"The passage from the page (and the voice) to the moving image has profoundly affected the reception of the material; paradoxically, the visual becomes literal, imprinting the imagination and the heroine; the aural excites visualisation, giving the imagination semi-free play, with hallucinatory effects, especially among children. The domination of imagery over word in storytelling today has pushed verbal agility into the background; even the fast-talking, wisecracking, insult-trading entertainment of the 1930s thrillers like 'Double Indemnity' have ceded to almost wordless narratives. Deeds of fantastic efficacy and often extravagant violence have replaced cunning and high spirits in the most popular vehicles for revenge fantasies and triumphs over adversity."

Marina Warner, 'From the Beast to the Blonde; on fairy tales and their tellers'