Prince Harry to Marry Former Sleeping Beauty

Five years before Prince Harry proposed, Meghan Markle was already a fairy tale princess. The American actress, best known for her role as Rachel Zane on the legal drama Suits, guest starred as Sleeping Beauty in a 2012 episode of the crime drama Castle. In the episode “Once Upon A Crime,” (season 4, episode 17), …

Follow the White Rabbit

The following is a guest post written by Erica Smith, who was enrolled in Dr. Rudy’s 394R class Winter Semester. This was a final writing assignment for Applied English Visualizing Wonder: Fairy Tales and Television. We hope you enjoy!   When Lewis Carroll’s novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was published in 1865, it was received as …

Henry Mills, Child in Distress

Written by Erica Smith, one of our new team members! The traditional fairy tales which Once Upon A Time adapts often cast women in the role of damsel-in-distress. Since Once Upon A Time is structured around empowering the adult woman, Henry, a male child, steps in whenever the story calls for a “damsel” character. Targeted …

Destination: Western States Folklore Conference

Western States Folklore Society is celebrating 75 years at their 2016 meeting! Three of the FTTV Project Participants are going to UC Berkley this April for the WSFS Conference to present the panel entitled “Fat Fairies, Mashups, and Advertisements: The Hypnotic Effect of TV Fairy Tales.” If you are in the area we would love …

OUAT Premiere Screening — Event Recap

Once Upon A Time. At the end of a six-season run with a well-established finale, on the brink of a new curse to reset season 7, we meet as viewers, as scholars, as audience members and fairy tale enthusiasts, to discuss this show’s past, present, and future. Is Once Upon A Time a high-profile breakthrough for the …

Once Upon A Time Event: October 13th!

The BYU Fairy Tales & Television Group is having an event and we would like you all to join us! As you read about in Erica’s post, season 7 of Once Upon A Time is going to look a little different. After the two-part, tied-in-a-bow season 6 finale titled “The Final Battle,” which ended with a …

Glass Slippers and Small Screens: Rags to Riches and the American Dream

          This is the powerpoint from Madeleine Dresden’s presentation at the 2014 American Folklore Society Conference in Santa Fe. Glass Slippers and Small Screens: Rags to Riches and the American Dream

When is a Tale not a Fairy Tale?: “OUAT” 5.1 Review PART 1

  Season five is now upon us! The glitzy, cringe-fest, character-studded opera that we love, hate, and hate to admit we love, is back. ABC’s Once Upon a Time (OUAT) opened its season five with “The Dark Swan,” returning to the dilemma we last left: will Emma be more Savior or Dark One? MINING WHAT MATTERED That said, …

Redheads and…Dead Heads?: “OUAT” 5.1 Review PART 2

  We return to the season five premiere of ABC’s Once Upon a Time (OUAT), which we first covered in this post. OUAT is known for its character-a-minute cameos, but this week featured the best untamed mane in the business: Merida, from Disney/Pixar’s Brave.   AUDIENCE ACCESSIBILITY It’s a good season for Disney/Pixar’s Brave–not only does Merida appear in this premiere but she’ll …