Carly Pomeroy

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Sutherland, Wendy

Area of Concentration

Humanities

Abstract

This thesis looks at the themes present in the Sleeping Beauty tale and how they have changed over time in both text and film. Giambattista Basile’s Sun, Moon and Talia sets a foundation of the fairy tale and its themes that is later built off of by revisionist authors. While examining these revisionist stories, the common themes I’ve discovered and chosen to discuss are those of female dichotomy, male rescuers, and trauma. I argue that each new revisionist author adapts these themes to both fit changing social expectations through the decades and to promote the author’s own views. Changes in the ideals of motherhood, male honor and feminism are some of the many factors that influence revisionist authors to revise their stories the way they have. As such, even with the struggle modern authors have against the fairy tale myth supported by the Grimms and Disney versions, the fairy tale and its themes have certainly been adapted to each new audience its authors intended to reach out to.

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