Fairy tales help to establish gender roles at a young age to characterize and represent the ideals, values, and roles that each gender should succumb to. They specifically target younger aged audiences; therefore these stories provide children with images in which encompass their roles as either male or female. Females are taught to be kind, sweet, week, honest, self-sacrificing, and beautiful. On the other hand males are taught to be courageous, brave, saviors, and wise. Many of these characteristics are shown in fairy tales such as “Sleeping Beauty”, “Puss in Boots”, and “Beauty and the Beast”. In the fairy tale, “Sleeping Beauty”, the princess is awarded with gifts from the fairies (or wise women in the Grimm version) after her christening. These gifts include, beauty, intelligence, grace, and the ability to dance, sing, and play all kinds of instruments very well. These gifts help to portray the classical image of a stereotypical female in which they are just showcase items to be the perfect wife to their husband. The princess is also represented as a damsel in distress, …show more content…
which is common to all fairy tales. The princess is not able to protect herself from harm’s way and therefore must rely on her savior, the prince, to pull off great freights of courage and bravery to rescue her. In the tale, the prince is required to pass through a thorn bush that many previous princes have perished in. However to our hero this does not deter him and says, “I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful Briar-rose.” (Sleeping Beauty, Grimm). In the fairy tale, “Puss in Boots”, very similar gender role stereotypes are shown.
The princess is portrayed as a clueless woman that can be “won” over by very superficial characters, such as wealth. The protagonist, Miller’s son, is at first portrayed, as a poor farmer’s boy with only a cat to his name, however over a very small period of time and the wisdom of his cat, Monsieur Puss, was able to become wealthy and win over the king and the princess’s heart. This stereotype in which males are able to go from being poor to rich is fairly common and helps to reinforce the idea that males are more successful in obtaining wealth on their own and are considered as the more independent gender. On the other hand, females remain poor unless they marry into wealth. This idealizes that women are solely dependent on their spouse for their income, since they have no means of achieving it on their
own. The fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast”, also helps to shed some light on gender roles. “The merchant and his three sons applied themselves to husbandry and tillage; and Beauty rose at four in the morning, and made haste to have the house clean, and dinner ready for the family.” (Beaumont) This shows the stereotypical roles for both males and females within a household. The females will help to clean and cook the food because these are considered as “feminine” jobs, while the males are responsible for “masculine” jobs such as husbandry and tillage. Beauty’s sisters represent another typical female stereotype in which they envy her because of her beauty. “When she was little everybody admired her, and called her "The little Beauty;" so that, as she grew up, she still went by the name of Beauty, which made her sisters very jealous.” (Beaumont) This helps to reinforce the idea that the value of a female is solely dependent on her physical appearances rather than intelligence.
In the article “Are All Princesses Really Waiting for Princes to Come?” Jack Heckel discusses some of the most common Disney princesses and the stereotypes that come along with them, as well as some of the stereotypes that are seen in the Disney princes. He supports his article by providing a variety of sources not only from Disney movies, but also from various authors and blogs. The analysis of Disney princess stereotypes has been a very common topic for years, and this overall analysis has revealed that a lot of Disney princesses are not good role models. Heckel uses many techniques including using credible, non-Disney sources, discussing other fairytales besides Disney, displaying a timeline of Disney
...ndency on the fairy godmother and the prince encourages a meek and inactive behaviour to achieve a rewarding future (Robbins, 104). Overall, Cinderella’s behaviour is “...weak, silent and passive...” (Trousdale & McMillan, 12) which is unacceptable for a modern western woman.
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairytale produced by Disney. The movie centers on two main characters, the Beast, a young prince who is cursed and transformed into an ugly creature because he is arrogant, and Belle a strong-willed young woman who he imprisons in his castle. In order for the Beast to be returned to his normal self, he must have someone look past his ugliness and fall in love with him. Another male character, Gaston, who is extremely self-centered, wants to marry Belle and tries to kill the Beast when he realizes there are signs of growing love between the Beast and Belle. At the conclusion of the story, the Beast/Prince is restored to his handsome form because Belle has in fact fallen in love with him. The last scene of the movie shows Belle and the Beast/Prince dancing happily ever after.
Shrek, an enormous, disgusting green ogre falling in love with a beautiful princess (later turning into a nasty ogre) is a perfect example of a stereotypical fairytale, right? Well in the movie Shrek, the voice over in the trailer talks about a “hero” attempting to rescue a “fair princess” with the help of “his trusty companion." Besides the fact that the hero is a voluptuous green ogre and the companion is a donkey, everything fits in normally to the definition of a traditional fairytale (Diaz). Also according to Mary Kunimitsu, in fantasy films “There may be characters with magical or supernatural abilities such as witches, wizards, superheroes, mythical creatures, talking animals, and ghosts” (Kunimitsu). In Shrek, there are many of these different characters. Therefore, by explanation, a traditional fairytale with the beautiful princess getting saved by the prince and falling in love is exactly what happens in the movie Shrek, just with a twist. The voice over in the trailer for Shrek states it perfectly as he says “Shrek is a highly irreverent take on the classic fairytale” (Adamson). As an untraditional fairytale, and a parody, the movie Shrek poses the breaking of stereotypes of gender and film fairytales all the while keeping the criteria of a fairytale.
They play a role in putting emphasis on themes such as a woman’s passive nature and their beauty. Fairytales are a mode of enhancing the difference between the genders and supporting the dominant gender. Disney films and children’s fairytales put a high amount of emphasis on the theme of feminine beauty ideal (Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003). It is a social construct that believes that the greatest asset a female has is that of her physical attractiveness and a female should strive to achieve and maintain it. This leads to one believing that females are oppressed, devalued and objectified, particularly in a patriarchal society (Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003). According to Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz (2003) women find beauty to be empowering and like to engage in rituals that enhance their beauty. Bordo (1993) believes that woman and adolescent girls achieve a high social status and maintain their self-esteem by engaging beauty rituals through the course of the day (as cited in Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003). The importance of female beauty ideal and physical attractiveness in society is emphasized in many Disney films and children’s media. According to Chyng (2001) many films emphasize the importance of sexuality and often-female characters are portrayed as overly sexual (as cited in Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, & Tanner, 2004).
Thinking back to our childhood, we all remember hearing many kinds of fairy tales. Some of them inspired us others confused us, and most of them taught us valuable lessons. Through out centuries tales and stories have been used as a valuable tool to pass on our culture to new generations. There is a strong belief that these fairy tales mirror and influence society. All cultures interpret tales in their own unique way. They add and subtract various aspects of the tale to fit the needs of their particular society. The same tale in the United States is different from the tale told in Asia. A good example of tale evolution can be seen in one of the most famous tales ever told which is “Cinderella”. As a professor of women’s history Karol Kelley points out in her essay Pretty Woman: A Modern Cinderella “There are some 700 versions of Cinderella”.This fairy tale as many others has been changing for many years, and in recent years Cinderella has come under some criticism for its depiction of women’s roles in society.
Disney movies have a very narrow view of what women should be like. Since the arrival of the first Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, the idea of it has expanded, but rather marginally. There is a clear distinction of what a young women should be and what she shouldn’t be. Those who do not fit the mold of Disney’s expectations are cast aside to become villains, but those who do, end up becoming the damsel in distress. Ultimately, these stereotypes are what influences young girls who watch these films, and can have devastating effects on their self worth and change their idea of what it means to be a women. Films like Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
The folk tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” has numerous variations and interpretations depending on what recorded version is being read or analyzed. “Little Red Cap,” by the Grimm Brothers, and “The Grandmother,” as collected by Achille Millien, are different in numerous ways: the depth of the narrative structure, characters involved, length – yet, the moral lesson is largely unchanged between the two versions. One of the more glaring differences between the two versions is the way that the narrator and the actions of the characters are used to describe the young girl, female, and the wolf, male. Being either female or male are matters of biological makeup. The characteristics of femininity and masculinity that are associated with being female or male, however, are socially and culturally defined. How do these different descriptions inform gender construction, and more specifically, how do gender constructions help to naturalize stereotypes within the collective conscience of society?
A knight’s Tale is an American medieval adventure/ comedy film that was written and produced and directed by Brian Helgeland. This film is an anachronistic story with many modern references and details in it. The story is based on a peasant named William who acts as a knight and competes in jousting tournaments, winning awards and developing friendships with historical figures as Edwards, the Black Prince of Wales, and Geoffrey Chaucer. Only nobles are allowed to compete in tournaments, but when they discovered that their master Sir Ector, died. William competed in one final pass he impersonating Ector, winning the tournament.
In a society unbridled with double standards and set views about women, one may wonder the origins of such beliefs. It might come as a surprise that these ideals and standards are embedded and have been for centuries in the beloved fairy tales we enjoyed reading as kids. In her analytical essay, “To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tales”, Karen Rowe argues that fairy tales present “cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues.” Rowe presents an excellent point, which can be supported by versions of the cult classics, “Cinderella” and “Snow White”. Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper” and the Brothers Grimm’s “ Snow White” exemplify the beliefs that females are supposed to be docile, dependent on the male persona and willing to sacrifice themselves. In many cases, when strong female characters are presented they are always contradicting in these characteristics, thus labeled as villainous. Such is the case of the Cinderella’s stepsisters in Perrault’s “Cinderella” and the stepmother in the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” These female characters face judgment and disapproval when they commit the same acts as male characters. With such messages rooted in our beloved fairy tales it is no wonder that society is rampant with these ideals about women and disapprove of women when they try to break free of this mold.
Fairytales have been around as long as man can remember. Fairytales are told not just for entertainment but try to instill morals and build character. The cultural norms represented in fairytales play a large part in the socialization processes of the child who reads them. Contained within these cultural norms are the beliefs about gender roles that are held by society. The characters in the stories help children to determine what behaviors, traits, or roles are acceptable for children of certain genders. In Angela Carter’s book, The Bloody Chambers, one sees major themes being used to influence people. One of these themes is objectification of women. In every one of Carter’s stories women are objectified. These stories portray women as weak, submissive, dependent, and self-sacrificing while men are powerful, active and dominant. As long as women are primarily bought and sold and are willing to be bought and sold, women will always be looked at as only objects. When looking at the stories, The Bloody chambers, The Courtship of Mr.Lyon, and The Tigers Bride, women are seen being objectified by men. Carter doesn’t give men all the blame, she also shows man as being objectifies in Lady in the house of Love.
In literature, gender stereotypes are used to fabricate the perfect person that follows the gender expectations of their culture. The gender expectations of a male in old british literature is to be honorable, and strong. He needs to essentially be the hero. Beowulf, despite contrary belief, is the hero of his own story. He protects his people, but chooses to not use over force to fight his battles.
It has become difficult to count just how many fairy tales begin with a sentence characterizing the female protagonist as astonishingly beautiful and kind. In both versions of Riquet with the Tuft, it seems as though intelligence is the more valued feminine trait as each rendition features a woman gaining intelligence before a man will accept her as his bride. However, the way in which the protagonist applies her newly acquired intelligence in her marriage directly affects her fate. In Bernard’s Riquet with the Tuft, Mama’s intelligence is portrayed as being deliberate and manipulative, elements that both undermine and threaten Riquet’s masculine power. In Perrault’s Riquet with the Tuft, the princess’ intelligence is described as elegant and ladylike, components that both reflect well on Riquet and supplement his own intelligence without overpowering it.
Parents continue to cloud their children’s minds with the antiquated gender roles and structured landmarks of coming of age without comprehending the consequences of such lessons that are evident in modern representations of fairy tales. While fairy tales once taught valuable lessons to societies about overcoming adversity and adopting strong morality, they now blind children to the reality of the world and in fact take away from the morals they once sought to enrich. Starting at fundamentals of family structure and gender roles, kids are subconsciously convinced of these extreme normalities. The drastic effect of fairy tales (like those of Disney), have led children to go back to the gender roles up to the 1970s and imagine a twisted functioning