Duvall, Shelley, (1949– ), American actress, director, and producer. Between 1982 and 1985 she produced Faerie Tale Theatre, a series of 26 fairy‐tale adaptations, for the cable television network Showtime (see film and fairy tales). The series had been offered initially to Walt Disney Productions, but Duvall was unwilling to relinquish artistic control, which Disney demanded. None the less, the series is not unified by Duvall's own style, interpretation, or artistic influence. Instead, each roughly 50‐minute episode features famous actors and a well‐known director, which results in a wide range of visual styles and approaches to the original fairy tales. The tales themselves also cover a broad territory, and diversity seems to be the guiding criterion for the selections. Drawing on the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, The Arabian Nights, and other sources, the series includes adaptations of tales such as ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘The Dancing Princesses’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘The Nightingale’, ‘The Emperor's New Clothes’, ‘The Princess and the Pea’, ‘The Snow Queen’, ‘Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and other classic tales.
In only a few cases do the directors and actors take advantage of the live‐action medium and exploit the limits imposed by the made‐for‐television format. A case in point is ‘The Tale of the Frog Prince’, which was written and directed by Eric Idle and features the actors Robin Williams and Terri Garr. Idle brings his television experience with Monty Python and his satirical vision to bear on the Grimms' tale. As a result he effectively blends the fairy tale with adult comedy and challenges the viewer's expectations. In addition, Idle's parody exposes traditional fairy‐tale stereotypes, such as the equation of beauty with virtue, and ironically dissects the nature of power in society. The combination of Idle's irreverent humour and Williams's unpredictability creates an adaptation with surprises and new views of the traditional tale.
Despite the unevenness of the productions as significant fairy‐tale adaptations, Faerie Tale Theatre has had considerable popular success, especially in syndication and the home video market. Duvall has produced other television fare aimed at an audience of children, including Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends (1985–8) and Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories (1992–3).
Bibliography
- Haase, Donald, ‘Gold into Straw: Fairy Tale Movies for Children and the Culture Industry’,
The Lion and the Unicorn , 12.2 (December 1988). - Zipes, Jack, “‘Once Upon a Time beyond Disney: Contemporary Fairy‐Tale Films for Children’”, in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry (1997).
— Donald Haase
