Today our guest post comes from Jennifer, who blogs at Carbohydrates and Conjugations. This is a great post and I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!
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One of the earliest fairy tales I can remember is the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. My parents took me to see it in theatres, and I watched repeatedly a VHS copy of it recorded from the Disney channel. That VHS tape got pretty worn down, and eventually Disney released Sleeping Beauty from the vault and I got an “official” copy. When DVDs became popular, I upgraded to the DVD. And this was the case for many other Disney movies: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin... you get the picture.
Naturally I thought Sleeping Beauty was a beautiful love story, and couldn’t believe how lucky Briar Rose/Princess Aurora was to have found her True Love. She made it look so easy! First, you meet the man of your dreams. Then, you gaze into each other’s eyes and fall instantaneously in love. Tragically, someone tries to prevent your happiness (probably because for some reason their prince never came for them!), but in the end everything works out perfectly and there is a beautiful wedding.
Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney movie to give me an eye-opening experience. Belle was so different from Princess Aurora; she didn’t fall in love with the first man who proposed to her--in fact, she refused to settle! She was her own woman, unwilling to let any man dictate how she would live her life. And, at the age of 9, my perspective on fairy tales became drastically altered.
Please don’t get me wrong--I still love a good love story like Sleeping Beauty, where the heroine does absolutely nothing to warrant Mr. Right falling in love with her. Sometimes I even wish it were that easy. But it’s not. Little girls grow up with these expectations, and for some of us one day it just clicks. We are in charge of our own destinies; love is not something that can just be taken for granted.
One thing that most fairy tales never show us is what happens after Happily Ever After. In Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix, we are introduced to Ella, a girl who took charge and went to Prince Charming’s Ball just to spite the Step-Evils. Because she is the most beautiful girl in the village, Prince Charming will have no one but Ella. Now living in the palace, Ella has a hard time adapting to a life of luxury. Why should a maid stoke the flames for her when Ella has two perfectly good hands capable of doing the work for herself?
There aren’t any fairy godmothers, pumpkin carriages, or shape-shifting mice in Just Ella. She even pokes a bit of fun at the fairy tale when she says, “Why did everyone like that story so much when it wasn’t true? Why was everyone so eager to believe it? Was it because, in real life, ever after’s generally stink?” (p. 189) The lesson that Ella soon learns is that “happiness was like beauty--in the eye of the beholder”. (p. 218) Though Just Ella doesn’t end in your traditional Happily Ever After, it ends exactly the way Ella wants it to. And that’s satisfaction enough for me.
I will probably never stop loving traditional fairy tales, but every now and then I want a heroine that thinks for herself and creates her own happiness--with or without her Prince.
Thanks again Jennifer! I loved reading your thoughts!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Jennifer has also been generous enough to offer a copy of the book she talks about Just Ella for one lucky reader. If you would like a chance to win Just Ella, fill out the form linked below!Details:Contest open Internationally, as long as The Book Depository ships to you.Closes May 5th May 8th!+1 for each way you follow Jennifer's blog-Carbohydrates and Conjugations (+2 for old followers)(GFC, email subscriber, etc)+1 for a MEANINGFUL comment on Jennifer's guest post.