Snow White: The Enduring Fairytale

Walt Disney hit upon a gold mine when he turned time-honored tales into cinematic magic.  It's hard to think of a classic fairytale and NOT associate one of the "Disney Princesses" with it.  The tale of Snow White is no exception.

In addition to the TV drama Once Upon a Time, debuting last fall, we're seeing not one, but two, Snow White movies this year.  That made me think about WHY the fairytale is so loved through generations.  So I went back and looked at the history of Snow White.  Although the tale was being told in Europe long before the Grimm Brothers came along, their 1812 version is the best known.  One hundred years later, in 1912, Snow White was a Broadway musical.  Walt Disney made it into an animated movie in 1937.

 When you start looking, there are variations of Snow White told in multiple countries and in every form of media.  I learned that an X-rated version of the tale was released in 1976.  In 1987, ABC had a sitcom called The Charmings, based on Snow White and Prince Charming.  And Sigourney Weaver starred in a 1997 horror film based on the tale. 

While all of this is interesting, none of this tells me WHY.  Why is Snow White such a beloved tale?

I've got to think that part of the reason is because at it's core, Snow White is the epitome of good versus evil.  The lines are clearly defined; Snow White is innocent and pure, the Queen is vain and evil.  It's always fun to read a story where you know there is a bad guy but you don't know who it is until the end.  But here, there's no question about who's the dark force hunting Snow White.  And we know - KNOW - that in the end, good will triumph.

The story might also endure because there's an element of truth behind it. Some believe that the original myth was based on the life of Maria Sophia Margaretha Catherina von Erthal (say that 3x fast), a noble German girl whose father remarried.  The step-mother used her new noble status to the betterment of the children from her first marriage (to me, this sounds more like Cinderella, but that's a myth for another day).  Still, don't all children fear losing a parent? Being subjected to a bully - whether it's at school or at home?  Although Snow White takes bullying to the extreme, society likes to see bullies get what they deserve.

I'm sure there are a billion other literary reasons Snow White not only prevails, but dominates, among the fairytales.  But I want to know what you think?  And is the reason for Snow White's popularity something that readers want to see in the books they read today?


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Jessie Harrell is the author of Destined, a retelling of a particularly ancient fairy tale, the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche.  She loves all of the Disney Princesses as much as her daughters and knows that while she'll never be a princess, she's lucky to have found her own Prince Charming.  You can find out more about Destined on Jessie's website.

What Message Are We Sending?

Angela's post last Wednesday inspired me. Made me think about the messages we send out to the world, particularly to young adults.

**Image borrowed from Deviantart**

I think about the messages I got growing up and how they shaped me.  As a girl, the primary one was this:

You're just as good as a boy and you can be anything you want to be.

Right on!  Well, almost.  We're so focused on what we want to be when we grow up, and the greatness we will attain.  We head off to college, earn our degrees, start careers that put us on the path to manager, partner, business owner. And then what?

We've proved we're just as good as the boys, but for many of us, there's a pesky thing called a biological clock. And being a stay at home mom now sort of feels like quitting.  The boys don't quit work just because they became dads.  But how do we balance being that mom who sends in homemade cupcakes and the executive who answers client e-mails at 10 pm?  How do we continue with our creative outlets so we don't lose our souls in the process of becoming just as great as our male co-workers?

I'm not sure there is a right answer. Everyone's paths will be different naturally.  But what I do know is that through time, subtle messages get pounded into our heads until we've set unattainable standards for ourselves.  Yes, girls, you CAN do or be anything. But you can't be it all at the same time.  That's the part of the message that gets left out.  You can make partner in your law firm, but that means you can't work part time and attend all your kid's school plays.  You can be an awesome writer/artist/musician in your spare time, but you won't be the world's best spouse if that's where you're channeling your passion.

As authors, we love writing these "kick butt" heroines who save the world and get the boy.  After all, it makes for a good and entertaining story.  But what happens to their school work while they're off battling demons?  What about their family relationships?  Are they simply not as important?  Not to our story lines perhaps, but I wonder if we aren't perpetuating the myth that our girls can be everything all at once when we downplay the crucial elements of our everyday lives.

Maybe not.  I'm no psychology major and I, as a writer, haven't ever given the subtle messages I'm sending that much thought.  But maybe I should. As a victim of society's subtle pressures myself, maybe I ought to be more cautious about what I put out into the world.  And just like everything else, find a balance between good story telling and good living.

What do you think??

Why do we crave Pretty?

 Image by Pretty as a Picture on DeviantArt.com

I'm as guilty as the next person in craving Pretty.  I buy books that have Pretty covers or Pretty characters.  My favorite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast. And I'm always on the look-out for art and photography that express Pretty through an artist's eye (like this photo above, which is stunning. Wouldn't that make a great book cover?)


But I digress.  Before writing this blog post, I got to thinking about Pretty in young adult literature.  I can only come up with a handful of main characters that aren't Pretty.  (And yes, I'm capitalizing Pretty on purpose, because the way I'm using it here makes it more of a proper noun. An entity unto itself.)  There was The DUFF by Kodi Kelpinger, although interestingly enough, the main character, Bianca, is neither fat nor ugly.  And there's The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, where the main character starts out fat and with low self-esteem, but gradually becomes a force unto herself (coincidentally as she loses weight).


And then I got to thinking, would people still read a YA (particularly the romantic books) if the characters weren't Pretty?  What if Anna from Anna and the French Kiss wore a size 14? Or what if your favorite kick-butt heroine was so plain she was almost invisible?  Even when the characters don't see themselves as Pretty, it turns out that everyone else thinks of them that way.  (Think Bella Swan or Lena Haloway from Delirium.)


Putting the media and marketers aside, why is it that we don't read books about normal looking people?  Or for that matter, why don't we as authors write more normal-looking people?  When was the last time you read a book where the MAIN CHARACTER had an acne problem?  Why do we consistently reinforce the message that you'll only ever be in a supporting role if you're not Pretty?  


I have all these questions swirling through my brain, knowing I suffer from these very problems myself, but I don't have any answers (short of calling myself shallow, that is).  I mean, did I not spend hours scouring the internet looking for the most beautiful brunette I could possibly find for the cover of my own novel?  And what can I do about it going forward without losing readers?  After all, you don't get the TV news from unattractive anchors.  Are people will to read about unattractive characters, even if their looks are not the focus of the novel?


So here's what I want to know -- particularly from any teens out there -- would you be more or less likely to read a YA novel where the character had a physical flaw or was less than attractive?  Would you pick up a book if the cover model looked like the girl on the right instead of the one on the left? Or or why not?