How women are portrayed in fairytales
An investigation into the gender stereotypes, patriarchal concepts and beauty ideals within many classic fairy tales. In most tales women are conveyed as weak, passive and without ambition. These tales echo false ideals where beautiful is good and pure and ugly is evil. Women are portrayed as submissive and self-sacrificing as wives and mothers. In addition, in many cases they are unable to stand up for themselves and therefore must be saved by a male character. Here I explore the beauty ideal within most fairy tales, including the original Brother Grimm’s tales. Also considering how the adaptation and reinvention of these fairy tales are necessary in order to challenge gender characterisations and archaic stereotypes.
The beauty ideal
To be an object of desire you must
have beauty.
In many known tales there is a link
between beauty and goodness and
ugliness and evil. Women are either I
innocent, pure and
beautiful; whereas, on the other hand
they are evil or ugly. This
beauty ideal is a patriarchal
practice that objectives and
subordinate’s women. This piece also
explores how barbies represent these
unnatural beauty standards that many people
believe they have to perform in order
to feel accepted in society.
the werewolf
This headdress is inspired by the
feminist Gothic writer, Angela Carter.
Carter challenges stereotypes
throughout her stories and in her book
‘The Bloody Chamber’ she reshapes
the known tale of ‘Little Red Riding
Hood’. ‘The Werewolf’ is set in a typical Gothic
Pastoral scene, where human society is
riddled with patriarchy and women are
being suspected of witchcraft A
character similar to Little
Red Riding Hood, walks through the
forest ironically dressed in a ‘scabby
coat of sheepskin’ to visit
her grandmother. However, this tie
when a wolf attacks, it is forced to flee
when the girl cuts off its paw.
the frog prince
Heavily inspired by Natalie Frank, who
through her retelling of the original
Brother Grimm’s tales, allows us to be
emerged within her feminist
interpretations of the stories. Her
drawings, with their feminist twist,
gives power back to the female
characters which was taken away when
Brother Grimm’s changed their stories
to poetics.
The story ‘The Frog Prince’ is the
inspiration for this headdress, as the
theme within the story is dominance
instead of submission. Where the
Princess rejects the advancements of
the Frog Prince and throws him against
the wall and his death reveals her
prince.
