In 2009 Walt Disney published the movie "The Princess and the Frog", a story set in 1920s New Orleans. The particular thing of the movie was the return of Disney to traditional 2-D hand-drawn animation. But what kind of story is it? It would seem that this should be a remake of the old fairy tale "The Frog Prince".
But aside from classical components like the frog, magical moments, and the princess there are still a lot of changes in the content, characters and settings in the story. This leads to the question if "The Princess and a the Frog" is nevertheless a fairy tale with all these changes relating to the original story? To find out this essay will have a focus on the structural form of fairy tales.
To begin with, the essay considers a theoretical part about the origin and definition of fairy tales. It explores some characteristics and gives an overview about the genres the fairy tale belongs to. Afterwards it takes a closer look on the concept for structural analysis. In "Morphology of the Folktale" Vladimir Propp analysed fairy tales referring to their structure.
In continuation, segueing into the individual analysis of "The Princess and the Frog", the essay will study Disney’s story and Propp’s theory connectedly. It aims to find out what they have in common and to which extend they are quite different.
In the conclusion I will sum up and evaluate the key results gained by the former studies. It will additionally come back to the opening question if Disney’s story is still a fairy tale according to Propp’s analysis.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- The Fairy Tale - Origins and Definition
- Propp's Concept from the "Morphology of the Folktale"
- Analysis of Disney's The Princess and the Frog
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This essay aims to analyze the structural form of fairy tales using Vladimir Propp's theory of the "Morphology of the Folktale," specifically focusing on Disney's movie "The Princess and the Frog". It explores the origins and definition of fairy tales, analyzing the genre's characteristics and its connection to folk literature.
- The origins and definition of the fairy tale genre
- The characteristics and subgenres of folk literature
- Propp's concept of structural analysis in "Morphology of the Folktale"
- Comparing Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" to Propp's theory
- The structural similarities and differences between Disney's film and traditional fairy tales.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Introduction: The essay introduces Disney's movie "The Princess and the Frog," highlighting its return to traditional animation. It raises the question of whether this movie can be classified as a fairy tale despite its deviations from traditional storytelling. The essay outlines its focus on the structural form of fairy tales, using Propp's theory for analysis.
- The Fairy Tale - Origins and Definition: This chapter delves into the definition and origins of the fairy tale genre, situating it within the larger context of folk literature. It examines the characteristics of fairy tales and their relationship to myths, legends, and other subgenres of folk literature.
- Propp's Concept from the "Morphology of the Folktale": This chapter introduces Vladimir Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale" and its significance in analyzing fairy tale structure. It outlines Propp's theory of syntagmatic structural analysis and how it contrasts with Lévi-Strauss's paradigmatic approach. Propp's method focuses on analyzing the text's structure separate from its social and cultural context, identifying functions of character roles to determine a consistent plot structure across different fairy tales.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The essay focuses on fairy tales, folk literature, structural analysis, Vladimir Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale", character functions, plot structure, Disney's "The Princess and the Frog," and the comparison between traditional fairy tale elements and the film's adaptation.
- Citation du texte
- Kirsten Burmeister (Auteur), 2015, Mophology of the fairy tale. Disney's literary original "The Princess and the Frog" analysed on the basis of Propp's „Morphology of the folktale“, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/335550
