Claudia Schwabe | Utah State University (original) (raw)
Papers by Claudia Schwabe
Contemporary Legend, 2016
In 1994, German historian Eckhard Sander published his research book Schneewittchen: Märchen oder... more In 1994, German historian Eckhard Sander published his research book Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit? Ein lokaler Bezug zum Kellerwald (Snow White: Fairy Tale or Truth? A Local Reference to the Kellerwald). In his work, Sander explores the parallels between the popular, 19 th-century fairy tale "Snow White" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and the life of Margaretha von Waldeck (1533-1554), a German countess from Bad Wildungen, Hesse who was the mistress of Prince Philip II of Spain during the 1500's. To tie a fairy-tale figure to a historical figure rooted in the real world is a bold endeavor, one that raises a great deal of skepticism among fairy-tale scholars and rightfully so. Renowned German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther describes Sander's connection of "Snow White" with the city Bad Wildungen as belonging to the "Reich der Kuriositäten" (realm of curiosities) (2008: 131-32). After all, there are numerous reasons why the attempt to trace a Volksmärchen or folk tale (a fairy tale from oral folk tradition; for simplification I will primarily continue to use the common term "fairy tale" throughout this essay) back to an existing location and a specific moment in time appears preposterous. First, fairy tales are by "definition" (fairy-tale scholars have acknowledged the complexities of defining the fairy tale) "narratives set in a fictional world" (Tatar 2003:33) and the Grimms stated in the preface to their Deutsche Sagen (German Legends) "the fairy tale is more poetic, the legend is more historic" (my translation, 1816:V). Second, fairy tales are composed of various fairy-tale motifs from different oral and literary sources stemming from different time periods. Third, oral and literary sources of fairy tales have cross-pollinated over time. Fourth, because fairy tales "have been with us for thousands of years and have undergone so many changes in the oral tradition, it is difficult to determine the ideological intention of the narrator" (Zipes 2006:52). Despite this rationale, however, I argue that when analyzing specific fairy tales in
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2021
German fairy tales have an established history of appropriation in popular media, from oral tradi... more German fairy tales have an established history of appropriation in popular media, from oral traditions to mobile media. The mimetic quality of fairy-tale motifs and tropes provides ideal conditions for intertextual adaptation. In this article, I demonstrate that German fairy-tale themed music videos are powerful vehicles for culture, parody, and subversion that can be utilized as rich teaching tools in the German classroom. Artists using the German language draw on the genre of the fairy tale in their music videos in innovative and humorous ways for social critique and commentary, but they also resort to the form of the metafairy tale to question the pedagogical values of the Grimms' fairy tales.
Marvels & Tales, 2015
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the paradigm of socialist realism in East German cinema has be... more Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the paradigm of socialist realism in East German cinema has been subject to scholarly debate, scrutiny, and academic rethinking on a global level. Few scholars, however, have examined socialist ideology in the framework of Orientalism in fairy-tale film. In his groundbreaking book Orientalism (1980) Edward Said argues that the Orient was a European invention to portray Asia as a place of romance, exotic beings, and landscapes. I analyze Said’s argument about Orientalism in Wolfgang Staudte’s popular fairy-tale film Die Geschichte vom Kleinen Muck (The Story of Little Mook, 1953), which is based on a literary fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff, and contextualize it with the notion of “ethnic drag,” a term coined by scholar Katrin Sieg.
Chair: Barbara Mennel Major: German My dissertation explores the relationship between Orientalism... more Chair: Barbara Mennel Major: German My dissertation explores the relationship between Orientalism, German Romanticism, and national identity by examining German Kunstmärchen (literary fairy tales). In my study, I claim that literary fairy tales idealize the ancient Orient and reflect the Morgenland (morning-land) as an exotic realm, in which the harmony between nature and spirit has been preserved, and as a utopian fantasy world that is the home of poetry, wisdom, and mystery. In this context, I question Edward W. Said's socio-historical generalizations regarding Orientalism as a Western form of
New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016
Contemporary Fairy-Tale Magic, 2019
Ever since the latter third of the twentieth century imaginations of the monstrous in cinematic a... more Ever since the latter third of the twentieth century imaginations of the monstrous in cinematic and televisual fairy-tale adaptations have begun to deviate from the villainous creatures that are traditionally associated with the term ‘monster’. Instead, a new trend is noticeable on the small and silver screen which portrays monstrous beings in a positive light and desirable fashion. My chapter illuminates how today’s media celebrates the beauty of Otherness and promotes alterity in fairy-tale films. I begin with a discussion of the ‘humanity’ of the amphibian creature and the ‘monstrosity’ of his human captors in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017). The film promotes the desirability and sex-appeal of alterity. Monsters also function as helper types, thus opening up therapeutic possibilities, as for example seen in the films Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and A Monster Calls (2016). Finally, popular fairy-tale adaptations such as Monsters, Inc. (2001), Lilo & Stich (2002), or the Shrek films (2001, 2004, 2007, 2010) illustrate how monsters are infantilized, trivialized, and ‘cutified’ in innovative ways. This reimagining of the idea of the monster is a trend that reflects a greater tolerance of other marginalized groups (in regard to race, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, social class, religion, etc.) and acceptance of diversity in our society today.
Humanities, 2016
Ever since the beginning of the 21st century, the fairy tale has not only become a staple of the ... more Ever since the beginning of the 21st century, the fairy tale has not only become a staple of the small and silver screen around the globe, it has also migrated into new media, overwhelming audiences with imaginative and spectacular retellings along the way. Indeed, modern fairy-tale adaptations pervading contemporary popular culture drastically subvert, shatter, and alter the public's understanding of the classic fairy tale. Because of the phenomenally increasing proliferation of fairy-tale transformations in today's "old" and "new" media, we must reflect upon the significance of the fairy tale for society and its social uses in a nuanced fashion. How, why, and for whom have fairy-tale narratives, characters, and motifs metamorphosed in recent decades? What significant intermedial and intertextual relationships exist nowadays in connection with the fairy tale? This special issue features 11 illuminating articles of 13 scholars in the fields of folklore and fairy-tale studies tackling these and other relevant questions.
Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets, 2018
Marvels & Tales, 2017
I examine the legacy of Václav Vorlícek’s Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella (1973) in contemporary G... more I examine the legacy of Václav Vorlícek’s Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella (1973) in contemporary Germany. In particular, I am concerned with the relationships between the film’s binational coproduction and socialist ideology and its transnational reception and the ways in which intermediality and fandom feed into the film’s cult popularity. Seeking to understand the film’s extraordinary appeal that has continued for over forty years, I argue that this Czech–East German coproduction’s popularity is reinforced by the intermedial relations between the film, television, and the Internet. A combination of factors make this a “Cinderella” adaptation unlike any other, with its feminist undertones, female-to-male cross-dressing, modern twists, socialist and anti-authoritarian messages, a sense of realism, memorable music, and a natural winter setting. Based on a Czech fairy tale written by Božena Němcová, the live-action film not only resists conforming to the Grimm hypotext of “Cinderella” but also has become a staple of German television culture.
Children's Literature, 2016
New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016
New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016
Books by Claudia Schwabe
Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales on Television, 2014
Ever since the Harry Potter phenomenon engaged and inspired millions of readers all over the glob... more Ever since the Harry Potter phenomenon engaged and inspired millions of readers all over the globe, the fantasy genre has gained new acceptance and appreciation among different age groups. However, the phenomenon stirred up an old question, raised time and time again, about the relationship between fantasy and reality. Many critics and reviewers, from British novelist Amanda Craig (2007) to horror writer Stephen King (2000), praise J. K. Rowling's novels for their highly imaginative originality. One crucial aspect is their dynamic interplay between the magical world of wizardry and apparently mundane reality. Supernatural characters and creatures coexist with ordinary humans in the modern world. Rowling places enchanted objects in "muggle" (nonmagical) contexts and implants wondrous locations into realistic settings. For example, even if the reader has never been to King's Cross railway station in London, as Rowling describes it in the Harry Potter books, it evokes familiar images. However, tension with its everyday associations arises when Harry runs through a brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10 to enter the secret platform 9¾, the hidden starting point of the Hogwarts Express. 1 This precise juxtaposition of the supernatural and the natural, and the fact that they cross paths multiple times throughout the story lines, creates an intriguing tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar as well as between the apparent and what lies hidden beneath the surface.
Contemporary Legend, 2016
In 1994, German historian Eckhard Sander published his research book Schneewittchen: Märchen oder... more In 1994, German historian Eckhard Sander published his research book Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit? Ein lokaler Bezug zum Kellerwald (Snow White: Fairy Tale or Truth? A Local Reference to the Kellerwald). In his work, Sander explores the parallels between the popular, 19 th-century fairy tale "Snow White" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and the life of Margaretha von Waldeck (1533-1554), a German countess from Bad Wildungen, Hesse who was the mistress of Prince Philip II of Spain during the 1500's. To tie a fairy-tale figure to a historical figure rooted in the real world is a bold endeavor, one that raises a great deal of skepticism among fairy-tale scholars and rightfully so. Renowned German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther describes Sander's connection of "Snow White" with the city Bad Wildungen as belonging to the "Reich der Kuriositäten" (realm of curiosities) (2008: 131-32). After all, there are numerous reasons why the attempt to trace a Volksmärchen or folk tale (a fairy tale from oral folk tradition; for simplification I will primarily continue to use the common term "fairy tale" throughout this essay) back to an existing location and a specific moment in time appears preposterous. First, fairy tales are by "definition" (fairy-tale scholars have acknowledged the complexities of defining the fairy tale) "narratives set in a fictional world" (Tatar 2003:33) and the Grimms stated in the preface to their Deutsche Sagen (German Legends) "the fairy tale is more poetic, the legend is more historic" (my translation, 1816:V). Second, fairy tales are composed of various fairy-tale motifs from different oral and literary sources stemming from different time periods. Third, oral and literary sources of fairy tales have cross-pollinated over time. Fourth, because fairy tales "have been with us for thousands of years and have undergone so many changes in the oral tradition, it is difficult to determine the ideological intention of the narrator" (Zipes 2006:52). Despite this rationale, however, I argue that when analyzing specific fairy tales in
Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 2021
German fairy tales have an established history of appropriation in popular media, from oral tradi... more German fairy tales have an established history of appropriation in popular media, from oral traditions to mobile media. The mimetic quality of fairy-tale motifs and tropes provides ideal conditions for intertextual adaptation. In this article, I demonstrate that German fairy-tale themed music videos are powerful vehicles for culture, parody, and subversion that can be utilized as rich teaching tools in the German classroom. Artists using the German language draw on the genre of the fairy tale in their music videos in innovative and humorous ways for social critique and commentary, but they also resort to the form of the metafairy tale to question the pedagogical values of the Grimms' fairy tales.
Marvels & Tales, 2015
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the paradigm of socialist realism in East German cinema has be... more Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the paradigm of socialist realism in East German cinema has been subject to scholarly debate, scrutiny, and academic rethinking on a global level. Few scholars, however, have examined socialist ideology in the framework of Orientalism in fairy-tale film. In his groundbreaking book Orientalism (1980) Edward Said argues that the Orient was a European invention to portray Asia as a place of romance, exotic beings, and landscapes. I analyze Said’s argument about Orientalism in Wolfgang Staudte’s popular fairy-tale film Die Geschichte vom Kleinen Muck (The Story of Little Mook, 1953), which is based on a literary fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff, and contextualize it with the notion of “ethnic drag,” a term coined by scholar Katrin Sieg.
Chair: Barbara Mennel Major: German My dissertation explores the relationship between Orientalism... more Chair: Barbara Mennel Major: German My dissertation explores the relationship between Orientalism, German Romanticism, and national identity by examining German Kunstmärchen (literary fairy tales). In my study, I claim that literary fairy tales idealize the ancient Orient and reflect the Morgenland (morning-land) as an exotic realm, in which the harmony between nature and spirit has been preserved, and as a utopian fantasy world that is the home of poetry, wisdom, and mystery. In this context, I question Edward W. Said's socio-historical generalizations regarding Orientalism as a Western form of
New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016
Contemporary Fairy-Tale Magic, 2019
Ever since the latter third of the twentieth century imaginations of the monstrous in cinematic a... more Ever since the latter third of the twentieth century imaginations of the monstrous in cinematic and televisual fairy-tale adaptations have begun to deviate from the villainous creatures that are traditionally associated with the term ‘monster’. Instead, a new trend is noticeable on the small and silver screen which portrays monstrous beings in a positive light and desirable fashion. My chapter illuminates how today’s media celebrates the beauty of Otherness and promotes alterity in fairy-tale films. I begin with a discussion of the ‘humanity’ of the amphibian creature and the ‘monstrosity’ of his human captors in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017). The film promotes the desirability and sex-appeal of alterity. Monsters also function as helper types, thus opening up therapeutic possibilities, as for example seen in the films Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and A Monster Calls (2016). Finally, popular fairy-tale adaptations such as Monsters, Inc. (2001), Lilo & Stich (2002), or the Shrek films (2001, 2004, 2007, 2010) illustrate how monsters are infantilized, trivialized, and ‘cutified’ in innovative ways. This reimagining of the idea of the monster is a trend that reflects a greater tolerance of other marginalized groups (in regard to race, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, social class, religion, etc.) and acceptance of diversity in our society today.
Humanities, 2016
Ever since the beginning of the 21st century, the fairy tale has not only become a staple of the ... more Ever since the beginning of the 21st century, the fairy tale has not only become a staple of the small and silver screen around the globe, it has also migrated into new media, overwhelming audiences with imaginative and spectacular retellings along the way. Indeed, modern fairy-tale adaptations pervading contemporary popular culture drastically subvert, shatter, and alter the public's understanding of the classic fairy tale. Because of the phenomenally increasing proliferation of fairy-tale transformations in today's "old" and "new" media, we must reflect upon the significance of the fairy tale for society and its social uses in a nuanced fashion. How, why, and for whom have fairy-tale narratives, characters, and motifs metamorphosed in recent decades? What significant intermedial and intertextual relationships exist nowadays in connection with the fairy tale? This special issue features 11 illuminating articles of 13 scholars in the fields of folklore and fairy-tale studies tackling these and other relevant questions.
Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets, 2018
Marvels & Tales, 2017
I examine the legacy of Václav Vorlícek’s Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella (1973) in contemporary G... more I examine the legacy of Václav Vorlícek’s Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella (1973) in contemporary Germany. In particular, I am concerned with the relationships between the film’s binational coproduction and socialist ideology and its transnational reception and the ways in which intermediality and fandom feed into the film’s cult popularity. Seeking to understand the film’s extraordinary appeal that has continued for over forty years, I argue that this Czech–East German coproduction’s popularity is reinforced by the intermedial relations between the film, television, and the Internet. A combination of factors make this a “Cinderella” adaptation unlike any other, with its feminist undertones, female-to-male cross-dressing, modern twists, socialist and anti-authoritarian messages, a sense of realism, memorable music, and a natural winter setting. Based on a Czech fairy tale written by Božena Němcová, the live-action film not only resists conforming to the Grimm hypotext of “Cinderella” but also has become a staple of German television culture.
Children's Literature, 2016
New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016
New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales, 2016
Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales on Television, 2014
Ever since the Harry Potter phenomenon engaged and inspired millions of readers all over the glob... more Ever since the Harry Potter phenomenon engaged and inspired millions of readers all over the globe, the fantasy genre has gained new acceptance and appreciation among different age groups. However, the phenomenon stirred up an old question, raised time and time again, about the relationship between fantasy and reality. Many critics and reviewers, from British novelist Amanda Craig (2007) to horror writer Stephen King (2000), praise J. K. Rowling's novels for their highly imaginative originality. One crucial aspect is their dynamic interplay between the magical world of wizardry and apparently mundane reality. Supernatural characters and creatures coexist with ordinary humans in the modern world. Rowling places enchanted objects in "muggle" (nonmagical) contexts and implants wondrous locations into realistic settings. For example, even if the reader has never been to King's Cross railway station in London, as Rowling describes it in the Harry Potter books, it evokes familiar images. However, tension with its everyday associations arises when Harry runs through a brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10 to enter the secret platform 9¾, the hidden starting point of the Hogwarts Express. 1 This precise juxtaposition of the supernatural and the natural, and the fact that they cross paths multiple times throughout the story lines, creates an intriguing tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar as well as between the apparent and what lies hidden beneath the surface.