Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Writing your own fairytale

After the last class with our guest speaker and the exercises we did, I think I want to rewrite a fairy tale from a different perspective.  I always wondered more about the seven dwarfs' thoughts on Snow White coming into their house.  I always thought they were using her to do their house work and being the stereotype housewife that she is, Snow White was "happy" to clean for the little men.  I researched stereotypes of women in fairy tales such as Rapunzel being the damsel in distress, snow white being the domestic caretaker and the innocent girl act illustrated by little red riding hood.  My paper was to make viewers and readers aware that the stereotypes of women present in fairy tales does not limit women to only these roles.
For my project I want to write Snow White from the perspective a dwarf and instead of Snow White agreeing to do housework, I am going to have her stand up for herself and say no.  I am no sure if this is a good idea because, how will the dwarfs react to her saying no to cleaning?  Should I stereotype males using the dwarfs?  Should I show what they are thinking?  I could maybe do a different story and do the male perspective like Cinderella and tell how the Prince only wanted to find her because she is beautiful (moral being that guys are shallow?)  I also am worried this will offend males however, it could be interesting.
When writing my paper, thinking about the way fairy tales perceive women, it made me more and more angry to realize that these stereo typical roles are offensive and demeaning to women.  Also, what if children watching these fairy tales (especially young girls) think that they have to act like the princesses in stories to get a handsome prince to marry them or be happy?
Even more modern films are continuing with these stereo types and even making it seem like these gender roles should still be in effect today.  For example, the more modern version of A Cinderella Story.  Hillary Duff is not happy until she is with the popular jock dream boat at her high school.  She also becomes the pretty lucky girl at the end of the movie to prove she is like a princess....like Cinderella.



Our beautiful princess gets to be with the perfect guy and that is what is important in life right?  I wonder what he thinks once he gets the geeky but pretty girl.  Maybe he thinks he is a hero for dating someone beneath his social status.  What a prince!

1 comment:

  1. I think these are both great perspectives to consider, Quinn! Don't worry about offending males-- you won't be sharing everything about your project with the class. And, hey, the men who write these tales and make these movies CLEARLY don't care about offending women, right?! So, go for it. Also, you don't need to rewrite the ENTIRE tale-- you could just rewrite a scene! I'll be talking more about the project this week.

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