In one of the most controversial photographs of Goldstein’s “Fallen Princesses” series, Rapunzel loses her hair—her most important possession—due to chemotherapy and therefore has to wear a wig draped around her. Goldstein’s Rapunzel is not facing the camera, but is staring at the floor as if she were ashamed of her disease and lack of hair. The Canadian artist juxtaposes real-life issues with those of the princess-life from the visual fairy tale, which is so unlike that many viewers might find it unacceptable. This photo provoked heated discussions over the internet and a great number of people criticized Goldstein for mocking cancer patients. But this situation was deliberately created in sharp contrast with the ever-healthy looking setting
and characters of Disney. This image throws a light on the various struggles cancer patients go through, and depicts a scene which captures their feeling of loss. Although most viewers were clearly troubled by such presentation of cancer patients, it is clear that Goldstein reached her consciousness raising aims and I think this makes it far from an offensive or unacceptable picture. The reason why this photo might trouble viewers is because diseases as such are still treated as a taboo by most members of our modern, Western society. We are simply not prepared to talk about these issues. Having cancer is a secret to be kept in the closet locked away from outsiders and even from family members. The photo may be shocking or provocative, but is it far from being offensive; it has rather a therapeutic effect. Critics of Goldstein—unfortunately always hiding behind internet nicknames—find this piece offensive because the word from the title, “fallen,” is immediately associated with Rapunzel’s cancer as if she were to be blamed for her disease. She is fallen, they say, because she is ill. However, Goldstein had no intention of mocking cancer patient; not only because she had commented about the picture several times, but also because the inspiration came from having the news of her mother’s cancer. She focused on showing Rapunzel’s body and the beauty of her body while going through a physically and emotionally exhaustive period.
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes and The Scarlet Letter. Both authors persuade the reader to feel pain of the stories subject. In Little Girls in Pretty Boxes the author used pathos and interviewing to share the stories of these overly dedicated youth. Joan Ryan wrote to show how these young, talented, sophisticated women can hide the harsh reality of the sport. In her biography she listed the physical problems that these young girls go through. They have eating disorders, stunted growth, weakened bones, depression, low self esteem, debilitating and fatal injuries, and many sacrifice dropping out of school. Whereas the Scarlet Letter is a fictional drama that uses persuasion and storytelling to involve the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses
“Watch your tone young lady” a phrase known all too well to the American culture, whether it be from mom giving her children a lecture or on a television screen being spoken out by an actor. The tone of voice that one uses while speaking plays an extremely significant role in what the spoken words actually mean. Many times one can say one thing and mean another just from placing emphasis on a particular word. With tone of voice plays such a vital role in the meaning of a sentence it becomes clear that poetry, although often times found in books as written work, is meant to be read aloud; this was not all that clear to me until I attended my very first poetry reading. On November 10th Ramapo College welcomed the marvelous poet Mark Doty to its campus. Through Mark Doty’s reading of “House of Beauty” and “Theory of Marriage” it became clear that the use of emphasis and tone are vital characteristics that allows for the poet to challenge poetic traditions and conventions.
Fairy tales are a part of childhood. They go back through time depicting magical images of happy children, love stories, beauty, wealth and perfection. Authors, movie and film creators, artists and more draw beautiful images for people to remember and pass on through time. Many times the ugliness of the villains and the horrors that come into play throughout a fairy tale are often not as advertised. However, after careful analysis it is very clear that both authors of the original “Rapunzel” and its retell “The Root of The Matter” by Gregory Frost do not shy away from these evil aspects through their tales, while still capturing the magical moments that make a fairy tale memorable. The Root of the Matter fits the Rapunzel tradition with both
The familiar story of Rapunzel, as told by the brothers Jacob Ludwig Carl and Wilhelm Carl Grimm, takes on new meaning with a psychoanalytic interpretation. It is a complex tale about desire, achievement, and loss. The trio of husband, wife, and witch function as the ego, id, and superego respectively to govern behavior regarding a beautiful object of desire, especially when a prince discovers this object.
For their second edition of fairy tales, the Grimms and their publisher deemed their original version of “Rapunzel” to be inappropriate for children for “what proper mother or nanny could tell the fairy tale about Rapunzel to an innocent daughter without blushing?” (Tatar 18). The Grimms, in fact, changed details of “Rapunzel,” ridding the story of even t...
For centuries, the tales that capture the youth of society or the adult 's mind are continually under speculation. To whom do the fairy tales of our literature belong, and have they been disassembled from their true meanings? Jack Zipes ' Breaking the Disney Spell and Donald Hasse 's Yours, Mine, or Ours? essays focus on the answers to this pressing question.
Do Rozario, R.,C. (2004). Proquest. “The princess and the magic kingdom: Beyond nostalgia, the function of the disney princess”. Women's Studies in Communication, 27(1), 34-59.
Since 1937, when Snow White was created, Disney princesses have been falsely portraying women. While their personalities have changed to keep up with society’s standards, their unrealistic body
Peggy Orenstein has been very popular around the literary world, writing books, and publishing for many popular magazines such as O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Glamour, New York Times and many more. She mainly focuses on today’s society issues such as topics that affect women and girls. Orenstein’s article originally published in the New York Times in 2006, “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” is the article I chose from the book, The Conscious Reader (page.64-74). Disliking the princess industry, and the impact they have to young girls and forcing gender roles, Peggy Orenstein writes this article as a feminist mother who has concerns about what it will do to her three year old daughter.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are known around the world for their creative collection of fairy tales for children. The most common folk tales include Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. However, many people are unaware that the Grimm brothers originally filled their folk tales with shocking scenes that would be too mature for children’s literature; they never intended to interest an audience of children. The first editions of “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” were intellectual writings with many footnotes and no graphics. As younger readers started to take an interest in these tales, more than adults, they took out the horrific events. With the Grimm Brother’s revising their material to make it more fitting for children’s
Issues concerning masculinity and sexuality had been a prominent topic across China’s cultural and political agendas, especially given the rise of featuring homosexuality in films during the late 20th century. Arguably, male homosexuality acted as a catalyst in the creation of new representations of “celluloid comrades” or tongzhi previously left unexplored by Chinese filmmakers. On the other hand, it has enticed a society that has deeply engrained cultural norms resulting in cultural violence in relation to homophobia. In turn directly challenged the rules of normality and the pre-dominant force of heterosexuality, yet many argued that it was never a sexual problem. Farewell My Concubine exemplifies that homophobia is the product of an institutional
Paquette, Danielle. “The Unexpected Way Disney Princesses Affect Little Boys.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 June
After returning to Orri’s hut, Tristan sees that it is time to uphold his promise to King Mark and “fly the land.” Tristan delays his departure for three days, but on the fourth day he says to Gorvenal that the hour has come, meaning he is finally ready to leave. Tristan flees to Wales, the land of Duke Gilain, where the duke welcomes him as a “God-sent guest.” Tristan does everything he can to distract himself from his despair, but not even adventures for the duke, nor grand feasts could appease him. Duke Gilain, noticing Tristan’s distress, decides the best way to soothe his suffering is with a fairy thing. This fairy thing is a dog that the Duke of Gilian had received as a love-gift from the Duke of Avalon. On the dog, there is a fairy bell that when rang would
The story of The Little Convent Girl takes one back into history as to how one was treated and classified. Many ideas and theories has come to mine about mixed cultures and their values in today’s society. During the 19th century mixed races were not accepted in American society, because the Jim Crow law would not allow it to happen. It was not that bad for the white man to rape or have consensual sex, no matter if it was consensual or not the black man would be hung if found that he had a white woman pregnant. In King’s writing’s some things that she wrote was not clear and the it made the reader assume thin on their own. It made me feel that she had some personal issues with what was going on during this time. Even if her writings were fictional or nonfictional it made me feel that the hidden issues are very close to her. She wanted to take the shift of the story off the girl and place it in the journey down the Mississippi.
The Revolt of the Evil Fairies is a story of intra-racial discrimination in a time where color was big in society, a crush that is unknown and un seen to be recognized, and jealousy that would end in destruction.