ABSTRACT
Fairy tales appear to be everywhere today—in our cinemas and on our television screens. The success of series like Once Upon a Time (ABC, 2011–) and Grimm (NBC, 2011–2017) attests to their popularity. In this chapter I explore how the “magic mirror” analogy can be used as a tool for analyzing contemporary American television dramas: these narratives (to some extent) reflect our experiential reality, while also refracting that reflection through its implicit (occasionally explicit) metatextual commentary and framed as a simple fiction—merely an amusement. Specifically, this chapter will explore Once Upon a Time and Grimm, but also the earlier television series Beauty and the Beast (CBS, 1987–1990) and its recent reboot, Beauty and the Beast (The CW, 2012–2017).
