Reimagining Fairytales Essay 2 by Carly Weisblum

context/background

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 02:36:59 UTC

Fairytales and folklore have been a crucial aspect of all cultures since the start of socialization. From cautionary tales told to children from hundreds of years ago, to Disney movies with Prince Charming.

problem/question

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 02:37:08 UTC

How is it that these tales have begun to affect our society? What narratives do they push? What biases do they subconsiously instill?

response/claim

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 02:37:16 UTC

The physical and emotional traits of Villains in fairytales condition readers to form antisemtic, misogynistic, and bigoted biases.

rumpelstiltskin

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 17:58:45 UTC

"In stepped a little man... "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" "My necklace," said the girl. The little man took the necklace, sat down at the spinning wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and the spool was full" (208).

"Again the little man appeared and said: "What will you give me if I spin this straw into gold for you?" "The ring off my finger." The little man took the ring and started the wheel whirring again, and by morning he had spun all the straw into glittering gold" (209).

"His appetite for gold wasn't satisfied yet" (209).

""What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you this time?" "I have nothing more to give you," said the girl. "Then promise to give me your first child, if you get to be queen." "Who knows what the future will bring?" thought the miller's daughter. Besides she had no choice. She gave the required promise, and again the little man spun the straw into gold" (209).

"When the little man came next day, she started with Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar" (209).

"The Devil told you that!" (210).

the little mermaid

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 17:59:33 UTC

"They looked like snakes with hundreds of heads, but they grew out of the ground. Their branches were long slimy arms, and they had fingers as supple as worms; every limb was in constant motion from the root to the utmost point. Everything they could reach they grasped, and never let go of it again." (154-155).

"She noticed that every one of them was holding, as tightly as iron bands, onto something it had caught. Drowned human beings peeped out as white skeletons among the polyps' arms" (155).

"Big fat eels played in the mud, showing their ugly yellow stomachs. Here the witch had built her house out of the bones of drowned sailors, and there she sat letting a big ugly toad eat out of her mouth" (155).

""But you will have to pay me, too," grinned the witch. "And I want no small payment"" (156).

cinderella

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 18:00:19 UTC

"Their faces were beautiful and lily-white, but their hearts were ugly and black" (48).

"You little sloven!" (49).

"The sisters were overjoyed, for they had beautiful feet. The eldest took the shoe to her room to try it on and her mother went with her. But the shoe was too small and she couldn't get her big toe in. So her mother handed her a knife and said: "Cut your toe off. Once you're queen you won't have to walk anymore"" (52).

"The (other) sister went to her room and managed to get her toes into the shoe, but her heel was too big. So her mother handed her a knife and said: "Cut off a chunk of your heel. Once you're queen you won't have to walk anymore" (52).

"So both sisters were punished with blindness to the end of their days for being so wicked and false" (53).

can i still love the antisemitic fairytales I grew up with?

ckweisb — 2023-10-20 18:11:41 UTC

"In college, I took a course called Early Modern English Witchcraft. On the first day of class, my professor, a man wearing a fedora and band T-shirt, gave us a summary of the course. Witches, he told us, were based on fears of women and the elderly. He continued, “Also, you know, witches are often depicted with hooked noses, so there’s some antisemitism there.” He tapped the bridge of his nose knowingly and did not say another word about Jewish witches throughout the rest of the semester."

"Soon, I got a better picture of witches’ connection to Judaism. In “The Saturnine History of Jews and Witchcraft,” Yvonne Owens argues that “the construction of Jews as Saturn-ruled, melancholic, phlegmatic, and physically toxic contributed much to the debates on witches.” Accusations of devil-worship and themes of blood libel further connect Jews and witches, and even the peaked witch hat may trace its origins to headwear Jews were forced to wear to identify themselves. Although we are separated from these witches by hundreds of years, the visual language used in early modern Europe remains largely unchanged."

"I had never understood Maleficent as a fairy; I had always understood her to be a witch. To me, her character design had read: fabulous, evil, witch. I now realize I had also read her as Jewish. Maleficent’s character design—from her hooked nose, to her set of horns — rely heavily on European antisemitic tropes that connect villainous witches to Jewishness."

"In some of the Grimms’ stories, antisemitism is vitriolic and obvious."

"This is perhaps the most explicitly antisemitic of the Grimm brothers’ tales, but not the only story that villainizes Jewishness. Indeed, antisemitic attitudes are woven through their stories, both reflecting and reinforcing popular attitudes of the time. Caitlin Hewitt White characterizes the Brothers Grimm as active participants in a “German romantic nationalist project that aimed to construct a central German identity by racializing Others,” including Jews. Considering this, it’s perhaps no coincidence that Nazis were able to use the Grimms’ stories as key propaganda tools for Aryan supremacy."

"To be clear, I do not think most modern day Brothers Grimm adaptations set out to make antisemitic villains. The creators of films like “Sleeping Beauty” or the team behind Harry Potter’s Rumpelstiltskin-esque goblins may not be aware of the full history behind Grimm fairy tales or how their characters perpetuate antisemitism. However, fairy tale adaptations have long relied on Jew-coded villains, seemingly without a meaningful effort to change." GREAT QUOTE FOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND RESPONSE

"Rumplestiltskin’s antisemitic coding."

analysis

ckweisb — 2023-10-21 14:54:36 UTC

How does Rumpelstiltskin contribute to antisemitism? What tropes contribute to this?
- Greed
- Blood libel
- Appearance (short, ugly, sneaky, hooked nose in illustrations)

analysis

ckweisb — 2023-10-21 14:56:39 UTC

How does the sea witch contribute to antisemitism and misogyny? What tropes are used to convey this?
- Greed
- Another "jealous" female villain: the idea that she is evil because of her appearance
- Deception and lying
- Sea "WITCH" - connect to Silverman's work

analysis

ckweisb — 2023-10-21 14:59:49 UTC

What do the Stepmother and the stepsisters convey other than simple villainy?

- Teaches us associate femininity with jealousy

- Use that misogynist rhetoric and incorporates its narrative into our lives

- Whiteness associated with goodness

argument for creative liberty in storytelling

ckweisb — 2023-10-21 15:04:15 UTC

With our complicated social culture and anthropology, the storytelling and years of folklore that contribute to fairytales are not as simple as plain creativity, or making fun stories. While you can argue for creative liberty within stories, you must simultaneously acknowledge the social repercussions. Only in an ideal world would famous fictional texts be able to be kept separate from our world's values.

some day my prince will come

ckweisb — 2023-10-21 15:29:07 UTC

"We know that children are socialized or culturally conditioned by movies, television programs, and the stories that they read or hear, and we have begun to wonder at the influence that children's stories and entertainments had upon us" (186).

A close examination of the treatment of girls and women in fairytales reveals certain patterns which are keenly interesting not only in themselves, but also as material which has undoubtedly played a major contribution in forming the sexual role concept of children, and in suggesting to them the limitations that are imposed by sex upon a person's chances of success in various endeavors" (187).

how do you know this was the authors intention?

ckweisb — 2023-10-21 15:33:19 UTC

(Use Silverman's quote here.)

"To be clear, I do not think most modern day Brothers Grimm adaptations set out to make antisemitic villains. The creators of films like “Sleeping Beauty” or the team behind Harry Potter’s Rumpelstiltskin-esque goblins may not be aware of the full history behind Grimm fairy tales or how their characters perpetuate antisemitism. However, fairy tale adaptations have long relied on Jew-coded villains, seemingly without a meaningful effort to change."