Hollywood's fractured fairy tales  Maribel Verdu is a
deliciously wicked stepmother in 'Blancanieves,' a stylish
retelling of 'Snow White.' (Photo by COHEN MEDIA GROUP) Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on March 24, 2013 at 7:12 AM,
updated March 24, 2013 at 5:47 PM  They were the stories our
mothers told us.  Stories about children caught by witches, and
farmboys who climbed into the clouds. Stories about wolves who
pretended to be grandmothers, and stepmothers who couldn't even
pretend to be kind. Stories about courage, innocence and evil
defeated.  They were old stories then. They are older now.  Yet
in the many retellings, things shifted. Some characters
disappeared; others began to loom large. Stories we thought were
about one thing became stories about other things entirely -
things like feminism and nonconformity and self-esteem.  And in
a genre full of shape-shifting, this may be the most magical
transformation of all.  Recently, Hollywood has sped up the
process. Just in the last three years, we'v