Gender Stereotypes In Grimm's Fairy Tales

cheese.Once upon a time, there lived two German brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They wrote folklore which was published, titled “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”. Many of their tales were deemed too gruesome and grim for children, but in recent times, modern storytellers have adapted their tales to something perceived as more worthy and suitable for children. While there are some advantageous aspects to these modern takes on the Grimm Brothers’ Tales, they (like the initial tales) can be regarded as gruesome and grim through their portrayal of women, deception in giving false hope and their setting of unrealistic standards through physical appearance.

Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. Rapunzel. Snow-White. These women all share a common feature other than being the protagonists in many well-renowned fairytales;
they are all portrayed as ‘damsels in distress’ that have to be rescued by a prince. This view that women cannot and do not have the capability to escape danger that they have ensued upon themselves is dim-witted. In all these cases, the princes rescue the women using strength, yet the protagonists already demonstrate their power and strength, capable of saving them in the fairy tales, which leads to the question: Why couldn’t the princesses saved themselves? They have gotten themselves into these situations, which must have required some bravery, intelligence and wits. These features surely could outweigh the strength needed to escape their antagonists and the deep dark depths of their dungeons. Bravery. Wit. Purpose. All traits of heroism, yet why can’t the women in the tales use these powers to escape? Why is such extreme physical strength needed to rescue them from these unpleasant situations? Why can’t Rapunzel use her wits to climb down the castle? Why couldn’t Snow-White and sleeping beauty use their inner strength to overcome their sleep? These remedies are as likely to work as a kiss by a prince. Why does the story have to be changed so that they can’t rescue themselves despite their heroic traits, yet a prince can come along and rescue them simply with strength?

‘And they all lived happily ever after’, A clichéd term used to end many a fairy tale, however it creates false hope and gives false impressions to kids of the real world that awaits them.
Can we all really live happily ever after? No, no matter what, the answer is always no. This is the unfortunate, cold and bitter truth which is difficult to be accepted by many people. Be this as it may, while this is considered a daunting and uncheerful outlook to be taught to young children, it most definitely should not be twisted and turned to suit what we believe that children should believe. Think of any of the world’s major or even minor problems. The problem is gone. It no longer exists. Do you believe me? Probably not, as this simply is not something that can happen in the real world, even with a detailed explanation it is still highly unbelievable. This brings up the question what does the phrase in itself actually mean? What is happily ever after anyways? Did the characters never experience sadness again, just pure bliss, joy and happiness? We’re told everyone lived happily ever after, but did they all? By definition what was this happiness and what classifies it as
such?

Imagine, if you will a little girl called Sarah. Sarah’s parents would read her a story every night at bedtime. Her favourite genre of books were fairy tales, particularly ‘Snow White and the seven dwarves’, a tale about a beautiful princess and her handsome prince charming. Sarah wanted to grow up and be a princess just like Snow-White and thought that by wearing pretty pink dresses and a tiara and by using her imagination she could do just that. A cute and harmless thought, right? You’d think so but as she grew older, her imagination grew wilder, making her more inquisitive and therefore more difficult for her to pretend and believe these fantasies. She began to ask herself questions as she became more self-conscious and anxious of her beauty. Did the tiara really make her a princess? Was she pretty like the princesses in the other stories? The princesses are described as beautiful, but what was true beauty? Fairy tales like Snow-White distort the meaning of true beauty for little girls, like Sarah from kindness, generosity and modesty to pure physical appearance, causing doubt amongst them about both themselves and their beauty. Sarah was fed this unrealistic standard of physical appearances, and she gobbled it up and allowed it to consume her, causing her self-doubt, anxiety and depression. Sarah’s predicament is one of many possible scenarios in a line of different instances. She suffered from the effects of fairy tales and their negativity in highlighting an untrue view of beauty. A view that should be stopped – that we should stop, along with the other false impressions given to children of being ‘pretty pink princesses’.

Overall, I believe that fairytales create false and stereotypical views for children, which are just as poisonous to their minds as the gruesome and grim original fairytales. I hope, you now are enlightened with this view and see the negative light and darkness that encompasses fairy tales through their use of deceit, manipulation and lies.