Guilty readers, these "Once Upon A Time" fairy tales that have been read as bedtime stories for as long as anyone can remember. They however have a severely negative influence on children. They give them false expectations, stereotypical ideas and the impression that all dreams come true!
Let us examine the so-called heroines of these fairy tales- they are all beautiful! Cinderella, Snow White and Anastasia-are any of these women Black? Chinese? Asian? Ugly? Fat? Disabled? No! What kind of message is this sending to our youth? Is every young girl that reads a fairy tale white, thin and gorgeous? Most definitely not! Girls feel that unless they are blessed with beautiful looks they will not find their "prince charming" and live happily ever after.
Besides being beautiful, look at the roles these women play. Snow White was a housemaid for seven males dwarfs, Cinderella, a servant in her own home and Belle, a helpless prisoner to a powerful male. Some may argue that these characters are good role models for girls because in all tales they play the "important" roles. But really all they are doing is confirming people's warped belief that "it's a man's world". Cinderella for example focuses on archetypes of women- she passively cries out for help, instead of taking action into her own hands. These heroines give the message to young females that the way to accomplish things is not to do it actively, but to wait, with patience and virtue for a princely man to rescue you from your position. Does this mean that if one is a mother and has a career that she will not live "happily ever after"?
Aside from doing an incredible disservice to all women in society, fairy tales teach children that white is good and black is bad. This idea is drilled into the fairytale-reading child's brain from a very young age. The witches and the stepmothers are always dressed in black. Thus, the child associates black with evil. On the other hand, the heroine is clothed in white and portrayed as pure and innocent. These associations can eventually lead to racism, as the children who believe that white is good and black is evil will most certainly discriminate against visual minorities. Will children of colour who read these stories feel as if they didn't live "happily ever after"?
The next, and very superficial problem with fairytales is one with which we are all quite familiar with. Fairy tales have an inflated importance given to superficial aspects like money, beauty and power. Cinderella is chosen by the prince solely based on her looks! While she was in rags, she was forced to conceal herself. Cinderella only becomes a heroine after she is dressed, cleaned and covered in jewels. In Beauty and the Beast , Belle says, "For who could ever learn to love a beast?" Now one might argue that Bell did in fact eventually learn to love the beast. However her reward for this was quite shallow? The beast turned into a handsome prince! So once again we return to our typical ending: "and they lived happily ever after".
Moving on to the touchy subject of Love. In these fairytales love occurs as first sight. Is there even such thing? Moreover, it most definitely seems to always work out! Have you ever read a fairytale that included a divorce? Or how about a single mother? Of course you haven't and that is because they simply fail to exist. Now how are children from different families expected to relate to these fairy tales? Does this mean that children who live with their father will not live "happily ever after"?
Of course we are all at the age where we can realize that these books are purely fantasy. But at the young age that children read these books, they are unable to distinguish fantasy from reality especially with the constant repetition of the taboo fairytale ending "and they lived happily ever after"
Children will begin believing that whatever happens to the characters in these stories has to happen to them too! These bedtime stories are setting children set up for failure. How can a girl live her life expecting to be beautiful and to marry "prince charming? This is an unattainable goal and an unrealistic expectation.
I'm not saying we should send our children to bed with horror stories and smack them in the face with reality. I'm simply implying that we should all be more aware of the vulnerability of the audience that reads these stories. One should be more aware of the false expectations and unjust messages we are sending. Fairy tales are a form of entertainment that should not be relied on as heavily by parents. One simply needs to be more in touch with reality.
1 in 7 babies born are born disabled; they will never live a normal life. The Columbine shooting 2 years ago killed 15 students and teachers. Over 100 men, women and children were brutally murdered in Israel over the course of the last couple of years. On September 11th, 2001 3000 were killed for "going to work". "Happily ever after" endings only belong to "Once upon a time" lives. Human lives are not fairy tales. Why pretend they are?
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