Fairy tales are extremely popular and loved around the world. It is still admired by many from children to adults. However, most fairy tales are extremely problematic in nature.
It was actually a woman who coined the term fairy tale. The same woman, Marie Catherine d’Alunoy wrote about strong and positive female leads. However, with the Grimm brothers, it was a different case. They are best known for writing Rapunzel and Snow White. Although when shown on the big screen the tales are far less gruesome, a lot of problematic elements are still present in both. The women in these tales are either pushed into a stereotype or are hardly present in the story.
These stories although well loved, are full of stereotypes. It presents women as damsels in distress, waiting for a handsome prince to save them thinking they can’t save themselves.
They also put women against each other so that any other woman who isn’t close to the lead is a bad person. It teaches bad morals.
Consent is almost invisible. No one knows whether Aurora or Snow White consented to the kiss given to them by the princes. But it’s alright since they’re handsome and rich and are falling for the female leads, right?
Not to mention the impact it has on young children, specifically girls. Many often grow up thinking they want to be rescued just like Snow White, often trying to enact those types of scenarios. It also promotes internalized misogyny. Because any other girl is competition for them. We should not bring down other women. We should not base our value on men. We should be our own person.
Fairy tales are highly unrealistic and promotes unreal standards for the young children of today. Luckily, many have opened their eyes and have started pointing out the mistakes in fairy tales and are telling children stories with positive role models.