Wayne State University Press Reality, Magic, and Other Lies: Fairy-Tale Film Truths (Series in Fairy-Tale Studies)

Review In this searching and honest study, Greenhill illuminates an important passage of cultural history in which the challenge to this ogre whose 'many shapes and names all turn us pale' has been powerfully made.--Andrew Teverson "Folklore" (12/2/2021 12:00:00 AM)Citing a veritable plethora of film, folklore, culture, race, gender, and other theorists, Pauline Greenhill's Reality, Magic and Other Lies: Fairy Tale Film Truths does critical and culturally important work in the guise of fairy-tale film analysis. In six, theoretically dense chapters, she lays out the case for taking fairy tales seriously, not as objective truth but as a way to deconstruct the world and sometimes offer alternative views for peaceful, appropriate, intersectionally multifaceted encounters with humans, nonhuman animals, and the rest of the environment.--Teresa Cutler-Broyles "Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts" (12/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)Reality, Magic, and Other Lies is a comprehensive, sophisticated study of how fairy-tale and fantasy films contain more truth than so-called conventional realistic films. But this is not Greenhill's only accomplishment. She is a thoughtful and astute critic who pierces many false notions about magic and wonder, and on the basis of numerous, largely independent fairy-tale films, she demonstrates that their alternative worlds offer hope that we can change the depraved conditions of our present reality. Her book is, indeed, marvelous and opens our eyes to the power of fantasy in all its forms and aspects.--Jack Zipes "author of The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of the Fairy-Tale Film" (5/29/2020 12:00:00 AM)An excellent source of subject readings or reference material for a modern fairy tale or folklore course or researcher.--Alissa Renales "Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature" (9/1/2020 12:00:00 AM)Greenhill's brilliant close readings invite us to reflect anew on how some fairy-tale media unsettle expectations of reality, truth, wonder, magic, or science; how fairy-tale films do not always take the shape of fantasy; and how, by making the impossible thinkable, fairy tales on screen can provide visual and narrative alternatives for imagining our bodies, communities, and futures. A must-read not only in fairy-tale studies but in film and media studies as well as in studies of the fantastic, Reality, Magic, and Other Lies: Fairy-Tale Film Truths promises to spark lively discussion within and across these fields.--Cristina Bacchilega "University of Hawai?i at Manoa" (5/29/2020 12:00:00 AM)Greenhill's lively and accessible book provides a pioneering venture into the wonders and truths of fairy-tale cinema. It is an excellent piece of scholarship. Precise interrogation of the films is skillfully matched with a dexterous discussion of broader, overarching themes. I am sure it will quickly become the definitive text in its field.--Laura Hubner "professor of film, University of Winchester, UK" (5/29/2020 12:00:00 AM)In addition to addressing head-on the crucial concepts of fairy-tale facts and magic, this book brings more direct attention to intersectionality and fairy-tale media than other works so far, along with fresh insights on queer and feminist approaches.--Jill Rudy "Journal of Folklore Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology" (5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM) Product Description Reality, Magic, and Other Lies: Fairy-Tale Film Truths explores connections and discontinuities between lies and truths in fairy-tale films to directly address the current politics of fairy tale and reality. Since the Enlightenment, notions of magic and wonder have been relegated to the realm of the fanciful, with science and reality understood as objective and true. But the skepticism associated with postmodern thought and critiques from diverse perspectives-including but not limited to anti-racist, decolonial, disability, and feminist theorizing-