Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Fairytale Land detectives Chris Anderson and Johnny Legend, from the children’s animated series The Fairytale Police Department, discussing the case of the missing poisoned apple, intended for Snow White. It begins with the Evil Queen briefing the duo on the apple’s disappearance. Following this the chief of detectives explains the importance of ensuring that the fairytale has the traditional happy ending, and shows the detectives a video to illustrate his point. However, Legend is fixated on the idea that the Evil Queen be arrested.

Educational value points

• This clip centres around a parody of the brains and brawn detective team – the smart detective Anderson and her partner, the so-called ‘Legend’. Legend believes that he is in a real-world crime story and his focus is on arresting and jailing the Evil Queen as a self-confessed poisoner. He fails to understand that their job in Fairytale Land is to rescue the conventional fairytale by restoring the original storyline.

• The clip shows that The Fairytale Police Department series combines the genres of fairytale and police detective television show, satirising both. Markers for the police detective genre are plentiful in the clip and include the intelligent female detective, the bumbling square-jawed male detective and the authoritarian bald-headed chief. Fairytale genre markers include the Evil Queen, the handsome prince, the happy ending sealed with a kiss and Snow White herself.

• The clip provides numerous examples of clever scriptwriting, particularly the satirical use of the vocabulary of the police detective genre. Various examples of stereotypical ‘cop talk’ are worked into Legend’s dialogue: ‘let’s cuff her and put her in the slammer’; put her ‘in the can and throw away the key’; and ‘doing two to twenty in the big house’. Just in case the viewers missed it, Anderson comments, ‘You love that sort of talk, don’t you?’

• The clip clearly references the look and feel of the well-known 1937 Walt Disney animation film of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although Snow White herself is a sophisticated contemporary version of Disney’s childlike version, the Evil Queen is reassuringly familiar with her crown, cape and forceful personality.

• The style of the animation and clever dialogue of the script are typical examples of the work of Yoram Gross-EM.TV, one of Australia’s most prolific producers of children’s animated programming, later known as Flying Bark Productions. Established in 1968, the company has produced the feature Blinky Bill, the mischievous koala (1992) and numerous television programs including Skippy, Adventures in Bushtown (1998) and Old Tom (2001).