BEWARE THE POISON APPLE…
There’s nothing more insidious than a well-crafted fairy tale, believes Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan.
The next time a fairy tale comes right at your face, I say run for the hill. I don’t know about you, but I’m afraid of fairy tales. They poison minds. And worse, they’re probably the first few books read by children (especially girls) at an age when they’ll believe everything they read.
I’m all for hope and happy endings, but I think some fairy tales have just taken dreams to a whole new level wit their over-generalizations and fatalistic sentiments. I grew u with them, true, but when I look back as an adult, those were pretty dangerous things that I read.
Consider some examples:
A woman can fall in love with a frog or a beast, but a man must fall for a pretty young thing – even she is living in the forest with seven other men. Are you kidding me?
The easiest way to deal with food scarcity, as Hansel and Gretel would attest, is to lead your children to the woods so they can be eaten by wild animals… how come no one smells cruelty here?
And the princesses in the animated feature film Aladdin will definitely say –against the advice of sane people everywhere- that it’s okay to fall for a con man because everything will turn out well in the end as he shows her “a whole new world”.
And as Cinderella, apparently skills you need for a better life is sweeping, scrubbing floors and talking to domestic animals.
Oh, and have you noticed that the meanest characters in fairy tales are women? Old women and stepmothers have all gotten a bad rap, thanks to how the stories depict them. It’s no surprise that mak tiri, or stepmother in Malay, is a despised phrase. As a child, I secretly feared tat all old women are witches.
I’m beginning to think that fairy tales could be equally responsible in destroying children’s minds in the same way video games and fast food do… only theirs is done in a more subtle way through songs and happy tales. I think the ‘alternate reality, (with the apologies to Star Trek), resulting from fairy tales is dangerous because it gives a perception that it’s all right to be fatalistic. “Some day my prince will come,” so sung Snow White.
I suppose THAT animation studio should shoulder some blame in translating these tales of damsels in distress into animation. To be fair, it did try to change that perception though, through Mulan and Pocahontas, but even then, Mulan’s Chinese and Pocahontas is South American, not your usual gown-wearing, blond princesses in the stories young girls love so much. While fairy tales are so pervasive among children, they contain no emphasis on education, manners confidence and self reliance that are crucial to life. And let’s not forget parenting skills. How could Snow White and Cinderella’s dads let their daughter be treated so?
I’m sorry, but I think fairy tales are just so skewed. Sure, it’s nice to be swept off your feet by a handsome prince, but what is the girl doing for herself? And even after she had married someone rich and good looking – the princes are not portrayed as understanding and loving. Are looks and money all there is to life?
Know the song When I Grow Up by the Pussycat Dolls? I think this is the exactly the kind of thinking that fairy tales nurture and to me, it’s just shallow. Because happily ever after sometimes means getting yourself a good education, dong something you love, being grateful for what you have and ultimately, being happy in your skins.
And I’m sorry Cinderella; no glass slipper can give you that satisfaction…
Taken from the New Straits Times
Hear, hear… hahaha… took the words right out of my mouth.
Fairy tales had never been my cup of tea when I’m little. Instead of watching TV, like most toddlers do (that was in my time. Nowadays they would have this new-on-the-market digital gadgets to feast on. Spoiled brats) I was usually sent to sit in a corner, facing the wall, a punishment of wrecking the only computer in the house. And instead of the Disn*y’s princesses’ classics, I would watch Sailormoon, Dragon Ball or CardCaptor Sakura… never been one to rely on TV for entertainment, I would always be seen climbing and playing with bugs on the tall mango tree near the playground compound… throwing cockroaches to the prissy girls playing ‘happy family’. Haha… I was an angsty toddler at that time (Bento: And still am…)
