Happily Ever After Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry

In "Happily Ever After, Jack Zipes addresses his ongoing concern with the socialization of children, the impact of the fairy tale on children and adults, and the future development of the fairy tale as film. As a result of analyzing the historical trajectory of storytelling and the literary fairy tale, the essays in "Happily Ever After move from the sixteenth century to the present, between different cultures and societies, and from specific analyses to general syntheses. Zipes demonstrates how Straparola's 16th-century "Puss in Boots tale is related to Disney's 1922 film version. He examines the narrative structure of "Hansel and Gretel as a rationalization for child abuse, tracing the same theme in Collad's novel "Pinocchio and its Disney film version. He concludes by examining how we have come full circle from the early oral tradition in light of the rise of storytelling throughout the world. Underscoring all these essays is the question that all fairy tales raise: what does it take to bring about happiness? Is happiness only to be found in fairy tales?

First Published in 1997. Happily Ever After is Jack Zipes's latest work on the fairy tale. Moving from the Renaissance to the present, and between different cultures this book addresses Zipes's ongoing concern with the fairy tale- its impact on children and adults, its role in the socialisation of children- as well as the future of the fairy tale on the big(and little) screen. Here are Straparola's sixteenth-century 'Puss in Boots' and a 1922 film of the story; Hansel and Gretel and child abuse; the Pinocchio of Colladi and of Walt Disney. AN ardent champion of children's literature and children's culture, Zipes writes also about oral tradition and the rise of storytelling throughout the world. But behind each of his essays lies the key question that all fairy tales will raise: what does it tale to bring about happiness? And is happiness only to be found in fairy tales?

Introduction; Chapter 1 Of Cats and Men; Chapter 2 The Rationalization of Abandonment and Abuse in Fairy Tales; Chapter 3 Toward a Theory of the Fairy-Tale Film; Chapter 4 Once Upon a Time beyond Disney; Chapter 5 Lion Kings and the Culture Industry; Chapter 6 Revisiting Benjamin’s “The Storyteller”;

Jack Zipes is Professor of German at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, Don't Bet on the Prince and Creative Storytelling, all published by Routledge.