Nimona

Based on the tradition of European fairy tales and folklore, postmodern fairy tales are retellings of classic stories that draw attention to their form, often to create humor and/or offer cultural commentary through the subversion of familiar stories. Whereas Stevenson subverts traditional fairy tale tropes present in the genre, other postmodern fairy tales aim to deconstruct specific classic tales through reinterpretation. In addition to challenging binary gender norms, postmodern fairy tales are used to explore contemporary social issues and communicate cultural experiences. In Cinder (2012), author Marissa Meyer offers a dystopian retelling of Cinderella to critique social inequality and class structures. In another example, the narrator in Trung Le Nguyen’s debut YA graphic novel The Magic Fish (2020) uses retellings of Cinderella and The Little Mermaid to connect with his Vietnamese immigrant parents. Postmodern fairy tales offer readers an accessible yet critical lens with which to intertextually examine fundamental themes of classic children’s literature.

While also borrowing from other genres such as fantasy, science fiction, and (arguably) horror, Nimona can be categorized as a postmodern fairy tale. Indeed, the story relies on archetypal characters and stereotypical fairy tale elements to set up and subvert narrative expectations. Stevenson explicitly casts the characters into recognizable roles: Blackheart is the villain, Nimona is his sidekick, and Goldenloin is the hero. As a result, the reader is invited to rely on their antecedent knowledge of fairy tales and one-dimensional archetypes, thereby making the characters’ evolutions and role reversals more impactful.

A key element of postmodern literature is the use of parody and dark humor. True to the form, Stevenson presents a humorous reinterpretation of the classic fairy tale world. For example, the Director’s office, with its stark black furniture and green-glowing surveillance screens, is a parody of many popular culture villains’ lairs. The illustrations, therefore, convey those negative connotations to contrast with the Institution’s supposed moral goodness, which serves to highlight the difference between the Institution’s proclaimed intentions and actions. In short, postmodern fairy tales draw attention to the narrative form to convey a deeper message. They offer a critique of rigid literary or sociocultural codes by subverting those expected patterns, such as reversing the hero/villain dynamic or questioning the morality of the good/evil characters in Nimona.