Dr Katherine Whitehurst PhD

My research contemplates twentieth- and twenty-first century adaptations of fairy-tale and, more specifically, bildungsroman and reifungsroman narratives in literature, film, television and sequential art. It evaluates the relationship between form and content when investigating depictions of female maturation, childhood, sexuality, identity, gender, growth and ageing. This research details how contemporary adaptations challenge, re-imagine and reaffirm dominant ideologies and discourses surrounding the female body, as characters transition from childhood to adulthood, and adulthood to old age.

In partnership with this research, I am also currently exploring how older women’s engagement with contemporary fairy-tale films facilitates the emergence of cultural memories of youth and development, and advances a discussion of female ageing.