The cinema of Terry Gilliam as wonder tales: A Proppian analysis of the fairy tale narrative in films

Having a desire of being a part of the fairy tale heroes, which dates back to his childhood, Terry Gilliam has had the privilage of experiencing various things related to rural and city life. The journey he started with fairy tails has been supported with the animations influencing his career in film. Fairy tales in his movies are a part of his character. This indicates some sort of a signature. One could see the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in "Time Bandits"; "Alice in Wonderland" in "Tideland"; various fairy tale concepts in "The Wholly Family"; "Red Riding Hood", "Hansel and Gretel", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Rapunzel" in "The Brothers Grimm". In this thesis, Vladimir Propp analysis is used on films of Gilliam. Propp has discovered the wonder tales has thirty one functions. For that, this thesis called "The Cinema of Terry Gilliam as Wonder Tales: A Proppian Analysis of the Fairy Tale Narrative in Films" consists of three sections. The scope of the study is the films of Terry Gilliam in the context of wonder tales analysed through Propp's terms. This study aiming to determine whether if the analysed films meet with Propp's thirty one functions on wonder tales and also consists of the stages of film scripts to be analysed and interpreted. Fairy tales with their unique structure coming from their ability to present experiences of past cultures has an important place. Only after the transciption of the auricular tradition called the folk tales, the evolution became visible. Nevertheless, fairy tales has an important place for changing the existing perspectives on the concepts of humankind and society. Not only acting as a preparative element for the bedtime of kids, fairy tales are often ignored as for their guidence in adolescence and being seen only as a tool for recreational activities. The relationships between the children and their parents in the films of Gilliam are being interrupted by fairy tale characters and this is being narrated from the children's perspective.With being the main element as children in the films of Terry Gilliam and his films being based on fairy tales, a selection consisting of four films of his: "Time Bandits", "Tideland", "The Wholly Family" and "The Brothers Grimm" is being discussed. Literature research has been made in this study and the films chosen have been analysed through Propp's method.