- 1. Define the word: Symbol and find some examples in Young’s essay.
- 2. Young does not provide a clear thesis. In 1-2 sentences, write one for him.
- 3. Young claims that the Cinderella story is essentially a story about grief. How does he support this claim? (And do you agree or disagree that this is a story of grief?)
- 4. In the Perrault version of the Cinderella story, the mother is completely absent. But, in the Tennant version, Young claims that while the mother is dead, she still has a presence in the film. How does the film give presence to a dead person (without using ghosts)?
- 5. In in the Disney version, the stepmother is a purely evil villain. But Tennant’s version makes this more complicated. In what ways, according to Young, is the stepmother’s character more complex?
- 6. How is marriage in the Disney version different from marriage in the Tennant version? What meaning does Young say marriage has in stories?
- 7. The Tennant film does away with magic. Why, according to Young, does he do this? How does it change the film? Is this an improvement or not? And why?
We will also have a discussion of the traditional Cinderella story in general and some of the problems with this story. Here is an assisting prezi.
For Thursday, please read Kheyfet's blog post "Cinderella and Feminism" and respond as a comment to this blog post.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article “Cinderella and Feminism”, I learned something that I never thought of. It points out that a fairy tale likes Cinderella story is always used to express such an information to children---a good girl must be submissive. To be a girl likes Cinderella means to accept the domination of men. A fairy tale can reflect the social requirements.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, I read Cinderella story and admired her very much. Because she was beautiful, kind and modest while her stepmother and stepsisters were ugly and evil. She was the symbol of all the beautiful qualities. However, her wicked stepmother and stepsisters always persecuted her, which made her so poor. I was satisfied with the happy ending that the “angle” was saved and the “devil” was published. Every girl had a princess dream like Cinderella, so did I. Therefore, I never thought that there may be something wrong with Cinderella.
As a matter of fact, except for showing her beauty and pain, she did nothing. She was submissive to her stepmother and waited for rescue. She never fought for herself. She did nothing but she succeeded. Her stepmother fought for herself and her daughters but she failed. This send a wrong message to little girls---be a good girl like Cinderella and you will lead to a happy ending. As the article “Cinderella and Feminism” told us, Cinderella story was used to “establish the normality of the domination of men”. Cinderella is not a symbol of feminism. She shows the weaknesses of women.
As for Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, she was considered as “monster”. However, she was the one who really struggled to live a better life. She married Cinderella’s father after her first husband leaving away from her. At that time, she may still keep the hope that living a good life depends on man. But after her second husband died, she did not marry again. She tried to rely on herself and she did all the things that she thought was right. Absolutely, she could not be the symbol of feminism as well. Because she still wish her daughters to marry prince to lead a better life. Anyway, compared with Cinderella, she was more independent.
---By Monica
I like your point "except for showing her beauty and pain, she did nothing". Many beayteous heroine just present their terrible suffering and innocence; as a result people sympathy with them strongly. I think this may result from people consider themselves as innocence and being forced to accept terrible situstion. This may account for why many women like soap operas.
DeleteI quite love your point about Cinderella's stepmother. Although she is evil is some aspects, she is also an independent and adamant woman who can live a good life without depending on anybody. She is also a powerful dominator in their household. We can learn some of her qualities when we in face of some problems.
DeleteI agree your idea. It's very strange that someone will say something negative when a woman want to work hard and be strong. They also give some nick names for these women. It's wrong, we should respect everyone when he or she have a dream or some principle to follow.
DeleteFrom Philip Hu ID:987804
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ReplyDelete"Cinderella and Feminism" says the fairly story “Cinderella” set up an improper model for little girl. Because it will let them become subordination, submissive, nurturing, and willingly being controlled by men.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with this idea. The fairly story builds a passive heroine who just tolerates all of the misfortune, but never thinks of changing her situation. She let marriage rescue her which would let girls considerate marriage as their ultimate aim and attach too much idealistic thinking to marriage. Cinderella can escape from the horrible home and do what she want, but she doesn’t. However, she still come to the happy ending she likes by waiting to be rescued and others’ kindness. If young girls believe in this story, they would lose their power inside. When they face to a difficult situation, they may just pray for help from a kind person who appear suddenly. It is harmful to their development.
Moreover, the story also tells little girls a wrong thing that evil always equals to ugly. Actually evil can be really beautiful outside; kind can be ordinary and not attractive at all. Irma Grese who had an angelic face and majored in nursing killed thousands of people for Nazi. Judging a person from his looks can cause misunderstanding and even be dangerous.-------BY Catherine
Children always think simply. They are pure. That's why they believe in fairy tales. It's really smart to persuade little girl to be submissive through a fairy tale. Children like looking forward to something beautiful, which attracts their attentions. So it's easy to establish a faith that "evil always equals to ugly" and justice always equals to beauty. Fairy tales always have a strong prejudice.
DeleteIt seems Cinderella is a passive character. But I think the author just put people's best wishes in fairy tales. Maybe some character settings have something irrational, but when you grow up, you can underst. In fact, I just learned that good girl can be the princess when I read this story first.
DeleteYes. I like what you say about "losing power." Very smart.
DeleteAfter I read this article “Cinderella and Feminism”, I realize that fairy tales have a great impact on children. I think Cinderella deliver the wrong message to children. It suggest woman should be submissive. Because children’s thoughts are very simple, they will easily accept what they watch in the story.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, many fairy tales including Cinderella infringe feminism. The heroines in these fairy tales have the same situation. They are all goodness but have no ability to uphold their rights. The happy endings of these fairy tales are all owe to the hero or other people. Besides, I think the character of Cinderella and stepmother is too extreme. Cinderella symbolize the angel and stepmother symbolize the monster.It is not real in our life.
Let me talk about the heroine more deeper. If her father and her mother did not die, she should have been the owner of the house. However, now she is a servant of the house. Wearing worn clothes, she do chores all the day but not complain. It seems that what she should do. When she wears beautiful and prepares to go to the ball, her stepsister tear her clothes. She does not against them but just sit down the ground and cry sadly. If it happens in our life, we should not tolerate it. We should fight back to save ourselves.
---BY Rita
When I was young, I envied princess just like other girls did. The definition of princess in my mind is a person who has both beautiful inside and outside. Besides, princess can have a satisfying life and hold a charming man loving her. This life attracts girls extremely. From Cinderella, girls learn the importance of being a nice girl. They will try their best to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteOppositely, the stepmother and stepsisters are model of evil people. They chase power and wealth by fair means or foul. I read another version of Cinderella, and it writes that the stepsisters cut their toes to wear the glass shoes because their feet can’t suit these shoes. From this version, I feel it is terrible when people want to chase high position and great wealth, and they can sacrifice anything without hesitation. Being people like these persons, we will lose important morality and be hated by others.
It is obvious that fairy tale’s characters have deep effects on everyone. The fairy tale is a simple way to express the author’s opinion. Children can get clear cognition from story. Fairy tale is an amazing thing.
Yes, this film--and many others--suggest that Cinderella is "good" and the stepmother is "evil." But what does it say "goodness" is? How do we define "good" or the "good woman?" Is there any problem with this?
DeleteThis article talks about what harmful influence fairy tales like Cinderella will make to children, especially to little girls because of some unpractical concept in it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what this artical impressed me most is the point of patriarchal. As the author says in the article, fairy tales establish the normality of the domination of men in children's minds. Not only in fairy tales, but also in the whole history in most countries, the concept of patriarchal is ineradicable. Take China for an example. As a famous saying in old China goes: A woman who is unaccomplished is a woman fall of morality. In eyes of ancient people in China, only being obedient to men can a woman measure up. As a result, there is only one female emperor in Chinese history.
In my opinion, it's quite unfair. Man and woman are all human being with different gender and they all have strongpoints and shortcomings. In general, they are equal. Women also have the right to choose their own job and life, rather than become the appendant of men and lost themselves. I think the most beautiful woman is the woman who lives the best life by herself.
I read your response and thought a lot. You said,"Not only in fairy tales, but also in the whole history in most countries, the concept of patriarchal is ineradicable." It is a truth. I am confused about the status of women in history. As we far as know, women can finish the same things that men do, even they can do better than men. However, they were still considered as the weak, even themselves agreed with this point as well. Was it because of the physiological differences？If men had been considered as the weak, the history would have changed differently.
DeleteGood points, both of you! It's true that we accept men and women as equals today, one just as smart/capable as the other. But even though we agree with the idea of equality, society does not always practice equality. (See Sheryl Sandberg's book "Lean In" for examples.)
DeleteI love fairy tales so much when I was a child, they were so romantic that I firmly believed that there must be someone who would save me in trouble. However, it's found as a "poison" to me after intensive study. I can't help knowing why there are many harm messages in fairy tales. In my pespective, the writer of fairy tales are all men, and they lived in a time of male-dominated. As a result, they just made the heroine as good as they even the society thought: weak, kind, beautiful, industrious, and never complain. And they told you that if you are as good as this, you will get happiness in your rest life. In fact, they actually push girls to give up their power and rely on men. Obviously, the fairy tales reflect the low status of women at that time.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing which catchs my attention in the article is the heroine's spirit of sacrifice. "A women of right feeling should devote herself to the good of others" said by author just reminds me "Chinese Mother". Is this spirit a expression of love or an imprisonment of thought? It must be the latter in the fairy tales, because Cinderella just thinks she could get other's love if she does anything for others. As a result, there abusolutely had the women liberation in the history cause the thoughts in that time were wrong .In a nutshell, the literature can always reflect the thought of time.
Zora
Yes. Literature can be a useful cultural artifact.
DeleteAfter reading the article “Cinderella and Feminism” I have a deeper understanding of the fairy tale. I know more about the connection between the fairy tale and the real world. When I read the article “Young’s insights to a Cinderella story” I was aware that we can learn the nature of people from every role in the fairy tale. However, when I read this article I know that there is a reflection of the gender behavior in American society.
ReplyDeleteIn this way, we can see that beautiful Cinderella becomes a poor girl who has no right to assume own dream but to be subordinate. They make children think that young girls should be submissiveness, modesty selflessness and remind all women that they should be angelic like Cinderella. Stepmother went on doing her household duties and taking care of the whole family, which justifies the idea that “a woman of right feeling should devote herself to the good of others”. These are two classic characters of women and girls. Cinderella will wait for their prince charming to fulfill their life and accept subordination and domesticity as their nature role. In this way the right of men has been clearly demonstrated. Here we can see the difference between women’s and men’s status. Woman should devote herself to the whole family and men should be dominated.
From what has been discussed above we may safely draw a conclusion that when we see a fairy tale we can more or less learn something about our real life. Just keep thinking.
Feminists support that everyone’s right should be respected and protected and it has nothing to do with gender, nationality, race and so on. From the development of Disney princess films- to , we can see that some fairy tales are negative for gender value. Snow white is a boring character because she is only beautiful, pure and kind. Sometimes she is puny and foolish. The film is filled with Pollyanna and negative wait. In the film of mermaid, she is three-dimensional and has shortages. She insists to fight for her love. In the story, Belle is a real feminist and she is independent, smart, brave and unyielding. In male-dominated society, people think that dreams of female characters are rescued by prince. When human being develop to be more mature, people realize that the identity of women should be defined by women themselves. Their dreams should be decided by themselves and please themselves rather than men. Just like Elsa and Anna, confident feminists know what they really want and fight for the equal rights and opportunities as men. So we do realize that old fairy tales has a negative effect on female gender conception and we try to change the phenomenon in children’s entertainment. I do believe that general mood of society and developments of countries always go to be better and deeper democratic. And I am sure the tendency of human civilization is eliminating all unfair discrimination. To some extent, we are ought to be grateful to the popular culture for they bring us fair awareness.
ReplyDeleteSome good points. And I like how you apply these ideas to other Disney films. (Who are Elsa and Anna?)
DeleteAfter reading “Cinderella and Feminish”, I learned something I didn’t know.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, I read the fairy tale about Cinderella and I thought Cinderella is a good person because she is beautiful, kind and modest. I wanted to become a person like Cinderella in the future.
In “ Cinderella and Feminish ”, the author tell me “Cinderella is a fairy tale that underlines the patriarchal gender roles and makes the woman with a dominant personality to be the villain.” In this case, women in subordination position while the man in dominated status. A woman does not have the right to do something that they want to do. As the author said “Little girls who identify with Cinderella will wait for their prince charming to fulfill their life and accept subordination and domesticity as their nature role.” Women Cinderella is not a symbol of feminish. She is passive and waiting someone to help her rather then solve the problem by herself. When she knows she can’t go to the ball, she is crying and does nothing. She is waiting the fairy godmother help her and then go to the ball.
In addition, although stepmother is a wicked woman, she is an independent woman. She with her second husband goes to a new house, but then her second husband died. She has to do something by herself. She goes on doing her household duties and taking care of the whole family, which justifies the idea that “a woman of right feeling should devote herself to the good of others”.
By -----Mikayla
Yes. I like your focus on the stepmother. She seems like a much more interesting character, right?
DeleteAfter reading this blog article, I realized the fairy tale will leave a harmful impression on person’s child period, though it looks like “harmless”. The gender identify and goodness identify are very strong in those fairy tales. In Cinderella story, Cinderella represents the pure, beautiful, goodness. In the end, such a perfect girl wins the prince’s heart. For most of girls, if they read this story very young, they must think that I should be the person same as Cinderella. They long for waiting for their princes. However, nowadays, we advocate that “Male and Female are equal”. Why we need to waiting our prince to complete our life just like Cinderella? The life is holding in our own hands, we need no one to rescue our current situation but ourselves. That is not wrong we should figure out which is good which is evil, but as to gender identify, we need to remove both in fairy tales and in our mind.
ReplyDeleteYes. Build your own identity! Forget the old rules that society has for gender. Make your own rules.
DeleteI totally agree with the author’s point about fairy tales, such as Cinderella, will send wrong sense of reality to young little girl. I think it’s parents’ responsibilities to choose appropriate cartoon or films for child if we couldn’t correct the problem in them. However, many parents don’t notice this point, because they think child too ignorant to understand the video. Actually, child needn’t understand the videos. Subconsciousness of videos will embed in child’s mind undercoverly. It’s necessary to identify the ture ideas in videos to protect children and correct the wrong thing in culture.
ReplyDeleteYes. Parents are responsible. How could parents counter-act the problems that Kheyfet points out? And are parents alone enough to solve these problems? Or does something else have to change?
DeleteFairy tales play a vital role in shaping children’s character. Even though when children go to school, they still read fairy tales and imagine themselves as the characters. Because children have strong ability of imitation, they would learn how the characters perform naturally. The characters in fairy tales influence children’s behavior and personality.
ReplyDeleteThe step mother and Cinderella figures are too absolutized. Cinderella is not only beautiful but also a virtuous lady. Oppositely, the step mother is ugly and wicked. It may give children a wrong signal that we can judge people by their appearance.
The Cinderella story tells children to be positive and kind. However, Cinderella’s submissiveness should not be praised. The story gives people an incorrect judgement that lady should be submissive and delicate. By the way, the victory of Cinderella conveys partial information that people can win only if they have good moral quality.
by Li Zhao(Leo)
Cinderella and Feminism written by Kheyfet was different from the normal perspective Cinderella story has hold. As the title means, Cinderella and Feminism is a article about the feminism.
ReplyDeleteFairy tale is actually a tool to help young children establish concepts about what they should do as a boy or a girl. Because they would face different boys and girls in school, it’s necessary for them to know what they should do. But the author says Cinderella force young girls build a concept that female should be innocent and wait male to help them. Cinderella is ill-treated bay her step mother, but she doesn’t struggle. And Cinderella’s stepmother who is dominant in Cinderella’s family “represents the subversive feminine symbols” These makes young girls think that they should be innocent and obey their “boss”. What’s more, though Cinderella does nothing, some magic powers help her get married with a powerful handsome prince. In this kind of education, girls were used to be submissive to male, and didn’t build up awareness to fight for their own rights.
Many fairy tales like Cinderella help to build the traditional feminism that women should be passive, innocent and wait their male partner comes up. We should be aware of the latent meaning.
When I was just a little girl, I loved fairy tales. Beautiful princess can always find her prince and villains would be defeated finally. It was romantic and I looked forward to this kind of life. But as I grew up, fairy tales changed the meaning to me. Some of them wanted to implant ideas to children like people have good looks are always nice man. Especially in gender aspect, it is an unalterable principle that women can wait for men’s help in fairy tales. From the Disney’s fairy films we can obtain some conclusions with referential value. Cinderella seems like a “china”, it symbolize people good for nothing without beautiful in Chinese. Because of beautiful appearance, Snow White was helped by seven little men and prince. This kind of fairy tales is full of leaks and may lead children to wrong thoughts. It is a high time to fix these tales and make a good environment for innocent children.
ReplyDeleteCandice
It's an article about the patriarchal gender role for the literature women character. In fact, this kind of idea exists in most of ancient stories or stories written by some stubborn writer with old concept. It talks about the Cinderella in fairy tale is a kind of women in domesticity and never think about her life. Sexism is always a big topic of human rights and modern life,women want to live a free life like men do, but something traditional full of the concept that women should devote herself to domesticity like Cinderella. It's not right, everyone should have same rights as we are same, without gender, without skin color, without area,just a person.
ReplyDeleteFrom Philip Hu ID:987804
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading Kheyfet's blog post ‘Major critical theories Cinderella and Feminism’, I find this essay just revealed the reality behind the fairy tales' fantasy. Stories are beautiful and happy, but the author, who is no longer naive and young, tries to make kids, the readers, be more aware of the realistic society. Then he wrapped what he wants to say into his stories, well decorated them with colourful candies and princess dresses. Maybe it sounds whimsical to invest the innocent fairy tales with sophisticated, even cruel social meanings, and it will be really a conflict to hidden both the bright side and the dark side on one piece of paper, however, on the other hand, imagination must have its basis, fantasy doesn’t come from nowhere, the reality still cannot be avoided. It makes me think of the reason why these old fairy tales are also popular among adults, because they can understand better and deeper, they can see through the beautiful scene of the story and rise an echo with the story. Adult can find symbols of difficult life, beautiful dream, kindness, innocence and evil, darkness. Then, we will see Fairy tales are in fact not as simple as we thought.
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