Representation of women in two different adaptations of "The Little Mermaid" fairy tale

Abstract

The representation of women in fairy tales has been one of the focus areas of feminist studies for decades. The discourses of the tales, especially about the representation of women, can confirm the patriarchal system. Fairy tales are also noteworthy because they are often adapted to movies. The extent to which these adaptations adhere to the fairy tale or what they prefer to change obviously may vary; the film’s director, its context, and its genre can, for instance, determine how the film was shot, what type of production it belongs to and what kind of content it will have. The aim of this thesis is to compare two versions of Hans Christian Andersen's tale “The Little Mermaid” adapted for cinema, The Little Mermaid (John Musker and Ron Clements, 1989) and The Lure (Agniezska Smoczyńska, 2015), in terms of female representation. While making this comparison, the films; focusing on the fact that they belong to two different periods and that they were produced by production forms such as mainstream and independent cinema, the main objective is to investigate how the representation of women and the codes underlined by the tale are conveyed to the audience through their narratives. During this research, feminist film theory will be used and films will be examined mainly through formal analysis while reflecting on their contextual differences