HUM 2085: Critical Approaches
Film and Television Adaptations
Summer 2013
Dr. Perdigao
class time: T Th 2:00-4:35 pm
office: 626 Crawford Hall
phone: 321-674-8370
email: lperdiga@fit.edu
my.fit.edu/~lperdiga
Course Description:
Film and television adaptations of novels, short stories, plays, comic books, and graphic novels reflect the
processes of interpretation and reinterpretation. At their centers, fairy tales are stories about
transformation and are productive sites for exploring the process of adaptation. When traditional fairy
tales are adapted into new texts and new media, they represent both the seemingly timeless themes of the
fairy tales as well as the concerns of their contemporary societies. In this course, we will focus on the
stories of Peter Pan, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella,
analyzing the early versions of the fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de
Beaumont, and even J. M. Barrie and then examining how those stories are adapted in contemporary
films, television series, and novels. By studying various types of retellings (critical interpretations,
novels, films, and television series based on the works) we will examine how fairy tales continue to
resonate in the postmodern world, offering us reimaginings of classic tales to reflect modern worldviews.
Required Texts:
J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan (Penguin; ISBN: 9780142437933)
Maria Tatar, ed., The Grimm Reader (Norton; ISBN: 9780393338560)
Alex Flinn, Beastly (HarperTeen; ISBN: 9780061963285)
Marissa Meyer, Cinder (Square Fish; ISBN: 9781250007209)
Policies and Procedures
Grading:
Quizzes
Responses (5)
Final Exam
30%
40%
30%
A quiz will occur at the end of each section. As regular attendance is mandatory, make-up quizzes are
unlikely.
A response consists of a 1-2 page response to one of the questions about the relationship between the
fairy tale and its adaptation(s). While the responses are not formal essays, you must demonstrate
knowledge of the readings and the relationships between the texts we are discussing.
For the responses, students are required to submit their papers to www.turnitin.com on the
assigned date; failure to submit the paper to turnitin.com and/or to turn in the hard copy in class
on the due date will lead to a failure of the assignment. Our class ID is 6460388 and the password is
Fairest.
Academic Dishonesty will be handled in accordance with Humanities and Communication Department
policy. Cheating and plagiarism will result in failure of assignment and/or failure of course and will be
reported to the Dean of Students and recorded in your permanent student file. Dishonest conduct may
lead to formal disciplinary proceedings. Be certain that you are familiar with Florida Tech’s academic
dishonesty policy (http://www.fit.edu/current/documents/plagiarism.pdf).
Cell phone policy: If your phone rings, if you try to make an outgoing call or text messages are sent or
received (translation: basically any variation of playing with your phone when you should be paying
attention), you are responsible for bringing pizza (or an acceptable alternative) to the following class.
Attendance is required. If you miss more than 10% of the classes, you run the risk of failing the course.
You are responsible for all of the work you miss.
Course Schedule
May 14
Introduction
Viewing: Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland (101 min.)
May 16
Reading: J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (Introduction, vii-xxvii; Ch. I-VII, 5-72)
May 21
Reading: J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (Ch. VIII-XVII, 73-153)
Viewing: Rupert Sanders’s Snow White and the Huntsman (127 min.)
May 23
Reading: Maria Tatar, “Why Fairy Tales Matter” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
Reading: Grimm Reader, “Snow White” (167-178), “The Three Little Men in the
Woods” (39-45), “Snow White and Rose Red” (243-250)
Reading: Reading: Anatomy of Film (Chapter 1: 1-20; Chapter 8: 268-281
[examples: 281-313])
Response 1
May 28
Reading: Grimm Reader, A. S. Byatt Introduction (ix-xix), Maria Tatar,
“Reading the Brothers Grimm” (xxi-xxxix), “Jacob and Wilhelm
Grimm” (283-294)
Reading: Grimm Reader, “The Juniper Tree” (143-154)
Viewing: Once Upon a Time, “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”
May 30
Reading: Grimm Reader, “Little Red Riding Hood” (94-99), “Hansel and Gretel”
(46-54), “Little Brother and Little Sister” (25-32), “The Children Living
in a Time of Famine” (276-277)
Reading: Grimm Reader, “Preface to Volume I of the First Edition of Children’s
Stories and Household Tales” (295-303)
Viewing: Grimm, “Pilot”
Quiz 1
Response 2
June 4
Reading: Anatomy of Film (Chapter 3: 51-98; Chapter 4: “The Reflexive Film,”
165-177; Chapter 6: Film Subtext, 200-204)
Reading: Grimm Reader, “Rumpelstiltskin” (179-182)
Viewing: Once Upon a Time, “Red-Handed”
June 6
Reading: Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, “Beauty and the Beast”
(http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html)
Reading: Grimm Reader, “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” (3-8), “The
Fisherman and His Wife” (55-65), “The Robber Bridegroom” (129-133),
“Fitcher’s Bird” (138-142)
Alex Flinn, Beastly (Part 1-3; 1-138)
Response 3
June 11
Reading: Grimm Reader, “The Singing, Soaring Lark” (209-215), “Hans Dumm”
(270-272)
Reading: Alex Flinn, Beastly (Part 4-Epilogue; 141-300)
Viewing: Daniel Barnz’s Beastly (86 min.)
Quiz 2
June 13
Reading: Grimm Reader, “The Seven Ravens” (90-93), “Cinderella” (77-85),
“Rapunzel” (33-38), “Briar Rose” (162-166)
Reading: Marissa Meyer, Cinder (Book 1: Ch. 1-8, 3-84)
Viewing: Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (108 min.)
June 18
Reading: Grimm Reader, “The Goose Girl” (216-223)
Reading: Marissa Meyer, Cinder (Book 2: Ch. 9-20, 87-186)
Response 4
June 20
Reading: Marissa Meyer, Cinder (Book 3: Ch. 21-29, 189-282)
Reading: Anatomy of Film (Chapter 6: 200-202; 219-226)
Quiz 3
June 25
Reading: Marissa Meyer, Cinder (Book 4: Ch. 30-38, 285-387)
Viewing: Guillermo del Toro Pan’s Labyrinth (118 min.)
Response 5
June 27
Colliding with Reality: The Place of Fairy Tales in the Postmodern World
Reading: Anatomy of Film (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” 339-343)
July 2
Final exam