Abstract.

CP:

How does changing the main character of a well known fairy-tale affect the inhabitants design and narrative in the imagined world?

Description:

Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz are imagined tales where the majority of the story takes place in their head. Something happens to these characters that sends them into this imagined world, eg. Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is knocked unconscious during a tornado and is sent plummeting into this world and Alice falls asleep under a tree, these two narratives run off that “it was all just a dream” type deals. 

My research into Imagination lead me to be interested in perception of imagination and how everyone imagines things differently, usually based on their experiences and upbringings. By keeping the same characters in these tales but changing the main character, I wish to see how I could push aesthetics and style and adjust the narrative but without losing the essence of the original tales.

Research

There have been numerous “re-imagining” of classic fairy-tales, for instance Snow White. Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman are re-tellings/re-imagining of the classic tale but the main character is still depicted the same way, a fair skinned woman with dark hair.

Strategy

I wish to look into designing a main character, fleshing out his habits, where he lives, hobbies etc and use this to apply an aesthetic to this new imagined world.

By doing a series of illustrations that are accompanied by text, I wish to create a short story book; these illustrations would be more than just depicting a scene but more of a compositional illustration encompassing possibly more than one narrative, a sort of mash up of scenes and characters.