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Published in the Slovak Republic Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie) Has been issued since 2005 ISSN 1994-4160 E-ISSN 1994-4195 2020, 60(1): 144-153
DOI: 10.13187/me.2020.1.144 www.ejournal53.com
Complex Text Analysis of German Fairytale Screen Adaptations (In the Context of Media Education Principles and Objectives)
Vera Merkuryeva a , *, Anna Shadrina a
a Irkutsk State University, Russian Federation
Abstract
This article provides a detailed and comprehensive review of "King Thrushbeard" screen adaptations shot in 1965 (GDR), 1971 (FRG) and 2008 (FRG). The work with these media texts consists of several types of text analysis: linguistic analysis, hermeneutic analysis of cultural context, aesthetic analysis, semiotic and comparative analysis. The study reveals the methods of expanding the initial form of the fairy tale in the process of its adaptation and the functional role of language elements: vocabulary, stylistic devices, grammatical forms, etc. in accordance with the director's idea of adaptation. Moreover, the authors highlight certain stylistic and artistic aspects of media texts created in FRG and GDR and carry out analytical work with YouTube comments to the above-mentioned films, which gives abundant material for the analysis of modern German language.
The authors of the article, being the followers of the Irkutsk School of Media Education, the main concept of which is to combine media literacy and foreign language teaching in one discipline, actively apply this type of complex text analysis in German language classes at a linguistic university. They believe that such methodological principle of language learning develops the communicative competence of students, helps them to improve their discussion skills, teaches them to summarize, to think in a foreign language, instead of translating their thoughts from their native language into a foreign language.
Keywords: screen adaptation, fairy tale, Grimm brothers, German language, text analysis, linguistic analysis, media competence, media education.
1. Introduction
The main task of a foreign language teacher is to form a sufficiently high level of students' communicative competence, so that they can solve social and communicative problems in various fields of everyday life, and during cultural, professional and scientific activities. To achieve this goal, students have to learn the language system in the process of communication. However, difficulties in expressing one's thoughts in a foreign language, inability to make a spontaneous monologue, etc. still remain the burning problems of linguistic education. This issue has been repeatedly touched upon by researchers in the field of pedagogy and teaching. For example back in 2012, L. A. Ivanova and A. E. Maltseva noted in their scientific work: "practice still shows the lack of foreign language communication skills among schoolchildren (and students - noted by V.M. and A. Sh.), the presence of communication barriers, the inability to carry out a foreign language media communication in the virtual information space with representatives of different foreign cultures,
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: vbmerk@yandex.ru (V.B. Merkuryeva)
etc." (Ivanova, Maltseva, 2012: 68). And, as our experience of teaching in a linguistic university shows, this problem has not lost its relevance over time.
Today, scientists are actively searching for new approaches, methods and scientific concepts that would contribute to more effective formation of language skills and competencies. For example, many Russian educational institutions are switching to interactive/dialogue methods of language learning: work in small groups, round tables, discussions, conferences, role-plays, etc. (Abzalova, Nelyubina, 2014; Kargina, 2015; Prus et al., 2018; Sidakova, 2017; Yarunina, 2017).
In addition, many research papers prove the effectiveness of using video materials in foreign language classes, because video has a number of advantages over audio and printed information. "Visual information allows you to better understand and consolidate factual information and language features of speech, as visual support contributes to a complete and accurate understanding of the meaning, activating attention and memory and contributing to the development and skills of listening and speaking. ... Video also provides all the paralinguistic features of language that only audio can't" (Petrenko, Philippov, 2017: 1).
This technique has been successfully applied all over the world and has yielded great results. For example, a study conducted by the University of Ghana showed that students were more likely to attend foreign language classes where feature films were shown and then analysed. Students were also asked to evaluate the extent to which they had improved their knowledge in this discipline since taking the course. "In the four consecutive semesters that the course was offered, the overall score by the students was 4.37 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means "poor" and five means "excellent". This translates into an overall percentage score of 87.45 % and crudely indicates that the methodology is excellent" (Csajbok-Twerefou, 2010: 55).
Teachers at the South East European University (Northern Macedonia) also received positive feedback from their students when, in addition to reading texts, they also used to work with videos (films) in their foreign language classes. According to them, the students were happy to participate in group discussions, as well as do written film review assignments and vocabulary exercises. Thus, they focused more on the active use of language, rather than on the consolidation of grammar. The atmosphere in the auditorium was relaxed, which facilitated joint work; students interacted with each other and as a result got excellent results. In this regard, the teachers concluded that "one of the advantages of using movies is that visual images stimulate student's perceptions directly, while written words can do this indirectly. Movies are more sensory experience than reading - besides verbal language, there is also color, movement, and sound. The movie-based experimental class was livelier and the students were more interested in following the lesson carefully, contrary to the other class were reading was presented through graded readers only. Movie viewing experiences further created more student-teacher and student-student discussions" (Ismaili, 2013: 128).
We, in turn, also apply this method in our foreign language classes in order to increase the communicative competence of students, but we do not only and not so much use video materials as an auxiliary means of learning, artificially recreating the language environment and simulating the real situation of communication. We prefer the approach of the Irkutsk School of Media Education, the main concept of which is to combine media education and foreign language teaching in one discipline.
2. Materials and methods
Our work with students is based on a comprehensive and detailed analysis of foreign language media texts. It is a combination of several types of text analysis: hermeneutic analysis of cultural context, aesthetic analysis, semiotic, linguistic and comparative analysis. The first three were described in detail by A. Fedorov, one of the main theorists of media education today.
Hermeneutic analysis of the cultural context, according to A. Fedorov, is a process of "a media text interpretation, an interpretation of cultural and historical factors influencing the point of view of a media text agency/author and the point of view of the audience. Hermeneutic analysis implies comprehension of a media text through comparison with cultural tradition and reality; penetration into the logic of a media text; analysis of a media text through comparison of imageries in a historical and cultural context" (Fedorov, 2011: 48).
Aesthetic analysis consists in the study of artistic aspects of media culture works in order to "help the audience understand the basic principles and language of media texts directly related to art, to develop aesthetic/artistic perception and taste, the skills of a qualified aesthetic analysis.
That is why the main focus lies on the analysis of media culture language and the critical analysis of the author's concept of artistic media text" (Fedorov, 2009: 42).
Semiotic analysis implies analyzing symbols, signs and codes in media texts, linguistic analysis - revealing the functional role of language units: word choice, figures of speech, grammatical forms in accordance with the author's idea of adaptation, etc.
In our opinion, such interaction with a media text within the framework of a linguistic discipline can develop the ability to observe, summarize and formulate thoughts in a foreign language.
As a material for the study, we chose German-language screen versions of Grimms' fairy tales, because, as A. Fedorov notes, it is much easier (at least at the first stage of the studying process) to use media texts with stable structural codes, in other words, works with a strong fairytale, mythological basis, or entertainment genre basis (Fedorov, 2019).
All analyzed screen versions are coherent, integral, and completed media texts with the general text features (presence of the author, recipient, genre, etc.) and categories. Students study in detail the audiovisual sequence of these media texts and, above all, its linguistic component (characters' lines, voice-over, song lyrics, as well as captions, if any are present).
3. Discussion
The idea of combining the study of a foreign language with the language of authentic media is not new. As mentioned above, for the first time in the Russian-speaking media education environment, this methodology was proposed by the Irkutsk School of Media Education headed by L.A. Ivanova. According to this concept, the combination of media education and foreign language teaching in one academic discipline is logical, because "both phenomena, based on the idea of communication, have a common genesis" (Ivanova, Verbitskaya, 2014: 5). Representatives of the abovementioned scientific school believe that such a combination will allow teachers to correctly form the media competence of the secondary language personality, i.e. the integral characteristic of a personality, comprising its motives, knowledge and skills that contribute to the implementation of foreign language media communication at intercultural level. To date, this can be seen as an indispensable requirement for training professionals in conditions of intercultural contacts and global technologization / informatization of public life (Khlyzova, 2016).
The development of media competence of a secondary language personality is a result of its interaction with foreign-language media, "the substance of which is understanding of the comparative value of a media product, its emotional and semantic relations and the hidden component" (Ivanova, 2013: 108). This is how language learners develop the professional qualities that are in high demand today, such as "a personality capable of interacting with foreign language media information's streams in global informational space: to carry out the search, to analyze, critically evaluate and create media texts spread with the help of different mass media and communication means, in all their variability" (Ivanova, Verbitskaya, 2014: 4).
Likewise, Renee Hobbs, Professor of Communication Studies at the Harrington School of Communication and Media (Rhode Island University), when discussing the media competence of a person, quotes in one of her scientific papers the words of another famous researcher in the field of media education, W. James Potter, who "claims that people who are knowledgeable about media industries, media messages, and media effects may have a better appreciation of the context in which messages circulate; for example, such knowledge may help people become more active, strategic, and goal-seeking in their use of media" (Hobbs, 2011: 420). Similar ideas can be found in recent scientific works devoted to media and education (Craft et al., 2017; Jolls, Johnsen, 2018; Maksl et al., 2018; Mihailidis, Viotty, 2017; Potter, 2018; Tully, Vraga, 2018; Turner et al., 2017; Vraga, Tully, 2019). Evidently, media literacy should be an integral part of any education today (including foreign language teaching), because countless conspiracy theories, misinformation, fake news, personal data 'acquisition' etc. are very common in modern society, therefore we should help our students to become more critical consumers of media.
In addition, in this age of media technology, texts acquire new forms and are not exclusively verbal, they include images, sound, graphics, videos, etc., therefore "these technologies of textualization ... require interpretative skills that extend beyond those of "reading" (Kern, 2018: 2). In order to work with such media texts, students need to acquire new competencies, skills and techniques, which can be described by the general concept "media literacy". At the same time, "in addition to a focus on the content of videotext (that is, what it contains in terms of images, words,
and sounds), a media literate L2 instructor would also draw attention to aspects of Videotext production (who made it for which audience) and construction (why and how it generates meaning). Alongside listening skill development, the media literacy skills of analysis, evaluation, and communication would be promoted" (Gruba, 2006: 87).
However, this is not the only reason for teaching students to be media literate. Currently, scientists are actively studying the process of unconscious acquisition of a foreign language by schoolchildren and students in their free time due to their involvement in global online communities, creative online activities in the inter-lingual space (for example, writing fan fiction in a foreign language based on famous films and books, video games and participation in online communities of gamers, making subtitles for movies and TV series, communication in comments on YouTube, etc.), numerous works in the field of foreign language teaching and media education are devoted to this subject (Arndt, Woore, 2018; Benson, 2015; de Haan et al., 2010; Godwin-Jones, 2014; 2015). These activities are a sort of entertainment, a hobby for schoolchildren and students and therefore are not seen as obligatory educational activities. In this case, their real passion for the process and personal motivation leads to the natural acquirement of communication skills. Nevertheless, this process also needs to be controlled.
There is also a lot of online material, apps, and language learning resources that students can use on their own, outside the classroom (Hockly, Dudeney, 2018; Lin et al., 2016). And, as foreign language teachers, our main goal is to teach them how to utilize this entire toolbox, "to enable and encourage our students to gain the knowledge, skills, and motivation to become autonomous language learners and culturally responsible participants in local and online communities. Capability in a full range of digital literacies is key to that process and vital today in education, personal life, and work environments" (Godwin-Jones, 2015: 8).
That is why, this area of methodological and pedagogical research is considered to be quite promising and innovative. In our opinion, such education not only broadens the horizon of a secondary language personality and prepares it for the existence in the global media space, but also fully develops its communicative competence, which makes a great contribution to the solution of the problem raised at the beginning of this article, i.e. it really helps students to improve their discussion skills, teaches them to think in a foreign language, and not to translate their thoughts from their native language. Moreover, an audiovisual media text, due to its complex semiotic structure, is a more interesting and multifaceted object for analysis than a verbal text, which can be an additional motivation source in the learning process.
4. Results
Taking into account all the above-mentioned information, we present a complex comparative analysis of three different screen adaptation of Grimms' fairy tale King Thrushbeard (Die Brüder Grimm König Drosselbart): 1965 (GDR), 1971 (FRG), 2008 (FRG). This analysis can be conducted during a German language class.
The text of the original fairy tale (depending on the particular edition and line spacing) consists of 2-3 pages in different sources. Therefore, the very first question to ask is how the authors of screen adaptations manage to "stretch" the story for an hour and a half (or two) and what is the reason for the "time extension" of the fairy tale in films?
As an answer, we expect to hear following: poems, songs (most of which do not occur in the original), dances and fencing (also absent in the original text), some new scenes introduced into the narrative (e.g., swimming in a lake in the 2008 film adaptation), detailed display of the market where the princess trades, detailed representation of the princess's fiancés, their individualization, new jokes (added by modern directors), etc. This list can be expanded further, it depends on the students' attention: the princess changing her clothes, choosing and criticizing the dresses, her caprices, new characters added to the fairy tale plot (e.g. the king's sister in the 2008 film adaptation) and much more. Spontaneous or prepared answers contribute to the students' vocabulary enrichment, e.g. names of the card games one of the grooms proposes to play while they wait for the princess in the DEFA film - "Schafkopf oder Sechsundsechzig". Note that writing down and listening to the new songs and remarks in order to answer these questions during multiple (home) viewing contributes significantly to the development of the ability to understand a foreign language text.
When working on media texts (in this case fairy tale films), it is important to interpret nonverbal elements as well. For example, there is a moment in the 1965 screen version when the
princess herself bandages the coachman's hand, causing disapproval of the maid of honor, who notes that this behavior is not appropriate for the princess and would upset the king - the princess's father. This is one of the few episodes that shows the moody and impulsive princess from an unexpected side, namely, as a kind and compassionate girl.
We also see kinesic elements (gestures, looks, facial expressions) as an important part of nonverbal means. They help to specify and extend the portrait of the characters by cinematic means, make students keenly observant and expand their vocabulary. A good example to demonstrate that is the episode where the princess first meets King Thrushbeard in the woods in the 1965 film adaptation. Her face shows genuine interest at first, however, when the king comes closer, she frowns and glares at him in contempt (because she is a royal person), her self-control does not allow her to show any affection for a young man of unknown origin.
After a slight altercation in the beginning of the same film, the king unexpectedly gives flowers not to the princess, but to her maid of honor (both are sitting in the carriage). The princess snorts. Students are asked to interpret this example of paralanguage. Here we can see her humiliated ego, because she was ignored, and the desire to show contempt for this "stupid" behavior of the king. It is worth noting, that the film authors choose non-verbal means again in order to show the princess's feelings when she is alone in one of the rooms of her palace and finds this bouquet of wildflowers, forgotten by the maid of honor. The princess gently touches the flowers, pours water into a vase and puts them into it. The viewer understands that she actually cares about the young king's attention. However, when she meets him, she only makes offending comments on him, demonstrating her independence, disobedience and contempt for the king.
In 1971 screen version, King Thrushbeard takes the princess away from the palace to his poor hut and makes her work. He constantly criticizes the girl, who does not have any household skills. The king's real feelings for the princess are also shown by non-verbal means, namely when the king wakes up early in the morning and the princess is still asleep. His look and hand movement give away his affection, he admires his sleeping wife. Students find similar scenes and comment on them in German.
The contradictory character of the princess is well shown in the 1965 film version not only due to non-verbal techniques, but also with the help of stylistic devices. When saying goodbye to the princess after the first meeting in the woods, King Thrushbeard tells her: "Ob ihr glaubt oder nicht, auf fröhliches Wiedersehen!"(Believe it or not, I'll be glad to see you again!). The princess answers him: "Ob ihr glaubt oder nicht, auf Nimmerwiedersehen!" (Believe it or not, I'll be glad to see you never again!)
These sentences are structured in the form of a parallelism accompanied by an anaphora (repetitive beginning of neighboring clauses) - Ob ihr glaubt oder nicht. This phrase also contains an archaic form of address ihr (you) (2nd person plural), typical for fairy tales, instead of the pronoun Sie (3rd person singular), which is used today in the same situation. Parallelism in the characters' dialogue helps to understand that the form of their lines is similar, but the content is opposite in meaning. Each character adheres to his or her own way of behaving. The princess immediately uses the same grammatical construction as the king at the beginning of the sentence, but fills it with a new content, which indicates her grasping mind. The same behavior is also typical for the king.
King Thrushbeard and the princess always compete with each other in witty comments, call each other funny names using periphrasis, which is not the case in the original fairy tale. The king calls the princess Kratzbürste (shrew), kitschige Puppe (tasteless doll), Prinzessin Übermut (princess Arrogance), but also Allerliebst (the most beloved one).
A similar war of words was shown in the 2008 film version. The first time the main characters met, the princess called the king Eitler Gockel (vain peacock), Nichtsnutz (good-for-nothing), der König der Mücken (king of mosquitoes), der Herr der Fliegen (lord of the flies). The girl usually prefers periphrasis with negative semantics, she often comes up with a wide variety of insults due to her contentious nature and will pay for it later.
On the contrary, the king is very polite and inventive in his choice of compliments: "Und ihr gleicht dieser Rose hier. In Eurer Anmut, Eurer Schönheit" (And you can be compared with this rose. In your tenderness, in your beauty). But then he adds: "Nur fehlen ihr die Stacheln" (Only it doesn't have thorns) and gives the princess a rosebud that doesn't have thorns indeed. This metaphor characterizes princess Isabella as a rose (a beautiful and gentle girl), the thorns are her
sharp tongue and a habit to argue and contradict constantly. After the king leaves, she shows her contentious temper to her servants again.
They tell her: "Der Kleidermacher wartet" (the tailor awaits).
Princess Isabella answers: "Soll er doch warten, bis er schimmelt" (Let him wait until he's covered in mold). Hyperbole bis er schimmelt is quite aggressive and highlights the princess's arrogance.
It should be noted that in 2008 film version, King Thrushbeard has his name as in the original text and the princess gets a specific name Isabella. It is her speech that deviates most from the original text. She often uses swear words, minces no words in expressing her anger or disagreement, and her speech is similar to the modern language.
However, this film version preserves the archaic vocabulary as well, and this is the vocabulary often used by King Thrushbeard: "Mir deucht" (I think). The king is gallant, polite, and speaks in grand style: "Euer Wunsch ist mir Befehl" (Your wish is my command!). The maids of honor also use the outdated vocabulary, e.g. der Kleidermacher (tailor). This type of vocabulary creates the atmosphere of a fairy tale, of old times in which the fairy tale story usually takes place.
The 2008 adaptation shows the market trading scene in a very detailed way. At first, Princess Isabella does not want to sell the goods, but her husband makes a strong argument in an almost aphoristic form: "Besser verspottet als verhungert" (it is better to be ridiculed than to die of hunger). Besides, many ironic phrases can be heard in the market scene, where everyone shouts out the names of the goods: "Krug ohne Henkel, das ist wie Schwein ohne Kopf" (a jug without a handle is like a pig without a head), "...oder Fisch ohne Wasser" (or a fish without water). These and other similar examples of folklore and aphoristic expressions from different film versions can be interpreted by students.
The moment of the king's transformation into a beggar is shown unexpectedly simple in all adaptations. Media texts seem to have all the possibilities to make the king unrecognizable. However, the authors of screen adaptations use a minimal set of visual elements. In the 1965 screen version, King Thrushbeard just covers the scar on his forehead with a large strand of hair, in the 1971 screen version King Thrushbeard, who became a stray musician, just shaves off his beard, and in the 2008 film version of the fairy tale he just glues a mustache and a beard of another shape to his face and puts a cloak on his shoulders. Thus, the king is easily recognized by the viewers, but not by the princess and her entourage, who no longer see the same character in this slightly changed man. Students may be asked to reflect on the question: Why do all the directors use such inexpressive symbols to show the transformation of the king? Perhaps the answer lies in peoples' inability to notice many qualities in one person, e.g. the princess recognizes neither a successful ruler in King Thrushbeard, nor a practical man who knows how to stoke a fire, cook, milk goats, etc.
Another interesting task is to demonstrate with examples that the 1965 screen version of the fairy tale was filmed at the DEFA studio (GDR) and differs from the screen versions filmed in West Germany.
If students are not able to cope with this challenging task, the teacher can ask them to rewatch the marriage blessing scenes in all three adaptations. In films shot in West Germany, the marriage of the princess and the beggar (King Thrushbeard) is blessed by a priest. In the GDR film version, the king himself (the princess's father) performs the rite of blessing. Note, that in the original version of the fairy tale a priest is invited to carry out this procedure and marry the couple:".der Pfarrer ward geholt, und sie mußte sich gleich mit dem Spielmann trauen lassen" (.the priest was called, and she had to be married with the minstrel immediately) (Zum., 1985: 11).
Students conclude that in a socialist country the society was atheistic, thus the laws of this society, which denied the church, can be seen even in the fairy tale genre. In addition to non-verbal means, we also find an important verbal means - a song performed by King Thrushbeard, who is dressed as a minstrel, in order to earn money for an apple (this song is not present in the original Grimms' fairy tale).
Wer überreich wird ohne Sinn Und gibt dem Hochmut dann sich hin, Weil er so reich, der wird oft unerträglich! Zu reich und auch zu arm betören täglich Bei vielen Menschen den Verstand!
Who gets extra rich without any reason And then succumbs to arrogance, Because he is too rich, Is often so unbearable. Lots of people have their mind bewitched
Weil großer Reichtum Zucht verschlingt Und Armut um Besinnung bringt, Wird beides rechtens schlecht genannt.
The princess understands that the lyrics are directly related to her. She refuses to have an apple, although she insistently demanded it before the king's performance. The song also has a generalizing meaning. Reflections on wealth and poverty have an enlightening function, typical for every fairy tale. In the Grimms' fairy tale, the idea of reeducating the rich princess by placing her into poor conditions is present as well, but there is no condemnation of wealth and poverty as such in the text of the fairy tale. The fairy tale only criticizes the stubborn, flighty nature of the capricious princess. Criticism of wealth and disapproval of poverty (although sympathy for the poor is certainly present) is characteristic of the film version shot in the GDR. In a veiled form (in the lyrics of the song), the film creators expressed their attitude towards the topic of the fairy tale (condemnation of wealth as a key factor for the heroine's arrogance and disapproval of poverty as unacceptable life conditions). Thus, the authors of the screen version showed their belonging to the ideology of the socialist state.
In the GDR film, the special personality traits of the princess are also evident at household level: she does not need the help of assistants and servants and does everything herself, she does not like wigs, expensive and pretentious clothes, she prefers natural hair and simple, but tastefully made dresses. Interestingly, A. Fedorov notes "the strong informational impact of media texts, if I may put it that way, is utilitarian and practical: how to succeed in love, to prevent danger, to be able to stand up for oneself in a critical situation, to dress in a fashionable way, to make good acquaintance, etc." (Fedorov, 2009: 67). The fashion preferences of the princess, songs and dances are different in every screen adaptation, which allows students to express their own preferences in depicting royal (fairytale) life in palaces at balls and feasts.
Another task would be to name the best screen version of the fairy tale and explain the answer. Aside from students' own arguments, it is suggested to use YouTube comments on films as arguments. In addition to evaluative judgments, the stylistic coloring of these emotional statements made in informal style by native German speakers is very interesting.
The 1965 film version (GDR) is considered to be the best in comparison with other adaptations, even in the YouTube comments to the 1971 West German film:
Helmur kmmr9
Ich bin zwar schon alt, aber ich schaue mir immer wieder gerne Märchen an. Aber das mit Manfred Krug fand ich besser obwohl es auch nur Bühnenaufname war. (Although I'm old, I still enjoy watching fairy tales. But I consider the fairy tale with Manfred Krug (the performer of the leading role from the GDR fairy tale film - noted by V.M., A. Sh.) more successful, though it is rather theatrical).
Another opinion that coincides with the previous one was also found in the comments to the film made in West Germany in 1971:
Horst Bronk
Man ist ja übel dübel...das DEFA Märchen hat da wiederum Klasse ... (Well, that is a bad thing to say... the DEFA fairy tale showed a lot of style again).
In advanced groups, it is possible to discuss the director's goals in the process of filming fairy tales and the introduction of modern problems into the fairy tale plot. It is also recommended to choose some relevant comments as an example:
TigerbabieIna
Ein verwöhntes Töchterchen welches alle Menschen nach dem Äußeren bzw. Geld be- und verurteilt. Sie wäre selbst nicht im Stande zu überleben. Das wird ihr aufgezeigt. Ohne Geld von Papi ist das Leben leider sehr hart (A spoiled child who judges all people by their appearance and money. She would not be able to survive on her own. This is shown to her. Without daddy's money life is unfortunately very hard).
Focus Wisdom
Ein grausames Märchen. Es steht als Symbol für die Zähmung und Unterdrückung der weiblichen Urkraft...(A cruel fairy tale. It stands as a symbol for the taming and suppression of the female primordial force...).
The comments provide a lot of material for analyzing the modern German emotional language. From the perspective of fairy tale modernization, the 2008 version is particularly interesting, showing the battle of wits between the princess and the king. Thus, the problems of women's emancipation in modern German society are raised even in the genre of a classic fairy tale.
5. Conclusion
The analysis of these three media texts allowed us to study such a traditional literary genre as fairy tale using a new perspective. The main traits and functions of a fairy tale, its stylistic and genre aspects were studied as a foundation, as a basis for more complex texts - film texts. In this new format, text becomes polycode with its visual component and sound effects expanding the possibilities of its perception.
Due to the large volume of the film text, partial modification, expansion of the original form of the fairy tale is inevitable (increasing number of storylines and characters, author's monologues, new songs, dances, games etc.). Besides, some scenes from the original may be absent, so comparing the original text of the fairy tale with its screen versions develops the attention of students and expands their vocabulary needed for comments.
Each screen version has preserved the basis of the Grimms' fairy tale. The media-educational approach makes it possible to distinguish folklore tradition and novelty in each adaptation. To do so, it is important to know the original, without which the comparative analysis is impossible. The linguistic elements typical for a classical fairy tale and added to it in the film can be identified by ear. The visual part, thanks to non-verbal means, allows us to highlight the new meanings that are important for the qualities of the characters and for the ideological content of the fairy tale. The analysis of kinesic means allows to interpret the close-ups of the characters, to identify important features in the silent sequences, etc.
We recommend students to write down new songs, absent in the original fairy tale, (development of listening) and study them carefully, as they often express the author's viewpoint allegorically. And the direct speech of the characters is a "treasure trove" of examples for learning a language in its dynamics. The timeless relevance of the old text in its new implementation gives a truly endless opportunity to work on the language with language students. The combination of fairytale discourse and contemporary YouTube comments significantly expands the linguistic competence of students.
Summing up, it is necessary to underline that the media-educational approach during foreign language classes brings the educational process to a new level. It helps students to "feel" the language, to understand its subtleties, to think in it, not to use learned stereotyped constructions, but to include modern, typical German formulations in their speech. The comparison of different fairy tale screen versions helps to observe language development, to identify cultural codes of a particular time period in a country's history and to improve the foreign language speaking skills of students, undergraduates and postgraduates.
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