Observing the theme of fairytales in today’s culture has been an interesting experience for me this semester. After reading and writing about the presence of fairytales in popular songs, movies, T.V. shows, pictures interior design, the news, and in everyday life, I can safely say that fairytales certainly resonate with people. I was surprised to see how many areas of life fairytales crept into.
Popular culture definitely links the idea of fairytales to beauty, love, fantasy, perfection, weddings, and ideals. In this blog alone, we see ample proof of this. Before taking this class I would not have thought twice about this connection, but after a semester of study I can see that this commonly held view of fairytales is very one-sided and a misconception. Nowhere does popular culture reflect on the horrific elements of fairytales that we’ve learned about: rape, murder, adultery, and bestiality, to name a few.
But, perhaps it’s a good thing that fairytales in popular culture focus on the positive aspects of these tales. No one would walk up to a child in princess apparel and tell them that the role of princesses enforce the dominance of men over women, and represent submissive and reserved airheads who simply wait around for things to happen to them. In the same manner, no one would walk up to a girl in a Little Red Riding Hood costume and tell her that in one version of the popular story, the protagonist has sex with a wolf who wants to eat her. The entertainment industry enforces this point perfectly. Idyllic movies with happy endings and beautiful characters make far more money than movies like the made-for-T.V. film “Snow White: A Tale of Terror”. People want to escape from the real world, and fairytales provide the perfect virtual reality.
Participating in this blog as both a reader and writer definitely affirmed, if not increased my awareness of the fact that fairytales have and always will provide an ideal standard for people. Women wish for a “fairytale wedding” because it allows them to imagine and possibly plan for the perfect version of one of the happiest days of their lives. Movies like Shrek, the Princess Diaries, and every other chick flick exploit fairytale relationships to give people hope that relationships can end up being happy unions. Is this idealism a good thing? On the one hand, fairytales in pop culture will continue to propagate unrealistic expectations in life, which will lead to eventual disappointment. On the other hand, fairytales in pop culture (as I mentioned before) can also allow people to escape from the harshness of the world. There is no right or wrong answer. All I know is that fairytales will continue to influence huge aspects of our lives, and that I’ll never read the words “happily ever after” the same way again.
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