"This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated." ~Ecclesiastes 7:29~
There are many things I want to write about, and many things I'll be writing about in the future. But the first I will talk about will be about fairy tales and passiveness. The first story I'll talk about is of Cinderella.
In the Disney version of Cinderella (which I always liked but others have pointed out its downfalls) which has been around for sixty years now, the Cinder Maid does nothing to propel the plot. All she does is give in to her environment and work for those who force her to. She's saved by none other than mice and a magical being (which does nothing to help real life Cinderellas). She meets a cardboard cut-out prince who barely speaks and somehow they're in love because of physical looks. This story doesn't really teach us much, except to dream and be virtuous, and do nothing else.
But remember this verse in Proverbs? "It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools will not turn from evil to attain them." ~Proverbs 13:19
It's up to us to do something to pursue our dreams. That is what stories should be about. Someone who did something or discovered something that changed her/his world. Because of this realization I've been going through my stories and realizing that the characters are a little passive (not doing anything, only reacting to what happens to them) in them. I wonder how much the movie Cinderella has affected us all (plus our stories), especially since it was very popular and came out in 1949. Surprising how old it is, right? And how it's still pretty popular (they made sequels as signs of that right? And the third movie a Twist in Time has a less passive Cinderella in it than the original, which I like).
Because of low expectations placed on maidens in distress in many stories nowadays, they become lazy in the stories, not very clever, almost absent except to be saved.
But the original Cinderellas (before Perrult's version) were clever and braved the forests and in some versions ended up saving the prince.
But I will tell you why I really like the story of Cinderella. I'll tell you in my next post, tomorrow or a sennight -- a fancy old word for a week.
I suppose it's the best I can do for a cliff hanger. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the story of Cinderella and its variants?
Oh I loved this post! I've never thought about Cinderella like that before... I've never really liked the Disney version (the Rogers and Hammestien version was the one I grew up watching). I remember thinking it boring when I was little. That's probably because the characters were very cardboardy. They didn't really do much.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great verse from Proverbs. I'll have to remember that one.
Here's a great article that goes along with a few things you said in this post:
http://www.thesocialleader.com/2013/08/americans-smacked/
Great post! I agree with Abbey, I never though about Cinderella like that before. But I would say I'm a mild feminist, especially when it comes to creating female protagonists, and it drives me insane to read about damsels in distress who are always having to be saved! Of course realistically, everyone needs help sometimes, but I always appreciate a strong female lead.
ReplyDeletethehomeschooledteen-anna.blogspot.com
Ooh thanks! And this is just the beginning. I'll explain soon, but now I've got to go to Driver's Ed. (:
ReplyDelete