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Fairy tales and gender roles
Fairy tales and gender roles
Fairy tales and gender roles
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Fairy tales and gender roles
Fairy tales and gender roles
Fairy tales and gender roles
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
How To Read Literature Like a Professor Summer Assignment Chapter 8 A work of literature that reflects a fairy tale is the teen fiction book Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. This book tells the story of a girl who finds herself unattractive with her fair skin, black hair, red lips and uses a manipulative talking mirror to enhance her beauty and in the process makes a prince love her. When she loses her glamour from the magic those around her feel betrayal and she nearly dies from poisoning but her prince forgives her tearfully. Throughout the story we get to see why she used magic to look pretty and learn to sympathize with her.
In “Cinderella”, by the Grimm Brothers, the authors utilize a multitude of fairy tale genre conventions such as frequent usage of rhetorical devices, magical creatures, and the classic “Happy Ever After” fairy tale ending, to emphasize the importance of genuineness and the dangers of pursuing superficiality. The authors use several rhetorical devices such as symbolism and juxtaposition
The Cinderella tale has been at the heart of many stories for generations. People have become very familiar with the storyline, as it is very prevalent in society today through many moderns movies and stories. The Cinderella story is adored by young children, more specifically by young girls. However as a more feminist culture has emerged, society’s viewpoint of fairytales is becoming increasingly negative. In, “The Princess Paradox” and “Cinderella and Princess Culture”, authors James Poniewozik and Peggy Orenstein further evaluate themes found in the Cinderella stories.
Giambattista Basile’s story of the original Sleeping Beauty called Sun, Moon, and Talia, and Disney’s 1959 film Sleeping Beauty have both shown that true love can prevail the threats that come at someone in life. In Basile’s version of sleeping beauty, the king rapes Talia, impregnanting Talia to give birth to two babies that she cherishes deeply, and falls in love with the king after meeting him (Basile, 2). This portrayal does not help send the message because she is strongly in love with her babies all because of the king, ignoring the fact that the king rapes Talia unconscious. In addition, readers to believe that true love is so strong, that it can blind the awareness of someone’s own well being. In the film version, Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora
We have all lived in the world of fairy tales and imagination but have we ever really focused on what intrigues us about these stories? The hero’s sacrifices and the villain’s decisive plots intrigue us the most in stories but these characteristics are what makes a character known for as a hero, villain and this is known as archetypes. This analyzation revolves around, The Princess Bride and archetypes that some of its character’s qualify of. According to my analysis, Westley portrays the hero, Prince Humperdinck portrays the villain/shadow and Dread Pirate Roberts portrays the Threshold Guardian. The first archetype that I have analyzed is a hero and I have identified Westley as the hero because he sacrifices many things in order to achieve his goal, a hero’s trademark.
Princesses’ in Disney movies are tied down to a recurring theme: the princess that must be saved from the evil woman by the charming prince. A significant contrast to the usually weak and easily persuaded figure of the father. Even though the women are portrayed as weak, nobody stops to think how strong they have to be to carry the responsibility of an entire household on her shoulder, while the men always seem to be traveling or ill. Fairytales are based on a patriarchal way of thinking and as time passes by, it’s proven to be detrimental to society Women and men are constantly being bound to a series of stereotypes.
Thereafter, Panttaja explains in-depth about how Cinderella is not truly motherless, while describing what in the fairy tale represents Cinderella’s mother. Shortly after, Panttaja compares the mother and the stepmother of Cinderella, believing that both of the mothers have the same attitude to help their daughters achieve their goals (288). Next, Panttaja questions the morals of Cinderella by explaining magic being the theme of the fairy tale instead of the “alleged theme of romance.” In conclusion, Panttaja used multiple examples, including fairy tales and mythology, to explain how the main character, in this case Cinderella, uses power and manipulation to succeed in the goals they’re for
Sleeping Beauty: Disney vs. Perrault “The princess should have her hand pierced with a spindle and die of the wound”. (Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty) Almost everyone has heard this famous line from Sleeping Beauty by age six; however, most have heard it through the edited Walt Disney movie, of which was based on the original fairytale by Charles Perrault. As in the case of many fairytales, people recognize Disney as the creator rather than the original author. Yet, the two versions are often very different, which can strike up some harsh feelings towards Walt Disney.
The movie “The Princess and the Frog” is not your typical “boy saves girl” movie. Instead, this Disney movie presents us with a strong female lead who doesn’t need a man to achieve her goals. In many previous Disney movies, it is demonstrated that a girl needs a man in order to get her happily ever after. Without a prince, she is nothing. In “The Princess and the Frog” the gender roles are presented to us as equal, even reverse at times.
This version of the classic Sleeping Beauty story shows the other side of the tale, from Maleficent’s, the evil queen, point of view. Here we can see much more elements than the classic Disney filmed showed us. The background of Maleficent is told, and why she was seen as evil. The father of Aurora, Stefan, cut off Maleficent’s wings to become king. Stefan was trusted and loved by her.
The reader’s understanding of the fairy tale genre changes when reading this story and reading Atwood’s. Perrault follows all of the generic conventions of a fairy tale while Atwood challenges them. The reader would have a new perspective on Perrault’s story after reading Atwood’s because it allows them to recall how all fairy tales are very similar and stick to their generic conventions. This allows people to think about the way society sees women as homemakers and men as breadwinners,
Most of the children read about many fairy tales, especially Snow Whites, Sleeping beauty, and Cinderella when they grew up. It is a surprising fact that to discover a hidden, unexpected political intention in the simple plot of fairy tales. That is a feminization of woman. The fairy tale world suggests a male-centered patriarchy as an ideal basic society and impliedly imply that man and woman need to have a proper attitude toward this opinion. However, Jewett’s A White Heron describes a new perspective of fairy tale’s plot.
Numerous schools of criticisms have attempted to find the meaning behind most of our favorite childhood stories. From Marxist who pursue the idea of social classes portrayed in literary works, to Psychoanalysts who depict the sexual tensions and desires that are subconsciously embedded behind characters’ motives and actions, to Historicists who try to show the preservation of tradition in stories, many different concepts exist for each fairy tale. The Feminist school of criticism greatly focuses on unveiling the patriarchal system and sexist roles that are displayed in stories, and more specifically, fairytales. Four versions of the well-known fairytale of The Little Mermaid will be compared and discussed while focusing on many distinctive
“Beauty and the Beast” is an original fairy tale and over time have incorporated social, religious and cultural themes. An analysis of the Disney version of “Beauty and the Beast” exemplifies the stereotypes of the more subtle forms of social manipulation that fairytales undergo to employ. The question of whether these stories are made for entertainment or send a much larger picture, depicting to children their gender roles within a society. In this paper gender roles will be represented showing the typical female and male character within a society. Historian Sylvia D. Hoffert defines a gender ideal as “the cluster of characteristics, behavior patterns, and values that members of a group think a man or a woman should have, a set of cultural expectations.”
Remember when your parents used to read bedtime stories to you as a little kid. You would always think the hero, prince, or princess was the best character, but you had negative thoughts about the villain. Have you ever thought about why the villain did awful things and what caused them to do it? The story of Sleeping Beauty is not the same story you have been told, but with the view of the Mistress of Evil in Maleficent, one sees how the roles of Maleficent, the fairies, and the curse differs from Sleeping Beauty to Maleficent. (THESIS STATEMENT and INTRODUCTION)