"Bluebeard"

English > Analysis
Film > Analysis, Criticism, Etc.
Literature > Children

"Bluebeard"

An exploration of how modern horror films use concepts from fairy tales, with a focus on Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard".

916 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how most fairy tales told to young children follow a similar story line and how not all of the traditional tales have an aura of joy encircling the fair heroine. It discusses how Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard" is the stuff of nightmares and looks at two modern horror films, "The Cell" and "From Hell", that use traits from the story. It shows how themes include serial killings, a psychotic killer, secretive places of torment, and a final victim that arranges her own escape.

From the Paper:

"Another recent film that also uses traits from Perrault's "Bluebeard" is the 2001 release, "From Hell." Set in London during the Victorian age, the plot centers on a detective trying to solve the serial murders of the infamous Jack the Ripper. A group of female friends, cleverly called "the unfortunates," are being murdered one by one, and each time the killer takes one of her internal organs with him. At first, police don't think much of one of the town's prostitutes getting murdered, but when each girl in this group of friends becomes a victim and the officials find their corpses with body parts missing, detectives look for a motive. They point out that this killing "is methodical. The butchering is irrational, yet meticulous and deliberate, altogether a different breed of killer." "