Not Your Typical Princess

While some progress has been made in recent years, defining femininity and masculinity remains a bitter dispute that has long plagued society. On one hand, portraying women as delicate and subservient and men as ambitious and powerful is such an age-old custom that has been deeply entrenched in the global culture in the form of traditional gender roles. On the other hand, women nowadays are more empowered––which is great––but this empowerment is generating a new set of unrealistic expectations and therefore running the risk of going awry: the successful, modern woman is expected to be perfect both at home and at the workplace. Either way, the fact remains that women are in a precarious situation, which in turn becomes even more problematic when cultural differences––each region’s unique social, cultural, and historical variables––are taken into consideration.
We are left with the following questions: How do gender roles form and transform? How and why are they reinforced? How do they vary by region? None of these are easy questions to answer, but perhaps a look into popular regional folktales can shed some light.
From the globally popular Disney fairy tales in the Western world to the comparatively less well-known legends (intensely shared and honored, nonetheless) in the Far East, folklore and folktales are more than simple entertainment. Having survived years and generations, this form of literature is an important aspect of any given culture and group of people, or “folk.” The narratives not only reveal but also shape the traditions, customs, beliefs, and even institutions of a group of people.
Folklore must be anthropologically significant in forming, changing, and reinforcing gender roles. Using folklore as a medium to investigate gender roles will demonstrate that the stories and the society to which they belong are engaged in a dynamic relationship, contributing to an interactive working system in which gender-related norms and ideals are constantly molded and reinforced through each other.
However, this book does not stop there. Pushing past simple investigation, this book revisits and revises the popular folklore from both ends of the world. It is this author’s hope that the compilation of the stories, as reimagined, provides a lens into understanding the blatant yet ironically under-discussed pernicious effects of gender roles and contributes to guiding the future generation to value the true meaning of gender equality during this time of division and crisis. Let us begin with what is familiar to us: the age-old story of true love between the beautiful princess and the charming prince. All should be perfect for the young, beautiful, kind-hearted girl if it were not for the harsh, unfortunate circumstances forced upon her. Then comes the knight in shining armor; he falls in love with her at first sight and whisks her troubles away. With no other complication or villain in the picture, the couple lives happily ever after.
Variations do exist to this classical narrative, albeit minimally. A chivalrous man saves a damsel in distress. An innocent beauty is victimized by a wicked villainess. Always, the woman as a protagonist is to be beautiful, kind, and naive; she is also to be emotional and dependent on her surroundings, as this vulnerability somehow makes her even more perfect.
Unsurprisingly, this is the cookie-cutter narrative structure of most beloved Western fairy tales today, some of them better known as Walt Disney’s animated films, or “Disney stories.” Originating from European countries such as France or Germany, stories by collectors Charles Perrault and the Grimm brothers carry a long history of extensive plot alterations and modifications. Even so, the characters largely remain the same and their essence well-preserved.