Once Upon a Time

About this course:

Oral wonders, fables, folk and fairy tales have given us simple and yet effective archetypes serving as cautionary tales about the dangers, prohibitions, transgressions, and their consequences in the real world. Such narratives have inspired artists across all sorts of media; including cinema, which has frequently adapted those stories by combining different styles, genres (drama, comedy, musical, horror) and techniques (live-action and animation), for entertainment, educational and even propaganda purposes. In this course, we explore a selection of works, spanning from contemporary interpretations of classic archetypes (Tale of Tales, 2015) to dramas written in the style of the German Romantic folk tale (The Blue Light, 1932), together with Expressionist reimaginings of Americana (The Night of the Hunter, 1955). We look at genre intersections, such as Steven Spielberg's sci-fi adaptation of Pinocchio (A.I., 2001) and parodies like Billy Wilder's rewriting of Snow White for the screwball comedy Ball of Fire (1941). And as a cherry on top, we revisit Walt Disney's Song of the South (1946)—the controversial adaptation of the folk tales of Uncle Remus by J. C. Harris, never released in home video and virtually unseen since its last theatrical re-release four decades ago.