New Fairytales, New Princes

Overtime, fairytales have evolved from frightening tales with morals to love stories with happy endings.  The tales have changed to please modern audiences.  However, the idea of "Prince Charming" has also been altered through time.  In the original versions, the male figures were often warned against, suggesting they were dangerous to women. As time passed and Disney started to alter the original tales, the men started to be expressed as perfect, Damsel-in-Distress-Rescuing Princes.  However, more recently, the villain has become the love interest to the female characters.  In Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves," Little Red Riding Hood expresses desire for the dangerous wolf.  Also, in Twilight, Bella Swan falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen.  This idea of forbidden love, reminds me of a concept one of my high school English teachers described as "BBS" or "Bad Boy Syndrome."  While in the past, women often searched for that "perfect" prince-like man, today more and more, especially with younger woman, the "Bad Boy Syndrome" seems to have a hold on their search for love.  Unfortunately, the Bad Boys hardly seem to last and certainly never turn into husbands.  So what is more disappointing, being unsuccessful in the search for "Prince Charming" or falling in love with a wolf who could rip you to shreds at any moment?

Fairytale Wedding?

The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton occurred only last week.  The anticipation leading up to the event in the prior weeks seemed almost equivalent to a presidential inauguration.  Many even compared it to fairytales because of it's extravagance and glamour. But is the Royal Wedding really a "Fairytale Wedding?"  After reading several original fairytales, I discovered that my initial impression of fairytales, created by Disney movies, was completely false.  Most original fairytales are gruesome and contain images that aren't appropriate for young children.  While the stories often contain characters of royal descent, every other aspect is far from what is depicted by Disney's illustrations.  Thus, I think the Royal Wedding is more correctly defined as a "Disney Wedding," due to its perfectly lavish characteristics. 

Kate Middleton's arrival to the wedding looks as if it could be a scene from Disney's Cinderella. Gorgeous dress, red carpet, and a crowd of excited on-lookers are all elements that create an image fit for a Disney animation.

The not-so-innocent "Little Red Riding Hood"

After reading the variety of “Little Red Riding Hood” tales, I was surprised by the inconsistency and varying interpretations.  From violence to happy endings, it is obvious that the story of the young cloaked girl has changed over the ages depending on the time period, culture, and audience.  I also noticed that none of the stories I read in Folk & Fairy Tales were exactly the same as the one I remember reading when I was a young child.  While the version I was first introduced to contained similar elements, it also contained less details producing a more straightforward tale and a happy ending to please a child.  Therefore, since I was used to a story that lacked violence and a gruesome ending, I was shocked to read versions of the fairytale that included adult-related themes.

            In the first story, “The Story of Grandmother” by Paul Delarue, a young girl is tricked by a bzou, instead of a wolf.  Like many of the other “Little Red Riding Hood” stories, the bzou arrives to the grandmother’s house before the young girl and kills the elderly woman.  However Delarue’s version quickly becomes different from the others when the bzou puts some of the grandmother’s flesh and bottled blood in a pantry.  Later in the story the young girl is tricked by the bzou and eats and drinks the flesh and blood.  While the girl is eating, a cat in the pantry says, “A slut is she who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of her grandmother” (32).  I was surprised to see such sexual profanity in a fairytale.  All of the fairytales that I read when I was younger were always innocent and fanciful.  I also found it odd when the girl undressed at the request of the bzou.  Perhaps I find it strange because I do not understand the context of the characters’ actions due to the different time period and culture in which it was written.  Nonetheless, I still find it difficult to believe that “The Story of Grandmother” to be a story that was popular among young children.  Instead, I interpret the tale as being told to adults as a way of expressing to the community the importance of a woman’s sexual innocence.

            Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” is another version of the fairytale that contained elements that I was not used to seeing in the genre.  Perrault’s story contains simple, yet vivid descriptions of the wolf eating Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.  Also, unlike Delarue’s tale where Little Red Riding Hood escapes, Perrault’s version lacks a happy ending. The fairytale simply ends with Little Red Riding Hood’s death.  While Perrault states that the moral of the story is directed toward children, I still find it hard to imagine that children enjoyed listening to such a story.  I know when I was young, I would have been frightened if I were told Perrault’s tale.

            Overall, reading different versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” opened my eyes to the meaning of fairytales.  Delarue’s and Perrault’s stories are definitely not similar to the cheerful one’s that I was used to reading when I was little.  However, perhaps long ago fairytales contained scary and startling elements to purposely create fear among children.  Maybe adults believed that in order to have a child behave, it was appropriate to frighten them with the tales that illustrated examples of extreme consequences for certain actions, such as talking to strangers.  Nevertheless, I am fascinated by the varying circumstances in the different accounts of “Little Red Riding Hood” and look forward to learning more about how fairytales were used in the past.

Here's the trailer for the new movie "Red Riding Hood" coming to theaters this month:

 I wonder if the movie will contain any of the more adult-themed elements found in some of the different versions of the fairytale such as those found in Delarue's account.

Author Profile: Madame d'Aulnoy

         Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d’Aulnoy was a French writer known for her fairy tales.  Born in 1650, Madame d’Aulnoy wrote several works of literature over her career, including historical and religious novels and memoirs.  Nonetheless, d’Aulnoy is most recognized for her Les Contes des Fées, which created the term now used for the genre, fairy tales.  While the audience fairytales attract today may be children, d’Aulnoy wrote her fanciful stories for adults.  Written in a conversational format, d’Aulnoy would recite her fairytales at her literary salon in Paris.  Although she lived a controversial life filled with an unsuccessful marriage and several love affairs, d’Aulnoy used her fairytales to express her struggles in a context that provided her acceptance among her community. (“Madame D’Aulnoy”)

            Inspiration for Madame d’Aulnoy’s fairytales began at an early age.  In 1666, when she was only sixteen, d’Aulnoy was forced into an arranged marriage with a man that was thirty years older than her.  However the controversy in d’Aulnoy’s life did not end with the arranged marriage.  D’Aulnoy’s husband, François de la Motte, Baron d'Aulnoy, was a freethinker and had a reputation for gambling excessively. (“Madame D’Aulnoy”) Also, in 1669 Baron d’Aulnoy was accused of treason and was sentenced to jail in the Bastille for several months.  Once he was released from the Bastille, the couple separated. (Stedman 14) Madame d’Aulnoy later had three children through affairs with unknown men causing her to remove herself from the social scene in Paris for twenty years.  Consequently, d’Aulnoy created Les Contes des Fées in 1697 in order to gain back the acceptance of her society. (“Madame D’Aulnoy”)

            Madame d’Aulnoy’s popularity quickly began to rise after the publishing of her two collections of fairytales, Les Contes des Fées and Contes nouveaux ou les Fées à la mode.  In Les Contes des Fées, d’Aulnoy’s main characters include clever and unconventional heroines.  The use of the heroine in d’Aulnoy’s first collection of fairytales helps to portray the importance of women independence and thus created approval from her community towards her separation with the Baron d’Aulnoy.  In Contes nouveaux ou les Fées à la mode, d’Aulnoy describes a man’s scheming efforts to secure a marriage contract with a local baron’s daughter.  This story directly relates to d’Aulnoy’s own experience with arranged marriages.  She expresses her displeasure with forced matrimonies, allowing others in her society to again be more understanding toward her scandalous actions she committed earlier in her life.  Therefore, Madame d’Aulnoy shared her eccentric views and experiences through her fairytales, which in the end let her be accepted back into her society. (Stedman 16)           

Overall, Mary-Catherine d’Aulnoy was a strong, independent woman who had great success despite her difficulties earlier on in life.  With the fame of her fairytales, d’Aulnoy introduced a genre to the French public that invoked thought towards the conventional beliefs of the community at the time.  It is through her collections of stories that d’Aulnoy was able to overcome her past and rise from oppression.  Consequently, Madame d’Aulnoy’s powerful messages amongst her fairytales continue to support her popularity today.

Works Cited

"Madame D'Aulnoy." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_d'Aulnoy>.

Stedman, Allison.  Seventeenth Century French Writers.  Ed. Francoise Jaouen.  Dictionary of       Literary Biography Vol. 268.  Detroit: Gale, 2003.  p12-18.