University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Revising identification: fairy tales that transform tradition from within

Dettmar, Esther Katherine

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/95472

Description

Title
Revising identification: fairy tales that transform tradition from within
Author(s)
Dettmar, Esther Katherine
Issue Date
2016-11-17
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Mahaffey, Vicki
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Mahaffey, Vicki
Committee Member(s)
  • Rodriguez, Richard T.
  • Hansen, Jim
  • Johnson, Laurie R.
Department of Study
English
Discipline
English
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • fairy tales
  • disidentification
  • Snow White
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Little Red Riding Hood
  • Bluebeard
Abstract
This dissertation examines contemporary revisions of four classic fairy tales: “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Bluebeard,” drawing on José Esteban Muñoz’s concept of “disidentification” to describe the revisionary work they perform. Muñoz provides a model of subversion that illuminates the work done in these revisions, which both relish the pleasure to be found in the fantasy of fairy tales and work to short circuit their anachronistic ideology, to deconstruct and rewrite their heteronormative scripts. The author argues that fairy-tale revisions can transform the genre from within through a careful dance of adherence to and deviation from its formula. Their work is both formal and thematic, a subversion of fairy-tale form and of sexual politics. Because the fairy tale operates largely by encouraging identification (especially in young audiences) with certain roles, producing social conformity, these radical revisions resist social and sexual prescription and in so doing embrace and empower a range of gender and sexual identities.
Graduation Semester
2016-12
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95472
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2016 Esther Dettmar

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