February 28, 2010

I never really read any fairy tales as a child, nor were any read to me. However, I did watch disney princess movies and I think that those are about as fairy tale as one can get. My favorite disney princesses/characters were never the damsels in distress, the sleeping beauties who awaited their prince to rescue them. I loved Mulan and Ariel who both were relatively independent and went after their goals. Mulan took the initiative to dress as a man to save her family and Ariel wanted the prince so she took the initiative to go see Ursula in order to become human and win over her man. I think that these two characters enforced the empowerment of women in my mind and showed me that women should be able to go for what they want and that they can achieve it. I think that I remember these characters most vividly because they fit into my view on life and they coincide with my ideas for what a woman should be. I don't really remember/don't like the other disney princess tales because the women just seem so pathetic and helpless waiting decades just for some big, strong man to come and do the work for them. Even at a young age I remember thinking "why doesn't Aurora try to figure out a way to kill the witch or save herself and why can the prince do it when she can't". I think that I choose to remember the fairy tales that I relate better to rather than the ones that don't fit into my lifestyle.

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