ITAL/FREN 1550 The Power of Fairy Tales
ITAL/FREN 1550
Prof. Suzanne Magnanani
Fall 2024
MWF: 11:15am - 12:05pm
Did you know that the Italian Cinderella murdered her stepmother? Or that Sleeping Beauty had twins before marrying the prince? Or that the cats in Italian Puss-in-Boots stories were female? While Walt Disney’s animated fairy tales are familiar to most American children and adults, few people realize that Disney’s most beloved characters (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio) descend from an Italian and French fairy tale tradition that dates back to the 16th century. To make these tales acceptable for American children, Disney and the authors of children’s books drastically changed these stories by removing scenes of sex and violence, censoring adult language, and removing any scenes that challenged the dominant social and political beliefs of the time. In this class, you will study how fairy tales have changed through time and across cultures by studying examples different tale types (Cinderella, Dragon-Slayers, Puss-in-Boots) from the Italian and French traditions from the 1500s–1700s and contemporary, popular culture (films, television, comics, advertising and art). You will ask yourselves how the same tale type might be retold for different purposes in different cultures and you will work in groups to build digital fairy tale webs that show the relationships among different versions of the same tale type. Your research will be supported by Faculty Librarian Dr. Kathia Ibacache. We will also meet in Norlin Library's Special Collections and Archives department to study rare fairy tale books and illustrations printed between 1500 and 1900. Finally, you will write your own fairy tales that address your own political, social, and moral concerns.
Course taught in English.
Questions? suzanne.magnanini@colorado.edu