This week is like a turning point for all the fairy tales I read and watch, especially Disney's movies. On Monday, I watched Snow White in German (Schneewittchen) in my German Class. I couldn't concentrate to watch the film since my teacher kept talking and explaining the story. He also told us the original story written by Brothers Grimm, where the Queen is Snow White's birth mother, Snow White was just a 7-year-old girl and at the end of the story, the Queen was forced to dance on burning-red iron shoes until she died.
After watching the film, I realized that Snow White is stupid because she was tricked by the Queen THREE TIMES! It's really stupid to not learn from experience, right? And I also realized that Snow White's only advantage is her beauty and cheerful character maybe. In rude Bahasa I would likely to say, "Cuma modal cantik dan dicium pangeran". (Kayaknya Ami pernah ngomong ini pas SMA, deh)
I know it's fiction, but it just doesn't make sense to make a character live happily ever after just because she is beautiful. You need to be smart and a hard worker to survive, don't you?
Today (Wednesday), the teacher continued to talk about the movie and also the original story. He said that originally, the prince was pictured as a stupid pedophile, certainly not an idolized character like in Disney's stories. And he also said that Snow White was the one who forced her own mother to dance on the burning shoes. In the movie, Snow White is pictured as a cheerful girl, but maybe, she is happy because she knows that she is more beautiful than the Queen and deep inside, she is much meaner than the Queen.
It reminds me of Strategic Cinderella and suddenly, I doubted all the fairy tales, especially about princesses, I know.
I used to be happy to read stories about a princess who fell in love with a prince and get married and live happily ever after. I thought fairy tales are real stories polished with magical elements and I believed that I could learn life value from fairy tales. I grew up believing that I can be a princess and someday I will marry a prince.
However, knowing the original story of Snow White, made me think that fairy tales are just tales, with neither moral nor life value.
Is this a part of growing up and being an adult? LOL
I think watching modern Disney or Pixar movies like Brave, the Princess and the Frog, Tangled, etc. has more value since the characters show how they pursue what they want and how they work hard to achieve their dreams.
