ABSTRACT
Writers for film and television have made use of free, public-domain myths and fairy tales in their work both as loose and faithful adaptations, as well as an endless source of influence for otherwise original storytelling. Salman Rushdie glorifies the dreams of a girl who is stuck on a farm in Kansas where nobody understands her, until the deus ex machina of a tornado sweeps her away to the fantasy land of Oz. This idea of combining storytelling with spinning is something that people see in the parallel storytelling tradition of female West African griots, who braid hair and tell stories. Fairy tales are in the public domain, so when the economy is bad or producers simply want to avoid spending six or seven figure sums on best-selling novels, movie studios love to adapt them. In terms of dramaturgy, there are secrets that Campion's white characters reveal to the Maori, seeking intercultural peace.
