Okay, so is it just me (and I know it isn't) but how kick-ass are the evil queens & witches in our fairy tales & Disney cartoons? I mean, c'mon, they had power, beauty & the cajones to get ticked, say what they thought and do what they wanted.
Funny, how in the end those are the reasons they failed and inevitably died. Hmmm, not exactly positive female representation....
I mean, sure, as a kid I wanted to be Sleeping Beauty (She slept most of the story & was awaken by her true love! How easy! How lazy! no wonder I’m a floundering singleton.) or Snow White. But by the time I was nine-ish, those "heroines" seemed rather boring. I mean, they aren't even in the story that much if you think about it. Guess who is? yup, the villain.
Now take a character like Maleficent and you see this regal grace (greenish pallor aside), her determined fashion and beauty. Not to mention a forthright demeanor and a never-wavering determination. And really, all she wanted was to be invited to the party. I’d be pissed too if all my sibs had been invited & I was left out. Granted, I wouldn't curse the newborn babe to death, but I’d guarantee they would not be on my guest list.
But the female representation is fairly positive with these fairy-tale villains, except that they are evil (they want to kill our one-dimensional heroine). And in the end it is the positive characteristics that are denounced by the ultimate failure of the evil queen/witch in the end. Subtext is fairly (horrid pun) obvious, yaw? If you are female and powerful you, uhm, are punished for it. I'm beginning to think the Brothers Grimm were more like patriarchal Aesop's Fables, or worse.
Now, not only is the villain the only reason there is a story and drama to begin with; the villain is usually the more complex and interesting character (I do like America's obsession with the anti-hero, hello? westerns & gangster genres for starters...). So why are we flouncing around in pastel tulle? I say don the black dress and work some magic.
**Jakob, this one was for you. Wicked Witches DO rock.
Tons of stuff on this subject, but more focus on the heroine issue. Found this, though, really worth checking out Folk & Fairy Tales. And a whole reading list here. The musical Wicked tries to justify why the Witch of the West turns out bad. The reasons are there, Elphaba was abused & manipulated, having every right to retaliate; yet there is this apologetic tone.
SideNote: The more I think about it, though, the more I kinda think these evil queens were men in drag. Seriously, why else all the big make-up & shapeless garments if you were, say "The fairest in the land"?
I mean, sure, as a kid I wanted to be Sleeping Beauty (She slept most of the story & was awaken by her true love! How easy! How lazy! no wonder I’m a floundering singleton.) or Snow White. But by the time I was nine-ish, those "heroines" seemed rather boring. I mean, they aren't even in the story that much if you think about it. Guess who is? yup, the villain.
Now take a character like Maleficent and you see this regal grace (greenish pallor aside), her determined fashion and beauty. Not to mention a forthright demeanor and a never-wavering determination. And really, all she wanted was to be invited to the party. I’d be pissed too if all my sibs had been invited & I was left out. Granted, I wouldn't curse the newborn babe to death, but I’d guarantee they would not be on my guest list.
But the female representation is fairly positive with these fairy-tale villains, except that they are evil (they want to kill our one-dimensional heroine). And in the end it is the positive characteristics that are denounced by the ultimate failure of the evil queen/witch in the end. Subtext is fairly (horrid pun) obvious, yaw? If you are female and powerful you, uhm, are punished for it. I'm beginning to think the Brothers Grimm were more like patriarchal Aesop's Fables, or worse.
Now, not only is the villain the only reason there is a story and drama to begin with; the villain is usually the more complex and interesting character (I do like America's obsession with the anti-hero, hello? westerns & gangster genres for starters...). So why are we flouncing around in pastel tulle? I say don the black dress and work some magic.
**Jakob, this one was for you. Wicked Witches DO rock.
Tons of stuff on this subject, but more focus on the heroine issue. Found this, though, really worth checking out Folk & Fairy Tales. And a whole reading list here. The musical Wicked tries to justify why the Witch of the West turns out bad. The reasons are there, Elphaba was abused & manipulated, having every right to retaliate; yet there is this apologetic tone.
SideNote: The more I think about it, though, the more I kinda think these evil queens were men in drag. Seriously, why else all the big make-up & shapeless garments if you were, say "The fairest in the land"?
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