Narrative technique · used in 9 films
Shaping the story with fairy tale elements such as quests, enchanted figures and moral tests, or letting them break into a realistic world.
Examples
Victor Fleming · 1939
Dorothy's trip is a quest with magical helpers, a wicked enemy and a moral test. Each friend wants something they think they lack. The ending shows they had it all along, which is how many fairy tales teach their lesson.
Where to see it: The road to the Emerald City. Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, and each says what they want from the Wizard.
David Lynch · 1990
Lynch borrows from The Wizard of Oz, including a yellow brick road reference. Earlier, Lula throws water on a photograph of her mother Marietta, and it sizzles and vanishes, echoing the Wicked Witch's end. At the end, a street gang knocks Sailor out, and he sees Glinda the Good Witch.
Where to see it: The Good Witch. Glinda tells Sailor not to turn away from love, and he goes back to Lula.
Steven Spielberg · 2001
David decides to find the Blue Fairy after hearing the story of Pinocchio. His whole journey follows from that one childlike plan. The film keeps the quest simple, and that makes the long, strange ending hit harder.
Where to see it: The search for the Blue Fairy: David and Teddy go to the flooded ruins of New York City, looking for the fairy who can make him a real boy.
Jonathan Glazer · 2004
Glazer said he pictured the story as a fairy tale from early on, and it shows. A child arrives with a message from the dead, the grown-up world tries to shut him up, and a woman has to decide what she believes. The ordinary New York settings are treated like a storybook world with its own rules.
Where to see it: Party at Anna's mother's: the boy sneaks into the apartment and says he is Sean. A letter the next day warns Anna not to marry Joseph, and she realizes the boy truly believes it.
Terry Gilliam · 2005
Young girls vanish into a cursed forest, a tower holds an ageless queen and a horse swallows a child whole. The film borrows the curses, quests and enchanted creatures of the old stories. It sets them in a world of French soldiers and muddy villages.
Where to see it: The forest chase. An enchanted horse swallows a girl named Elsie and runs into the woods, and Angelika, the brothers and Cavaldi give chase.
Spike Jonze · 2009
Max leaves home after a fight, sails across the sea to an island of strange creatures, and is crowned king. He has to pass a test, which is to keep everyone happy, and he fails. Then he sails home to a plate of supper. The old shape gives a child's tantrum a mythic size.
Where to see it: The trip out and back. Max bites his mother, runs away by boat, and later sails home and reconciles with her.
Isao Takahata · 2013
The story is adapted from an old Japanese folktale about a girl found in a bamboo shoot. It has a magical birth, impossible tasks for suitors and a return to the moon. The film uses those pieces to ask what a good life is.
Where to see it: The suitors' tasks. Five noblemen court Kaguya, and she sets each an impossible task.
David Lowery · 2016
Pete is a wild child raised by a creature everyone thinks is a story. An old storyteller, Conrad, says he saw the dragon as a young man, and tells his daughter to believe the boy. The movie plays like a bedtime tale set in a realistic 1980s town.
Where to see it: Grace and Conrad: Pete gives Grace a drawing of Elliot and she shows her father Conrad, who says he found the same dragon when he was young. He tells her to trust Pete.
David Lowery · 2023
A girl is whisked away by a flying boy to an island of pirates, fairies and lost children. It has the shape of an old tale, with a wish, a journey, a villain and a return home. The story keeps asking what it costs to stay a child forever.
Where to see it: Leaving for Neverland: Wendy spends her last night at home before boarding school and says she does not want to grow up. Peter hears her wish and takes her and her brothers to Neverland.
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