My friend Carly and I love fairy tales so our friend came up with some questions for us to answer about our thoughts and feelings on fairy tales and re-tellings of fairy tales in literature. I’ve focused on the literature side of re-tellings, whilst Carly has also looked at re-imaginings of fairy tales in film.
- What was your favourite fairy tale as a child?
Abbey – Beauty and the Beast and Rapunzel were my favourites. I can’t even remember why they were my favourites. I think it might have been because my mother used to do a scary voice for mother Gothel and the beast. The Little Mermaid made me cry, but I still loved it.
Carly – This is a question I get all the time and yet I can never give a concise answer. Partly because I’m so indecisive and partly because I adore my fairy tales, they all have great parts and amazing tales. I’d say that The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast are two of my favourites as well as Snow White and Sleeping beauty.
- Now that you are older do you still enjoy fairy tales?
Abbey – I still enjoy the idea of fairy tales. I enjoy the heroism and magic that occur in fairy tales and I really enjoy seeing how authors use the characters and situations and retell the stories for a modern audience. To me there is a clear difference between authors who take the fairy tale elements to create an entirely original story and those who take characters and plots from fairy tales and retell them. I don’t think either method is the “right” method, and as long as it is written well, I’ll probably love it.
Carly – Am I still breathing?!? If anything I enjoy them so much more – for one I can memorise and quote the entire tale which is amazing. I love the books, the films, the music in the films and did I mention I love the books? I have both the complete collection of both Brother’s Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson as well as many modern re-tellings of Fairy Tales. I love that now I am older I can look at more realistic, darker re-tellings of fairy tales. I can also look at the originals which are a tad too dark for children and a lot darker than the Disney movies!
- Have you read many re-tellings of fairy tales? Can you name some of them?
Abbey – I have read quite a few re-tellings. The most recent one I’ve read was “Dorothy must die” by Danielle Paige, which acts as a sequel to “The Wizard of Oz” and also a retelling of the Dorothy character. Marissa Meyer’s series “The Lunar Chronicles” retells the Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White stories, and is one of my favourite series. Neil Gaiman also wrote a book called “The Sleeper and the Spindle” which really changed the Sleeping Beauty story for me.
Carly – I have and I love them. The Lunar Chronicles in particular are currently my favourite series of re-tellings. Alternative Renditions is a quirky and fun little book of unusual re-tellings bringing a late 20th/ 21st century timeline to the tale which is different from most re-tellings which either stay in an archaic past or move to a futuristic timeline such as the lunar chronicles. Phillip Pullman retold the Grimm Tales and named it “Grimm Tales for Young and Old” and whilst the adaptations are only subtle it is still an interesting book to read. Plus the cover is really attractive on a book shelf.
- Do you enjoy re-tellings of fairy tales more than the original text?
Abbey – Generally, I do, but only if the author adds something more to the stories. Original fairy tales are usually quite short, so authors have an opportunity to really flesh out the characters. The Lunar chronicles have been mentioned so I won’t say anymore until I do a full discussion at a later date. I was quite disappointed by “Beauty” by Robin Mckinley because, even though the book was very well written, I didn’t feel that she added or developed enough of the story. I was also very disappointed by “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J Mass, because even though the story started as a very strong retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” I stopped caring about the characters halfway through and found them unlikable and unsympathetic. Angela Carter’s collection of fairy tales in The Bloody Chamber were fantastically dark though, and I need to re-read them soon.
I still love all of Hans Christian Andersons original fairy tales, and out of the “Big Three” of fairy tales, (Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and Charles Perrault), his are probably the most timeless to me, and ones that I would actually be wary of people remaking. Although Marissa Meyers retelling of “The Little Mermaid” as “The Little Android” was actually very moving and kept the tone of the original.
Carly – That’s a tricky one. I love the originals, and I love the various re-tellings that are fascinating in their adaptations and changes. Sometimes, especially regarding The Lunar Chronicles, the books are so different and original that they become their own entity rather than just a re-telling. So I’d say I love both equally – despite the flaws in original texts.
- Why do you feel it’s important for authors to challenge the character of the “princess” in modern literature?
Abbey – One of the first female figures in literature I encountered as a child was the figure of the Princess in Snow White. She was kind, beautiful, and not really much else. Yes, she has enough sense to run away when the huntsman almost kills her, but she then becomes a housewife to seven dwarves, its dumb enough to be tricked and almost killed twice times by the Evil Queen in disguise and the third time she is tricked she ends up in an eternal sleep and can only be saved by a prince kissing her. It’s not exactly the ideal story to inspire young girls. However, I was always in love with the world of the fairy tales, because that’s where magic exists, so as children you just except this story and don’t really question that the roles of the princess, or the female character, is to be saved. I think it’s very important for authors to challenge this mind-set, and many do. I completely understand that the original texts were written with a completely different mind-set, but when an author decides to re tell the fairy tales, either for children or for an older audience, they have to add something that makes the princess more active or even just makes the story feel fresher. David Roberts did a fairy tales series for children where Rapunzel was set in the 70s, Cinderella was set in the 20s and red riding hood was a little boy, in Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles the women are the main characters and even though they get saved by their “princes” the girls then save them right back. That is the kind of attitude that I want to see in fairy tale re-tellings.
Carly – It’s not simply important, it’s vital and necessary. Original fairy tales account for many of the ways that women are treated the way they are today. Fairy tales founded and centre around the beauty ideal. That pure and good women are beautiful and that villainous evil witches are ugly and disgusting to look at. You cannot find a description, of a princess or a women, in an fairy tale without a woman’s beauty being the first thing mentioned. Beauty and the Beast – Beauty is in the title! The Little Mermaid – her looks mattered more than her voice. Cinderella – the most beautiful girl at the ball. Sleeping Beauty – the gift of beauty is the first thing she is gifted by the fairies. Snow White – the fairest maiden in all the lands. The princesses in all of these are weak, need saving by a prince, or use their beauty to survive. Women are portrayed as objects of beauty and if you are not weak or beautiful then you are a villain, and less than a woman. And these concepts have leaked into societies throughout the ages where now cosmetics and looks are overall socially the most important thing. And this needs to change, and hopefully through old conventions and character constructions being challenged then the idea of what a woman can or should be will change.
- Is the character of the “Wicked Woman” being challenged in modern interpretations?
Abbey – I feel that modern re-tellings are trying to give the “Wicked Woman” more agency than the original texts. In Dorothy Must Die the antagonist is the hero of the original text , who has gone power mad. I’m also going to disagree with my good friend Carly here in her view of Levanna in The Lunar Chronicles because even though Levana is obsessed with beauty, the whole culture of the Lunar people is built around perfection. Meyer made the whole obsession with beauty become something bigger than just Levanna, and that gave her more agency. She was still evil, but not just a one dimensional evil. I think authors are starting to challenge the “Wicked Woman” trope in fairy tale re-tellings, but I think progress is slower than I’d like.
Carly – Overall I’d say no, sadly. The woman is still either ugly or dangerously beautiful creating the and cementing the idea that too much beauty or sexuality is dangerous or evil. Levana in The Lunar Chronicles for instance isa prime example. Often as well the wicked woman is still portrayed as incredibly evil for no apparent reason or backstory other than trying to kill the princess. Whilst in some adaptations there is improvement on the princess, there is little improvement on the wicked woman. And statistically overall women still tend to be the villain in most fairy tales. I think an adaptation of fairy tales where the gender of the villains is played with and changed would be an interesting concept.
- Who was the character that you “loved to hate” in fairy tales?
Abbey – Villainous characters in fairy tales that I loved to hate included: Rumpelstiltskin, The Snow Queen, and the evil fairy in Sleeping Beauty.
Even though Rumple is a sneaky and cruel trickster, when I was little the image of him getting so angry at the queen guessing his name that he stamped his feet hard enough to create a chasm and then fell through it was just very funny to me, (I try not to think about what that says about me as a child). And he did make a deal with the princess, so I was always a little bit on his side.
The image of the Snow Queen was one that absolutely terrified me when I was a child, but I was also kind of in awe of her. Just the image of her sat on her icy throne or appearing to Kai in the frosted mirror was enough to make me scared, but also intrigued. She was just so powerful and regal in all the illustrations of her. Even now the story is one of my favourite fairy tales because of her.
I know that cursing a child is really bad, but I always felt sorry for the evil fairy! And how stupid were the king and queen to offend a powerful fairy? Maybe if she had been invited and not shunned she wouldn’t have cursed the baby and they wouldn’t have had to sleep for 100 years! Even when I was little I didn’t see the logic behind not inviting the fairy, maybe if they’d invited her and given her some cake she wouldn’t be so evil!
Carly – I loved the Evil Queen! The sea witch Ursula, and Maleficent the evil fairy! And I’d say I truly just loved them. I wanted to know why they hated who they hated and what made them villains. I used to give them backstories and imagine their lives. I always wanted to be the villain, never the useless princess who has to be saved. I was considered very odd when I was younger for it!
- Who was a character you just hated?
Abbey – The evil stepmother in Cinderella. No matter how many times people try and make this character likable in books, films and television, I just cannot stand her. Cinderella never said she wanted a prince, she just wanted a night off to dance. That’s all. This woman and the Toad in Thumbelina are my most hated fairy tale characters. No more to be said.
Carly – In often cases the princesses annoyed me. I would sit there reading the tales or even watching the Disney films telling the women to do something, to stand up for themselves. But overall I hated the wicked stepmother, she was plain creepy. Gaston of course is a universally hated character as well. But most of all I despised the stepsisters!
- If you could write a re-telling of a fairy tale, which one would it be?
Abbey – I would like to see a retelling of “The Devil and the three Golden Hairs”. It is a delightfully creepy German folk tale, with lies, attempted murder, and evil kings. Neil Gaiman or Holly Black should do a retelling. I’d also love to see more re-tellings with LGBT characters. The Prince that falls for the huntsman and the princess who loves the “evil” witch.
Carly – I’d love to do ‘gender-bends’ of all the tales for one thing! But ultimately I think I’d like to do a re-telling of Snow White. I’d like to tell the story of the Evil Queen. Or possibly Sleeping Beauty!
Are fairy tales just for children?
Abbey – I think depending on who is writing them, fairy tales can be for adults and children. There are children’s re-tellings of the fairy tales, young adult re-tellings and Angela Carter’s re-tellings should definitely not be read by children!
Carly – Absolutely not, if anything I’d argue that the original tales are too gruesome for children. I think fairy tales can teach everyone some things, and should open their eyes to others. If we simply argue that they are only for children, then we are condemning society to follow the beliefs and attitudes about women
that are portrayed in the tales.
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