ABSTRACT
The reasons for the exclusion of Central and Eastern European fairy-tale films in the West are due to World War II, the Cold War, monopoly control of distribution by western competitors, interference and censorship by the state-run movie industries in Central and Eastern Europe, different cultural tastes and priorities, and high costs of dubbing, subtitles, and film editing. There has not been a conspiracy to keep Central and Eastern European fairy-tale films from challenging or “subverting” western films. One can only shake one’s head sadly and acknowledge that we have been deprived of a cultural exchange that would have enriched East and West and hope that there will now be a real free exchange and that the “new” globalization of culture will not lead to the domination of the fairy-tale market by American commercial interests.
