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positioning of Disney’s film as a folkloric model and justify analyses of versions from his
American folkloric precursors produced in alternate media contexts (the theater).
Contemporary literary/folkloric critical discussions have similarly come to
acknowledge the value in cross-media representations of fairy tale/folklore, engendering
new conversations concerning fairy tale adaptations. In
Fairy Tales Transformed?:
Twenty-First-Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder
, Cristina Bacchilega
explores adaptations for young adults and adults from television, comics, visual art,
drama,
literature, and film, prioritizing the last two, finding these to be “the media
platforms that have the broadest distribution and visibility within the fairy-tale web as
well as the most power within the articulation of what the critical field of fairy-tale
studies is and does” (16). Through explorations of these contemporary adaptations
Bacchilega “aim[s] […] to reflect on the linked and yet divergent social projects that
fairy-tale adaptations imagine” (16). Maria Tatar similarly recognizes that “These days,
fairy tales are passed on to us through what the media gurus call multiple ‘delivery
systems’”—variants in literature, film, television, and enhanced
through online
participation (“Preface” xvi). Through these multiple means of engagement, earlier and
contemporary fairy tale and folklore can be engaged and further transformed. While
studies of this interplay between media seem to represent a more contemporary scholarly
lens for the fairy tale, this dissertation, in its historical inspection of the same—
throughout the twentieth century—contributes to these conversations. By generating a
lineage of the American
Snow White
tradition which presents the dynamic movement
between literary, staged, and filmic (silent and animated) arenas
before moving back to
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the literary and filmic spheres (where the trend continues on), I also explore this cross-
media folkloric usage as a broader American trend.
Where I have endeavored to represent this phenomenon from a relatively neutral
disciplinary stance (to enable a more balanced perspective), I have utilized a folkloric and
literary base to trace lines of traditional and national influence and have layered on
studies of theatre (from the turn of the century), film, and popular culture. Although film
weighs heavily into this exploration, and Disney’s film particularly, it would be
inaccurate to position this historical narrative as framed specifically for film
or Disney
Studies. Similarly, despite my analyses of plays or films as “texts,” it would be equally
inaccurate to position the project as purely contributing to the literary and/or folkloric
spheres. Both critical fields or lenses are too narrow to appropriately account for the
innovations in media and technology also pertinent to the
Snow White
tale’s success and
forward movement in the United States. Because of the twists and turns this “classic”
tale has taken on its journey through American culture—from stage to screen and back
into literature,
before returning to the screen, once more—one must carefully inspect the
folkloric/fairy tale aspects of the story itself (as text)
and
address the alternate forms of
media employed to further the American tradition of
Snow White
. Together, these
interweaving parts generate an interesting narrative concerning the tale’s American
adaptations, linkages between owners, and understandings of how one movement of
influence promotes the next.
To inspect the folkloric attributes of the
Snow White
tale and tradition, I utilize the
episodic structure and patterning of Steven Swann Jones, delineated in
The New
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Comparative Method: Structural and Symbolic Analysis of the Allomotifs of “Snow
White
.” This has been recognized as the most comprehensive folkloric study of the tale,
and although I note (in Chapter 2) that it has some limitations toward the effect of
identifying the
Snow White
“classics,” I ultimately find that it provides a useful baseline.
Essentially, this model offers a nine-point pattern which responds to the question: what
should a
Snow White
variant look like? Jones also layers on a thematic analysis which
proves productive for understanding those “classics” whose structure does not quite seem
to fit.
Paired with this more formal means of analysis, I draw on Linda Dégh for her
expertise and broadened view of folklore in
mass media, as well as Sharon R. Sherman
and Juwen Zhang, leading scholars addressing folklore in film. These additional critical
perspectives further aid my examination of the folkloric inner workings of the tale,
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