Fairy tales seep into filmmaking, projecting a simple articulation of hope as a force against fear. The spectre of gothic casts shadows over hope and fear, warning us to be less certain that they are poles apart. Looking initially at âfairytaleâ and âgothicâ as independent concepts, as each acts adjectivally with âhorror,â this book explores how these seeming opposites respond to each other, share properties and merge as they find expression in film. In short, I am interested in both the distinctions and parallels between gothic and fairytale horror, as well as the new meanings created when certain elements are brought together. Fairytale and gothic horror contribute to films in rich and diverse ways. Their intersection in cinema is sometimes like oil and waterâseparating out or repelling each otherâredefining their difference. Sometimes they amalgamate in the most unexpected and surprising ways. This book is motivated by the varying and idiosyncratic properties that are created as fairytale and gothic horror join, clash or merge in cinema.
Since the Age of Enlightenment, gothic thinking has shed light on the wild sensations that drive us and the pull between rational and irrational forces, asking us to reconsider the securities of home, our sense of self and our beliefs. Polarizations of good and evil are rife in the gothic tale, but often only so that their seeming oppositions with each other can be questioned, or broken down. Such polarizations tend to remain intact within the bounds of the fairy tale, but the candidness afforded by this fantastical realm exposes the complexities at stake in everyday life, via themes of jealousy, brutality, cruelty, desire and greed so that difficult subject matter can be addressed, including abuse in the home, child abandonment and rape.
While there might be a tendency to be sceptical of fairytale happy or restorative endings, they frequently signify the overcoming of trials, tasks or puzzles. As Sue Short argues:
A happy ending is far from necessarily conservative. On the contrary, it grants us the imaginative power to rethink what is possible. Unlikely heroes who earn themselves a kingdom, imperilled heroines who put a difficult past behind them, fabulous beings and magical encounters that enable dreams to come true may all seem unbelievably far-fetched, yet a sense of wonder should also be valued for the creative freedom it allows to defy apparent restrictions and imaginatively reconceive reality. (2015: 167)
Gothic fictions tend to end very differently. Even though a sense of order is usually reinstated by the filmâs close, the gothic denies the final sanctuary of a âhappily ever afterâ resolution. Questions and tensions that are opened up through the course of the narrative create a sense of uncertainty that is unknown to fairy tales. Incorporating fairytale elements can help feed hope into films that are otherwise overwhelmingly bleak or horrific, or hope can stand in isolation, as an alternative vision or necessary illusion beyond the bounds of time and place. The use of hope can also enhance the horror, as the full force of the filmâs terrors or atrocities leak back in. As Maria Tatar (2003) has demonstrated, the forms that a fairy tale takes, and the intricate ways it is used and revised, challenge the notion of a primal, âoriginalâ source. The bringing together of a number of fairy tales or versions of fairy tales with a variety of gothic elements and tendencies creates complex, enchanted effects.
My aim is to explore the convergences and deviations between fairytale and gothic horror as they are conveyed in film. Fundamental to this is an examination of cinemaâs lively embrace of fairytale horror, structures, motifs and themes and the need to locate a distinctively cinematic gothic horror that both draws on and is distinct from literary and other artistic forms. Underlying these objectives is an interest in the cultural and political functions of fairytale and gothic horror, and the levels of destabilization or social conformity at the heart of the films examined. Thus, the goal of this book is to provide insight into the filmsâ elaborate, complex engagement with fairytale and gothic horror, rather than to impose any rigid structure of analysis or fixed theoretical framework. I explore gothic and fairytale horror through a range of theoretical modes of thought, such as feminism and psychoanalysis. The dark undercurrents of fairy tales and folklore are analyzed, looking at the close links with gothic romance, gothic horror and fantasy. Through Chapters 2 and 3, debates are contextualized within a cultural study that briefly investigates a broad range of (art and literature) disciplinary perspectives to explore the many faces of fairytale and gothic horror in film. Because gothic is partly defined by tone and atmosphere, generated by film aesthetics, style, mise-en-scène and narrative techniques, I begin to uncover a cinematic gothic distinct from adaptation concerns.
Undertaking a close analysis of classical through to contemporary films, this book features detailed analyses of films made in North America, Latin America and Europe, with reference to a wider scope, identifying long-held traditions, important progressions and transgressions. Despite a fairly open scope, this book is also focused, and investigates key themes, ideologies, cultural values, pleasures and fears embedded within fairytale and gothic horror, as well as providing detailed insight into specific films, especially in the case studies (Chapters 4, 5 and 6). The process of putting together this book has necessarily involved selecting certain films for close critical investigation, and I have made no attempt for this to be a comprehensive study with respect to the scope of films discussed. My feeling is that the chosen films focus on issues in particularly compelling ways, but the omission or marginalization of other films does not imply they are not equally relevant to the debate. Where possible, attempts are made to acknowledge a wider scope; for example, where points relate to a number of films or to a much broader cinematic or cultural context.
The book begins (in Chapters 2 and 3) by tracing the geneses and evolution of fairy tales and gothic, as a means to articulate critical definitions of âfairy taleâ and âgothicâ over time, and across shifting cultural contexts, exploring the diverse ways these have been incorporated and developed by cinema and horror. Chapters 2 and 3 formulate the foundations for the analyses that follow in the case study chapters. Thus, the book moves on to a different stage with Chapters 4, 5 and 6 to investigate films close up, locating fairytale horror, motifs and themes as well as a distinctively cinematic gothic horror. The case study chapters are each ostensibly (and distinctively) framed by the analysis of a single film: Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) in Chapter 4; The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan, 1984) in Chapter 5; and El laberinto del fauno / Panâs Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006) in Chapter 6. However, each of these films is used as a springboard to examine a wider range of films. Broadly speaking, there is a chronological development through these three chapters: beginning with 1940s films (Chapter 4), moving onto British werewolf films from 1935 to 1984 (Chapter 5), and ending with the more contemporary lens of Panâs Labyrinth (Chapter 6). While chronology helps shape the book, it is also thematically driven and attentive to cultural and political concerns. Each of the films used to frame the case study chapters has a central female protagonist whose dreaming is suggestive of an alternative journey that transgresses boundaries of the ârealâ even if (ultimately) it does not attain full rein. Fundamental and cyclical concerns include: liminal zones and the spaces between; the boundaries of the human; death and rebirth; rational and irrational forces; fears and dreams; âthe uncannyâ; and transitions between the wilderness and civilization. The key motivation of the book is to open up a space for further interest or study, rather than to attempt to be fully comprehensive or exhaustive.
Chapter 2 addresses the great paradox of the fairy tale. It is on the one hand perceived as a simple tale, concerned with overcoming challenges and attaining ultimate happiness. On the other hand, the fairy tale is seen as an allegorical window into an imaginary timeless land; it is able to give expression to the unspoken terrors and taboos of daily life. The richness and diversity of fairy tales are explored, together with their malleable application in a variety of contemporary forms of media. Communal knowledge of fairy tales means that films are able to draw upon the myths perpetuated by such stories, providing a shortcut to relationship and moral concernsâwhether or not traditional visions or cautions are upheld or challenged. Chapter 2 investigates the diverse ways in which films make reference to and are inspired by specific and varying fairytale narratives, motifs and themes. Fundamental emotions (jealousy, greed, love) and motivations (curiosity, rivalry) carried across from the fairy tale, have a portable quality that appeals to a broad, international audience. Thus, films with more complex or historically situated narratives can embrace fairytale themes, structures, roles or motifs to convey universal and timeless concerns layered over more difficult or forbidden subject matter.
Fairy talesâ tendency for a fixed understanding of polarities is explored, as Chapter 2 unpacks the ramifications of their âsimplicity,â tallied with the misconception that this implies shallowness. The fantastical, flexible realm of the fairytale world is capable of revealing and forming a dialogue with the complexities of human relationships and circumstances. Their seeming primal quality triggers a wealth of meanings and interpretations. Concepts of âgoodâ and âevilâ tend to remain as stable entities in the fairy tale, in contrast to the gothic, despite the journey or transformation powering many of the tales. Initiation tasks and discoveries propel the heroâs voyage, and transitions between realms (such as childhood to adulthood) form a key part of the drive towards resolution. This chapter notes that the two-dimensionality and conventional trajectory of female roles in the classical fairy tale have come under close scrutiny and have been vehemently attacked by the application of second-wave feminist approaches that remain central to the considerations of this book. I also investigate the variety of approaches to specific versions of fairy tales at key historical moments, such as a recent queer reading of Hans Christian Andersenâs work, which has helped to shed new light on the themes of borders and marginalization.
Aligning with the work of Rosemary Jackson (1991), I suggest that it is fairy talesâ âfantasticâ capacity that allows for the boundaries of the imagination to be tested. Films are able to borrow from the open âonce upon a timeâ agelessness, and elastic settings associated with fairy tales, as a fast route to hopes, warnings, fears and horrors. This process enables insight into unspeakable or repressed scenarios of abuse within the home, associated with abandonment or even murder. Alternatively, films can uproot major, and often forgotten, tactics for finding our way through the dark woods, such as strategy and initiative. The âcivilizingâ methods of transcribing and publishing fairy tales for children are also explored. However, the notion that fairy tales have evolved from a primal source is a myth. I am mindful when examining the films that there are multiple versions of fairy tales. Chapter 2 asserts the importance of focusing on the films themselves in the case study chapters. In addition, it creates a foundation for thinking about fairy tales and fairytale horror as both separate fromâand merging withâgothic reflections and manifestations in film.
The bringing together of a number of fairy tales, as well as mixed fairytale versions and elements creates new meanings that the gothic contributes to and reacts against in enchanted ways. A key area of distinction between the fairy tale and gothic is confronted directly at the start of Chapter 3, with respect to the âhappily ever afterâ ending associated so strongly with the fairy tale. I suggest that while the haunting uncertainty at the heart of gothic casts a lasting shadow on any final resolution, there is nevertheless usually in some sense a reinstatement of order by the narrativeâs end. Having said this, the ambiguities and disturbances that gothic fictions upend project a shattering resonance, throwing expectations and norms into disarray long after the fictionâs close. Examining the numerous trends over the centuries, the chapter unearths important traits and sentiments that help to lay firmer foundations for a sensibility of gothic that fuels the case study chapters that follow. In alignment with the approach taken by Fred Botting (1996), I place major emphasis on the gothicâs propensity for transgression. I suggest that gothic is motivated by a continuous cycle of repression, which is triggered by an initial return of the repressed that in turn necessitates the return of repression. With respect to the âreturn of the repressed,â my work remains indebted to Robin Wood (1986: 63â84), whose pioneering studies of the horror film helped me to think my way through chief parts of the case study chapters, and positively permeate the founding structures of Chapters 4 and 5. The cyclical impetus of gothicâs relationship with repression means that the threat (of the return of the repressed) is not quite dampened; the razing of too many established norms and securities cannot fully be forgotten. Since gothic unrest is galvanized by repression, gothic fictions often express or imply some level of critique upon the repression itself, thus providing valuable insight into shifting cultural predispositions, restrictions and moral standards. Thus, gothic is able not only to repress but also to draw attention to unconscious drives and fears, bringing hidden, dangerous secrets out into the open, potentially making gothic texts a political tour de force.
The chapter explores the lifeâdeath quality of cinema, and moves on to consider the subtleties and complexities of style and tone that together help formulate a specifically âcinematic gothic.â An investigation into the broader history of gothic enables the establishment of gothicâs major (post-Enlightenment) struggles with the rational and irrational, passions and sense. Exploring features that infuse other art forms helps to unravel the vital and distinctive cinematic means that films draw on to convey boundaries and fusions between internal and external, conscious and unconscious, self and other. The doppelgänger and split self are examined in relation to peculiar editing, framing and camera devices that help...