About

How to Use the Database

The Fairy Tale TV database is our collection of TV shows, movies, and other media that fit the description of both fairy tale and television. It is a searchable database that categorizes the media by series and episode title, genre, broadcast date, and tale type.

 Say, for example, you’re interested in looking at every episode that has to do with the tale type “Cinderella.” Click “filter by tale type” from the drop-down menu next to the search box at the top, type the query into the box, and hit search. Alternatively, type directly into the box next to the heading title above the “Tale Type” column. Both return the same 10 pages of Cinderella-related tv shows. That’s a lot of Cinderellas! Maybe too many. Let’s try narrowing the search by filtering by genre. Type “animation” into the little box next to the “Genre” heading. Now you only have the Cinderellas that have been animated. You can further refine your search with the “Show Date,” “Episode,” and “Series” columns in the same way.

Let’s try searching for something a bit broader. Clear your search preferences with the red “Clear” button on the top right. We’ll use the “Refine Search” box on the left to search for both Cinderellas OR Little Red Riding Hoods. Click “show more” under “Tale Types” in the box, and select all tale types you are interested in. The search will return all episodes that are tagged with either fairy tale. That’s a pretty big list. Filter the search to only shows produced in the 60s and 70s by typing “1960” and “1979” in the “Date Range” box. You can further refine the search with any of the filters for genre or series. Try searching for a specific episode or series within the filtered results by using the large search bar. Clicking “Clear Filters” will clear filters from the left box but will keep results from any search bars.

You can start your search with any of the tagged categories—episode, series, genre, date of production, or tale type. Don’t be afraid to get specific or go exploring for more obscure series or tale types.

The database can be used to see all instances of a single tale type, sort through different series’ use of fairy tale and genre, visualize the relative distribution throughout the decades of tale types and fairy tale television, and provide data for many other research questions. The collection is most useful when analyzing FTTV across time and tale type in pursuit of either a broad view or in looking at specific examples of FTTV in certain genres or tale types.

People

Jill Terry Rudy, Project Lead

Jill Terry Rudy is associate professor of English at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA. In addition to co-directing this digital humanities project, she has served as book review editor for the Journal of American Folklore and on the Western States Folklore Society and Folklore Society of Utah executive boards. She currently is an associate chair of the BYU English department.

She also is editor of The Folklore Historian since 2010. She has published articles in College English, Journal of American Folklore, Journal of Folklore Research, Western Folklore, The Folklore Historian, and Narrative Culture.  

She edited The Marrow of Human Experience: Essays on Folklore by William A. Wilson and co-edited Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales on Television with Pauline Greenhill.  The Routledge Companion to Media and Fairy-Tale Cultures, co-edited with Greenhill, Naomi Hamer, and Lauren Bosc, appeared in 2018.  With Greenhill in 2020, she co-authored Fairy-Tale TV for the Routledge Television Guidebook series. 

Brian Croxall, Technical Director

Brian Croxall is Assistant Research Professor of Digital Humanities at Brigham Young University, Provo. He imagines, designs, and manages digital scholarship projects in collaboration with faculty, colleagues, and students. He is the secretary of the international Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations and serves on the Modern Language Association’s Program Committee and Delegate Assembly. 

With Rachel A. Bower, he is the co-editor of Like Clockwork: Steampunk Pasts, Presents, and Futures (2016, University of Minnesota Press). His forthcoming volume for the University of Minnesota Press is  Debates in Digital Humanities Pedagogy, edited with Diane K. Jakacki.

Tory Anderson, Web Engineer

Tory S. Anderson is the Senior Web Application Engineer for the BYU Office of Digital Humanities, with established research interests in narratology and stories. He heads the technical development of the FTTV project including database-design and responsibility for technology decisions, and managing student programmers in work on FTTV sites and applications.

Pauline Greenhill, Out of House Consultant

Pauline Greenhill is Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her fairy-tale-focused books (in addition to those with Jill Terry Rudy) include Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms (co-editor Kay Turner, 2012); and Fairy-Tale Films Beyond Disney: International Perspectives (co-editors Jack Zipes and Kendra Magnus-Johnston, 2016). She recently completed Clever Maids, Fearless Jacks, and a Cat: Fairy Tales from a Living Oral Tradition (with Anita Best and Martin Lovelace, 2019).

Gigi V Knapp, Student Assistant

Gigi is an undergraduate research assistant on the FTTV project, maintaining the database and blog. She studies media arts, medicine, and also writes for BYU radio.

Erica Smith, Student Assistant

Erica Smith has been involved in the FTTV project since 2017. She is a royalty aficionado and Alice in Wonderland lover who enjoys uncovering vintage fairy tale adaptations. One of her highlights in the project’s involvement was presenting on Meghan Markle and TV portrayals of fairy tale weddings at the Western States Folklore Society in April of 2018. 

Project Alumni

  • Jarom McDonald – Co-Founder
  • Kendra Magnus-Johnston
  • Preston Wittwer
  • Ariel Peterson
  • Madeleine Ji-Young Dresden
  • Grace Taito
  • Kristy G. Stewart
  • Jessie Riddle
  • Megan Armknecht
  • Lauren Redding
  • Lauren Matthews
  • Courtland Coulson
  • Jacqueline Smith
  • Nathanael Bothwell
  • Dane Whitaker
  • Scott Cheng