Table of Contents

List of Plates ix

Acknowledgements xi

1 What’s in a Name: Defining the Elusive Fantasy Genre 1

2 Once upon a Time: A Brief Historical Overview 15

3 A Brief Critical Overview: Literary and Film Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror 38

4 The Wizard of Oz (1939): Over the Rainbow 55

5 Harvey (1950): A Happy Hallucination? 68

6 Always (1989): Spielberg’s Ghost from the Past 81

7 Groundhog Day (1993): No Time Like the Present 92

8 Big (1988): Body and Soul/‘‘Hearts and Souls’’ 104

9 Shrek (2001): Like an Onion 114

10 Spider-Man (2002): The Karmic Web 124

11 The Lord of the Rings (2001–3): Tolkien’s Trilogy or Jackson’s Thrillogy? 134

12 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005): A Joyful Spell 145

13 Harry Potter I–VI (2001–9): Words are Mightier than the Sword 156

14 Conclusion: Imagine That! 171

References 175

Index 186

About the Author

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).

Reviews

"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)