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

InHappily 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 inHappily Ever Aftermove 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-centuryPuss in Bootstale is related to Disney's 1922 film version. He examines the narrative structure ofHansel and Gretelas a rationalization for child abuse, tracing the same theme in Collad's novelPinocchioand 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 thatall fairy tales raise: what does it take to bring about happiness? Is happiness only to be found in fairy tales?

Jack Zipes is Professor of German at the University of Minnesota.