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Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives. Edited by Jack Zipes, Pauline Greenhill, and Kendra Magnus-Johnston. New York: Routledge, 2016. 355 pp.
In Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives, Jack Zipes joins with scholars Pauline Greenhill and Kendra Magnus-Johnston to create a comprehensive look at fairy-tale film. They do so by gathering a multitude of transnational fairy-tale film experts to contribute entries representing seventeen different countries. Beyond focusing on fairy-tale films, the editors allowed their contributors freedom as to what methodologies and theories were to be used. In doing so, the collection is reflective of the diversity that such a global study requires; this eclectic approach naturally results in some contributors focusing more on film theory, and others on politics, gender, folk culture, and so on. Yet such a variety of methodologies does not detract from the book's overall theme. On the contrary, the book presents a collection of scholarship that feels true of the countries being represented.
The introduction makes the claim that "fairy tales and fairy-tale films alike are paradoxically simultaneously culture-specific and transcultural" (xvi). This theme of uniqueness and universality is carried throughout the seventeen culture-specific essays. As Peter Hames states in his entry "The Czech and Slovak Fairy-Tale Film," "Folktales and fairy tales do not respect geographical and ethnic boundaries" (139). Famous tales, such as "Cinderella," appear in various films around the world, from Germany to South Korea, yet the story is altered to become more expressive of each particular culture. Similarly, themes such as love, overcoming adversity, and some sort of supernatural intervention continually arise in the vastly different cultures.
The Preface outlines...