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Fairy tales have always been a part of children’s lives. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and so on – we all know them off by heart, but have we ever stopped to think what messages they are sending to society? What kind of influence they have on the structure of social and gender roles? “Male/female roles have been ground into us since the day we were born, in the disguise of innocent little fairly tales”.1 It is amazing how many of us don’t realise what fairy tales teach us until we closely examine the way females are portrayed in each story and what roles have been assigned to them.
I have chosen to deconstruct Cinderella and Snow White as I have found them to be sexist and to be portraying women in a subordinate light, which oppresses them. Both stories perpetuate stereotypical thoughts on the “ideal virtues” of women. They are shown naturally beautiful, vulnerable, passive and obedient. “These tales teach us our little girls that the only way for them to get anywhere in life is to be beautiful, obedient and passive. They should be quiet, always smile and be friendly, and of course take responsibility for their actions and others”. Furthermore, both Cinderella and Snow White provide another example where the heroines of the stories must be “rescued” by Prince Charming who is by coincidence handsome, powerful, and good. It is sending a false message to girls that “Man is God’s gift to women”, “He will rescue you from all your troubles and take you away from a critical situation, where he will then marry you and make you his Queen, who will have to do nothing much but preserve beauty. If you follow his instructions you will live happily ever after…”
Having all these ‘fantastic’ attributes (in the view of men), both females of each story happily accept the role of a housewife. When Snow White finds shelter in a dirty little house in the woods, she immediately cleans it from top to bottom. When she lives there, she continues to do the housework and she takes on the natural role of being a ‘mother’ to the seven dwarfs. Cinderella is portrayed in a similar light; she takes care of her evil stepsisters and assists them in preparation for the ball. She alone cannot attend as she is dirty and poor (class subordination) and therefore helplessly runs off and cries. Then, with the help of magical force, she acquires beautiful clothing, jewellery and transportation to the ball. Here, the prince is mesmerized by her beauty and falls in love. He decides to marry her and she passively accepts with no objection. These messages are certainly ‘unhealthy’ for the minds of young girls. They suggest that beauty and the power of man is all they need to be happy in life.
1. “Woman Hating”, by Andrea Dworkin.
2. www.geocitites.com/wellesley/8740/woman.html, by Andrea Dworkin.
Another interesting typical fairy tale character is the evil older woman, who has a lot of power, but is always destroyed in some way or another. Both stories portray a wicked stepmother who reveals her true face when the ‘good’ father dies and uses witchcraft in many bad ways. A good question to ask is “Why are the mothers looked upon so horribly? Why are the daughters looked upon as if they sold their brains for an evening gown?”.
Snow White’s wicked stepmother hates her for her beauty and therefore tries to trick her into eating a poisoned apple. (Here is a great example of how competition is brought about amongst women.) Snow White falls asleep into a coma after she bites the fruit and (unfortunately for the step-mother) is later rescued by the kiss of a handsome prince with whom she happily rides off.
In Cinderella’s case the story looks a little different. She is a helpless female who not only desperately relies on a man to take her out of oppression, but also needs magical force to rescue her. How intelligent does that make females look? Furthermore, when her slipper is lost as she runs out of the castle, it’s the Prince of course that finds it. He announces he will marry the woman whose foot fits the slipper. The notion of the story goes back to very old days: “Therefore, she will serve him more assiduously than if she had been a slave bought and taken home. For he has indeed bought her with a great price—with partnership in his life and in the procreation of children…”
This view was written by a famous Philosopher Aristotle in 330 B.C. It carries the notion that a woman should be grateful if any man shows the initiative to marry her. Another point to criticize in Cinderella is the competition amongst three sisters with all anxiously awaiting their chance to try the slipper on. Honestly, how desperate does that show females wanting to marry?
It’s important to analyse what is being taught to children and find a better, non-sexist way to teach them what being a woman really is about. To teach our society there are no social, gender roles assigned to either sex, but rather are a freedom of choice of what man and women want to do, what they enjoy doing, not what is being accepted by society as womanlike/manlike.
One way many feminists are dealing with this problem is by re-writing many of the stories. Take for example the book “Feminist fairy tales”, by Barbara G. Walker. Snow White is called Snow Night and Cinderella Cinder-Helle. In Snow Night the author suppresses the hatred of the stepmother towards her stepdaughter and replaces it with love and protection. When Snow Night objects to Lord Hunter’s marriage proposal his
3.
“Woman Hating”, by Andrea Dworkin.
4
www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/aristo.shtml - paragraph 3.
“He wanted to see her injured, even dead, in recompense for his humiliation.” He then tries to insinuate to the Queen she should be jealous of the beauty of Snow Night. Instead of being naïve like in Disney’s version, she shows wisdom and replies “The wise expect it. Younger life takes place of the elder; it’s the way of nature…; To challenge nature is folly.” She then sets out to protect Snow Night and pays the seven dwarfs to get rid of the Lord Hunter. Cinder-Helle is also another example of how many stories could be written, in a way that doesn’t oppress women and put them in a subordinate light.
A well put feminist perspective on fairy tales that concludes my essay:
“Young girls and boys identify with their same sex characters. This means in most cases that girls are identifying with passive, beautiful and helpless heroines, while boys identify with active, adventure seeking heroes. Girls wait for their prince charming while boys learn to take on the world before returning home to save the beautiful girl and carry her off. Girls learn that their life goal is complete with the marriage and ‘happily ever after’, and that beauty equals success in love and life.”
5.
“Feminist fairy tales”, by Barbara G. Walker
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“Feminist fairy tales”, by Barbara g. Walker
7.
www.haverford.edu/psych/p311/pringle/paper.html
Bibliography
Books:
1.) “Woman Hating”, by Andrea Dworkin
2) “Feminist fairy tales”, by Barbara G. Walker
Internet Sites:
1.) http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/cinderella2/flash/index.html
2.) www.snow-white-disney.com
3.) http://members.aol.com/surlalune/frytales/cinderel/index.html
4.) www.feminist.com/resources/quotes/
5.) www.geocities.com/wellesley/8740/woman.html
6.) www.amazoncastle.com/feminism/aristo.shtml
7.) http://iabramson.web.wesleyan.edu/project.htm
8.) http://www.womenwriters.net/bookreviews/wellsfairytale.html
9.) http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/wickedalicemag/bewarefairy.html
10.) http://www.haverford.edu/psych/p311/pringle/paper.html
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