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Shoes: Competitive Motif In Myths And Fairy Tales

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If the Shoe Fits
What is it about shoes that makes them such a repetitive motif in myths and fairy tales? Fairy tales have their roots in society's conceptual grasp in the reality that people live in, and in some of the most iconic and beloved stories, shoes have often become magical objects, expressing freedom and punishment, loss and status, and, in psychoanalytic readings, sexuality. The shoes connotations are powerfully demonstrated by the ever growing collection of anthology holding onto many enjoyed classics such as Cinderella holding footwear as the main driving plot factor in many adaptations to hold deeper implanted meanings in delightful children's tales throughout the ages.
Cinderella is no exception to how the shoes shape the entire …show more content…

No one will probably ever know when the obsession with female footwear gained popularity, but Cinderella gladly helped set a trend in shoe choices to come for centuries after her original debut. Shoes themselves become iconic and can in some cases immortalize the person wearing them to be a higher standard for others to be like those who wear “the shoes” to be set apart from the rest of the crowd. “While the events in his tale are not unique, Perrault most likely invented the glass slipper—there is no trace of it before his version—perhaps as an ironic device since it is a fragile thing and perhaps as simply genius creative license for it has become the iconic symbol of the fairy tale,” (surlalune). Based on polls today footwear is like an extension or expression of who they are and fairy tales tend to personify the same notions. “The study finds strong gender differences, with women being more alert to the symbolic implications of shoes than men. Shoes affect our perceptions of others and our perceptions of self, including our passage into adulthood. Among the magical transformations.”(Belk). By the typical standards if the shoe fits the girl is obviously the one you should marry creating a whole sub story of finding that one girl confined to the perfect ideal image and is whisked away to live the fairytale life just like magic. Fashion continues to confine women particularly in sexual contents of exploit to appease men such as the perfect, tiny feet that could only fit the glass

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