Snow White: The Princess Who Would Lead Them All

Country of Origin: Germany; as told by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm

Movie Debuted: 1937

What Snow White brings to the table: innocence and naivety

Age at time of Story (in the movie): 14 yrs

Major Differences Between original story (OS) and movie (M):

1) OS-Snow White is 7 years old! M-she is 14

2) OS-Evil Queen tries to kill SW three separate times (choking her with corset ribbons, pricking her with a poisoned comb, and finally that fateful apple)

3) M-Huntsman tells SW to run away, but in OS, it was SW who had the idea to go into the woods and never come back4) OS-After SW eats the poisoned apple she "dies." Some time later, a prince hears of the princess and asks the dwarfs for her body and coffin. As they move the coffin, one end is dropped which dislodges the piece of apple from SW's s throat.

Now, in the M version, SW eats the apple and falls into a death-like sleep. The prince comes to pay his respects and kisses her. *Gross alert approaching* The prince doesn't know that love's first kiss will break the spell (he and SW had a love-at-first-sight moment in the castle courtyard), and he kisses her anyway. He just kissed a dead girl! I give you leave to take a hot shower now.5) M-Evil Queen falls to her death. OS-Evil Queen is fairest in the land for a time. The magic mirror tells her that the new queen is now the fairest. Evil Queen goes to the castle for the marriage celebration and check out the new queen. She is obviously horrified to see SW alive and fair. As punishment for attempted murder, the prince order Evil Queen into a pair of red hot iron shoes to dance in until she drops dead. Sucks to be her.

Moral of the Story/Social Implications:

Don't open the door for strangers (they might be a homicidal maniac)

Vanity will be your undoing   
 
Plastic surgery seems to grow more popular every year. Distorted body image not only plagues grown women, but affects girls as young as eight! More women should learn a lesson from the Evil Queen and find a way to love the body/skin/face they already have. I know, easy to say, hard to do. If we didn't feel like we were competing with other women, then perhaps the "mean girl syndrome" wouldn't be as prevalent. Becoming a slave to your vanity may cost you more than money. What is the price of a broken friendship, a mountain of debt, or your life?

Jealousy and the Mean Girl Syndrome  
  
Jealousy drove the Evil Queen to extremes. She tried to kill her stepdaughter several times, so she could be the most beautiful in the land. Unfortunately, not much has changed in society. Girls who feel threatened by other girls take drastic measures to ensure that their rival knows her place. Whatever happened to supporting each other and building meaningful relationships? When did we start beating each other down to get a guy's attention? I don't know either, but we need to tell our daughters/nieces/cousins/god- & granddaughters that jealousy (in small, minuscule amounts) can serve a purpose -- to make you work harder to achieve more.

Quotable Quotes:

"Snow White: There once was a princess and she fell in love
Sneezy: Was it hard to do?
Snow White: (laughs) No, it was very easy"
This made me pause. Yes, teenagers are stereotyped with falling in and out of love at the drop of hat. This quote only serves to support this notion and turns every new boyfriend into prince charming. However, what we can take away from this, is that while falling in love is "very easy," staying in love requires maturity, communication and a lot of hard work.

The dwarfs have just discovered SW and are watching her sleep. They're having a discussion about letting her stay.
Grumpy: She's a female and all females is poison. Females are full o' wicked wiles.

LOL! On some level this is so true. On another level, this is so funny!

Did you know?

Because Snow White was so successful, it gave Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer the green light to film "The Wizard of Oz." You can thank Walt Disney for flying monkeys, thank you.

Poll results: Sleepy and Bashful tied as your favorite dwarf. Excellent choices.

Final Note:

I haven't been able to find much evidence supporting the idea of "love's first kiss." I'm inclined to believe that this is exclusive to the imagination of the man, Walt Disney. It really is his fault that young girls believe their first kiss is supposed to be this wonderful, fireworks-filled event. What kind of first kiss to going to live up to all that hype? 

Liar, Liar

So I promised a princess discovery session in February and failed miserably at reaching my own goals and your expectations.
All I can ask is for a second chance and your forgiveness. Excuses aside, I should have put up or shut up.
Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty all to come in March. Perhaps I'll find some time (ha,ha) for Princess Ariel.

Ariel Update

At last doctor’s visit in December, our little princess was nearly 22 lbs and 31 inches. So that puts her in the 5th percentile for height and weight for age. She’s petite and that makes her perfect for GYMNASTICS! A sport suited for petite-powerhouses that combines strength and grace. The recreation department does offer classes for her age group. I think Ariel would love a gymnastics class. Just gotta get the cash together.

Ariel has always loved music, but the more I watch her, I’m realizing just how innate her musicality is. She finds the beats and the off-beats, she moves in time to the rhythm, which makes her great for MUSIC and DANCE classes! Wee! Yes, I sound like neurotic parent, but why not build on the foundation she is already establishing. And as a daughter of two band geeks, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. I mean, she has choreographed her own dance to the 1812 Overture. If that doesn’t scream ballet, or band geek, I don’t know what does. Ariel can’t start any of these other programs until she’s three, so it’ll be gymnastics until then. In the mean time, she enjoys putting puzzles together, dancing, singing, coloring, building, chasing after Pazu, and spending time with Elmo.

On Fridays when I do my long days at Kmart, Eric takes her for storytime at the library and she totally digs it. It gives her and Eric some awesome father-daughter time. I’m not sure how many words she has in her vocabulary bank, but she talks non-stop (gee, I wonder where she gets that from). We’re enjoying everyday with her. The next phase is to find a home daycare for her. I’m hoping I can transition straight from my externship into a job without much lag time. Trusting strangers with your child is such a leap of faith and trust and making a decision apparently is leaving awake at four in the mornings with nightmares. Yeah for me.

I’m working on another music video for Ariel. I have to search and re-download  the programs I was using since our computer crashed a few months ago. Maybe by March I’ll have it up. Until then, enjoy these pictures.



pint-sized Picasso







 

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reclining in a non-recliner



An Exercise in Research & Reflection: Disney Royalty

As we embark on our journey on all things princess, let’s nibble on a few points to get the pondering juices flowing.


Fairytales are a subgenre of the traditional folktales that were verbally passed down through the generations. They date back to ancient Egypt!

Charles Perrault was the first person to record fairy tales, with the Brothers Grimm making fairy tales their own genre. In the late 17th century, Madame d'Aulnoy invented the term conte de fée, or fairy tale (en.wikipedia.org).

And there is no escape from these stories, like it or not. It would be like trying to cut out the gene that makes up the color of your eyes. Other than the commercial cash-cows that they have become, fairy tales do serve a purpose and we can’t dismiss the moral and magical influences they have on us.

These subliminal, and sometimes, blatant messages are more geared towards girls than boys. The ideas of the saving acts of prince charming, the transforming power of love, and the magic of that first kiss seem to wedge themselves between that desire to be the next great athlete, that selfless doctor, or mother of the year. I don’t think that most women really grow out of those romantic notions, no matter how old they admit to being. Take for example, the over-hyped process of finding the perfect wedding dress.

I’ve watched enough wedding shows to see how the salespeople go for the kill. “How do you feel about this dress? Does it make you feel like princess?” Aha! There it is. How could a starry-eyed, bride-to-be not want to drop a couple thousand dollars to become a princess for a day? It’s what she’s been dreaming about since she was a girl (and marketed to since she was two years old). Along with that is the fairy tale wedding at Cinderella’s castle and the brides makes her grand entrance by arriving via pumpkin coach. It’s no wonder the wedding industry makes a gazillion-million dollars every year (I’m estimating here). What kind of price tag does that magic come with? I suppose it depends on how deep your prince’s pockets are. And yes, we shall envy Kate Middleton, the commoner who gets to become a princess for real. Wonder how she really feels about that? Dream come true or nightmare in the wings?

Disney wised up to all this wedding hoo-ha and in 2010, debuted their Disney Fairytale Weddings Bridal Collection. This features dresses based on the personalities of six of the ten princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora/Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle. Now I was a girl who was obsessed with The Little Mermaid. Had this line been available when Eric and I were married, I can’t say that I wouldn’t have looked at a dress or two.

The thought of being a princess involved in a romantic love story with a handsome prince is what sells romance novels. On the extreme side of royalty spectrum, there are woman who are treated all their lives as little princesses and expect the world to do the same. Has anyone ever seen an episode of Bridezillas? Case in point. While I never want to raise or be around a spoiled, self-centered, brat, pretending to be a princess for a few hours will not hurt anyone. My cousins and I made- believe we were Autobots, and we turned out ok.

Peggy Orenstein, an author and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, had a different idea on the subject. In her article, What’s Wrong with Cinderella, she voices her concern over the negative influence that the Disney royals have on the psychological development on young girls. While she highlights some great points, I feel that ultimately it is the parents’ responsibility to keep things in check.

Now onto your official disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in the analysis of the “Big 10,” are merely the musings of one writer. They are meant to dig a little deeper into some ideas that are grossly glossed over or otherwise dismissed completely. And provide a little humor on the side. Comments are encouraged and I will answer back in the comments area, so check back if you post a question. Certainly we can have a discussion and still be friends afterwards.

Now onto our first born princess: Snow White.

Happy New Year!

Hello friends and family!

The beginning of a new year always brings with it New Year's resolutions. I haven't been the best at keeping mine in the past, but my goal this year is to set an achievable goal and run with it. This is specifically targeted at our blog.

I take full responsibility for its neglect and can only hope you accept my deepest apologies. I could give you a handful of excuses, but in the end, the blog is still lonely. Part of the problem is that I take a lot of pictures, because a blog without pictures is a bit boring. By the time I've downloaded the pictures from my camera, two weeks or more have gone by and with it, all the little details that make for interesting reading.

Another reason I have neglected things is that I don't have much to blog about. I could talk about every little thing that we're doing, but how interesting would that be? So here is my proposal for 2011:

I'm going to shoot for a writing series.

For the month of January, I'll be playing catch up with Christmas pics/video and Ariel updates. For February, I'm planning a dissected look at the Disney Princesses. Yes, all ten of them. I do a lot of research for my novels and only my critique group reaps the benefits. So why not apply the same technique to something that is so prominent (and profitable) in our culture? I'll be looking at the country of the story's origin, major differences between the original and Disney versions of our heroine, and moral/social implications of the tale.

I'm really excited about this. I know it'll be a ton of work, but perhaps if I have something to write about, then the blog will be updated more frequently. I hope you all will join us for a deeper look at the fairy tales we grew up with.

In between princess posts, I'll do my best to keep you abreast of the family happenings.

Found this in the Que

September 2010: Banned Book Week

I've always heard of books being on the "banned" list, but I never really knew what that meant. Until now.

Banned or challenged books are works that certain groups or individuals feel should be censored and/or made unavailable to the general public. Mostly they feel that the censorship will protect those who have impressionable minds. "Harry Potter" by J.K. Rowling made the list for witchcraft (a church in Alamo actually burned this book) and "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway was banned for homosexual suggestion.

Small towns have a bad reputation for being closed minded, so I was pleasantly surprised that the Friends of the Library were hosting a series of events during the annual celebration of freedom of speech, freedom to read, aka Banned Book Week (always the last week in September).

On Tuesday, the community college hosted a read-aloud-session where everyone was encouraged to read aloud from their favorite banned book. I totally missed this, but I heard it was good. On Friday, the library is having a community viewing of "The Lovely Bones," based on the 2002 book by Alice Sebold. This was banned/challenged for content inappropriate for its age group.

On Wednesday, the FOL held a Banned Book Week Costume Gala. Participants were encouraged to dress up as a character from their favorite banned book.

How could I pass up an opportunity to dress up? I literally put my costume together in an hour (with help from mom).

I portrayed “Offred” from “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. This feminist dystopia novel was required reading in my AP English class in 1998. It was placed on the “list” in 1999 or 2000. I chose it because the costume was super easy to do and it is a book that has stuck with me all these years. A well crafted piece about freedoms lost and a new age of oppression. It was banned/challenged for violence against women and sexual content.

There were 20 people who showed up, with half of us in costume. I didn’t know there was going to be a contest, but it was a bonus! Especially when you win “Best in Show” or Best overall Representation. I'm an award winning poodle. I know, way cool. And you thought my talents were only for writing. I had my first pick of prizes and of course chose a gift card to the local book store. Predictable, I know. I also made the paper. Here is the link to the article. http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_16222379

Regardless of close minded idiots who think they know better than us, those of us with common sense can think critically about the issues tackled in the banned/challenged literature, and make up our own minds.
I enjoyed participating in this week of events. In honor of reading from the list of banned books, I chose to read “Speak” (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is currently being challenged for pornography. Some stupid idiot thinks that a tragic and horrible rape is pornographic. (I roll my eyes). It was a well written piece, and surprisingly funny, given the topic.

Perhaps next year, you'll be inspired to step outside your comfort zone and participate in Banned Book Week.

May you read something that challenges you to think today.

Halloween is a Scream!

We spent Halloween in Alamogordo this year and, man, what an exhausting weekend.

Since I wasn't motivated to do the group/family costume this year, Ariel was the only one who dressed up. She has her whole life to be something cute or pretty, so I was going for something less typical.

And so, Ariel was a rock star! A punk rock star, actually.

Over the course of Halloween weekend, she got to wear her costume three times. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Thursday: Eric carved the pumpkin we picked out a few days earlier. We wanted Ariel to help with the gutting process, but as soon as she touched the slimy, stringy innards, she gagged so hard, she nearly puked. Awesome. Daddy went solo on the carving this year and he did a mighty fine job.

Friday: Eric, Ariel, and I went to downtown Alamogordo for trick-or-treat. The participating businesses invite the kids to the door for their goodies and Mom and Dad get to scope out some shopping. The first stop we made, Ariel tried to say "trick-or-treat" and we did manage a thank you out of her. But after that, it was all silent staring. Well, who doesn't like the strong but silent rock star type?
loot bag #1
Saturday: We headed to "Zoo Boo" at the Alameda Park Zoo. It absolutely was a zoo that had nothing to do with the animals. The line to get in was so long, it looped back on itself. Ahhh! I entered Ariel in her first costume contest in the "Most Unique" category. There was a cute category, but that was over saturated with 110+ entrants! She didn't place, but seemed to have a good time on stage. I don't remember what costumes bet her out, but one of them for sure was an astronaut. I now have some neat ideas for future costumes. One of my personal costume highlights was a kid dressed as a toy machine. Like one of those filled with stuffed animals you have to try to get with the metal claw. Yeah, and stupid me didn't get a picture. There was a winner's light on top, money in the shoot, and an actual claw hanging from the ceiling of the box this boy was in. Costuming genius.

Saturday night: My mom and I took Ariel for another round of trick-or-treat in the mall. Our little rock star was quite content to just run around the mall looking cute. Ariel had no interest in begging for candy. Every time I took her hand for the trick-or-treat ritual, she would fuss and try to shake my hand loose. It could have been a lot more fun if we had taken naps after the zoo. But when the princess boycotts her nap, nobody sleeps.

loot bag #2

Sunday: Ariel put the stickers on her pumpkin she picked out at the pumpkin patch. We left it outside to hang with Big Jack so the passing trick or treaters could see her artistic abilities. We left the neighborhood canvas to the professionals and stayed inside with the lights off. Or so I thought.

One of my mom's friends asked if Ariel wanted to trick-or-treat with her granddaughter, Riley. I just couldn't say no to Riley, so we dressed Ariel up in a Halloween theme and set out. We went to Bethel Baptist Church for their "Trunk-or-Treat" event. This is where cars are lined up in a semi-circle, with their trunks open, full of candy. You still have to say the magic words, but you definitely get a bag full of sugar with minimal walking.
Riley as "Dora" and Ariel as "Cute"

Ariel had a great nap today, so going out was so much better. She waved or clapped her hands in thanks whenever candy was placed in her bag. But the highlight of her evening was the helium balloon she got. Despite all the candy, we probably could have got the balloon and gone home. Even though I planned on being in my pj's all day, it was nice to go out for once last Halloween hooray.

loot bag #3

Hope you all had a wonderfully scary/fun/awesome/safe Halloween!