I came across an interesting article on the Guardian's website today. It was a piece about an art installation in which women signed their consent to be kissed and married by a visitor to the gallery. And like sleeping beauty these women would lie with their eyes closed and wait to be kissed. They did not have to open their eyes upon being kissed, but if they did they were to marry the man who kissed them. The man in question having also signed consent agreeing to this process, and having confirmed that they were not already married. The piece is very interesting and well worth a read, you can find it here.
However, it got me thinking about some of the child-friendly fairy-tales that I had been told as a child. (Ignoring the fact that many fairy-tales have their roots in much darker and possibly scarier tales!) Many of the fairy-tales that we tell to our children and market as toys, characters etc have perhaps undergone a re-make to make them less scary for their audiences. With this in mind we should then think about the message that is retained, added or underlying in the tales that we tell our children.
I am sure many readers can think of several straight away....
As referenced by the tale in the article, Sleeping Beauty the young, unmarried and beautiful maiden who is put to sleep by a wicked fairy awaiting her handsome and brave prince to kiss her and awaken her. What message does this give young readers?! Innocence and success are tied up in beauty, while plainness or unattractiveness is evil or up to no good! That the woman must wait helpless and lost, her life in stasis until the man comes along to awaken her and give her purpose. Her life literally was on-hold until he came along. Perhaps I am being miserable and it is simply a tale for small children...
Cinderella is another such tale. Beautiful and hard-working because her jealous and crucially here, ugly (whatever happened to everyone is beautiful or beauty is in the eye of the beholder?) step-sisters spend their time taunting her and providing her with work. The sisters attend a ball where their ugliness is once again highlighted, portrayed as miserable spinsters. The beautiful Cinderella finds herself at the ball and captures the attention of the handsome prince (notice a theme here). Fleeing as she is out of time, leaving only a shoe for the prince to use to track her down. Once again, the beautiful woman who has no hope or future is rescued by the prince.
Too many modern fairy-tales (or the adaptations that we know in modern books and films) have removed the stronger cautionary messages of traditional tales and have instead created a world where helpless but beautiful princesses await their prince. These women lack the means or ability to escape the situations that they have been placed in. A value is put upon their looks, that is not healthy, all that is good is always labelled beautiful or fair and all that is evil is lonely and ugly. The message that seems to run throughout is that these women need a man to save them. And, in the 21st century is that really a message that we want to be reinforcing every evening in bedtime reading for young children? Traditional tales with humorous messages, cautionary fables or adventurous yarns...but leave out the gender stereotyping.
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