misinterpretedunrepresented.blogspot.com/Friday, December 13, 2013
I've been learning about To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in my English class for the past two months, which I've read before as a third grader and didn't understand at all. But then with the analysis of the book that we did in class, I found out that a central theme was bravery and courage and how that doesn't only mean picking up a weapon to defend someone.
That's how I came to the topic of princesses. I always kind of thought it was a little lame, how we girls had to get saddled with the idea of happily ever afters and finding the perfect guy, but the whole theme of courage from To Kill a Mockingbird made me look at things from a different perspective.
Let's analyze the plot of a few princess stories:
Snow White: Former princess chased out of castle + shown mercy by huntsman + meets seven dwarves + talks to animals + eats a poisoned apple + Prince saves her
You can argue that she seems like such a hopeless character and the perfect damsel in distress, but I think the exact opposite. The fact that she had to deal with the evil Queen for all those years and she still managed to be so kind and nice to everyone around her says a lot about bravery and her upbeat personality. Most people would go through personality complexes after torture like that.
Sure, you could argue that if she wasn't helpless before, she certainly became helpless right after she ignorantly takes an apple from the Queen disguised as a elderly peddler. Then again, the fact that Snow White didn't judge the elderly peddler on her appearance and simply trusted her is another sign of how unprejudiced she is.
We both know you wouldn't say hi if she tried to talk to you. You've got to give Snow White some major props.
Don't believe me? Let's try Belle.
Belle: Town bookworm's insane father leaves with machine + Beast takes him hostage + Belle insists to take his place + scared of Beast + gets to know him and appreciate him + leaves to take care of sick father + arrogant guy tries to kill the beast + Beast turns into prince
How Belle insisted on taking her father's place in a pretty creepy Beast lair already speaks volumes about her personality. She could have left her father there to die, but she didn't even though saving him meant locking herself up for life with someone she didn't even know.
Well this looks...homey.
Belle disregarded the appearance of the Beast and came to care for him and even feel sympathetic for him even while she was away from home. She could have simply looked at him and said that his appearance said everything she needed to know about him, but she didn't. She came to love him and she came back to save him.
Yeah, yeah, happily ever after, yadda yadda, you might say. Why is her story any different? It's just the same typical fairytale ending.
It's the same typical fairytale ending because showing how the two fall in love is the best way to describe the magnitude of which Belle really loves the Beast. There's no other way to show how she has truly overcome all of the obstacles that most people would use as an excuse not to even associate with him.
Now for the superheroes. Unfortunately I don't know enough about any superhero really to write out a full equation of their life, but I'm going to try to make a few references here and there.
Superheroes are faced with immense amounts of pressure, that's for sure. But the main difference between them and princesses is that while princesses show how you have to overcome social prejudices and accept others as who they are, superheroes face a clear-cut bad guy and do nothing but fight, fight, have a bit of peace, and then the evil guy strikes again. It's definitely for a just cause, but what you learn from watching superhero movies don't really apply to real life, do they?
Even the love interests in superhero movies have no reason to be there. The superheroes don't have to overcome any social hurdle in order to be with them. All the love interests are successful, driven, and the perfect other half for the superhero. They're not important to the story, they're only there to have a bit of relief from the high intensity lives superheroes lead.
Superheroes teach you how to use violence as a tool to oppose all problems. Stories with these heroes don't include social issues since they're too focused on the clear split between good and bad. Because of this you never take away moral lessons or an upbeat outlook on life from princess movies, only a sense of foreboding and a "what is going on?" moment (cough, ending of Thor).
You ate my marshmallows? PREPARE TO DIE!
Princesses overcome much huger obstacles, mostly due to the fact that it's not difficult to do the right thing like superheroes do, but it's much more difficult to go against what you've been taught your whole life- like beauty is everything (shown by how the Evil Queen tried to kill Snow White because she was so driven by beauty, but Snow White was so kind that she didn't hold this prejudice against the Evil Queen when she appeared as an elderly lady with warts).
So for all you girls out there, don't abandon your childhood princesses and go for the superheroes. Superheroes teach you how to fight, but princesses teach you how to be independent and courageous, even when it comes to issues that are in more shades than black and white.
Conversation hearts,
Beth
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