Throughout time, village elders, parents, or an authority figure have told stories to impart a kernel of wisdom, or to teach a moral code of conduct. To hold the audience's attention, magical characters were invented deeds or quests inserted, villains were defeated, and the boy got the girl. Or in the case of Cinderella, the girl through magical enhancements of grace, patience, and beauty, won the heart of boy. A simple plot written for a simple audience. But according to the article, "Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior" by Elisabeth Panttaja, the author tells us that the sweet-tempered, motherless young woman that we read about as children was an imposter.
The fact that most fail to realize, as pointed by the author, is that these two mothers want the same things: they both want the best future for their daughters, and both mothers are willing to do anything to ensure that it happens. It is, however, Cinderella’s mother who surpasses and comes in first place. Panttaja believes Cinderella succeeds in winning the prince’s hand at the ball not because of the goodness of her character, but because she was able to stay loyal to her mother. By doing this her mother rewards her by giving her the most beautiful appearance in the entire kingdom. Cinderella succeeds through her mother’s magic, deceit, lies, and disguises.
“Snow White”: Then and now Fairy Tales are filled with magic, love, and conquest of good over evil. Fairy tales can be a window to other worlds so that children can make their wildest dreams come true. When I was a kid Snow White showed me all of these things, but looking back now at Snow White the characters, plot, and theme shows something in a different way. Looking back at the characters of Snow White they were very unique to me as a kid. For example, Snow White was known for her beauty at such a young age, “The fairest of them all.” Also, the Queen evil as can be and envious of Snow’s beauty.
Snow White - symbolism The fairytale Snow White is known in many countries in Europe, the best-known version was collected and written by the Brothers Grimm. Snow White is a beautiful princess, with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony. Like in Hensel and Gretel, this fairytale tells a story how a child is victimized by an adult. The story of Snow White fits most characteristics of a typical fairytale and is similar to Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Before fairytales were aimed for kids, they were intended for adult audiences and so contained adult topics like oedipal themes and strong sexual connotations.
The Princess Paradox Critique Alexandra Heinrich May 2012 English 120 In the article “The Princess Paradox” By James Poniewozik the author explains how “modern day” Cinderella stories have came a long way from what they once were. Although, no matter how hard we try, the Cinderella story will always end the same and our young girls will always want to be a princess, no matter how the princess is portrayed in the fairy tail. In this article, Poniewozik explains the changes that have occurred in the princess stories throughout the years, and the way that they have changed from one story to the next. He shows how the fairy tales and ideal women in movies went from being just a few years ago the “girls-kick-ass culture” to now the much more elegant fairy tales. A few years ago there were movies such as his examples “Charlie's Angels, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the Powder Puff girls” Where women were very fierce and self defendant.
Beauty pageant participant, Kelsey Killeen said, “When I started going into pageants, it gave me so much self-confidence.” Pageant moms believe pageants are a good way to teach their daughters skills needed in life. Eight main skills mothers thought or hoped their children would learn from pageants were acquiring confidence, learning to be comfortable onstage and around strangers, gaining poise, determining the best way to present oneself, realizing the need for practice, learning good sportsmanship, becoming more outgoing and learning to listen (“Child Beauty”). Some parents have even said that they have placed their children in pageants because of a birth defect their child had (“Child Beauty”). These parents wanted to support the fact that their children are normal and beautiful no matter if they have birth defects (“Child Beauty”). In numerous pageants it is required that the contestant raise money for a local
Titania, Hermia, Helena, and Hippolyta are the women in this play that show various ways of how friendships are complicated. Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, takes care of a changeling boy, whom her husband, Oberon, wants as his own slave; but her love for the boy and his mother, she creates a stir in the play. Hermia and Helena’s friendship goes back to their childhood days as best friends. Their path in friendship take a turn when Hermia and Lysander want to run away and get eloped, Helena tells the apple of her eye, Demetrius – who was ordered by Egeus (Hermia’s father) to marry his daughter – which causes catastrophe. Hippolyta is the Queen of the Amazons also, the soon to be wife of Theseus – the Duke of Athens.
In fact, this is actually the synopsis of Disney’s Princess Series 1937 animated movie, Snow white and the seven dwarfs. Classic children’s movies, particularly that of the Disney’s Princesses series perpetuate conventional gender stereotypes-girls marrying their prince charming to live happily, and boys grow up to perceive power is everything. However, waves of feminism have led to the assertion of female status and power in modern society and this change manifests itself in children’s films by the portrayal of gender in characters. There seems to be a chronological movement towards an androgynous view of gender roles in children’s film. According to Shannon R. Wooden and Ken Gillam (2008), in modern post-feminist society, male protagonists in children’s films seem to be taking on more ‘feminine’ behaviors such as being affectionate versus ‘masculine’ ones like competitiveness of the past.
When looked at more closely, one can see that it does not only speak of a young girl who wins a charming prince, but tells a story of the many economic power struggles that we can still see prevalent in modern day society. What is it that children are really being taught? Cinderella is a story of power held by the classes. This can be seen when looking at how she is looked down upon by the powerful, how she suddenly becomes well regarded when she dresses nicely, and how eager everyone in the story is to climb the social ladder. Are these the values being bestowed in young children around the world?
Another Cinderella Story: Critique By: Tabitha Lord ENG 120 July 3, 2013 Everyone everywhere experiences their own Cinderella story. Walt Disney’s version of Cinderella is the one that is most known across the American cultures. It is a story of a girl who locked up but then breaks free and meets her happily ever after. There are many different versions of the Cinderella story and they basically all portray the same theme. The theme is that love and happiness can be found even by those who are less fortunate, those with different backgrounds and those of different nationalities.