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A Cultural History of the Disney Fairy TaleThe Revisionist Era (2007–2018)

A Cultural History of the Disney Fairy Tale: The Revisionist Era (2007–2018) [This chapter examines Disney’s journey into the live action fairy tale, analysing the narratives of the feature film Enchanted (Lima 2007) and the ABC series Once Upon a Time (Horowitzand Kitsis 2011–2018). In terms of historical context, the ‘happily ever after’ of the American Dream was severely undermined by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. While audiences desired escapist entertainment, which was facilitated by the ‘mainstreaming’ of the fantasy genre, myths and magic were brought into the real world, enacting significant shifts in the nature of the Disney fairy tale. This change was also accelerated by the relative decline of two-dimensional animation and Pixar and DreamWorks’ subsequent rise to prominence. In this era, there is a shift towards live action (and therefore a shift towards realism), a shift in location from the fairy tale castles of Europe to real cities and towns within America and, lastly, a shift in tone. Disney’s productions began a process of revision, pastiche and parody, recognising the appeal to postmodern audiences in productions such as Shrek (Adamson and Jenson 2001). Both Once Upon a Time and Enchanted also broaden the moral complexity of their characters and question the fundamental stability of the fairy tale narrative.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Cultural History of the Disney Fairy TaleThe Revisionist Era (2007–2018)

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
ISBN
978-3-030-50148-8
Pages
75 –103
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-50149-5_4
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This chapter examines Disney’s journey into the live action fairy tale, analysing the narratives of the feature film Enchanted (Lima 2007) and the ABC series Once Upon a Time (Horowitzand Kitsis 2011–2018). In terms of historical context, the ‘happily ever after’ of the American Dream was severely undermined by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. While audiences desired escapist entertainment, which was facilitated by the ‘mainstreaming’ of the fantasy genre, myths and magic were brought into the real world, enacting significant shifts in the nature of the Disney fairy tale. This change was also accelerated by the relative decline of two-dimensional animation and Pixar and DreamWorks’ subsequent rise to prominence. In this era, there is a shift towards live action (and therefore a shift towards realism), a shift in location from the fairy tale castles of Europe to real cities and towns within America and, lastly, a shift in tone. Disney’s productions began a process of revision, pastiche and parody, recognising the appeal to postmodern audiences in productions such as Shrek (Adamson and Jenson 2001). Both Once Upon a Time and Enchanted also broaden the moral complexity of their characters and question the fundamental stability of the fairy tale narrative.]

Published: Nov 22, 2020

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