All they want is a new Barbie doll to play with. When the two girls get a broken or damaged doll, they do what they can to cover up the flaws that it has. They do not care what the Barbie doll looks like because to them, the toy is still a Barbie on the inside. This short story shows that beauty is not what is on the outside, but what is in the inside. It focuses on beauty and what beauty means to the two young girls.
Once upon a time stirs memories…… Angela carter’s second novel “The Magic ToyShop” is a large spread of mythology, fairy tales, feminity, sexuality and reality. The protagonist of the novel Melanie, like every little girl dreams and fantasizes about herself. Her dreams twined with her fate, walks her through her destiny. The novel commences with Melanie’s desire to wear her mother’s wedding dress. Her desire and curiosity to feel like a woman, to feel like a naughty little princess, this episode ends up with her mistakenly destroying her mother precious wedding dress.
Merida differed from other Disney princesses with her style and personality. She had curly red hair, abhorred wearing a dress, engaged in archery and challenged societal convention that tried to put her in a box. In the case of Merida 's characterization, Disney attempted to give her a feminine “makeover” but public outcry led them to rethink this decision (Child, 2013). It begs the question: Why must these young girls always be limited to the roles of perfect princesses? Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My
“Basement Magic” is unique twist on the evil stepmother/fairy god-mother story. The main character is a shy and bright little girl named Mary-Louise. Following the generic evil stepmother/fairy god-mother story, her mother died young and her father remarried, introducing Kitty, who is more interested in being a corporate wife than a mother. Despite, growing up surrounded by riches Mary-Louise grew up ignored by her father and step-mother. The story builds around the friendship of the cleaning lady Ruby and Mary-Louis built around magic and housework.
Dorothy being a vulnerable six years old girl, becomes one of the most powerful being in the land of Oz. The death of the Wicked Witch of the East made her a national hero of the Munchkins. Baum characterizes Dorothy as a strong female character. She displays perseverance and independence in order to reach her goal, to go back to Kansas. Considering her young age, it is expected from her to feel disoriented and vulnerable, however she finds solutions to her problems and carries them through.
The Child Ballad No. 35, “Allison Gross,” in contrast, fairly differs from both ballads I have discussed so far. Whereas “The Marriage of Sir Gawain” and “Kemp Owyne” are, much like most fairy tales, named after the heroes of the ballad, the name “Allison Gross” comes from the story 's villain: the evil witch. Besides, this ballad does not treat of a stepmother 's relationship to and behavior towards their stepchildren, but rather broaches the issue of “[t]he ugliest witch i’ the north country” (“Allison Gross” l. 2) who punishes her beloved for rejecting her. Nonetheless, there are a number of fairy tale elements to be found in this ballad as well.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1812) “Cinderella” and “Snow White”, and Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1837) “The Little Mermaid”, shows an existence of gender stereotypes occurring in a children’s story. Although fairy tales are an important part of children’s literature, in what way do they influence them? The debate is endless; however, people think the bad influence is mainly on the women because of the way they are stereotyped. The female’s roles in fairy tales characterize women not having their own independence, power, and voice to represent them. In these three stories, the women’s characters perpetuate the stereotypical gender message that the ideal woman is submissive in different ways.
Sophie Hatter is the first child daughter of three girls, and is put under a spell by an evil the witch. This spell changes her appearance from that of a girl to an older, gruff woman. The witch changes her because of how she portrays herself on the inside, a failure. Sophie is convinced she will not be a success in life, because she is not confident on the inside. She fears just because she is the oldest, she will not be a success in life.
One female had a dreadful life after the loss of her beloved father. She wouldn’t regret the past but that wouldn’t stop her to look into the future. To make matters worse her wicked step-mother and step-sisters made her life inconceivable. They make her do handiwork, gardening, and wash the dishware. Cinderella was the girls name, she really adapted with the orders that her step mother & sisters.
This is true for the Disney classic Sleeping Beauty. The princess was unfortunate enough to undergo a curse by an evil fairy, but the evil fairy has absolutely no standard reason to do so, other than the fact that she is inherently “evil” and that the princess must be cursed. The princess in the story (Aurora) is described often as “fair-of-heart” and “kind”, but these traits make up a one-dimensional, underdeveloped character, who is capable of doing no wrong. Another example of this feat includes Ariel from Disney’s version of The Little Mermaid. While Ariel had done very impeccably wrong things, she did it for the sake of a prince, who had been only so kind as to fall in love with her voice.