Stephanie Scott
Adapting Snow White Today: Narrative and Gender Analysis in the Television Show Once Upon a Time
This paper examines the narrative in the first season of the ABC television show Once Upon a Time (2011-Present) and the fairytale Snow White (1857) with a particular focus on female gender representation. The reappearance of fairytales in popular media provides a unique opportunity to examine how values between two very different time periods have changed. Utilizing a narrative approach allows the research to show the merits and limitations across adapting from an old text to a television serial. Once Upon a Time offers a progressive rendition of the character Snow White by challenging both the traditional narrative and the television serial narrative. Snow White’s relationships with other characters are also expanded upon in the televised tale and surround her heroic acts, rather than her beauty, which changes the values presented in the television series.
