Red Hiding Hood has a secret liking for the big bad wolf. Snow White is a feminist and likes to save herself first rather than wait for Prince Charming to come and kiss her alive. The pretty princess ditches the prince and marries the ogre. The wicked old witch is not wicked without reason. Every now and then, the world of fairy tales and their characters is interpreted afresh on film. While fairy-tale endings have always been popular in Hollywood movies, the old folklore is now packaged with a bit of fantasy.
After the release of Red Hiding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried, and the more recent release, Mirror Mirror , which was tagged as the untold story of Snow White, another film is to be released, called Snow White and the Huntsman and starring Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame. Adaptations of Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella are also in the making. However, the world of fairy tales is not just getting a technological and a costume makeover, it has shifted base from simple happily-ever-afters to a darker, twisted and grey content.
“Fairy tales always had variants in the story endings,” points out Shefali Rao, a history student. “In a version of Cinderella, the ending is not happy, where the prince continues to search for the girl to whom the shoe fits, and in the German version of the Grimm Brothers tales, the wicked stepmother meets a gruesome death.” She adds that modern audiences will continue to identify with characters portrayed with quirks and issues related to their world.
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Ravi K., who is pursuing a course in film studies, agrees. “If you look at Harry Potter, then not just adults but children too prefer their grey characters. The popularity of the Shrek series only proves that the audience is ready to accept an evil fairy godmother and a mushy ogre.”
Even characters from classic literature are undergoing changes. Recent films show a more brawny Sherlock Holmes and Guy Ritchie's suave Dr. Watson, rather than the bumbling sidekick of earlier film versions. In the latest BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations , Miss Havisham, portrayed by Gillian Anderson, is younger and has a nasal twang. In the 2011 release of Wuthering Heights , Heathcliff is dark-skinned and the stormy and the grim surroundings from Emily Bronte's novel somehow find place in the characters. In fact, to satisfy the generation of video games and internet, classics like Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment have been adapted as graphic novels.
“Classic novels are worth revisiting and re-reading,” says Kavita Agarwal, an advertising professional, “and if the film adaptations twist the characters to suit the narration, it makes it an interesting watch. For example, the ‘bromance' between Watson and Sherlock Holmes adds a humorous touch to the characters.” She adds that one has to stop comparing the original book with the film adaptations.
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Still, there is a limit to what can be modified. As Bridget Jones vehemently writes in her diary, “I would hate to see Darcy and Elizabeth in bed, smoking a cigarette afterwards. That would be unnatural and wrong and I would quickly lose interest.”