Let’s talk about Fairy Tales. A few weeks ago, it was in the news that some well know actresses were not allowing their children to watch certain Fairy Tale films. This was because of damaging ideologies and stereotypes such as women being rescued by men and women being kissed whilst they were asleep.
I must confess that this whole story made me really angry. I like to think of myself as a modern, independent women and in the words of Destiny’s Child; ‘I depend on me.’ However, I am also a hopeless romantic who loves a good fairy tale and happy ending. Has my love of Fairy Tales affected me in life? Yes, but not in a bad way.
The little mermaid taught me to follow my dreams and unfortunately you might have to give up a few things along the way. Princess Jasmin taught me that you can’t help who you fall in love with even if they have a totally different background to yourself. Snow White taught me to be kind but not to trust strangers. Cinderella taught me about karma; be kind to people because you don’t know what the future holds.
I’ve kissed a few frogs along the way, however I finally found my prince charming and by this, I mean someone who I had a great connection with, who was kind and caring. Has this put pressure on my husband or myself? I don’t think so. Yes, my husband might put the bins out and catch spiders around the house, but he also changes nappies and feeds the cats. I might do the majority of the washing and cooking, but I can put a shelf up. I don’t believe that we expect each other to do these roles, we’ve just chosen to and we’ve both happy about it.
The thought that Fairy Tales suggest that women are supposed to be rescued by a man, is really overthinking something that is supposed to be just a light-hearted story with a happy ending. It is not something that is supposed to put pressure on either gender, and I believe you don’t have to fight dragons to be someone’s hero. Plus, I would like to ask who rescued who? Did the Beast rescue Beauty or did she rescue him? And did Aladdin do the rescuing or was he rescued by the Princess?
Well in my opinion; they all just found each other, did what they had to do to be together and fell in love.
And as for the Princesses not giving permission to being rescued by the act of ‘true loves kiss’ by a handsome prince, well this is a bit ridiculous; the Princess is unconscious! Do doctors require patient’s permission to save their lives? Once again, we’re over thinking this and I don’t want my daughter to feel like she’s been abused just because someone gives her a kiss. I’m sure if Snow White didn’t want to be rescued by the Prince, she would have woken up and smacked him one!
My conclusion to all this nonsense is that I would much prefer my daughter to be reading or watching a fairy tale than something which is violent and, in my opinion, unnecessary.
Therefore, stop causing a fuss and enjoy the story.