الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Postmodern parody is mainly used to subvert that which it parodies. Fairy tales have been the target of several parodies due to their simplicity and familiarity. Fairy tales have been used throughout history to convey morals and expected behavioral codes to children. Postmodern parodies of fairy tales aim to criticize these morals and codes of behavior. While traditional fairy tales usually depict male characters in a superior position to female characters, revisionist fairy tales often deconstruct this notion by empowering and reinventing female characters. Through the use of parodic techniques, postmodern fairy tales aim to subvert the patriarchal values that are present in most traditional fairy tales. This thesis examines the transformations of three prominent fairy tales—“Cinderella,” “Snow White,” and “Little Red Riding Hood”—in the poetry of the British poet Roald Dahl (1916-90) who transforms the traditional fairy tales in order to challenge the conventional notions of gender paradigms. The thesis aims at examining the different transformations of the aforementioned fairy tales in Dahl’s volume of poetry Revolting Rhymes (1982). It explores how each poem challenges certain notions found in traditional fairy tales: female passivity, female inferiority, male superiority, and the happily-ever-after motif. This thesis will attempt to explore the three fairy-tale retellings through the lens of postmodern parody, with an emphasis on the six parodic techniques introduced by the American theorist Dan Harries in his book Film Parody (2000). Through employing Harries’s parodic techniques and adapting them to poetic use, the thesis will examine how these techniques are used to twist each fairy tale into a new one that vi blatantly challenges the gender paradigms and the happily-ever-after motif. The thesis will be the first to apply the above methodology on a poetic text. Key words: Roald Dahl, Postmodern Parody, Fairy Tales, Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood |