It has been a common trend in recent popular culture, to pick apart the fairy tales of our childhood and reconstruct them into considerably darker forms, predominantly in films and art. It seems that with every week comes the release of a reimagining of a popular fable, significantly bleaker and more violent than its source. Examples include the popular comic series ‘Fables’, or the recent big screen adaptations Snow White and the Huntsman and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. While these adaptations have proven entertaining and lucrative, their preservation of the fantasy genre limits their social relevance—they remain far removed from our world and lives. However, some examples of this re-contextualisation address social reality in a more pertinent way. The evocative photography of Dina Goldstein and Thomas Czarnecki are good examples of how fairy tales can be used as a medium for exploring the faults of contemporary society. Based in Vancouver, Dina Goldstein recently released Fallen Princesses (2011), a body of photographs depicting iconic Disney protagonists in scenarios in which ‘the happily ever after is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues’.1 Goldstein claims to have been inspired to experiment with the idea for this collection by the occurrence of two parallel events in her life: the diagnosis of her mother with breast cancer and her young daughter’s discovery of the rose-tinted world of Disney. Struck by the absurdity of the contrast between reality and the ‘happily ever after’ that children grow to expect, Goldstein used her photographs to highlight this contrast and pay tribute to the women of the real world.2 Goldstein refutes the archetypal female role so often projected by Disney and instead tells the untold... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline
Dina Goldstein, Little Red Riding Hood
Thomas Czarnecki, Just a Trap – Alice, from the series From Enchantment to Down, 2009-12
