I was watching The Tenth Kingdom this weekend while studying for finals, and I realized that I hadn’t really exposed myself to any new fairy tale inspired works for a while–things that draw from the general fairy tale tropes, whether seriously or playfully. I’ve really only been re-reading and re-watching from the same pool for the past few years. Since I’d like to study/analyze this subject some day, I figured I ought to rectify this.
These are the books, movies, etc. that I’m aware of/have experienced:
Ella Enchanted
Patricia A. McKillip books, although I’ve only read a couple, and I misremember the titles
The Tenth Kingdom
Ever After
Shrek
The Disney oeuvre
The Glass Slipper
Cannon Movie Tales: Beauty and the Beast (unspeakably bad)
Beauty and the Beast (TV series that I just barely remember)
Fractured Fairy Tales (Rocky & Bullwinkle)
Gregory Maguire re-tellings (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror Mirror, etc.)
Okay, my brain is failing me now, but I know I’ve read and watched more. There was a YA book that I read a looooong time ago that was loosely based on the Tam Lin story and that story where the hero has to hold on to his lover though she changes into horrible things–fire and a snake, I think. The protagonist in this book was female and I’d set it in about the 16th century. She’s being fostered in a castley-manor-thing away in the wilds of England, and there’s this “deep magic” type cult living in the caves beneath the manor, and she and the castle’s oldest son are spirited away by the cult. I loved that book so much, but I believed I dropped it in the tub. Anyway . . .
Can anyone recommend any other books, movies, TV shows, music, or anything else? I’d like it if we could keep it to more concrete examples (i.e., re-tellings and adaptations), but if you know of something with strong parallels to the Cinderella stories or something similar, then by all means, suggest it. As you can see, my list isn’t all that obscure. I’m open to almost any genre–horror, fantasy, children’s, general fiction, whatever. The only thing I’ll say no to is Anne Rice and her Sleeping Beauty trilogy-thingy.
And if anyone has any suggestions for critical literature, feel free to share that too. I have From the Beast to the Blonde and I’m aware of Joseph Jacobs. Any suggestions for compilations of folk/fairy tales that aren’t the Grimms, Perrault, Jacobs, or Andrew Lang are also very welcome.