TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress,” which follows brides-to-be on their search for the perfect wedding gown at Kleinfeld’s Bridal Salon, an upscale boutique in Manhattan, NY, is one of my favorite shows. After checking out Kleinfeld’s website, I realized that a bride’s search for a wedding dress is just one of many small adventures that lead up to the bride walking down the aisle. In many ways, one’s engagement begins the frame tale, buying the dress, finding the venue, etc. make up smaller tales within the larger story, and the frame tale concludes with the wedding. It is easy to see how this fairy tale is problematic when it concludes with the wedding day and not the couple’s life together.
In the following post, I will analyze a typical bride’s visit to Kleinfeld’s (based on the embarrassingly large number of episodes I’ve watched) using Vladimir Propp’s 31 functions.
1.Absentation: The bride leaves home in order to search for the perfect wedding gown at Kleinfeld’s.
2.Interdiction: “Don’t settle for anything less than you deserve! Find the perfect dress!”
6.Trickery: Mother, mother-in-law, sorority sisters, evil twin sister (she really existed in one episode!), etc. convince the bride to love something that she doesn’t really want.
7.Complicity: Bride-to-be believes these enemies (who according to the bridal consultants are just jealous of the bride-to-be) and sometimes buys a dress she isn’t wholly satisfied with.
9.Mediation: Bride-to-be realizes that she has agreed to buy something she really hates.
10.Beginning Counter-Action: Bride-to-be turns to bridal consultant in order to rectify this situation.
14.Receipt of Magical Agent: Bridal consultant finds the perfect wedding dress for the bride-to-be.
16.Struggle: Bride-to-be and mother, mother-in-law, sorority sisters, evil twin sister, etc. battle over the two wedding gowns.
25.Difficult Task: Whoever is paying for the dress says, “I won’t pay for the dress unless you buy the cheaper one.” This is often the dress is bride-to-be does not want.
26.Solution: Bridal consultant finds the designer of the dress (who is almost always hanging out in the boutique) and sees if the price of the bride-to-be’s favorite dress can be lowered. The price can be lowered. Bride-to-be can buy her perfect dress.
29.Transfiguration: Bride-to-be dons favorite dress and exclaims, “Yes!,” when asked whether this dress is The One.
30.Punishment: Person buying the dress has to pay an exorbitant amount for taffeta, silk, and sequins.
31.Wedding: The bride-to-be does not get married yet since this is just one story within the larger wedding tale; however, she does leave the store extremely pleased with her perfect dress.
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This is a pretty accurate analysis of a typical episode of “Say Yes to the Dress.” These episodes do feel very much like a frame tale to me as well, probably because production companies, even in “reality tv shows” make sure to have a plot, conflict and resolution in order to keep their viewers interested. It’s also interesting to point out, that there are many other reality shows, which when dealing with a bride to be, assume a similar plot for that selected episode as the one you just described. It can be quite awkward sometimes, because often many women enter the search for a wedding gown with a specific design in mind, and leave the process with a completely different outcome. There is something about the dress-selection process that 1.makes women think there is tremendous pressure on the selection, and 2. makes them think that if they choose something different from the normal big traditional wedding dress seen in fairy tales, that they are being unconventional and taking a risk. This is not to say that there aren’t women who choose to be true their personality when choosing the dress for their big day, and there certainly are also those who do not place such high expectations on the idea of the dress. But it is a bit uncomfortable when brides to be force themselves into a stereotype that does not quite fit, and makes me wonder if this is a result of cultural influences, undoubtedly weaved through fairy tales.
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