The story of “Sleeping Beauty” (ATU 410) is one of the most consistently captivating fairy tales. It tells of a cursed princess dreaming in a tower, waiting patiently for her prince to rescue her. Those who recreate the tale for contemporary audiences spin the story anew, reconstructing again and again what it means both to sleep and to awaken. This chapter analyzes two modern television versions of the tale, one for children and one for adults, comparing their incorporation of feminist messages and parallel ideas about shaping narratives and shaping lives. The children’s cartoon Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (also called Grimm Masterpiece Theatre) and the adult program Dollhouse each remold the story to advance very specific rereadings of the tale.
This article was archived with permission from Wayne State University Press, all rights reserved. Document also available from: Jeana Jorgensen, 2014 “Molding Messages: Analyzing the Reworking of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics and Dollhouse,” coauthored with Brittany Warman. In Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales on Television, ed. Pauline Greenhill and Jill Rudy. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 144-162.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jeana_jorgensen/25/