the full breadth of possibilities that can occur within a fairy tale. In the forest realm of the fairy tale, as Warner notes so poignantly, only pieces of the landscape can be, other parts are cast in shadow. When the fairy tale remains in the forest, all of its moving pieces and its fundamental richness remain in shadow. Postmodern revisions of the fairy tale have exploded the genre as a viable form, not merely of cultural messaging, but as a genuine literary form. The gender binaries and hierarchical power structures persist only so long as the fairy tale remains within its shadowed realm. Once taken out into the light, such binaries no longer make sense, and thus begin to fracture, which greatly undermines the idea of the simplicity of the fairy …show more content…
Being the thirteenth, she comes to the christening in order to exact her revenge for such a dishonor, and the princess is merely the perfect way to do so. However, such conception of the wise woman, or fairy in other tellings, is hardly noticed when the narrative passes over the occurrence in several sentences, moving on to the prince who is seeking in the slumbering princess. As such, the wise woman is never revisited in the tale at all, let alone focusing on the full summation of her character. In subsequent retellings, it becomes imperative to bring the wise woman, or evil fairy, out into the light, because that is the only way to see the richness of her characterization and the motivations surrounding her actions. A similar study can be done of a multitude of female villains, from Mother Gothel in “Rapunzel” to the step mother in “Cinderella,” these women, due to the hidden nature of the fairy tale forest, which conceals as much as it reveals, are not given their dues. Yet, within the evolving realm of fairy tales in the 21st century, there is a maturation that is beginning, wherein the chance for these women, and the heroines who also reside in the tales, can step out of the shadows and fully into the light, so critics can begin to
However, Warner does not characterize the fairy tale in such a manner; she affirms that a happy ending is one of the defining dynamics of a fairy tale. She states, “The stories face up to the inadmissible facts of reality and promise deliverance. This honest harshness combined with the wishful hoping has helped them to last” (95). Placing the fairy tale firmly in the space of the nursery does not allow for the full breadth of possibilities that can occur within a fairy tale. In the forest realm of the fairy tale, as Warner notes so poignantly, only pieces of the landscape can be, other parts are cast in shadow. When the fairy tale remains in the forest, all of its moving pieces and its fundamental richness remain in shadow. Postmodern revisions of the fairy tale have exploded the genre as a viable form, not merely of cultural messaging, but as a genuine literary form. The gender binaries and hierarchical power structures persist only so long as the fairy tale remains within its shadowed realm. Once taken out into the light, such binaries no longer make sense, and thus begin to fracture, which greatly undermines the idea of the simplicity of the fairy …show more content…
Being the thirteenth, she comes to the christening in order to exact her revenge for such a dishonor, and the princess is merely the perfect way to do so. However, such conception of the wise woman, or fairy in other tellings, is hardly noticed when the narrative passes over the occurrence in several sentences, moving on to the prince who is seeking in the slumbering princess. As such, the wise woman is never revisited in the tale at all, let alone focusing on the full summation of her character. In subsequent retellings, it becomes imperative to bring the wise woman, or evil fairy, out into the light, because that is the only way to see the richness of her characterization and the motivations surrounding her actions. A similar study can be done of a multitude of female villains, from Mother Gothel in “Rapunzel” to the step mother in “Cinderella,” these women, due to the hidden nature of the fairy tale forest, which conceals as much as it reveals, are not given their dues. Yet, within the evolving realm of fairy tales in the 21st century, there is a maturation that is beginning, wherein the chance for these women, and the heroines who also reside in the tales, can step out of the shadows and fully into the light, so critics can begin to