Crit Studies: Once Upon A Time: A Survey of International Folk & Fairy Tale Film

Catalog description

Folk and Fairy tales have been a part of cinema from the very beginning. Since George M and #233;li and #232;s' 1899 Cinderella, filmmakers from around the globe have continuously returned to the genre not only for escape into enchanted worlds, but also for social critique, with stories of injustices avenged, class oppression overthrown and gender roles expanded. This course decenters the conception of the genre fixed by Disney and Hollywood to examine fairy tale films from around the world. We will encounter a poetics and politics of wonder in international films about transformation, wish-fulfillment and reversals of fortune that deliver a situated counterpoint to the hegemony of a colonizing and commercialized poetics of magic. This edition of Once Upon A Time will feature an indepth exploration into the subgenre of Folk Horror. The transformative power of fairy tales can be approached from a variety of perspectives. We will analyze how stories themselves function as shape-shifters, morphing into new versions of themselves as they are retold and as they migrate into other media. Beyond looking at the films as texts we will consider the affective qualities of how their formal and aesthetic aspects create wonder, delight, humor, anxiety and terror. What are the stakes of the fairy tale's varied transformations today, for whom? Films screened may include: Kwaidan (Japan, 1964), Eve's Bayou (USA, 1997) El Laberinto del Fauno (Mexico-Spain, 2006), Green Snake (Hong Kong, 1993), Peau d'Âne (France, 1970), Tropical Malady (Thailand, 2004) Sampo (Finland/Soviet Union, 1958), La Llorona (Guatemala, 2019) and many more.