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Man has always had a need to tell fairy tales. Why? There is no law stating that fairy tales must
be told in every household all over the world, and yet fairy tales, regardless of geography, heroes
or heroines, villains, or tricksters, have persisted and thrived for centuries. All fairy tales share
common characteristics in that they impart some central meaning to their listeners. People often
do not place great importance in fairy tales, mistaking them as nothing more than nighttime tales
told to their children. However, they are much more. Fairy tales are memory and lessons,
psychological tools and creations of expression. By analyzing a fairy tale, a person is able to see
what cultures valued during the time in which they were written, what lessons were deemed
important, or what society valued. Most notably, womens roles as depicted in the typical fairy
tale is a clear window into a time periods views toward females, the roles of a woman in society,
and outlining the chaos that would result should these balances be challenged. Today, fairy tales
are constantly changing and updating themselves as they adapt to the changes in modern society,
often giving female heroines roles that in previous eras would never have been accepted.
Whatever a culture values most is often reflected in the fairy tale of the day. For instance, there is
a tale called The Seven Semyons (Counterpart to the German tale The Six that Made Their
Way in The World), which is a Russian fairy tale written when Soviet Russia still existed
(Asfanasev 410). This tale portrays life according to the ideas of Soviet Russia, and the moral to
the story is that through the means of collective work a person can accomplish an otherwise
impossible task. (Asfanasev, 414) There are many who have noted the importance of fairy tales
and how they relate to society, not only for gender roles but for what a culture finds valuable at
that point in time. Even popular tales like The Boy Who Cried Wolf impart important values
such as Do not tell lies to children. It is argued by Zipes that fairy tales are crucial for children
as these tales help them socialize. (Xii) This is why fairy tales always have children or young
adults as main characters. Use of younger heroes is so the reader will identify with the main
character and will impart the lesson onto their lives. This propensity to reinforce social mores is a
double edged sword especially when looking at gender roles.
Women within original fairy tales are held to rigid roles within the stories, depicting them as
submissive and dependent. (Bottigheimer, 115) With the present era many original fairy tales
have been remade. Many current television shows and movies reveal a different role for women,
suggesting a departure in the role of women within fairy tales when compared to the original
fairy tales.
Womens Roles in Traditional Fairy Tales
Despite the fact that women are integral to many plotlines, most depictions of females in
fairytales is less than flattering. Pick up any book of fairy tales and nine times out of ten you will
find the dashing prince racing in to save the princess who appears helpless. Women are
commonly placed into strict roles where they have little hope for extrication. Rowe, a wellknown author of analysis of fairy tales through a feminists point of view has pointed out the
importance of fairy tales within culture and makes not of the many short comings of original
fairy tales in relation to women. Rowes article, Fairytales and Feminism makes an interesting
point about how fairy tales and culture are interconnected. She alludes to the idea that fairy tales
are a part of culture in that they help provide stability. (Rowe, 210-211) Yet that is not the only
function that these tales serve; they are also tools to help children through various stages in life
in society. However, there is a double standard present when it comes to women versus men in
fairy tales.
Double Standards
As mentioned by Mendelson, there is a lack of womens collaboration within fairy tales
compared to mens collaboration, and of the womens collaborations present, most of them are
negative. For example, most of the female collaborations are of evil stepmother and step-sisters
acting together to bring the heroine to ruin. In another situation, with the tale The Lettuce
Donkey, a man is robbed by six women. (Mendelson, 116) When viewed like this it alludes to
the idea that women collaborating together can only result in disastrous and chaotic events. Yet
with tales like the Seven Semyons, all of the workers, who are male, complete a task and are
recognized for their talents. It begs the question of why this double standard is present.
Mendelson tentatively suggests that the absence of a stern father figures within the stories as
during the time periods in which most of the traditional fairy tales were recorded, the fathers
word was law and would easily have settled squabbling between family members. (Mendelson,
115). Mendelson finds the double standards troubling but seemingly prevalent within Grimms
version of fairy tales, which he focused on. (Mendelson, 120). However, Mendelson simply
notes the imbalance in the number of tales featuring female collaboration versus males and offers
up a question into how German culture viewed their women. (Mendelson, 120)
Silenced Women
Women also do not seem to have a prevalent voice within fairy tales. As stated by
Bottigheimer, they are silenced by male characters (120). In many cases female characters are
described rather than given dialogue, whereas the male characters are almost always speaking
within tales. It is this lack of dialogue that leads to an implicit silencing of female characters.
(Bottigheimer, 124) There are a few different ways to view this silencing. One such idea is that
during the time period these tales originated from, women were expected to be submissive and
silent. However, Bottigheimer seems to suggest that a silence within the text which results from
the authors or editors choice in distributing direct and indirect discourse (126) Meaning that
the author may choose the way in which they represent the characters within the story as they tell
it. However, she has noted here that it is a prevalent trend that most tellers of the time described
women in the more passive roles with lexical cues such as cry and answer. (Bottigheimer,
128) It is in this way that Bottigheimer, similar to Mendelson, seems to suggest that women
receive the short end of the literary stick when it comes to active and speaking roles.
Two Types of Women
There are only two types of women in fairy tales: innocent and good or sexualized and evil.
(Warner, 212) The common theme for multiple fairy tales is that if you are a woman and you are
evil that you are old, but if youre good and innocent youre young. For instance, in the fairy tale
Cinderella, the evil step mother not only antagonizes Cinderella, but takes every opportunity to
put her other daughters first. There are a few theories of why this is the prevalent trend. Rowe
hunting her, but she does not just clean a house and sing with forest creatures. In this adaptation
she becomes a warrior who is ready to forcibly take back her kingdom and solve her own
problems. She has stepped into a more active role and rather than waiting for the prince to take
care of her problems, she does it herself. ("Bending and Conforming to Gender Roles: Once
Upon A Time Season 1.")
Turning Traditional Roles on Their Heads
Within Once Upon a Time many traditional roles are presented in a way that modernizes them,
making it relatable for modern audiences. The main character, Emma, is far from a damsel in
distress. She is rough, assumes many masculine roles, and still maintains some feminine roles.
One of the largest feminine gender roles is the idea of having a family. Within Once Upon a
Time, Emma does seek to have a family,
but not in the traditional sense. (Mann R.,
"Once Upon a Time There Were Female
Stereotypes.") Mann gives insight into the
fact that Emma seeks to have a good
relationship with her son but makes no
conscious effort toward adding a husband
into the mix to complete the traditional
sense of what a family is. (Mann R., "Once
Upon a Time There Were Female
Stereotypes.")
Another character who embodies a twist on
traditional roles is the Evil Queen. In the
traditional stories, most villainous women
were depicted to be decrepit hags wearing
rags. However, the Evil Queen within this
retelling is beautiful and powerful, two
traits that were not typically introduced
together for villainous women before the
1990s. (Mann R.,"Once Upon a Time
There Were Female Stereotypes.")
Children Reacting to Gender Roles
In an effort to see how children of the modern era felt about gender roles, Ella Westland
conducted an experiment with approximately 100 children. On the first day, after talking at
length and reading traditional fairy tales like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, she asked the
children to draw their favorite character from either Snow White, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty.
On the second day Westland talked with children about gender roles associated with princesses
and princes and then became more general with the best and worst things about being male or
female. Afterwards Westland read some queer stories where traditional roles were reversed and
then asked the children to write their own fairy tale, either traditional or an upside-down
model. (Westland, 3) The results she gained from the study were intriguing.
To the left is the data table from Westlands study. The data would suggest that traditional gender
roles are alarmingly present within children. (Westland, 10) However, when combined with the
stories of the children, a more interesting result was found. Of the stories written, approximately
43 percent of the girls wrote about a tomboy princess rather than a traditional one while the
boys preferred to stay toward traditional fairy tale roots. (Westland, 10) This was not at all
expected, yet shows how young girls of the times are what Westland refers to as resistant
readers, meaning that they are not only able to identify the gender roles presented to them but
prefer to critique those roles and step outside of them. (Westland, 8)
Perception of Fairy Tales in Modern Times
Zipes argues about how fairy tales aid children with integration into society and he even states
Children are conditioned to assume and accept arbitrary sex roles. These socially conditioned
roles prepare females to become passive, self-denying, obedient, and self-sacrificial, as well as
nurturing, caring, and responsible in personal situations. (Zipes, 3). However, is Zipes correct?
Could that be the reason for fairy tale remakes? When studying Westlands study and noting all
of the scholarly papers critiquing traditional fairy tales it seems women are aware of these
prevalent stereotypes and taking precautions to avoid falling into them. As it is now, it can be
observed that women of modern times do not seem content to stay in the traditional roles
presented to them. Many of the remakes of popular fairy tales now present strong female roles
and place a greater emphasis on stepping away from typical female stereotypes.
Conclusion
Fairy tales are an essential part of culture and have been around for as long as recorded history.
However, fairy tales cannot stay as they are, they must update to reflect the ideals of modern
culture to avoid perpetuation of rigid and unnecessary gender roles, especially in regards to
women. As the years have progressed society has remade many popular fairy tales to reflect the
update of traditional roles within society. The research tends to suggest the idea that even though
these stereotypes are still present in modern day culture, efforts to change them are evolving.
With a greater emphasis being placed upon autonomy rather than dependence, it could be
suggested that women of modern times are rejecting these traditional fairy tales in favor of rewriting them to better reflect the current image of women. The data from Westlands study was
done in 1993, compared to the 13-year gap from then to now, it would be reasonable to suggest
that in light of the advances of womens rights and equality, that the remakes of popular fairy
tales were created in an effort to explore the new values present in society. Ignoring the problem
will not make it go away; it is important to introduce children to these traditional fairy tales but
also to show them the remakes and expose them to these updated roles. While not every rigid
role has been overturned, it is a progressive, collective effort that can only progress forward so
long as necessary steps are taken, and effective modelling is offered.
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