Pop culture’s influence on mythological monsters as seen in children and young adult’s films

This dissertation explores mythological monsters’ (sirens, gorgons, fauns, and centaurs) origins as opposed to how they are portrayed by film adapters nowadays by applying theories from Roland Barthes, Gérard Genette and Robert Stam. The examples chosen are: 'The Little Mermaid', 'Clash of the Titans', 'Harry Potter', and 'Narnia'. Examples are given to show how monsters have, in fact, been altered and how they have not. The first chapter gives some background information regarding children’s films and the common genre of fantasy films, also providing information regarding monsters and monstrosity. It also introduces the theorists discussed in the entirety of the dissertation and what parts of their studies are discussed. The second chapter focuses on the theory of intertextuality found in these films, a common area of study for each of the three theorists. Discussing each theorist’s ideas on intertextuality, they are applied to the adaptations chosen to represent how each monster is portrayed now. Intertextuality allows the adapter to introduce influences they have had into their story, creating something new. The third chapter goes on to discuss structuralism and poststructuralism and how each of these are applied to the adaptations. Narratology also plays an important part of the subject and this can be seen in the discussion. The fourth chapter discusses the notions of the ‘doxa’/’paradoxa’, the ‘bricoleur’ and ‘iconophobia’/‘logophilia’ in relation to the monsters in the adaptations. This dissertation ultimately suggests that there have been some drastic changes made to the classical ancient Greek mythological monsters and yet, this trend does not seem to have affected other monsters within the same stories. These changes are explored in the aforementioned works.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Malta

Year dc:date.issued

2021

• Animals, Mythical
• Monsters in motion pictures
• Children's films
• Teen films
• Literature -- Adaptations
• Popular culture

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/82364

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.um.edu.mt:123456789/82364