‘The fairy tale is a global narrative form regardless of culture’

All of these film have female protagonist. The ladies who are main characters find themselves in a similar situation of finding happiness. I want to find out how

different cultures adopt fairy tale within their culture and genre. Nusuri Bibi

The Princess Diaries 2001

• Directed by Gary Marshall

A socially awkward but very bright 15-year-old girl being raised by a single mom discovers that she is the princess of a small European country because of the recent death of her long-absent father, who, unknown to her, was the crown prince of Genovia. She must make a choice between continuing the life of a San Francisco teen or stepping up to the throne. While Mia makes up her mind, she's pressed into taking princess lessons from her grandmother.

Bride & Prejudice2004

• Directed by Gurinder Chadha

A Bollywood-style update of Jane Austen's classic tale, in which Mrs. Bakshi is eager to find suitable husbands for her four unmarried daughters. When the rich single gentlemen Bal-raj and Darcy come to visit, the Bakshi’s have high hopes, though circumstance and boorish opinions threaten to get in the way of romance.

Fish Tank2009

• Directed by Andrea Arnold

Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.

Genre InfluenceIn the mise-en-scene there were obvious costumes, locations, set design and lighting to give the connotations of a fairy-tale. At first the royal them didn't come through as much because the queen/grandmother had come to San Francisco. However the audience could identify the royal household when we see security guards, butlers and a PA . On the day of the ball we see the queen, Mia and their guests wear expensive gowns and tiaras. This is the conventional costume for a queen and a princess. We could argue that "Disney princesses never really did have much to offer.”R.,L., Cosslett. (2013) Disney's makeover of its brave princess is cowardly. The Guardian, May, 1-2. This is because Mia was "a combination of Cinderella's dreams and hopes and sleeping beauty's waiting for a kiss that will rock her world . A renovated firehouse stands in place of Hansel and Gretel's house in the woods.” Collier, A. (2002) Journal of Feminist Family Therapy [eBook]. The Haworth Press. This clearly demonstrates that The princess diaries had intertextually been adapted from other Disney stories, which makes the narrative predictable.

Also, in the mise-en-scene, as part of one location we saw a castle. This is a conventional house for a royal like a princess.

As part of costumes the tiaras and gowns played a big part in the film as this demonstrates a false portrayal of women. As this encourages little girls to be an ideal princess and princesses give the connotation of a perfect appearance and a perfect life. "When I was six, all I wanted was to be a princess”. R.,L., Cosslett. (2013) Disney's makeover of its brave princess is cowardly. The Guardian, May, 1-2. However the queen in this film says to Mia ‘’People think to be a prince you have to marry a princess and live happily ever after but it’s so much more than that.” This dialogue from the queen argues that being a princess Is a real chore and it’s not always about dressing up and meeting your prince; as fairy tales in the past would usually perceive it.

Cultural Influence

Dancing has played a big part in my chosen films. It’s either a tradition or a hobby.In The Princess Diaries the characters are doing their traditional dance whilst Bride & Prejudice characters are also dancing, this is because Bollywood films are musicals however the first dance scene in Bride & Prejudice was inspired by Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice where they are dancing regency dance style. This was a way of socialising and finding a life partner. In Fish Tank the character Mia; grew a passion for urban dance. This type of dance is practised by anyone regardless their background and it’s also dance form which is supposed to be practised on streets, parks, parties, schools and raves. However Urban dancers usually have working class backgrounds and this was clearly demonstrated on Fish Tank.

Culturally marriage is important in India, the importance had been clearly demonstrated in Bride & Prejudice by showing 4 weddings in one film. The love story within this film has a ‘’context in which marriage is understood to be driven by considerations other romantic love.’’(Teen Film )Marriage is also important in Disney as a typical fairy-tale story would be about the princess waiting for her prince. This fairy tale narrative was also seen in The Princess Diaries, the princess finds her prince because he fancied her even when she was ‘invisible’ but due to Mia being young and only 16 she didn’t marry and that’s what the film series are there for. Marriage in Fish Tank however didn’t quite portray the ‘princess and prince’ but did slightly touch on themes of marriages and love. Research states that around 49% of single mothers have never married, 51% are either divorced, separated or widowed. Mia’s mum in Fish Tank was a single parent who became a mother at teenager.

Stylistic Elements Due to my films being from different genres and countries , the stylistic elements are different as they will be according to the culture of films. Bride & Prejudice is an International Bollywood film and therefore it’s a musical representing the Indian culture. The Indian culture was represented through mise-en-scene such as costume and locations. This film ‘s studio is both English and American, the purpose of this film having and English/ American studio could be because the language is Both Hindi and English making the mass audience an accepting audience towards other cultural influences. The film is also a postmodern film as it’s a hybrid of Bollywood, Hollywood and British.

In the Princess Diaries, the stylistic elements were also shown through costumes and location. This was evident thorough out the full film. In the cinematography there were varies of shot angles to give connotations of a certain feeling and mood at that time. In the princess diaries when Mia had been crowned princess there was a medium long shot of the queens and princesses back with all the guests looking at them .

This camera angle shows the guests happiness and appreciation in the new princess. The composition of the queen and princess at front shows how important they are. • Queens dialogues; • “I think you would make a very fine princess”• “People think to be a prince you have to marry

a princess and live happily ever after but it’s so much more than that.”

• “Eat, sleep, talk, walk, dress like a princess”

Fish Tank is a gritty British film, the stylistic elements differ to my other chosen films because, it’s a British independent film about a British teenager. The genre of this film is drama and has no fairy-tale elements. However I believe that the narrative is fairy-tale inspired as Mia struggles to follow her passion and with her naive personality falls in love with her mums boyfriend. Princess’s always have obstacles such as horrible family members, and traditions, for Mia, her obstacle was her mum and her rough background limiting her from fulfilling her dreams. I can also argue that fairy tale's always have a happy ending, and this film did end happily because Mia had left home with her new boyfriend, she was happy to be finally leaving her obstacles.

The portrayal of British teenagers from a rough background was evident in the film. Mia’s costume was track suit bottoms and vest/tops. Although this isn’t a stereotypical fairy-tale costume it still gives the message that anyone can have obstacles no matter where you’re from. Princess Amelia from the Princess Diaries had issues of her before becoming a princess, this proves that you don’t have to be rich to be a princess and nor have a decent lifestyle.