Reflections on Fairy Tales: Then and Now

English 102 has been extremely thought provoking as we have studied fairy tales and how they have influenced our lives. I never knew how deeply important and influential fairy tales have been to our society until now. I also did not realize how old many of our fairy tales really are and that they began by being spread orally long before being written down. We think of fairy tales as being frivolous and fanciful, until we really look closely at their structure and messages. For example, Little Red Riding Hood in its earliest forms had some strong sexual suggestiveness with its use of characters and action--a pretty little virgin girl wears a red riding hood and walks innocently through the forest. The big bad wolf, perhaps representing male sexuality and lust, talks to the girl and discovers where she is going. It is very easy for him to trick her by pretending to be grandma and he is then able to overpower her. The language and strip tease in one version suggested sexual desire and that little red was willing to submit to his requests and explore her own sexuality. The wolf, however, still gobbles her up. Was this a warning story that women told to little girls so that they would not wander in the woods? Or did it have the deeper meaning of teaching young girls to be careful about submitting to the lust of big bad men?
The old version of Cinderella certainly had a strong message and used some violence to get the message across. The mean step sisters actually mutilate their feet to try to fit them in the slipper and still they do not end up getting the prince. In fact, they get their eyes pecked out by Cinderella's birds. The message for girls is pretty clear in those days: if you are good and patient and meek, you will succeed and get a prince. If you are bad or aggressive you will end up mutilated and miserable. The Disney version of our time does not mutilate the mean step sisters, but the message is still the same--women should be sweet and gentle and humble and passive. Oh, and they should also be beautiful. As a matter of fact, most of the female love interests in fairy tales, both then and now, are beautiful. Even Bluebeard who was considered physically unattractive had to have a beautiful wife. He was able to attract a pretty girl because he was wealthy and powerful. Unfortunately, he killed all his wives. I would think that the Bluebeard story is a warning to women that you better not go after a man just because he is wealthy --kind of an anti-golddigger story. But apparently back then, it was a warning for women not to be overly curious!
That is the amazing thing about fairy tales---they can have different morals and messages depending on the culture and times in which they are read. They can also have different messages for different people's lives. For example, Beauty and the Beast may tell one person that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. It may say to another person that if you are good and obedient to your father you will end up with riches and a handsome prince. If you watch the Disney version closely, it may tell you to avoid Beasts at all costs because he was quite abusive toward Belle in the beginning and women should not try to "rescue" abusive men. But to another woman, it might have been a beautiful love story that made her want to go out and find a beast to rescue.
I could go on and on about the various messages and interesting look into humanity that are in fairy tales. I mainly want to say that I will now look at fairy tales differently--both the old tales and the new Disney versions. I will receive them with my eyes more opened and my mind prepared to ask more questions. I will look deeper for the more subtle meanings in them and how they might affect my life. I will realize that the stories can have different meanings for different people but that this does not make any one way of thinking about them right or wrong. I can now more fully appreciate the unique stories that we know as "fairy tales."

The Eye of the Beholder--Best One Yet!

I hope you are feeling better!! Maybe this will help...

Okay I have saved the best one for the last week. Please watch this video clip from Saturday Night Live. (There may be a ten second commercial at the beginning--I didn't know any way to fix that.) http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/beauty-and-the-beast/1167711/

This is the clip I hoped to show to the class but the semester became so busy and flew by. I loved this clip because it is very funny, but I think it also offers a deeper meaning that relates to part of what we talked about this semester. Who really is the beast? The fairy tales teach us that the character who does not live up to society's standards of physical attractiveness is a beast. Disney really furthers this belief by making all of its Princesses fit a predetermined standard of beauty, like we have discussed in class. The "beautiful" princesses are all very skinny, have long flowing hair, perfect skin, big doe eyes, and tiny little features. They also quite often have large breasts and low-cut tops. But in the SNL clip, the beast is not satisfied with the woman's looks and says, "Oh my darling, I can hardly wait for your transformation!" The look she gives him is priceless. He thinks that she is the beast, and she thinks that he's the beast. Since she is adhering to Disney's definition of beautiful, she can't believe that he thought she was the beast. I think SNL is making fun of Disney and their stereotypical princesses when the beast says, "Well, you're very slender and I like a big ol' ass." It's wonderful. I think most men agree with the beast on this subject, but our society tries to brainwash us all into thinking that women need to look like a Victoria's Secret model and be tall, thin, and busty. Who are we to say who is a beauty and who is a beast? We all look very different and should love and accept each other however we are. I'm working on this, too, and do not mean to suggest that I have arrived at a state of perfect love for all people, or anything like that. I admit I have alot of trouble with tongue rings--they tend to gross me out. But I can see that many people in the young generation think they are super attractive. Like the beast quoted in this SNL clip, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 'Tis very true!

One More Observation from Presentations Regarding Women's Roles

Matt showed one of my favorite clips during his presentation. It was the scene from the movie "Enchanted" where she is cleaning up the guy's apartment with the help of all the little animals. I love this scene because it is such an excellent parody of the Disney Cinderella who calls upon the mice and little birds to help her with her chores and help her get dressed. In this scene, she summons the little animals to help her and since she is in the big city now, rats and pigeons and cockroaches come to help her. They do a great job of helping her clean and it is just hilarious. But Matt brought out some points I never thought about before. He was mentioning how happy the girl appears while she is cleaning up someone else's mess, and specifically, how comfortable and undaunted she is at having to pull a nasty hairball out of the tub drain. I think this is a good point and so true of our society. Women are still expected to do these nasty chores of cleaning up after other people much more often than men are expected to do the same type of chores. We are not expected to be singing a happy tune and wearing a pretty dress, but for the most part, I think women are still the ones who take care of the nasty jobs around the house. I hope I am wrong and there are many more homes where the men clean the toilets and wash the dirty dishes. To show that things have changed for the better in this area, here's a clip from an old tv show that I'm pretty sure you would not see on a show today:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq_9wu-KjTk
The son is asking his father why his mom does all the cooking inside and his dad does the cooking outside on the grill. The father in this clip actually says, "They say a woman's place is in the home...as long as she's in the home she might as well be in the kitchen." Then he goes on to explain that "men are better at this rugged type of outdoor cooking--sort of a throw-back to caveman days..." Well, I agree with him there; he is acting like someone who came from the caveman days. I don't think women are defined by their role being in the home any longer. Matt had a good point though, that we shouldn't make it seem like nasty chores are "women's work" and she should be happy with it!

Womens' Work Roles: Fairy Tales and Beyond

The women in fairy tales stories don't usually do much other than cleaning, cooking, and trying to look good to attract a prince. Cinderella cooked and cleaned the house; Donkeyskin got a job working in a kitchen; Snow White cleaned and baked for the dwarves; Little Red Riding Hood's mother baked and and took care of Granny; Beauty got up at 4:00 in the morning and "started cleaning the house and preparing breakfast for the family" (De Beaumont 33). These activities were very normal and perfectly right for the time periods in which these tales were told and written down. The women were fulfilling their womanly roles. What about the roles of women today? Have they changed? Thank goodness, I think this is an area of women's lives that has changed. It is not at all unusual for a woman to work outside the home and to have a full-time career. Look at this video clip from the 1950's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgGFzUS4tkg
The man says, "Just about an hour ago, I got you fired." When the woman looks shocked and asks why he did that, he responds with, "I figured that being my wife would take up all of your time." I guess this was his idea of a romantic marriage proposal. Never mind that it was sexist, domineering, and extremely rude. I don't think women of today would go for this kind of treatment. They would be furious, and probably cuss him out, or something worse. The woman of the 1950's actually smiles and accepts his proposal! She looks happy to think that she is going to be somebody's wife instead of working at whatever job that was that he got her fired from.
I don't think men of today would be stupid enough to try this approach. Getting someone fired from their job is not considered romantic or manly. This gives me hope that maybe some roles for women have progressed since the days of fairy tales. Women are able to work in various jobs that they want to pursue. However, I fear that women are still expected to do more than an equal share of housework, even if they work the same hours outside the home. Cooking and cleaning are still considered "women's work" and we need to continue changing this belief. Some couples share equally in the household chores, but I think many women are still doing more than their fair share. This takes me back to our discussions of those darned kitchen and cleaning toys that they are marketing to children. We need to give our little girls more choices as to the toys they play with! Baby dolls and fashion dolls and kitchens are all good toys, but maybe we can empower our girls to play with a variety of toys including toy work benches and remote control dinosaurs and science kits. Then they will think about other roles they could have when they grow up besides "housekeeper."

"Inappropriate Clothing" and A Double Standard

Several students in class did presentations about the different gender typing and gender roles portrayed in fairy tales. Chelsea showed how these male/female roles are depicted on the screen by use of dress, body type, and dialog. The male heroes are overly muscular, as we have all said before, but Chelsea also brought out the point that they are two-dimensional and do not have enough dialog to give them a real personality. The female characters in fairy tale based movies do seem to have more dialog and singing parts. It does seem that we get to "know" the female characters better and know more about their lives than the male characters. I guess you could say that the male figures are in a supporting role. Many times the heroes don't have much personality, they only have to be charming and high-ranking and able to save the princess from whatever bad situation she is in. The female characters have a more fully developed personality and also have a life history that the male characters often lack. However, as Chelsea said, they are depicted as beautiful and helpless, and wearing "inappropriate" clothing. I liked her use of the word "inappropriate" because it is true that the women often wear pretty gowns, even when they are cleaning. Cinderella actually did wear a plain dress and apron when she was cleaning the floors, but she still looked very pretty. As Matt pointed out during his presentation, she was surrounded by beautiful bubbles when she cleaned, rather than dirt or dust. But getting back to the "inappropriate" clothing, I've noticed that women in older tv shows such as "Leave It To Beaver" or "Brady Bunch" worked around their homes in snug dresses, jewelry, and heels. Their hair was always perfect and they never looked like they got dirty while cleaning. Notice in this clip from the opening of "Leave it to Beaver" that the mom is perfectly dressed and has on her make-up and jewelry, even though it must be early in the morning because she is handing out the lunch boxes to the kids before they go to school. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZAR7Q28V9g
So she had to get up, do her hair and make-up, put on a nice dress, and make the kids lunches before they go out the door. She probably cooked breakfast for everyone too. This is, of course, a television program and the actors and actresses would be made to look their best, but it also gives women a false standard to live up to. I wonder how many women try to live up to the standard of looking pretty even while they work or do manual labor? Men certainly don't have such a standard. Men, both then and now, might wear nice suits if they work in an office, but they get to wear strong, sturdy, protective clothing such as bib overalls or jeans and a flannel shirt if they are doing some kind of "dirty work." We also don't expect them to stay clean while they are doing said work. You never see a man out working on his car in his garage, wearing a suit and tie, so why were women expected to wear dresses, (or gowns in the fairy tales) while they were working? It is another double standard! Men aren't expected to wear inappropriate clothing, and women shouldn't be expected to, either! Although this standard has changed somewhat since the 1950's, I think women are still expected to look pretty and clean no matter what they are doing. Many tv moms still look pretty good as they move around their houses. I don't have time for alot of tv, but there are a couple of shows that I saw on Wednesday nights that have tv moms. One is called "Modern Family" and one is called "Cougartown". In both of these, the moms look very pretty and very sexy, even while they are cooking or taking care of the kids in the house. Our fashion has changed--women no longer wear dresses all the time--but I don't think our (double) standards have changed! I think it is time that women in tv and movies get to be happy and have healthy relationships even while wearing comfortable and appropriate clothing.

A Princess We Can All Be Proud Of

Today's presentations on fairy tales and feminist issues were very well done. I was surprised to discover that someone other than me was a fan of Xena! I loved "Xena, Warrior Princess" and used to watch every episode. For this e-journal entry, I had a chance to stop and think why I (and Tish) and other women love Xena. I think she represents the strong woman that we all have inside us. Here's a clip to show some of what I will be talking about..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jm7ZK1KaMc&NR=1 Now I realize that Xena was a tough and sometimes mean warrior who killed people and that she was a made-up tv character, but I still think there are qualities to Xena that make most women admire her. For one thing, Xena was physically strong and athletic and could easily ward off men who were messing with her. Watching her fight several men at a time and best them was always a kick for me. Xena also was articulate and well-spoken. She didn't always say much, but when she did it was really important and made you want to listen. Her witty, sarcastic comments to men were always a treat as well. Xena also was fighting for a good cause and trying to do away with evil and help others. The compassion for others and willingness to fight for what she believed in always made her stand out as a true heroine. She was so different from the fairy tale princesses who need to be rescued and pretty much do nothing but look pretty. Xena did not need to be rescued by a man. Instead, she rescued others, including many men. As can be seen in the attached video clip, Xena could also do back flips, front flips, use a sword, shoot an arrow, ride a horse, and do a very cool warrior yell. Even with all her fighting skill and toughness, she was also very beautiful with her dark hair and blue eyes. They did give her a sexy outfit, but even when Xena was dirty and her hair messed up she still looked good. As women, we definitely admire Xena's strength, skill, and athleticism, but I think it was her courage, compassion, and heart that we admire most. Maybe there is a little bit of Xena in all of us.

More About Gender-Typing With Toys

I think Joseph said that he found in his research information saying that the driveable cars made for kids are made more powerful for the boys and less powerful for the girls. Could I possibly have heard him right? Surely this can't be true! That would be totally unfair if the little girl can't keep up with the little next-door-neighbor boy, and she would never know why. What about families that have twins or siblings close in age--one girl and one boy--who decide to race their new cars? The girl might think that she actually is not as good a driver as her brother and this could stay with her for life! Gendered toys are one thing, but this is totally ridiculous. The toy manufacturers need to know that little girls like to go just as fast as little boys. Their reaction time is just as quick as a boy's and they can handle the faster car. So, I was annoyed that the cars are usually made pink and purple for the girls while the boys get to have jazzy red, but if it is accurate that they are made with a power difference, then that is way beyond annoying. It's downright wrong!
Another interesting and somewhat scary point from the presentations was Megan's reading of the tiara box. I wish I could remember it enough to paraphrase what it said, but I just remember it was giving little girls the idea that if they wore the enclosed tiara they could be just like a princess and look beautiful. I think the ending said something about living happily ever after, also just like a princess. We should not be giving our girls the belief that the happiness and success of their lives depends upon their looks and whether or not they have the right accessories. It is fun for little girls to play dress-up, but I think we may be going overboard with the whole Disney princess image. The prices on those Disney princess dresses were outlandish--I noticed one that was priced at $89 and one was $149. How ridiculous to put that much money into playing dress-up. One can only imagine how much those princess bedrooms must cost, especially the one with the bed in a coach. It was very pretty but I don't think kids really need that stuff. They might be spoiled into thinking that their surroundings have to be that extravagant and fantasy-like. Then what will they do when they grow up and possibly can only afford a bedroom with a bed and a few pieces of furniture? The gender-typing where Disney products are concerned seems to be the worst offender. I like Disney movies as much as anyone, but I wish they would tone down the influx of princess paraphenalia. Of course, as long as parents keep buying it, Disney will keep producing it!

Perfect Princes and Passive Princesses

In Stephanie's presentation, she talked about the different roles of men and women as presented in fairy tales. She pointed out that men in fairy tales are usually cast in the role of rescuer and the women need to be rescued. That got me thinking about how this plays out in some of our most common fairy tales. In Cinderella, the girl is rescued from a bad situation of servitude to her mean step mother and step sisters. In Snow White, she is rescued from the spell of the evil queen. Even in Little Red Riding Hood, the little girl is rescued by the brave hunter, if she is rescued at all. When Stephanie was discussing that the women in fairy tales often have passive roles, I found it interesting when she said that Sleeping Beauty's main role was to sleep, and I would add, to look beautiful. The males have a much more active role, although they do seem less interesting and complex as characters than do the females. When I was preparing my presentation, I wanted to see how the prince was physically described in the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella, as compared to Cinderella who is described as beautiful. I found that he was never physically described at all, but he was described only in terms of what he did--his actions. Thus we have a good example of the male characters being all about the action and the female characters being passive. Cinderella never really did anything but clean, pick peas out of the ashes, and look beautiful to go to the ball. I see now why I loved the movie version of Cinderella called "Everafter" with Drew Barrymore. In this story, she reads books, swims in a lake, stands up for herself, throws apples at an intruder, and dresses up as a courtier to save her friend from being sold as a slave. She even stands up to the prince and basically tells him that he is spoiled and that he has all that power and doesn't use it for the good of others. Drew Barrymore's Cinderella rocks! I'm glad that some of our modern day fairy tales have women that are not passive. Now if Disney would just catch on...

We May Need Another Feminist Movement

I enjoyed the presentations on how toys and decor influence our gender roles, although it is a bit terrifying to see that maybe we have not "come a long way, baby." (like in the advertisement: http://tobaccodocuments.org/ads_pm/2058500255.html ) The toys aimed at little girls involved domestic chores and the toys for little boys involve power, speed, and the ability to defeat foes. The students presenting on this subject found some really good pictures of toy advertisements and they provided interesting commentary and reserch to go along with these images. It was shocking how many toys are made for little girls involving cooking and cleaning. There are many toy kitchens available out there, and some are quite fancy. The image of the little girl cooking for the little boy and serving food to him with a big smile on her face really made me realize how we get cast into these roles. I'm concerned that we haven't come very far since the 1800's in changing these roles. The picture of the little girl bent over her wash bucket with what Megan called her cleaning "trolly" beside her really sticks in my mind. The girl was smiling and looking very happy to be holding a sponge and getting ready to use all her cleaning supplies. Cleaning is a necessary part of life and it can feel rewarding when you get finished, but it is never fun! There must be thousands of other toys that little girls could play with that would be more fun. So why would a girl want a "cleaning trolly" and wash bucket? I never had such a toy nor wanted one. It makes me wonder if a man invented these types of domestic chore toys and if we are brainwashing our girls to think this activity is loads of fun. Why should the little girls have to clean and cook while the little boys are racing cars and slaying dragons? I think we need a new feminist movement to expose these brainwashing schemes. Maybe this time instead of burning our bras we can burn some of these toys! If Fairy Tales are promoting these ideas, I think we need to write new fairy tales. It will be interesting to see the new fairy tale movie that Disney is about to release. I hope it will do a better job of portraying women as strong and capable instead of weak and passive, but I have serious doubts.
I will write more on these interesting presentations about gender roles in future blogs.

What About the Men? : Masculinity in Disney Movies

We have seen how women are objectified in Disney films with the portrayal of a good woman as beautiful and passive. The Disney movies over-emphasize the female physical attributes by showing women with big breasts, tiny waists, voluptuous hips. But what about the men? What image do little boys watching the Disney movies get of masculinity? I found this thought-provoking clip entitled Sexism, Strength, and Dominance: Masculinity in Disney Films:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWMCt35oFY
As this clip shows, the male heroes are portrayed as strong, powerful men with chiseled abs, a barrel chest, and huge biceps. In a song sung by Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Gaston shows off his physical prowess to the ladies and even sings, "as you see I've got biceps to spare!" Men with other body types are portrayed as outcasts, fools, or servants. I did think of one movie where the hero does not fit this typical Disney hero with powerful muscles, and that is "Aladdin." The character of Aladdin is fairly slim and not super tall, and does not have enormous biceps and a barrel chest, but he is lean and muscular and good-looking. Aladdin does, however, have one important thing that most men don't have--he has a powerful genie. This gives him an ability to control circumstances and have power over others. I wonder if this sends the message to little boys that if you are not super masculine, you better have some awesome abilities or qualities that give you the edge over other men, or you will not get the girl. Aladdin would not have been able to get Jasmine without being able to use the Genie's magic to pretend to be what he was not.
Another aspect of male prowess portrayed in Disney films that the clip talked about was the competition between males. The clip said that most Disney movies include a battle between two males; either two men fighting for a woman or two animals fighting to maintain status or honor. The male with the most physical strength and prowess "wins." This portrayal of masculinity could teach young boys that violence and dominance are important qualities to have if you want to be manly. Once again my eyes have been opened, and I see that although we can't get away from Disney and the movies are entertaining, we need to carefully consider the content and be ready to discuss it with children.

Is Disney Promoting Racism?

I never realized it before, but yes, Disney has some very racist material in their movies. We learned from the film we saw in class that the Asians, African Americans, Native Americans, and Arabs were stereotyped and portrayed in a racist manner. Let's look at some shocking examples. In the Jungle Book, they were in Africa but there were no Africans in the film. The characters portrayed as black were the monkeys and orangutans who had the voices of black people and danced around singing about wanting to be "like a man." The crows or black birds were also representing African Americans. They danced alot and spoke with heavy black dialect. I found a very good film clip that has examples of racism, including the two mentioned above. Got to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LibK0SCpIkk
Another shocking portrayal of African Americans can be seen on this clip. I do not know which movie it was from, but the scene consists of African people working and singing these words: "We work all day, we work all night, We never learned to read or write. We're happy-hearted roustabouts." Disney is not only portraying blacks as slaves, but suggesting that slaves are stupid and happy!
The film clip attached here also shows that Latinos are shown as being violent. The film we saw in class showed the Latino being represented by the chihuahua, who was stupid and crazy-acting. The Asian stereotypes are no better. The cats in Lady and the Tramp are buck-toothed and conniving. In another film, the Asians are again represented by a cat but this time it is playing the piano with chopsticks. I'm pretty sure that Asians don't play the piano with chopsticks or sing about chop suey as the Disney Asian cat does. It is a good idea for Disney to represent different cultures and ethnic groups in their films, but they need to do it with respect and sincerity. They have only succeeded in showing the stereotypes of various peoples and they have done it in poor taste. Sometimes they go beyond the typical stereotypes to outright put-downs, such as the African monkeys singing about wanting to be a man. Yes, I believe Disney is promoting racism.

Eyes Wide Open

Wow! The film we saw in class about Disney was shocking but also very eye-opening. I never noticed the sexist and racist nature of Disney's movies. When the film showed the clear evidence of the sexist nature and racist portrayal in Disney's work, it was amazing to think that I had never noticed these things before. This blog will discuss the sexist nature and then I'll write about racism in a future blog.
We have discussed in class previously the fact that Disney portrays almost all of their princess characters as caucasion. Until the release of the upcoming movie which apparently does have an African American woman, Disney has had no African American princesses. Even Pocahontas and Jasmine were sorry attempts at depicting different ethnicities. In other words, their features still looked white even though they were a tiny bit darker in complexion. However, I had never noticed just how sexualized the female characters are, and not just the princesses, but all of them. The females have big breasts, tiny waists, and ample hips. They also have large doe-like eyes and long eyelashes. It is bad enough that the women all look this way, but they also portray the females as being seductive and sexual. They walk in a seductive manner and often bat their long eyelashes at the males. The most shocking thing I saw on the expose film was the discussion of Jasmine trying to seduce the evil man, Jafar, in the movie "Aladdin." The film showed this scene in which Jasmine suddenly becomes very seductive in her body posture, actions, and words. She compliments Jafar and then tries to kiss him to take his attention off of Aladdin, who is trying to escape. This scene in a Disney movie makes it seem to young women and girls that it is okay to manipulate men with your sexuality. I might expect to see that in an R-rated movie or adult television, but it seems out of place in a Disney film, especially since they are marketed to children. Even the old cartoon clips from the 60's and 70's show very sexualized and seductive girls, fairies, and other female creatures. The film explained and gave proof that even the female animals in Disney movies bat their long eyelashes and act seductively toward the males. Maybe Walt Disney thought that if Hugh Hefner could have sexy bunnies, he could too!

Now that my eyes are open, I'm going to be watching out for this kind of sexist material, and have some discussions about Disney with my kids.

"Realistic but Not Reality": More Viewpoints on Legends in Exile

During our discussion of the illustrated novel, "Legends in Exile" we were talking about whether or not this story was more realistic than the original fairy tales. Some students thought that the "Exile" stories were closer to reality, and that made the characters more relevant. Then some students pointed out that there was a talking pig and a man that could change into a wolf and all sorts of interesting characters in the illustrated novel that made it quite fantasy-like. I thought Chelsea had a good point when she said the novel was, "realistic but not reality." By this comment, I think she meant that the stories contained some elements of the real world but it was still total fantasy. This viewpoint is perhaps what makes these illustrated novels popular and interesting to read: the characters are thrust into a real-world setting that could be very realistic even though they themselves are still fantasy characters. In "Legends in Exile" the characters have been placed in the "mundane" world with regular people who they call "mundys." The fairy tale characters have to hide any special abilities they might have from the regular people. The story is about how they interact with each other and with people from the "real world." This is not a new concept. Old television shows such as "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" make use of this same premise. (In this hilarious clip from I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie uses her special powers to foil Tony's plans to befriend a pretty girl on the airplane.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cruJZtbwfKo
It's fun to see what happens when people with exceptional powers or talents mix in with the regular population. The "Harry Potter" stories also use this idea, when the witches and wizards have to mix in with the regular humans called "muggles." I think it makes for good entertainment but I don't think it makes these characters more relevant to our lives than the fairy tale characters from fairy tale land.
One final viewpoint on "Legends in Exile" that I took note of in class because I thought it was interesting is in regard to the Prince Charming story line. The guys in our class were amazed that Molly not only paid for Prince's meal but also invited him home with her to have sex. They seemed to think that was super cool and they wished it could happen to them. Several girls in the class thought Molly was a dumb slut and one female student called her a "ho." There was definitely a difference of opinion between the males and females in our class about Molly's actions. It's amazing to think that these different gender perceptions are at work constantly on everything we read and everything we see on tv or movies. Our upcoming oral presentations should be awesome as we take a look at gender typing in childhood, male-female relationships, and sexuality as they relate to fairy tales and early learning. I will write more blogs about this subject of male vs female perception as I learn more in the class.

Legends in Exile: A Woman's View

"Fables: Legends in Exile" is obviously written by a man but I did not realize how male-dominated and anti feminist it was until we discussed it in class. The subtle male dominance issues then got my feminist's views stirred up. We were asked who the audience might be for this piece of work and everyone said it was probably written for young males in their late teens, due to the violent nature of the material and erotic portrayal of the women's bodies. Reading it for a school assignment, I had been reading it to understand the content and characters, so talking about the portrayal of women and the target audience being guys really got me thinking, so I went back and explored the female characters in more detail.
Red Rose was a party whore who allowed Jack to use her to get money from Bluebeard. She prostituted herself, in a way, to Bluebeard in order to get the money. She allowed herself to be used by men. Cinderella is trying to be powerful since she's taking fencing lessons. She looks all fierce and tough, but when Bluebeard actually stabs her and causes her to bleed, she says, "I'm bleeding you shit! Why'd you do that?" Who cares why he did it, it was wrong. She should have held him accountable or at least stabbed him back. Instead, she lets him leave the scene with a lame explanation that she wasn't paying attention and she should think about that before the next lesson. He actually blamed her and then just left, and Cinderella said not another word.
Molly Greenbaum was no example of a modern woman. The author tried to make her seem liberated since she invited Prince home with her and agreed to pay for his meal, but then he stole money from her purse the next morning and took her apartment key. He also left her a note asking her to do his laundry and pick up his dry cleaning. Geez! Maybe her mistake was in letting him spend the whole night. Snow White seems to be a strong woman and even has a good job. Yes, she's beautiful and powerful-- but she's also portrayed as an angry bitch. Why are independent, successful women often perceived by men to be bitches? They must feel that a strong woman is a threat to their masculinity. Back to Snow White, who seems to be liberated and successful. If the reader looks closely, she herself says that King Cole has all the power and authority and she just does all of the work. She is also allowing herself to be used by a man. Though it may at first seem that the female characters in this illustrated novel are independent and strong, they actually have not improved their status much since they left fairy tale land! They are still passive and allow the men to use them. The class must be correct about this being written by a man for men.

No More Happily Ever After

All of my blogs this week will be about our "Fables Legends in Exile" book because I thought the class discussion about it would be great and it was. It's so interesting to hear the views and varying ideas of people in our class. One thing that amazed me was the ease with which many of the students accepted the "Fables" story line as being normal, realistic, too much like everyday life. One student even said it was "boring" because it was too similar to real life. The "Fables" illustrated novel is a murder mystery that includes blood and gore, adultery, jealousy, divorce, objectification of women, greed, foul language, and violence. Now, I definitely don't live in a fairy tale and have had my share of all those things listed above, but the students in class are young and it's sad that they think this is part of everyday life. The media may be a big cause of people thinking crime and hate is normal, because the news mainly shows horrible things that happen to people. I've often heard that this is done for the shock value. They can get better ratings if they show shocking stories. Some of the things in our "Fables" book do happen everyday, but hopefully not all and not all to one person.
I think we all agreed that "No more happily ever after" makes sense in the real world, because the phrase "they lived happily ever after" suggests that they were happy every day and never had any problems. Here is another important point about fairy tales: they don't teach us how to cope in the real world. What if we don't live happily ever after? What if we catch "Prince Charming" lying to us? What if we women get tired of singing and cleaning and decide to take a month off? Fairy tales are fantasy because they do make life seem simple and fair. If you are good, you will get a handsome prince and always be happy. However, life is not usually that simple or that fair. I did love hearing the people in class say something to the effect of, "I've been with my boyfriend for three years and we're still having fun...", and other such praises of being together two or three whole years. Three years is a long way from "ever after." I've been with my "boyfriend" for over twenty years and we have fun sometimes, but staying together for a long time takes a lot of work and a lot of patience! I was going to say something about long relationships in class but I didn't want to bum anybody out...let them have a romantic fairy-tale-like view for awhile.
Finishing up with another look at the "Fables" novel, I think it does present a more realistic look at our world than the original fairy tales. We don't have these strange magical characters in our world of course, but we do have many of the problems that they portray. Sadly, the illustrated novel does not give us any guidance or coping skills either, but I guess they were meant for entertainment to a particular audience. Next time I'll talk about who that audience might be and my feminist's view of the content.

Spooky Gender Roles on Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Something funny happened to me today.. I couldn't go out trick or treating with my family because I feel horrible and I hope I'm not getting the flu because I have sooo much to do. But that's not the funny thing. Here it is: I cuddled up with a blanket to watch my favorite Halloween show of all time-- "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." (I know..I'm a light weight.) I own it on video so I thought that and a brownie would have to be a good way to relax and spend Halloween. But I couldn't help noticing the strong gender roles portrayed in that Halloween special! Because of this class, I am noticing the gender typing in more and more things, and I can't hardly stand to watch cartoon network with my son because of the darn commercials. Did you know that little girls now can have a baby doll that wets and poops?! Horrible! But back to Charlie Brown's Halloween show...In the first scene, Lucy takes her little brother Linus out to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. She picks the largest one and makes HIM carry it. She never even helps. When the pumpkin gets away from him and he gets rolled over by it, Lucy looks angry with him, as if he did something wrong. It was strange that the boy had to do all the work. When Linus later writes to the Great Pumpkin, all the little girls come in and make fun of him. His male friend is fairly supportive, but the girls put him down and laugh at him. This show is very old, but I have noticed that the theme of girls making fun of stupid boys or men can be seen in many tv commercials and sitcoms today.
Then there is the scene where Lucy tries to get Charlie Brown to kick the football. He at first says that he is not going to fall for that trick again this year because she will pull it out from under him. But Lucy is convincing and even has a written document that she will not do that to him. But she pulls the football and makes Charlie Brown go flying through the air. She excuses herself by saying that the document was never notarized. We have seen in many of our fairy tales that women were often thought to be tricky and conniving, and now we can see this portrayed in a family cartoon. While it is interesting to start noticing this gender typing, it makes me feel a bit angry and hopeless that women will never be taken seriously or considered good and intelligent. All of the commercials I saw for little girls this morning had to do with styling hair or making the doll or pony's hair change color. The boys had cool trucks that danced and cars that raced and costumes with lazer guns. When did girls get so obsessed with hair?
Anyway, apparently I watched too much tv while I felt bad today so I hope I feel better tomorrow! Meanwhile, I'm glad I was able to be in your fairy tale class because it sure is thought provoking on many levels. Have a safe and happy Halloween!

The Same Fairy Tales--Different Views

Two of the students who did their presentations on Thursday were Felix and Megan. (I hope I am spelling her name right.) They both spoke on the same fairy tales; the versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" by Perrault and by the Brothers Grimm. However, on the question of, "which fairy tale is better for children" they took completely opposite views. It was very interesting to watch how they each did this and what they used to prove their points. Felix argued on the side of the Perrault tale and did this convincingly by doing a good close analysis of the stories. He brought out details from the literature such as length of lines, story content, and development of characters. His view was that some of Grimm's tale was lengthy and boring, as compared to Perrault's. He said that the characters were better developed in Perrault's tale and that made them more interesting. He thought that the moral was more clear in the Perrault tale and that, overall, it seemed more realistic. He had some very good and convincing points and his close analysis was thoughtful. Megan, on the other hand, said that the moral in the Grimm's version was much better and that cildren would get two good moral lessons out of the tale. The first is the obvious one, which is to obey your parents. The second moral lesson Megan brought out was very thought provoking and it is displayed in the fact that the Grimm version introduces a good guy---a hunter that comes at the end and rescues them from the wolf, who is seen as the bad guy. Her moral lesson was that little girls should know that there are bad men in society that will hurt or trick you but that there are also good men that you can trust. You know, I think every girl does have to learn this at some point in her life while growing up around males. For women, this subject deals with rape and molestation and how women have to be warned against "wolves" or bad guys who will do these things. Men do not really have to worry about being raped or being tricked by a woman to get him into bed with her. Yet women have to be warned against bad men and taught to look for good men that they can trust. Perhaps the reason that Felix did not get a clear moral lesson from the Grimm's tale and Megan did, is just a matter of gender! But despite gender differences, they both did a great job of discussing their opposite views of the "Little Red Riding Hood" tales.

Beauty and the Beast: Another Example of Men's Fears

When we were studying Little Red Riding Hood, we discussed that the story could show men's fear of their own sexuality or their fear of a woman's rejection of their sexuality. I believe that some of these sexual issues and acceptance issues can be seen in "Beauty and the Beast" as well. First, the main male character in BATB starts out as a Beast. He is big, ugly, and scary to women. In the beginning of the tale, he seems mean and hateful, since he tells the father that he'll have to send one of his daughters to die in his place if he wants to live. The Beast knows that no woman will accept him as he is. He must trick a woman into coming to live at his place. He really did not seem to have the desire to kill Beauty when she got there--he just wanted a woman to live with him. This portrayal of the Beast could point to the same deep-seated fear in men that the beast has. They are afraid that they won't be attractive to women. They are afraid that they are too big and gruff and unrefined to "get" a woman. They may also fear that their own sexuality is too "beastly" or animalistic for a woman. They hope that a woman will accept them as they are, just as Beauty eventually accepted Beast, even while he was still ugly.
Also, notice that in most of the Beauty and the Beast tales the Beast has plenty of money. The castle or house is big and richly decorated. The food is good and plentiful, and he seems to spare no expense for the comfort of his guests. This makes me think of what a guy in our class said about the Bluebeard story; that the women were after his wealth. In the BATB tales, would the women have accepted him if he was dirt poor and they had to live in a bare hut? Perhaps this points to another fear men have--that women are attracted to the man's wealth and that if you don't have money, you probably won't get a woman. Come to think of it, in many fairy tales, the man who gets a woman in the end is wealthy. Cinderella doesn't fall in love with a good looking plow boy...she gets the wealthiest guy in the land! Snow White and Sleeping Beauty both get handsome and wealthy princes. Poor guys! We often think that fairy tales objectify women but look at how the winning men are portrayed. You have to be very handsome and rich to get a beautiful girl. No wonder men are afraid that women will not accept them or their sexuality. They may be afraid that they won't live up to the standards set up by fairy tales. Very interesting.

Gender Typing Seen in Commercials

I was interested in the comments you and some of the students were making about gendering and how tv commercials make a huge contribution to that issue, just like fairy tales. So I watched some kids' channels this week, and it was quite amazing. The ads aimed at little boys all involved either fighting, winning, or being in control. The first I saw was some sort of batman set up with little figurines. The batman figurine could swoop down from a special rope and knock over the "bad guys." Everything shown on that commercial that the young boys could do with this toy involved violence. The next I saw was a car racing kit with transformer vehicles. It said that you could "be first to the finish line!" The entire commercial played strong rock-in-roll type music and showed the boys competing with their little cars and yelling when they won. It was all about competition and winning. The little girls' commercial was just as you said. It was all pink and purple and happy music played. The particular ad that I saw was a bunch of little girls putting makeup on dolls and styling their hair. I could not help but wonder if this is all our society thinks little girls should spend their time on. While boys are out fighting for justice and racing their cars, girls should be learning to look pretty. However, the last commercial I saw was perhaps the most disturbing. It showed two boys playing with a large remote-control dinosaur. He looked pretty cool. He could roar and walk and shake his head; but the disturbing thing was that while the announcer was saying something like "you control his every move...you are in control," the boy was making it walk over to the little girl and her dog to scare them. The dog looked scared and she screamed and both little boys thought it was so funny. The boy with the remote who was "in control" knocked the girl's card tower over with the dinosaur and then actually pointed and laughed. What is this teaching our young boys? It may be teaching that you need to dominate women and always make fun of their weaknesses. It is also showing boys that it is okay to scare girls and laugh at them. How can we expect men to ever take us seriously and respect us if we teach them this from early on? In our current fairy tale, "Beauty and the Beast," the beast is scary and intimidating to the girl at first and then she sees him as he is and accepts him. Perhaps men are afraid that if women discover who they really are, they will not accept them. This may be worth pondering for a future blog...
The gender typing in the tv ads really was sad though, and I am going to start noticing them more.

Do Men Identify with the Beast?

"Beauty and the Beast" brings up some interesting issues from a male point of view. While searching for a clip about the use of inanimate objects in the Disney movie, I ran across this clip of Belle and the Beast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SquniIVza0
It shows Belle helping the beast to learn how to be gentle and gentlemanly. He wants to feed the birds like she does, but he is too big and clumsy. As Belle keeps helping him, he is able to feed the birds and they all come to him. Even though he is a large, powerful beast, he looks so humbled and happy that Belle is teaching him to be gentle. The lyrics to the song are very telling. It says "he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined" but now she notices that he is "sweet and almost kind." This makes me wonder if men are supposed to identify with Beast. Men do tend to be coarse and unrefined in many areas. They seem to need women to help them be more refined in the social graces, and learn skills that we would consider gentlemanly. As an example from my personal life, I find it interesting that my husband still asks me for help on how to dress. He will ask me if his shirt goes okay with his pants, or which socks he should wear to match his outfit for work. Sometimes he asks which color shoes he should pick to go with his slacks. He seems to have limited ability on how to match colors or pick out a coordinating outfit. Another example is when he needs to write an email to someone. He asks me to come help him write it, not because I'm an English major but because he knows his writing might be too direct and come out sounding harsh. He wants me to refine and soften the message. These are only two examples, but I think "Beauty and the Beast" makes a good point about the relationship between men and women. I think women do help to refine and civilize their man. Mothers are probably the main ones who teach their boys manners. Women are more likely to fuss at their husband for burping than another man would be. Actually, they would be more likely to have a burping contest. So I think men really can identify with the Beast and it may remind them of their own beastly qualities. In the tale of Beauty and the Beast, she eventually refines him so much that he turns into a handsome prince. I think that is the hope and dream of all women!

Madame de Beaumont's Beauty and Cinderella

While reading the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale by Madame de Beaumont, it was interesting to compare her tale to the story of Cinderella, particularly the female characters. Both stories start out with a wealthy man that has a very pretty daughter. (Beauty had five other siblings, and her two sisters end up being very much like the two ugly stepsisters in "Cinderella." )
Something happens either to the father's wealth or his life that leaves the family destitute. In both stories, the beautiful daughter makes the best of the situation and keeps a good attitude. Beauty gets up at 4:00 everyday to start making breakfast and cleaning the house. Cinderella also worked all day to keep the house clean and serve her step mother and step sisters. Beauty had two selfish sisters who stay in bed until late and do not help her with the chores. They complain about the loss of their father's wealth and do nothing to help. Cinderella had two mean step sisters who also do nothing to help around the house, but instead they complain and order Cinderella around. During each of these two stories, the pair of sisters or step sisters become very jealous of the beautiful sister and try to undermine her success. In the end, the mean sisters or step sisters get what they seemingly deserve in both tales. In Grimm's version of Cinderella they get their eyes plucked out by birds, in other versions they die. In "Beauty and the Beast" the sisters are turned into statues by the fairy because of the malice that was in their hearts. That is another similarity; both stories have a helpful fairy that can do magical things.
However, even though it is fun to look at all these similarities between the two tales, it is most interesting to realize the possible message sent by these portrayals of women. They may be saying that beauty on the outside equals beauty on the inside, and that you can judge a book by its cover. Further, that selfish, hateful people are generally not attractive and don't succeed in the end. Notice that both of our female heroines in these tales were kind, gentle, hardworking, and good, as well as being very beautiful. This idea of the outside telling you about the inside was prevalent in the Middle Ages. For example, people with leprosy were thought to be bad, immoral people. Since these fairy tales were written down from old oral tradition, they may have been started at a time in history when people held this belief. I do not think this theory is true today when some of the actors and actresses of our time are physically attractive but not necessarily very good people.

"The Tigers Bride" and Use of Inanimate Objects

Since we had a discussion about Disney's use of inanimate objects in their "Beauty and the Beast" story, it reminded me of the strange objects used in Angela Carter's tale, "The Tigers Bride." When the girl gets settled in to the Beast's home, her serving maid is actually a soubrette from an operetta that rolls into her room on wheels. The valet explains to her, "nothing human lives here." This statement not only referred to the maid but also to the Beast himself who she suspected was not human. He wore a mask, meticulously painted with a human face. But back to the creepy serving maid. Unlike Disney's fun, adorable objects that are brought to life, this doll-like helper on wheels carries a looking glass in one hand and a powder puff in the other, and she is always trying to put the powder on the girl's face. The female narrator of the story says something very profound in regards to her maid. She said, "That clockwork girl who powdered my cheeks for me; had I not been allotted only the same kind of life amongst men that the doll-maker had given her?" (Carter 62). The story began with this girl being lost in a card game by her dad. The winner of the card game was the inhuman creature called the Beast. He also objectified her and was only interested in getting to see her body naked. None of the male figures in her life seemed to care about her one bit. She was an object to be won or lost, used and tossed aside, like money or any material good. That's why she compares herself to the doll-servant. She said that among men, she had only been allowed a life like this fake replica of a woman. I wonder if all women feel this way at some time in their life? I had a job years ago in a male-dominated company. I worked hard there and got some big accounts for the company, but the males superior to me took credit for my work. Angela Carter might be making a point here about something that is still prevalent in our society today. Women are still quite often seen as objects and used as if they were serving-dolls. Have you ever been in a restaurant and heard a man call the waitress "honey" or "sweetie"? Ironically, sometimes men even call women "doll", which goes right along with Angela Carter's comment in her story! If we heard a woman call a male waiter by one of these names we would think it was weird, but we put up with this behavior from men. Especially older men, it seems, get away with this! So I think we have to be careful not to allow men to allow us only a doll-like existence. Thankfully, I think the situation is getting better with today's generation of men. At least I hope so...

Disney's Portrayal of Beauty and the Beast

In the class discussion today, we were talking about Disney's use of inanimate objects brought to life to represent the enchanted characters in the story. We were questioning why Disney might have added these characters and used them in the animated version of the tale. Several people in class had a good suggestion that these characters are for the benefit of children, to keep them entertained. I would definitely agree with that. The characters are very cute and funny to watch. They add a certain lightness and comedy relief to a potentially scary situation with the Beast. When Belle finds herself in the huge castle with the Beast she is frightened, but it is the characters portrayed in the form of dancing, singing objects that put her at ease. They also put the audience at ease and provide musical entertainment which is, of course, an integral part of Disney productions. In the song entitled "Be Our Guest", we can see these characters come to life. Go to the link I post here to watch a clip of this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC8xcagMcTY
The characters provide fast action, color, and lively entertainment that kids will really enjoy. However, I'd like to add another theory to this discussion by saying that the inanimate objects also provide adult entertainment. Parents usually have to accompany children to the movies and Disney would not want the adults to be bored. So, Lumiere speaks French and has a love affair going with the French maid, portrayed by the character of Featherduster. During the song, many French words are used that children would probably not know but that would be appealing to adults. Also, the lyrics of the song are quite witty and quick and many young children would not catch them but the adult audience would. For example, Lumiere sings such things as, "life is so unnerving to a servant who's not serving" and "try the gray stuff, it's delicious. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes!" Mrs Potts, the teapot, gaily sings, "While the cups are all soft-shoeing, I'll be bubbling, I'll be brewing!" Children would most likely not know what "soft-shoeing" even is, but adults will enjoy the wittiness and humor.
So, while I agree that these objects brought-to-life are wonderful for the children to watch, I maintain that these characters are also used to entertain the adult audience. Adults will appreciate the wit, rhyming, humor, and even sexual innuendoes brought about by these enchanted characters.

Very Odd Tale from the Brothers Grimm

I can't wait to discuss the versions of Beauty and The Beast in class tomorrow, but meanwhile I'd like to comment on the version from the Brothers Grimm entitled "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich." The tale was not as good as what I have grown used to reading from the Grimms. It seemed rather disjointed, as if someone kept interrupting them while they wrote it. For example, it begins, "In the olden days, when wishing could help you..." This suggests to the reader that this story is going to include someone making a wish -- perhaps at a wishing well or to some magical fairy. But there didn't seem to be any wishing going on in the tale. The frog struck up a direct bargain with the daughter, but no wishing. Also, the daughter was very beautiful, and this is always a good thing to have in a fairy tale. But the Grimms usually associate beauty in a character with good qualities and kindness. This beautiful sister was a spoiled little wretch! She moaned and wailed when her toy went in the water, then she made a deal with the frog that she did not intend to keep, then ran off and left him which broke her promise, then treated him rudely when he came to the house, then threw him against the wall. But after that, he turned in to a handsome and wonderful prince that she got to marry. This does not seem very fairy-tale-like. It may sound silly, but in fairy tales --especially ones written down by the Grimms-- I have come to expect that the good characters will win in the end and the naughty, hateful people will fail. In the Beauty and the Beast versions of the tales, usually it is the beautiful girl's acceptance of the beastly character and her realization that he is a good person that enables her to "get" him in the end and transform him into a gorgeous hunk, right? But here we have a girl crying and pitching a fit, throwing him against a wall, and calling him "disgusting" (Grimm pg 49-50). Right at that point in the tale, he transforms into a handsome prince. This seemed very odd! But the tale then gets stranger, because we suddenly get a new character named "Faithful Heinrich." Heinrich had been the prince's servant and had been so saddened by him being turned into a frog that he had three hoops around his heart to keep it from bursting. The reader gets the feeling here that a new plot is starting, and maybe there will be an exciting twist to the tale. But the ending of the story only talks about Heinrich's hoops breaking off his heart as he drove the prince and the girl back to his kingdom. Then it is over. The introduction of the Heinrich character was brief and seemed out of place, even though the tale is partially named for him. It was as if the Grimms had to add extra lines so they just stuck something at the end. I'm becoming an avid fairy tale reader, but this froggy one left me a little cold! It will be interesting to see what others in the class thought about this one.

The Robber Bridegroom and Women's Intuition

I have focused my writing on the Perrault version of Bluebeard and the Grimms version called "Fitchers Bird." But the Grimms had another Bluebeard-type tale called "The Robber Bridegroom" that deserves some discussion. In this story, the young bride faces the horrible possibility of being murdered by the husband but this time he is a cannibal! He and his friends live in a house together where apparently they cut young maidens into little pieces and eat them. I looked up images online to go with this fairy tale and found this one...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/bluebeard/images/stratton_robberbride1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/bluebeard/strattonrobber.html&usg
What disturbs me about this picture is the way the men look. I pictured them to be big, scruffy tough-looking guys, but in this picture they look like nice country gentlemen. None of the men are making a scary or mean face. They look pleasant and happy right before they are going to kill the young girl and eat her. Even the man holding her looks calm and friendly. I guess I pictured cannibals to look a bit more scary and brutish. These men are drinking wine out of stemmed glassware! Just thought the artist's rendition was interesting.
My main thought on "The Robber Bridegroom" was the excellent intuition of the woman as opposed to the ignorance of the dad. The story says that the father picked this man to marry his daughter, and "could find nothing wrong with him" (Grimm 151). But the girl did not trust the suitor from the beginning. Whenever she looked at him "her heart filled with dread." It does not say why she felt this way, but I think we can chalk it up to women's intuition. She later finds out that he lived in the middle of the dark forest. This was another red flag to the intuitive girl, and she wisely placed peas on the path when she had to go to his house so that she could find her way back. Her suspicions were proven correct when she met the old woman who told that the men were cannibals and helped her escape. The girl was also very smart to keep the finger that flew into her lap as evidence to expose the robber bridegroom. I think I would have screamed and thrown it away from me and ruined everything! Thank goodness that these days our father does not pick out our husband for us and force us to marry someone we hate. But I think back then as well as now, women's intuition reigns supreme.

Bluebeard and Men's Fear of Women

When we discussed "Little Red Riding Hood" in class, it was very interesting to see that the story may have contained some hidden fears that men have toward women and their own sexuality. I wondered if "Bluebeard" contained similar male issues of fear, and I think it might. Here are some ideas.
The Bluebeard tale may start out with an example of men's fear of rejection by women. After all, Bluebeard was rejected by women because he did not live up to their standards of physical attractiveness. Since his beard was blue, women found him to be ugly and ran away from him. This illustrates a basic male fear that they may not be good-looking enough to attract a female. We may think of this as mainly a female problem, that we worry about not looking good enough for men. The old joke about "does this make my butt look too big?" is placed upon women and never men. But I think men do have to worry about their physique and whether they can compete with other males in the attractiveness arena. If the beard was a sign of masculinity, Bluebeard was really in trouble because his symbol of virility was turning off the women.
Another fear brought out by this story is the male fear of an unfaithful, untrustworthy female. Bluebeard seems to set up a test for his new wife to see how trustworthy she will be. If they proved to be unfaithful to his word, they were killed! This seems to be a reflection of an age-old fear that men had about women being sexually promiscuous. In the 17th century, they seemed to have more of a fear of public ridicule or tainting of the family bloodlines than a fear that the woman didn't love them enough. Since the Bluebeard fairy tale was written before we had companionate marriage (as we learned in class), love was probably not his concern regarding his wife's faithfulness.
But this brings us to another, more subtle fear; the fear that the woman will be insubordinate and may take over or gain too much power. The whole story centers around the fact that she was disobedient to her husband. It even seems to suggest that the problem was her disobedience, not his murderous ways! This was supposed to be a "moral lesson" for women of that time -- not to be too curious and never to disobey your husband. Phooey on that.
A final thought on man's fear being brought out in the story of Bluebeard is that women may be marrying you only for your money. In both the Perrault version of the story and the Grimm's version the Bluebeard character was wealthy. In Perrault's tale, he threw a big week-long party for the sisters and it was this extravagance and show of wealth that eventually won over the younger sister. In the Grimm's tale he was a sorcerer who stole women. But once he got them back to his home he wooed them with his splendid belongings and "he gave the girl everything she wanted (Grimm 148)." This sure makes women sound materialistic and shallow. But we must remember once again that these were written or told at a time when women married for very different reasons than we have now. They did marry for financial support and status, not love. Thank goodness we can earn our own money these days and don't have to marry some guy with a blue beard. (Unless we're a punk rocker and like that sort of thing...)

Interesting Male Viewpoint on Bluebeard

Since I am a female, I notice things in the versions of "Bluebeard" that most women notice -- the man was a murderer, the wife discovered his gruesome secret in the forbidden room, Bluebeard was terrrifying, she must get away from him or she will also be murdered. The focus of the story is on Bluebeard, and how crazy and dangerous he was. But one of the guys in our class had a different perspective that I thought was intriguing. He said that the women were only out for Bluebeard's money, and said this as if the wives were in the wrong and maybe even deserved what they got. Instead of disliking Bluebeard and worrying about the wife's safety as most females who read this tale will do, he was concerned about Bluebeard being the victim of gold-diggers! Men seem to be touchy about this subject. I saw an interesting discussion on Oprah back in the summer about gender roles and sexuality. To show how women feel about a man's financial situation, they told about the following experiment. A group of women were shown three pictures of three different guys and asked to rate them in order of attractiveness. This they did, based solely on the guys' looks. Then they (and I think a control group who had not seen the pictures yet) were told what each man did for a living and how much money he made. When the average-looking guy was suddenly a record exec making a six figure income, his attractiveness rating went up. When the physically appealing guy who had rated tops in the beginning was just a store clerk making a bit above minimum wage, his attractiveness to the women in both groups dropped. The guest on Oprah explained that women throughout the ages have looked for the mate that can be the best provider for her offspring. She said that even back in caveman times, the woman would want the highest ranking male who could bring home the biggest piece of meat to feed the family. It is not that women are being mean to think this way, it is programmed into us to desire a man who can be a strong and good provider. It sounds horribly anti-feminist, but I think I agree with this theory presented on Oprah. Even if a man is very good-looking, if I were to find out that he is uneducated and works at a low-paying job, I probably wouldn't be very attracted to him, just based on his looks. But looking back at the Bluebeard story, the woman even found Bluebeard to be very ugly until she started looking at his riches. Then she accepted him. She may have been a bit of a golddigger, because most women would not want a man that they found unattractive, even if he did have money. The guys in the class can rest assured that most women are not out just for their money -- they have to be intelligent, nice, and handsome too. Oh dear, this might make them more worried! But it was interesting to note that the male perspective of the Bluebeard story was quite different.
Next blog I will talk about how the story may point out other male fears.

Symbolism in "Bluebeard" and "Fitcher's Bird"

Some interesting symbolism was used in the Bluebeard tales by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. In Perrault's version, he did literally have a blue beard. I agree with the student in our class who said that the color blue may have been used to portray a cold, hateful personality. The color blue is a cold color, and when people have no friendly or loving qualities, we often say that they are "cold." Blue is also a color associated with death, which Bluebeard knew all about. So, we could say that he was a cold-blooded killer.
The fact that it was his beard that was blue may also be symbolic. In some cultures, the beard is a symbol of male virility and masculinity. In the Bible, there are stories about them cutting off the men's beards to humiliate them or to show that they were captured. In some cultures, all the older men keep full beards to show their masculinity. Growing facial hair is something that separates men from women, so I guess it was a sign of dominance and manliness. So, it is interesting in this fairy tale that his beard was blue and this made him ugly to women. They rejected him because of his blue beard. His identity as a man was compromised. Perhaps his ability to be a virile lover was cold and impotent. The color red is associated with passion and heat and his beard was blue--thus cold and indifferent. Though I could not find a good artist's representation of the blue beard, I did find a couple of good pictures of Bluebeard at this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard
In the top picture, his eyes are really freaky and bulging. I wonder if the artist wanted to make him look a bit crazy. Also in this picture, we see how anxiously she seems to be reaching for the keys. This may be depicting the woman as grasping and conniving--she wants his money and yes, she will search out all his secrets. The key is another symbol and it is used in both tales. We often say that something is the "key" if it is the most important part or clue. Bluebeard used the key as the most important element in his little test. The key had to be used to get in the room, and in Perrault's tale it even becomes blood stained to clue him in to the fact that she disobeyed. If she had not used the key in both tales, we get the impression that he would not have killed her. Thus maybe it was like the "key to his heart."
In the Grimm's version, the key was important to open the door, but the item that got blood-stained was the egg that he made her carry. The egg was another symbol. An egg is a sign of female fertility, and she was to carry hers around and keep it pure. When the first two sisters let it get stained with blood, he knew that they were disobedient and unfaithful. Thus the egg was symbolic of female fidelity. The last sister kept her egg "pure" by trickery!
I have discussed several of the symbols in the Bluebeard tales...these tales are so complex that I'm sure there were many more!

Is There a Moral to Bluebeard?

We all seem to think that fairy tales should have a moral lesson to be learned, or at least a warning about the consequences of improper human behavior. Is there any lesson to be learned in the tale of Bluebeard? It is a rather grotesque tale, with its mutilated dead bodies of Bluebeard's former wives. It is also a rather scary tale, since the new wife realizes that she will be his next victim as soon as he learns that she has looked into the secret room. We seemed to agree in class that surely it is not a tale suitable to tell to children. So then is the lesson aimed at women? Some say that it teaches women to be obedient. The husband is head of the household and must be respected and obeyed. The wife in the story was disobedient and thus, she had to be killed. But it makes one wonder what would have happened if she had been obedient. Perhaps he would never have killed her and he would have treated her with love and kindness for the rest of her life. But would you want to be in ignorance about a husband who murdered his previous wives and stashed their dead bodies in a little room in your house? Wouldn't it start to stink? I've had a small mouse die in our house before, and the way we found out about it was the unbearably bad smell. Women have a very keen sense of smell--much better than a man's--so I'm betting that the woman would have discovered the problem eventually. But I digress from the real discussion! Anyway, even if she had been obedient, I doubt such an evil murderer would have made a good and loving husband. Something bad would happen to her at some point in the marriage. If he got mad for any reason he might just slice her up!
Another possible lesson to be learned from Bluebeard is not to give in to your curiosity. Some critics think that the woman was overly curious and that made her a bad person. I think that most humans have a curious nature. My mom used to tell us that many car accidents are caused by people trying to look at an accident on the other side of the road, because we are all so curious and want to know what happened. We especially want to know what is going on if something is made out to be a secret. The Bluebeard character forbade her to go look in the little room, but gave her the key. Just because she was curious, like most people would be, she wasn't a bad person and she certainly did not deserve to die for her curiosity. Even if the room had been empty, I still would not think she was a bad or evil person--just a curious one.
So if neither of those "lessons" really make sense, what could be the lesson of this tale? When you consider the whole entire story and how it ended, the real moral could be the following one, aimed directly at men: Don't try to murder your wife, no matter how disobedient she is, because she may find a way to murder you!

I'm Not Defending Bluebeard, But...

Two girls in our class began their discussion this way today and it was so funny, because I think we all tend to do this at times. As humans, we have a natural ability or tendency to see things from different perspectives and analyze both sides of an issue. This may be what makes us unique from other animals. We mentioned in class today that we are animals and have basic animal reactions, but I think we have more qualities of reason and empathy than other animals. We look for the reason behind why someone did something, and whether or not they should be considered guilty or just misguided. In "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault, there is really no way to defend Bluebeard. He killed his former wives and hung them in a bloody chamber. He was guilty of murder. He also seemed to want to tempt the new wife by offering her the key to that room while saying that she must not go in there. If you really wanted to keep something secret from your spouse, you wouldn't point it out, make a big mystery about it, and dangle the key in her face like a carrot for a donkey. He knew that she would be curious and he wanted to test her obedience. This is another reason we should not defend Bluebeard. He purposely set up a test of loyalty for his wife, to see if she was trustworthy. But it is a bit ironic that he was a horrific murderer who had killed more than one woman, and he feels he has the right to test her trustworthiness and honesty. What about his own trustworthiness or honesty? What is that old saying about people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones? That may be an understatement when it comes to Bluebeard.
But if I absolutely had to defend Bluebeard for some reason, I would pose the arguement that he was a victim of society. After all, he had a physical problem that he couldn't help and for which people made fun of him. The story says that he had a blue beard, "which made him look so ugly and frightful that women and girls alike fled at the sight of him" (Perrault's tale 144). Most of us have been teased about something regarding our looks sometime in grade school, and so we might be able to sympathize with Bluebeard's plight. Some kids that are teased alot turn out to be mean or deviant. We could say that this happened to him. Poor fellow, he couldn't get away from his flaw because his name was even "Bluebeard", which must have constantly called attention to the bad physical attribute. Girls didn't just reject him gently because he wasn't a super cool dude...they ran away from him screaming! This reminds me of our feelings for Grendel in the famous medieval tale of "Beowulf." He is a horrific murderous monster, but he is an outcast from society and not allowed in with the other folks who are singing and making merry. He is a descendant of Cain, so everyone fears and rejects him. But we tend to think that he can not help where he came from, and society made him respond with anger and hatred because of the way they treated him. I think there is a whole book written about the tale from Grendel's perspective which I hope to read someday. But back to Bluebeard...he probably did hate women because they were so mean to him. He sought revenge on something that had caused him so much pain and rejection. Should we try to understand him or feel sorry for him?
My answer to this query would be "no!" If we all decided to kill somebody every time we felt hurt or rejected, there would be few of us humans left in the world. He needed to quit worrying about it and go on and do something good with his life! I don't buy the belief in our society that there is an excuse for every bad behavior. So, I guess I'm really not defending Bluebeard!

Grimm's "Bluebeard" Has a Clever Girl..Hurray!

In the Brothers Grimm version of bluebeard, entitled "Fitchers Bird," I was pleased to see that there was one woman clever enough to trick the Bluebeard character (the sorcerer) herself, rather than wait for someone to save her. The first two daughters that the sorcerer captured were not too bright and they were both killed. But the third and youngest daughter was smart and cunning and she stayed one step ahead of the sorcerer dude. She put the egg in a safe place so that it never got the blood on it. She also put her two sisters back together and they came back to life. We were asked to say if the fairytales ever collide with our own life. Well, I've never had any horrible experience like that before, but I am the youngest of three sisters so maybe that is why I think this last sister rocks! But seriously, I like the fact that the Grimm's tales often have women who show some initiative. The Cinderalla character in their version of that tale went out to the tree she had grown and wished for an outfit to wear to the ball on her own...no fairy godmother had to appear to help her. But back to the Bluebeard tale. The third sister then hid her two sisters in a basket of gold and made the sorcerer carry them back to their parents. She even told him that she would be watching him the whole way and he better not stop to rest. She definitely took control of the situation. She used her cunning once more at the end to trick the sorcerer and all his friends into the wedding feast, then locked them in and burned them all up. But perhaps the most clever thing she did was to disguise herself like a bird so that she could get by them without being noticed. She rolled in honey and feathers. This was an intriguing means of escape and I guess where this tale got its name "Fitchers Bird." The youngest sister really came up with many tricks very quickly. Bravo, Grimms!

Bluebeard! What a change from Cinderella. I wish I had had this class last year because I would have known the story of Bluebeard and would not have missed a test question in my British Contemporary Novels class! We studied "The Bloody Chamber" by a contemporary author named Angela Carter. The test question was something like: "which fairy tale does this story remind us of?" The correct answer was "Bluebeard" and I know why now...The Bloody Chamber is extremely similar to Perrault's version of the tale. I had not read or really heard of Bluebeard prior to that time. I'm glad for the opportunity to read the 1697 version of Bluebeard and compare it to Carter's version. Her version is longer and goes in to more detailed description of the man this girl was to marry and their erotic wedding night. She seemed to fear him yet be attracted to him all at the same time. Like in the Perrault version, she was told not to enter the special room while he was gone away on business. In his "bloody chamber" was not only blood and the bodies of his former wives, but there was an Iron Maiden. This contraption was a large wood and iron structure. like a big coffin, with metal spikes coming out that pierced and killed the victim. Carter's representation of her Bluebeard character was very dark and cruel, as well as being murderous like in all the original Bluebeard tales. Another difference between Perrault's version and Carter's copy-cat version is the way in which she is rescued. In Perrault's tale, she anxiously awaits the arrival of her brothers. They finally come and, in good fairytale style, slay the enemy and rescue the lady. But I love the ending in Angela Carter's tale. Sensing something is amiss with her daughter when she spoke to her on the phone, as only mothers can do, she rushes to her castle. Riding across the water on a fast steed, hair whipping about her face and skirts flying behind her, the mother reaches her daughter just in time and kills the evil husband. Girl power! The moral of this tale...never mess with a mom's children because she will go to hell and back to save them.

Cinderella--Like Pornography for Women?

I had some final thoughts about our discussion of Cinderella before we move on. We discussed in class about how this fairy tale sets up unrealistic expectations, not only regarding a woman looking pretty and being happy doing domestic chores, but also the whole "someday my prince will come" fantasy. By hearing and watching this fairy tale as young girls, I wonder if women grow up with this thought---that someday they will meet a wonderful guy who is like a prince? He will sweep us off our feet and save us from mean family members and rescue us from the drudgery of housework. The sad thing is that the opposite is often true! When you get married, you take on in-laws as part of your family and they are not always that great to be around. And, your housework probably increases because you are taking care of your husband as well as yourself. If you have children, you can double or triple that workload. The only way to be rescued from all this is if you marry a real prince or perhaps a very rich man with live-in servants. But if Donald Trump and his many wives are any example of that lifestyle, I wouldn't want any part of it! Perhaps the truth about Cinderella and other fairy tales is what I heard someone say about a pseudo pornography for women. The theory goes like this...soap operas and what we might call chic-flicks are the same badness for women as pornography is for men. So, in essence, romantic movies and soap operas are porn for women. Why?? Because the men on these shows act the way women would like for them to act, but (this is a big but) in real life men don't really act this way. For example, the men are very communicative and romantic, they'll do anything for the woman, they often have to "rescue" her from something or somebody, by the end of the movie they love her so deeply that they'll do anything to find her and win her love, etc. It is based on female fantasy of what we want a man to be, not the way they really are. Now look at pornography for men and we can see why the comparison was made. When men look at pornography, they see a woman the way he would like them to be but they are not really this way in real life. For example, they are really confident in their own bodies, they are offering it to the man freely, they appear to love sex as much as he does, they are all about the physical fun with no strings attached, etc. Most real women are not like that. They have to have a comfortable relationship before they want to have sex, they need to communicate, they are not so comfortable putting their bodies on display. So, soap operas and chic flicks are to a woman's mind what pornography is to a man's mind. Have you ever watched a wonderfully romantic movie with a gorgeous, sweet man in it and you're starting to cry at the touching part and you look over at your husband and he looks completely unmoved?! And you get kinda mad at him because he's not like the guy in the movie? That brings us back to Cinderella. It sets up unrealistic expectations for women from the time they are young girls and learn the fairytale. We all realize at some point what relationships and marriage to a man are like, but I wonder if secretly, deep down, we're all still waiting for our prince to come. Or at least for our husbands to act like a prince more often!

Cinderella as Domestic Goddess

I enjoyed our class discussion on Cinderella's role as a "domestic goddess." While it is true that women should not be expected to look pretty and sing sweetly while they clean, it is a sad fact of life that women usually still end up carrying most of the domestic chore load. There was a girl in my Women In Lit class last semester that said a statistic showed that housework among married couples is still split 90%-10% with women doing the 90. I tried to find this statistic online but could not find it. It would not surprise me, though. I did want to put this excerpt from an article I found at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070827174300.htm

"The study of more than 17,000 people in 28 countries found that married men report doing less housework than men who are live-in boyfriends.
According to Davis, the key finding of the study is that it suggests the institution of marriage changes the division of labor. Couples with an egalitarian view on gender--seeing men and women as equal--are more likely to divide the household chores equally. However, in married relationships, even if an egalitarian viewpoint is present, men still report doing less housework than their wives."
This does not give women much incentive to get married these days! When I was the age of most of the students in our class, I imagined myself to be very liberated and would never need a man or do so much housework like my mother. But like I said in class, if you live in a house or apartment with a boyfriend or spouse, someone has got to do the work. If you can agree to split the work equally that would be ideal, but I wonder how often that really happens. My husband will do housework and grocery shopping, but it is always interesting to me that in his mind he is "helping me." Even some of the articles I read said that men would "help out with the housework." This suggests that in everyone's mind, the work is still the responsibility of the woman, but the men have gotten better at "helping." I'm not sure if we have come such a long way in this area! I think it boils down to this: you have to be happy with what you are doing whether that is housework, working as CEO of a company, teaching, raising kids, or any other task! Cinderella may have known something good after all...be happy with yourself and have a good attitude, no matter what you're station!

Disney's Use of Lines and Color

We've read the critics articles this week and they were very interesting. I never realized how much goes into the planning and execution of the Disney films. One group presenting this week asked us to discuss the use of lines and angles in the animated films. Cinderella has soft, rounded lines to represent her goodness and gentleness and the stepmom and step sisters have harsher lines and points and angles. I looked at some film clips of Disney's Cinderella and this is true. I mainly noticed this in their bodies rather than their clothes. The stepmom has pointed eyebrows, a pointy chin, and long pointy fingernails. This gives her an evil appearance. You would know that she is an unpleasant character, even if you could not hear the dialog. The step sisters have pointy noses and eyebrows. But the article also commented on Disney's use of color. It said that Cinerella's soft browns and warm colors go with her animals and the stepmother's and stepsisters' cold grays and blues go with their cat, Lucifer. While viewing the clips, I noticed something else about the use of color. The stepsisters dresses are done in a hideous shade of green and a gaudy purple. Cinderella gets to wear pink and then sparkly white for her ball gown. The stepsisters also have to wear big ugly feathers on their heads and Cinderella has an attractive demure headband. Their hair color is quite interesting too. The stepsisters have brown hair and red hair. Cinderella has golden blonde hair. I wonder why blonde hair was associated with goodness and beauty and why Disney also thought this? For my generation, I think Madonna might have blown this image of sweetness! (Of course, I think Madonna is really a brunette.)

Standards of Beauty in Cinderella

In our society, the image of thinness equalling beauty is highly overdone. There are beautiful women of all sizes, not just thin. Yet if you look at runway models and high-fashion models, most are very skinny. Where do we get these ideas of beauty? During the 1600-1800's, when the Perrault and Grimm versions (respectively) of Cinderella were being written, women were not expected to be quite so thin, but they were supposed to have a slim waist and delicate features. In nearly every version you read or see of Cinderella, she was petite, with tiny feet that would fit the tiny glass or golden slipper. The stepsisters are usually portrayed as having feet too big to fit the slipper. But here is an interesting thing -- in Grimm's version of Cinderella, the stepsisters were told to cut a piece of their foot off to fit the slipper! One cut off her toe and the other cut off her heel. It was their own mother who told them to do that, because they wouldn't need their feet that much when they married the prince. No woman in her right mind would mutilate her body to get a man, right? That is what I thought and then realized that even modern women get fake breasts, nose jobs, permanent dye under their eyes, and probably a host of other things to get a man.
In Charles Perrault's version of Cinderella, called "Donkeyskin", he said that "Her waist was so small and fine that you could encircle it with two hands." Even if a man had big hands, that would still suggest a waistline that was unaturally small! That is why they had corsets to wrap women's waists so tightly. Thank goodness we no longer wear corsets. Doing some research on corsets throughout the centuries, I learned that they were not only painful but could be dangerous. Doctors warned of over-doing the corsets because it compressed the organs too much. In one article which I will attach here http://www.marquise.de/en/themes/korsett/korsett.shtml, it said that even babies and children were wrapped to begin to re-shape the soft skeletal structure into a "fashionable shape." That seems cruel and outrageous by today's standards. I was shocked to see that they did this to young girls. Maybe, hopefully, we have come a long way. But then I'm also a bit shocked when I see little girls in our society who are barely able to walk, and they already have pierced ears...

Negligent Father- Stupid Prince: Male Characters in Cinderella are Weak

In the Grimm version of Cinderella, the male figures are certainly nothing to write home about. Considering this story was written by men, it is surprising how weak the men are. The father, for example, does not seem to care how Cinderella is being treated by the new wife and her daughters. He knows she is dirty and has to work hard and sits among the ashes, but he does nothing about it. In our class discussion, someone suggested that he was afraid of the wife so he kept his mouth shut. This is possible, but during this period men were very much the head of their household. The story also says that he was a rich man, and a rich man would have had servants to cook and serve the family. So it does seem strange and cruel that he would allow his daughter to work and serve. My theory was that he was clueless as to what was going on with his children as most men are even in modern times, but he was aware of Cinderella's situation. Perhaps, as the class suggested, she wasn't his biological daughter and was just the daughter of his first wife. This would account for why he didn't care about Cinderella and why the story never says that he showed any compassion or comfort toward Cinderella when she cried over her mother's grave. For that matter, the story never says that he showed any grief at all when his first wife died. He was not a good male character, but was either cruel or very neglectful.
The prince is no hero either. He danced with her at the parties three nights, and every time she managed to get away from him when he tried to be her escort. He was the prince, and should have been strong and smart, yet she was able to fool him and slip away three times. Furthermore, he danced with her three nights in a row and "never let go of her hand." So it seems that he would have picked up on what she looked like, the size and shape of her body, and what she sounded like. But yet he almost married both of her stepsisters because he thought they were her. The birds had to tell him about the blood running out of the shoe! Seems like he would have known that these women were not the same one he had just spent three evenings with, or at least have noticed the blood! So the prince was either partially blind, ignorant, or just plain dumb. He wasn't a very strong male character, either. But it is a fairytale, and after all, strange things happen in fairytales. Without these strange flaws, it wouldn't be a fairytale!