Changing the Tale: Feminism and Fairy Tales - Article Example

Changing the Tale A dynamic shift has been slowly taking place among our myths and legends in recent years that seems to be working toward providing young girls and women with a new perspective upon their positions in life. The process seems to be launching from the understood archetypes these stories traditionally present and then attempting to launch new archetypes for the modern female. In her article entitled “Feminism and Fairy Tales,” Karen Rowe says, “To examine selected popular folktales from the perspective of modern feminism is to revisualize those paradigms which shape our romantic expectations and to illuminate psychic ambiguities which often confound contemporary women” (2005). Rather than attempting to confuse young women between today’s lessons of independence and autonomy with the lessons of subservience and helplessness from yesteryear, there has been a resurgence of the fairy tale with a modern twist or two thrown in. Through modern takes on Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the ever-present pirate myth through such films (the modern-day storytellers) as Ever After, Shrek and the Pirates of the Caribbean series respectively, the concept of the helpless and submissive maid of yesterday is being changed to reflect independent and intelligent, spirited young women as the true heroine. In the film Ever After, Cinderella is provided with a true name – Danielle – for the first time in her history. This story pays tribute to the Brothers Grimm and Disney before launching into the rest of the tale. Instead of constantly being the demure, pious Cinderella that is introduced by the Grimm Brothers or the astonishingly naïve maid of Disney fame, Cinderella here is portrayed as a tomboy in youth and a serious thinker as a young woman who has cleverly managed to save her family home thus far despite the spendthrift habits of her stepmother and her own limited resources. Like Disney’s version, her father dies while she is still a child, making room for the step-mother to turn her into a servant, but this does not cow her independent spirit. Like the Grimm’s version, both of her step-sisters are attractive, but only one of them is evil, the other step-sister is sympathetic to Cinderella’s condition and is rewarded in the end with a court courtier who is perfect for her, changing the concept that outward appearances alone define whether a woman is good or evil. In this version, an entire romance is able to be carried out between the prince and Cinderella prior to the ball, emphasizing the need for compatibility and healthy challenge in a relationship. Like the Disney version, the step-sister rips Danielle’s ball gown to shreds, but in the film, this exposure happens at the ball and in public, rather than prior to the ball so the fairy godmother can rescue the situation. Incidentally, the part of the fairy godmother is actually played by the combined efforts of an artist friend of Cinderella and Leonardo da Vinci as an example of an individual who rose from the ranks of less-than-regal bloodline to consort with kings and queens again cutting out the concept of magical fairies coming to the rescue and instead illustrating a healthy inter-relationship between Danielle and her friends. Rather than all her dreams coming true at the ball, it seems to be the end of Cinderella’s dreams as first she is publicly exposed as a servant, then the prince rejects her in public and finally she is sold to a lascivious rich merchant to get her out of the way. Despite this heartbreak, she manages to free herself from her bondage and is on her way to her future before discovering the prince on his way to rescue her. Thus mutual attraction allows them to live happily ever after and leaves Danielle as a strong, independent, intelligent, ambitious and lovable young woman. The story of Shrek begins with an unlikely hero who meets none of the standard requirements for a fairy tale prince, being a bad-tempered ogre with a soft heart and a desire for peace. Throughout the entire film, the traditional archetypal figures of numerous fairy tales are repeatedly parodied to deliberately expose the weakness of their stance in today’s world. The sleeping beauty turns out to be neither so sleepy nor so helpless as she has been portrayed in other stories, merely playing out her prescribed role as it has already been written in the storybooks. However, when she is left to her own devices, Princess Fiona turns out to be just as spirited, independent and strong as her Cinderella counterpart found in Ever After. She is not afraid to allow her opinions to be known nor to fight to protect both herself and others. When she, Shrek and Donkey are caught by surprise in the forest by Robin Hood and his mostly incompetent crew, it is Fiona who saves the day, not either of her male companions. While Shrek is still seen to save the day in his struggle to enter the church before Fiona is eternally wed to a man she doesn’t love, again following the prescribed role she was supposed to follow, this rescue takes the form of simply allowing her to know he truly cares for her. In true fairy tale fashion, this profession of love frees Fiona to make a final choice regarding her future in her public demonstration of her alternate form. Fiona’s apparent weakness in choosing Lord Farqhat despite her obvious disdain for him simply because that’s what she’s supposed to do is shown to be a rash and unwise decision from its very start as both characters are using the other for ambitious worldly gains and ignoring inner emotion. While it is seen as a strength that Fiona would choose the ogre form as opposed to the beautiful princess, it is also acknowledged that one does not have to be beautiful in order to be a fairy princess and one does not have to be weak or submissive in order to be a woman. Finally, the myth of the pirate is that of an adventurous life on the high seas, full of freedom from all authority and every opportunity to enjoy the best that life has to offer by simply taking what is desired. That is, if one is a boy and is therefore able to fight with swords and fists, prove physically strong enough to deal with the sails and ropes and dubious nourishment and have the mental competence to be able to steal, cheat, lie and betray in order to accomplish one’s own ends. Women only appear as cheaply made up prostitutes with unsavory habits of their own who are willing to spend the evening with any unwashed sailor with enough money or other points of interest to win them. With the Pirates of the Caribbean series, however, all of these rules have also been thrown overboard. Beginning with Elizabeth’s complaints regarding the ridiculous things she’s expected to wear as a high-born young lady, this character quickly demonstrates the same kind of independent spirit and strength as her counterparts already discussed. Her ability to fight and her willingness to do harm unto others easily removes her from the archetype of the submissive and quietly patient maiden of lore, yet she is not brought into the realm of the evil woman with power. As the series progresses to the third film, Elizabeth continues to emerge as a strong and independent young woman capable of complex thinking on a par with the best of those around her. Her murder of Jack Sparrow at the end of the second film, which is the only means of saving the rest of the crew, weighs heavily on her mind until she is able to assist in rescuing him from Davey Jones’ locker at the beginning of the third film while her desire for a more ‘normal’ life is evidenced in her hasty and romantic yet very harried marriage to Will Turner. In the end, although she is married and becomes a more traditional female character, she is also now hailed as the Pirate King and circumstances have dictated that she must make her own way in the world apart from her beloved husband and as captain of her own pirate ship. In each of these cases, it can be determined that the female heroines of old are transforming themselves into more active, more outspoken and more independent versions of their old selves. No longer are women expected to fulfill the desires of men or to appear in the image deemed most pleasing to men, but are beginning to take on their own shape, function and focus. As these fairy tales evolve into their more modern viewpoints, the girls of tomorrow have a greater chance of escaping the artificial bonds that have been placed on them by earlier renditions of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and to realize that having strength and independence does not necessarily require one to be evil, ugly or even promiscuous in order to achieve a happy and fulfilling lifestyle. Works Cited Ever After. Dir. Andy Tennant. Perf. Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Jeroen Krabbe. 20th Century Fox, 2003. Pirates of the Caribbean (Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End). Dir. Gore Verbinski. Perf. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightley. Walt Disney Pictures, 2003 (2006, 2007). Rowe, Karen. “Feminism and Fairy Tales.” (April 25, 2005). June 29, 2007 Shrek. (animated) Dir. Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson. Perf. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz. Dreamworks Animation, 2001. Student name Instructor name Course name Date Cinderella Syndrome The term may or may not be familiar to someone living in the Western world, but a moment’s thought about the term ‘Cinderella Syndrome’ will usually produce a rudimentary concept of what is meant when it is used. Generally speaking, the Cinderella Syndrome sets up the idea that good women are, by their very natures, passive, subservient, patient, beautiful and kind. Because they are so effective at repressing any independent streak, any angry behavior or any attempt to satisfy their own needs and desires, they are rewarded with magical gifts, the finest husbands and the ubiquitous happily-ever-after. Run through a quick summary of the events of the Cinderella story and the characteristics of the good woman are plain to see. At the same time, the story sets up an image of a bad woman and thus discourages girls from participating in such activities as ambitious goal-setting, standing up for personal rights and freedoms or acknowledging and fulfilling personal needs and desires. Regardless of the degree to which these activities are undertaken, these women are always bad and never fail to be punished for their wickedness. The ways in which these images are portrayed to countless girls at bedtime has progressed through the years, yet still manage to convey these same concepts. The Brothers Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm, were the first to put the age-old story of a poor little princess turned pauper turned princess to paper as a means of preserving the rich oral history of their German homeland in the early 1800s. Because the story was written during a time of strong Christian morality, it contains a blatant religious overtone – including the beginning when Cinderella is told by her dying mother that her responsibility in life is to “be good and pious.” The step-sisters in this version are beautiful to look upon, but the brothers describe them as “vile and black of heart” in that they are self-serving and ambitious, thus denouncing these traits as necessarily evil in a woman. In portraying Cinderella, the Grimm brothers go into great detail regarding Cinderella’s grief over the loss of her mother, demonstrating proper female loyalty and submission to the parent’s role. To emphasize the rewards of such proper behavior, a magical hazel tree grows in which a white bird perches (hints of the savior) and delivers to Cinderella any of the wishes she expresses through heartfelt prayer. It was with the help of this little bird that Cinderella was able to be outfitted properly for the first of a three day festival and dance which she was forced to leave three times – once by jumping through a pigeon house, once by climbing a tree and the third time, she finally left behind a golden, rather than a glass, slipper. The prince twice picked up the wrong sister to be his bride after they each had mutilated their own foot in order to fit into the slipper, but the bird at the grave continued to warn him. On her wedding day, the two false sisters were punished by the birds by having their eyes plucked out one at a time, suffering blindness forever afterward. At no point did Cinderella lift a finger to gain her own happiness; she was entirely dependent upon outside forces to set things straight. Thus, piety, purity and obedience are demonstrated to be the only ways in which a woman can expect to find happiness while ambition or personal acknowledgement are brutally punished. This is a gruesome tale compared to that presented by Walt Disney in 1950. Here the step-sisters have become as unfortunate-looking as they are in spirit, both mean and spiteful and perhaps unknowingly conveying the message that only very pretty girls can be princesses – all the rest have serious character defects that are more or less hidden. Cinderella’s entourage is expanded to include several mice, a dog and a horse who provide a great deal of entertainment throughout the film and highlight the importance of a nurturing heart. Within this story, the father is let off the hook in terms of allowing the abuse of Cinderella to occur as he dies when she is still small, creating a woman’s world that is badly managed in every respect and illustrates how women, when left to govern themselves, will become consumed with petty concerns to the detriment of the whole. To make her dreams come true, Cinderella is given a fairy godmother, who decks her out for the ball and sends her off to the one night event in the luxurious pumpkin coach. This is her reward for having been patient and kind, humble and true to those who have been so cruel to her – her only chance at happiness again comes to her only through miraculous measures rather than anything she’s done for herself. But she must leave the dance by midnight when everything will turn back into the humble stuff of their origins. It is here that the slipper first becomes made of glass, which is broken just before she is given the opportunity to try it on and identify herself as the princess the prince is seeking. Her production of the other glass slipper, rather than anything more substantial such as her personality characteristics, proves her identity and she lives happily ever after – far away from her evil sisters who are left to enjoy their own misery. However, these older tales are not the only avenues in which the myth is perpetuated. As recently as a season ago, people could turn on a television anywhere at any time and be likely to find some sort of makeover show included in the available listings. These shows offer a quick fix to life by providing an improved exterior façade that takes the Cinderella concept to a new level. Playing to the modern culture’s Cinderella dream for a better future and modern insecurities regarding who and what we are in relation to the rest of society, the consumer culture both reflects and magnifies the concept of the Cinderella Syndrome by replacing magic with Hollywood. Some of these shows, Extreme Makeover and Fox’s The Swan included, provide complete personal makeovers that include liposuction, plastic surgery and a host of other services. This idea that outward appearance can lead to a Cinderella story of magical rebirth and new life provides a constant hope for the viewers of these shows. Shows like What Not to Wear and Ten Years Younger, while not extreme enough to include any kind of surgery, nevertheless, tend to focus not so much on the individual expressing themselves as teaching them how to express the accepted societal roles they embody, thus playing off the concept of the passive, patient, pious and obedient Cinderella awaiting her just rewards. Weintraub (2004) quotes Dancey as saying “As a culture and as a country, we’re really invested in this idea of the conversion, and we want it to be overnight. And the idea of a physical makeover gets linked to the idea of a spiritual makeover. It’s almost like being born again, in the religious sense.” Not only has Cinderella subverted the individual, she has also somehow become the emblem of vacant aesthetic physicality – I’m pretty so I should get all the rewards and never mind personal development because it doesn’t matter anyway. The Cinderella Syndrome continues to exist not just because parents continue to read the story to their little girls each night, but because the concepts of the story are ingrained into the very details of our lives. These concepts are then exploited by the consumer culture to fan the flames of our fears and redirect our focus to the newest products and fashions rather than the substance we continue to bury. Until we realize not only the importance of encouraging our daughters to stand on their own two feet but also the importance of developing the individual rather than the appearance, the Cinderella Syndrome will continue to be a stumbling block towards progress. Works Cited Cinderella. Dir. Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson. Animated film. Disney, 1995. Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm. “Cinderella.” Ed. Robert Goodwin-Jones. Virginia Commonwealth University. (1999). June 29, 2007 Weintraub, Joanne. “Makeover Shows Selling Fairy Tales.” Journal Sentinal TV Critic. 21 March 2004. Live TV & Radio. Retrieved 24 February 2006 from < http://www.jsonline.com/enter/tvradio/mar04/215820.asp> Student name Instructor name Course name Date Misty Once upon a time on a tiny green island off the coast of a cold country, a tiny little fairy named Misty struggled to complete her job before the morning sun rose above the horizon. She was supposed to grace each blade of grass with its own dewdrop jewel with the help of her magic wand, but she felt there was so much more she could be doing with her life. She wanted to learn why the grass grew and what made the plants so tall. Every time she started asking questions, though, she was told to go to her room and wait until morning. Still grumbling about things, Misty settled on a particularly tall flower to watch the sun grace her handiwork, but was surprised to find a gentle butterfly already resting in her spot. The butterfly looked at her earnestly, for that is the only way a butterfly can look, and asked in his very sweet voice, “Would you like to learn why the grass grows? If so, you will follow me.” Of course, Misty had been dying to learn anything beyond the confines of how to add a dewdrop and this was the first time anyone had offered to help her in satisfying her curiosity, so she had to follow. The butterfly flew straight, or nearly straight if you’ve ever seen a butterfly fly, to the village and then down into a dirty alley to land on the edge of a windowsill. Looking inside, Misty saw a whole row of butterflies of various different types pinned up on a plaque on the wall of the house, which frightened her terribly, but the butterfly directed her attention to a book that had been left open on a table. Seeing images of grass on the pages, she flew over to see if she could learn more. The page showed a series of pictures that started with a little round shape, then it grew strings that went down, then a pole that went up and then drop-like shapes moving around and through what looked very much like a blade of grass. But Misty couldn’t read the writing and turned in puzzlement to the butterfly to ask what it all meant. That’s when the clear cage fell down on her. A giant creature standing over her turned to another cage nearby and freed another beautiful butterfly he had captured. The two butterflies flew away and left Misty standing on the desk and trapped within the frightening and airless hard clear cage around her without even an apology. No matter how she flew, she could not escape the confines of the cage. The giant that caught her laughed a big booming laugh and went stalking out of the room for something. Misty knew she had to find a way to get free quick. As she struggled to figure out how the clear hard cage worked, Misty accidentally made it slide just slightly toward the edge of the table. Understanding in a flash that the cage didn’t have a bottom, Misty threw all her efforts into pushing the cage closer to the table’s edge. As she got closer, she saw what a great drop it would be if she pushed too hard and made the cage fall off, so she moved more carefully, all the time worried that the giant creature would come back. Finally, she managed to wiggle her way out of the bottom of the cage. It was just in time, for the giant had come back and was lunging at her! With a complicated swoosh, she managed to evade his giant hand and zipped out the window just as another giant was entering the room with another contraption. Misty flew as quickly as she could back to her home. This was partly because she was so frightened by her near capture by the giants, a cardinal sin among fairies, but also because she knew everyone would be looking for her. She was supposed to report in sharply after sunup to indicate whether the dew had been successful, whatever that was supposed to mean (Misty had always taken it to mean that the grass was still growing). As she stumbled in on tired wings, she took a look around at the anxious faces coming towards her and realized that any of these fairies could be the next one to fall into the giant’s hands. Something had to be done. Taking a deep breath, Misty quickly told her family what had happened but before they could start yelling at her, she said, “I think the giants are curious about us. I think they’re trying to catch us to study us. If we want to be safe, we need to study them. We need to understand their language and their books. We need to know about things like the hard, clear cage. And I am just the fairy to do it!” After a minute of shocked silence, Misty’s father finally nodded. “She’s right,” he said. “We do need to understand the giants. It’s a dangerous job, but I think Misty can handle it. She’s already managed to escape from them, so she already has more experience than most of us. We’ve always battled with her to stick to her grass and dewdrop studies, but that’s never been enough for her.” And so, the Fairy Giant University was established and Misty had her hands full learning about everything she ever wanted to know. And the dewdrops continued to sparkle every morning because she was happy. Critique In Misty’s Fairy Tale, the little fairy is constrained within a socially defined role as the story is introduced, much like many of the female characters in fairy tales that have been discussed. She is impatient and willful and even somewhat disobedient. She is intelligent and curious and willing to take a few risks if it means satisfying her own needs and desires. She is still concerned about the growing things around her, demonstrating that she can be nurturing, but this is because it is part of her own personality as a fairy rather than a trait that has been completely pushed on her. Her interests are more scientific than her society would like, perhaps because this attitude threatens their very livelihoods as integral to Nature’s survival. Her trouble was caused by her own actions in trusting a strange butterfly, yet her escape was also the result of her own thinking and actions. Finally, she manages to turn the experience into a learning experience and quickly finds a means of meeting her needs for greater challenges with her community’s need for protection and knowledge. The villain in this story could be considered to be the treacherous butterfly that leads Misty to what is probably a horrible fate given the state of the butterflies mounted on the wall. It is beautiful and earnest, but it cannot fly straight and it betrays. Yet even this villain is questioned because of the scientist’s release of his hostage. The giant, while terrifying, is not a true villain either. His intentions regarding Misty are never made completely clear and the materials described in his room are clearly scientifically related. Is he trying to harm or understand Misty and her people? Finally, although it seems that Misty must come from a highly patriarchal society, which is reinforced by her father’s final words as being decisive for the community, it nevertheless is capable of changing and adapting. Misty’s ideas are listened to, considered and eventually agreed upon. This fairy tale presents the female as strong, independent, intelligent and ambitious. While this sometimes gets in her way, as it does in her arguments with her family regarding her dewdrop job and in her capture by the scientist, it also helps her to remove herself from these situations by quickly deducing a means of escape from the scientist’s jar and by seizing her opportunity when it presented itself in founding her school. She is involved in a community that is sometimes shortsighted, but not cruel. They are willing to listen to her ideas and implement them when they make sense. As a result, Misty is able to be a more active member of her community, bringing them a great deal of benefit through knowledge of an unsuspected threat. Read More