WEEKLY STEREOTYPE 001: Women are naïve

Category: Classical Fairytale Literature

Here comes the well-known theme of good versus evil. The central female character – the female protagonist - in classical fairytale literature is typically a representative of good and, apparently, that means she also has to be naïve.

So what does it mean to be naïve? In fairytale literature, an individual identified as naïve would be lacking in worldly wisdom and have had little or no exposure to the reality of the greater world. In today’s terms, this stereotype translates to: women lack common sense and have no knowledge about what is going on in the world – they're a little short on street smarts.

In most classically-told fairytales, the female protagonist is either kept from entering the world beyond her doorstep or falls for the trap that is so very clear to the reader and characters in the tale’s plot. Thus, the idea of naivety in women is supported and spread.

A few examples:

1) Rapunzel (Grimm Brothers) is locked in a tower - of course she’s not going to know what’s going on in the world.

2) Snow White (Grimm Brothers) decides to trust a stranger while she is on the run and pays with her consciousness

3) Little Red Riding Hood (Charles Perrault) is approached by, not only a stranger, but a stranger in the form of a talking wolf and decides it would be good idea to tell him where she is going. She gets eaten. 

Okay, so fairytales might blow it a little out of proportion when it comes to expressing this stereotype. But you get the idea.

The beginning: so what is it all about?

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a curious mind who wondered … what’s going on with all the fairytale hype?

No, I’m not about to tell you a beautifully woven story inhabited by a damsel in distress, a wicked witch or a charming prince coming to the rescue for the sake of a child-friendly happy ending. No, I think I’ll leave that task to my fellow bloggers already doing an amiable job of spreading the well-known tales of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson and Charles Perrault. What I am going to do is tell you the lesser-known versions of those same stories by those same authors, among others. I am going to tell you about the originals – uncensored and uncut. The violence, sex and all things grotesque, that you probably never knew were the foundation of the fairytales populating the beloved land of rainbows and unicorns we were carried away to as children … and more recently, our cinemas.

Fairytales have found a foothold in today’s popular culture in the form of film. From re-enactments to adaptations, from extensions to fractured fairytales. These popular stories are being remade, rehashed and revived for a younger generation and an older one alike. Most twenty-first century children made their first contact with fairytales, not through a book but through Disney’s animated films. Fairytales have truly come a far ways from the oral tradition in which most were born. Yet, they continue to be a reflection of the cultural and social norms of a time period, simultaneously spreading them. Socializing and normalizing their rapt audience, telling us how the world could be and how to handle it, fairytales and their film adaptations are no longer for children alone.

Follow me as I tell you about the fairytales as transcribed by the Brothers Grimm, conceived by Hans Christian Anderson and created by Charles Perrault as their revivals find their way onto a big screen near you. And who knows, you might even learn something about yourself and the society you live in.