During the height of the feminist movement, women were told not to read fairy tales to their little girls. Some today still prescribe to this philosophy, contending that doing so teaches girls to be overly dependent on their "prince charming", precludes the child from finding her inner strength, and gives false expectations of love and romance, or some combination of all three.
While there may be some validity to such assertions, people who subscribe to such beliefs fail to address something of much larger concern. What could that possibly be? I'm talking about the grown up fairy tale. The one many of us pay nine dollars to see, the one that makes us sure to pack tissues in our purses, the one that has us dragging our male counterparts to see on 'date night'. That's right. The modern day romantic comedy.
Let's be honest. We all love them. We love the way that special moment on screen makes us feel. We love the way the undoubtedly dashing male lead stares wonderingly at the beautiful heroine. And just for one instant in time we KNOW what it is to be that woman, to be the object of unbridled fascination, adoration, and love.
So we pack the tissues, plunk down the nine dollars, and settle in to be taken to that special reality where the girl always gets the guy. For two hours all is right in the world. Sure, we know that there will be problems and things to be overcome but we know, just know, that its going to work out. We watch in breathless anticipation as the lovers kiss and the credits roll. Then we walk out to our cars discussing with that particular brand of giddiness that comes from a truly great film the best parts of the feature. We get in our cars and we drive away.................to reality. We go home to mundane life where sometimes the girl isn't pretty, she doesn't get the guy and the guy is just ordinary and never shoots smoldering looks.
Is it possible that those feminists had it right? Should we not waste or time on fairy tales and guys who think more of the next video game than chivalry (that is if they can spell chivalry!)? Perhaps the answer lies not in a choice of reality over fantasy but instead is one of keeping hope alive for the little girl inside us all. To the prayer that one day, we might actually find a peace of our childhood Prince Charming in the normal, everyday guy that, if we are lucky, will stand beside us through the ups and downs that is life.
2 comments:
Some excellent points you've made here. However, I think, despite the opinion of some feminists, fairy-tales offer many positive images of women, who are often far more active and important than the tales' princes.
I agree as far as the fairy tale part goes. Some fairy tales do have strong female leads and the princes are minor characters. However, the story always ends when the pair marry happily which devalues the heroine's accomplishments as the message becomes the woman was not complete until she married/met her prince.
This is even more apparent in modern romantic comedies. While in some instances, the female lead does continue with her job/career/dream, the message that she is only fulfilled as a woman with man at her side is still apparent.
I site as an example the Miss Congeniality movies. The first one ends with the strong, competent, independent woman ending up with the male lead. The second movie is about the female lead's life after she is no longer with the male lead.
Each movie, while having the appeal of a popular actress, had wildly different outcomes. The first movie did very well in the box office and on video, while the second movie tanked on both. Thus the stereotypes are perpetuated.
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