Fantasy Film

Katherine A. Fowkes is the 2011 Ruth Ridenhour Distinguished Scholar at High Point University where she is a Professor of Media Studies. She is the author of Giving Up the Ghost: Spirits, Ghosts and Angels in Mainstream Comedy Films (1998).

"In true reflection of its straightforward—if generic—title, The Fantasy Film presents a useful foundation for deeper reflection on the complexities of the fantastic in film."  (Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 1 February 2014)"Written in prose that is careful and cogent, the book provides a defence of what Fowkes calls the "orphan" genre (unloved; neglected; even, perhaps, of questionable legitimacy), one which she argues has long been excluded from serious analysis by "dogmas of realism" that privilege "codes of . . . mimesis." (Times Literary Supplement, 18 February 2011)

• List of Plates ixAcknowledgements xi1 What’s in a Name: Defining the Elusive Fantasy Genre 12 Once upon a Time: A Brief Historical Overview 153 A Brief Critical Overview: Literary and Film Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror 384 The Wizard of Oz (1939): Over the Rainbow 555 Harvey (1950): A Happy Hallucination? 686 Always (1989): Spielberg’s Ghost from the Past 817 Groundhog Day (1993): No Time Like the Present 928 Big (1988): Body and Soul/‘‘Hearts and Souls’’ 1049 Shrek (2001): Like an Onion 11410 Spider-Man (2002): The Karmic Web 12411 The Lord of the Rings (2001–3): Tolkien’s Trilogy or Jackson’s Thrillogy? 13412 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005): A Joyful Spell 14513 Harry Potter I–VI (2001–9): Words are Mightier than the Sword 15614 Conclusion: Imagine That! 171References 175Index 186