Once upon a tete-a-tete

First off, I want to point out that I'm only writing this because it's a thread I'm enjoying, and because I find ordering my thoughts to produce a coherent argument to be an interesting challenge - it's something I haven't really done since school and I feel better for the practice. I'm not writing this because I have any disagreement with what Mija has written. I point that out because occasionally I adopt the demeanour of a small yapping dog who just doesn't know when to let something go...

Now the question of the day, in relation to fairytales and their modern interpration is: What changes are occuring and why?

I think that the charge most often made against the modern retelling of some of the classic fairytales, especially those by Disney, is that they have been essentially sanitised. Clearly this is true, since many of the classic tales have sprung from quite grisly beginnings. However, this only answers the "what", not the "why". My personal belief is that these changes are largely driven the needs of society and that any retelling of a story has to be examined within it's cultural context.

Look at Disney's Snow White, for example. This was a film born in the mid-thirties at a time of great political upheaval in a world spiralling towards global warfare. The success of the film could be said to derive from a populous seeking respite from the generally grim turn the world was taking (it could also be ascribed to the novelty value of the first full length animated film, but I'll gloss over that for the moment).

That said, whilst it's easy to dismiss Disney's Snow White as a sterilised version of the story, the film nevertheless conceals a very black heart indeed - The Queen sending the hunter to return with Snow White's heart or the Queen's transformation into the Witch to give just two examples. These are extraordinarily dark elements in the what is generally regarded to be an innocent tale and elements that would be unlikely to survive with the same sort of intensity in a modern telling aimed at children. Which is to say that rather than being timeless, fairytales simply embody timeless elements, but are intrinsically bound to the period in which they are told.

An additional factor that I believe to be important in the changes being made is the ever increasing demand for entertainment. Whilst stories in the past were also told for entertainment value, it's also true that they had their origins as instructional tales. Over the years (and indeed the centuries) though, the emphasis has been ever more squarely on entertainment alone - I believe this to be especially true now, as society's appetite for entertainment is now only matched by it's ability to supply it. Unfortunately this introduces the profit motive, and stories are now being told by companies to make money, both from the story itself, and in the case of Disney, from the mind boggling array of licensed produces that accompany it. With films in particular we have to face the simple equation that mass appeal produces a larger customer base and eventually more money, leading to the situation where stories are occassionally artfully altered to attract a wider audience, but are more commonly bludgeoned to appeal to the lowest common denominator - not an ideal motive for change, but a real one none the less.

However, that's not to say that all retellings jettison artistic integrity. Sondheims "Into The Woods", for example, is interesting in that it actually weaves together not only several different fairytales, but in the case of Cinderella, marries several different and distinct versions of the tale together (although Perrault's influence is conspicous by it's abscence). Even this then raises the question of whether we are witnessing the division of such stories, delineating between that which is suitable for children, and that which is aimed at adults. By and large the recent interpretations of fairytales that have permeated mass consciousness have been aimed at children, thanks in parts to the efforts of companies like Disney. Other works, like "Into the Woods" and some of the output of authors like Neil Gaiman, which target an adult following, seem bound to reach only a far smaller audience - even films like "Snow White: A Tale Of Terror" starring Sigourney Weaver seem unable to capture a larger share of the market. This is largely, I suspect, because fairytales are essentially seen as childish, regardless of the actual content.

Of course, this shows my particularly Western bias. I suspect that what I've written doesn't hold true for different cultures, particularly in Japan where films such as Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" and the more recent "Spirited Away" deal with stories only slightly removed from fairytales and which successfully appeal to all ages, yet in a manner I've yet to see any Western film maker even begin to imitate.

Ultimately, I don't believe I've even begun to scratch the surface of the subject. After all, we encounter stories in almost every facet of everday life, in every medium, and their relationship with their consumers, with us, is almost unfathomably complex and intricate. But it's also something I find endless fascinating.

As my favourite Jeanette Winterson quote goes "I'm telling you stories, trust me."