Today, while I was travelling back from my college, I was listening to the radio. And as I was shuffling between radio stations, I stumbled upon a relatively old number by Taylor Swift, "love story".
This really got me thinking that Do we need to update our fairy tales?
The good old fairy tales in which there is a perfectly beautiful princess who is in grave danger and there is an overly handsome prince charming who comes riding on a well bred magical horse to rescue her from the beastly witch. And how can we forget the kind hearted fairy god mother.
But, in today's times, when happily ever after don't even last 72 hours, and the whole concept of the alpha male is taking a back seat, do we really need a man on a horse to rescue us????
I don't think so. Today, when women all over the globe, are outdoing men in almost every field and outdoing them in many, The concept of alpha male is slowly being replaced by the the alpha female. Women today are no damsels in distress, rather, they are the breadwinners. They keep the family together and have a career too.
So, is that we don't need a prince charming at all??? Well, we need partnership not ownership.
Thus, I think we do need to update our fairy tales after-all.
This really got me thinking that Do we need to update our fairy tales?
The good old fairy tales in which there is a perfectly beautiful princess who is in grave danger and there is an overly handsome prince charming who comes riding on a well bred magical horse to rescue her from the beastly witch. And how can we forget the kind hearted fairy god mother.But, in today's times, when happily ever after don't even last 72 hours, and the whole concept of the alpha male is taking a back seat, do we really need a man on a horse to rescue us????
I don't think so. Today, when women all over the globe, are outdoing men in almost every field and outdoing them in many, The concept of alpha male is slowly being replaced by the the alpha female. Women today are no damsels in distress, rather, they are the breadwinners. They keep the family together and have a career too.
So, is that we don't need a prince charming at all??? Well, we need partnership not ownership.
Thus, I think we do need to update our fairy tales after-all.
Wow, brilliant post and concept, I think some fair-tales may needed to be adjusted to modern times but I think some of them are great just the way they are! :)
ReplyDeleteAlex @ Possession of Books
Thank you Alex
DeleteHi Felicita,
ReplyDeleteEven if you right, you have to remember that fairy tales are read to little children. And if, when we grow up, some of us think that the concept of Prince Charming is laughable because not adapted to the 21st Century, a majority of little girls (80% of women) are still looking for their Prince Charming.
Yesterday for example, my collegues, who is single and desperately looking for a mate, was excited about a party she was going this weekend. And believe me or not, her dream guy has all the qualities of Charming...
Sure, we are conditioned by fairy tale but not all the women want to be in charge and breadwinner. I'm pretty sure that all girls dream of finding the right guy to leave happily ever after...even if it last less longer.
Great post!
One of your new follower,
Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr/
Hi Lucie
ReplyDeleteI completely respect you opinion and I do agree that some women do not want to be bread winners but I wrote considering people I know at large and opinions that have shaped my thinking.But no offence.
You have a great blog too.
I'm following you :)
Hello Felicia!
ReplyDeleteI am very happy to meet you!
Your perception of life is strong and vivid!
I can understand your viewpoints and in a way, I agree with you in this world fully needing politically correct stances.
After reading your blog, I opted to introduce myself in this one post, since it reveals some characteristics which may be a bit out of bull-eye.
I am a little bit verbose, so if I tire you with the nonsense I write, please let it drop and no offence taken. :)
Here we go: Maybe I have lost my time living on Earth, but if there is a thing a learned in my unceasing trotting around this planet is that there is no such thing as "alpha male" or "alpha woman" in human species. Oh, yes! you will find a lot of speech about that, but the simple truth is that we, humans, live in a huge Matriarchy, all over the world. And who decreed this? Simple: Nature. Mother Nature, to name her wholly, and as you see it is not an accident to call it Mother.
From the beginning, Nature decided that females will bear children, take care of the family and will organize society to a whole extent, this decision relegate the supposed alpha male to the work of service, providing food and defending the cellular family, but having little or none meddling (I use this word intentionally) in the work of rear a progeny, this last is the prerogative of females. To rear a progeny means to keep children strong and apt, and also to transmit the psychological movements that will be the backbone of those children and the seat of the development of the new generation, which will pass it to the future ones, crating in this way the texture of the fabric of society at large.
So you see, males had to accept the role of breadwinners, which in itself is not a display of power but a sign of servitude. After all these years living as a nomad around the world, if I learned something is that in al societies, slightly changed by cultural traits everything goes as I describe above.
To be continued on next comment.
Comes from the previous comments.
ReplyDeleteMales "think" they are ruling a world... world that is organized and managed by females. Yes, you will end thinking I am crazy, that males rules the big enterprises and get the most in money and control, making females less important and far from where things shine and control.
That now is the moment when the supposed alpha man is receding giving place to the alpha woman... It looks to me you are barking to the wrong tree! :) (I want you to know I respect your opinion, I am not in the least trying to convince you of anything, only stating some things I found out and may help you to bear a better and clearer sight of the mysteries of human relationship, this is only my idea, that I want to share with you, not the Truth, just a new point of view that you may consider).
I can assure you that I, as a male, if I could find a Princess Charming, that provide bread-winning and risk stress, CVA, and heart deceases, letting me work in the fields I choose, because this is the case in the majority of situations seen nowadays around the world, I will be the first to vote Yeah! to the whole thingamabob! :)
You may mention several other situations where it seems as if males are mistreating females (which is true), but there is the opposite situation which is less known because of the pride and shame to tell about it, that the "alpha male" was taught at childhood, as all other things that males learn, by an alpha, beta, gamma, and all other Greek letter female, his Mother. This awful situations exist, but they are not related to the relationship of alpha persons, but with the wrong way, we human, perceive and treat one another.
So you see, the real world, is not the one where you find the so named "alpha person", but the one that have the real power to built and make life on this planet worth to be lived. And if you ask me who has the major hand in this metier, I would undoubtedly name females, who inherited the world in their own right, since they bring life into our societies.
I hope I have not offended you or your sense of justice. I do respect your ideas, only I thought I may give you some food to the mind that can help you develop useful ideas for the future that waits for your actions.
If you reached this point, without cursing my DNA, I thank you for your patience.
Glad to have the opportunity to read your blog, there is always the chance of learning from your writing!
Thanks again!
Untony, I can't possibly thank you enough for the kind words above. I learned a lot from these comments and you have earned my respect.
DeleteAs I love to read, I read about the natural selection of daily roles adapted by our species as civilization came into being and I also read about how it affected our biological structure and capabilities. And all this is not only limited to our species, it is in fact found in most of the mammary species. But one does not see discrimination among them.
Thus, I ask the question WHY???
Thank you, Felicia for your understanding.
DeleteI know I can be a bore if I let philosophy sink into my writings.:)
I do not know if this is the place to answer you question of 'Why' discrimination exists, moreover I am not sure I have the real answer to it, but I do want to state that this "bad habit" does not pertain only to human species.
You will find it even in those called inferior beings, such as wasps, and spiders. The main difference with human beings is that most of the "discriminated ones" in the animal kingdom are mistreated, the more you descend the scale of understanding of the beings involved, the worst are they treated, namely, they are usually killed; in candid truth we do not know if this behaviour is something done guided by instinct only or if there is another reasons, but this is not the point of this writing.
Besides, it is not a rule you can say is not used in humans, too.
My guess about why, is that if we look into our soul, or whatever you want to call the venue where our Self lives, we find an infinite hollow that ask to be filled, I am sure that in some moment of your life you felt that strong need to find the infinite that fill that hollow, it is a restless wanting to know the why, and the what and the who, and all the W questions in the world.
Unfortunately, we are pretty unable to find an answer or something near that infinite vacuum that makes us unhappy, then we look for replacements to lull the strong feeling that makes us tense and anxious.
Those replacements are, generally, not useful since none of them is big enough to quiet our soul, things such as money, power, prestige, honour, esteem, success, you name it.
And worse yet, there is not enough of it for all of us, so we need to create some way to dismiss the most possible applicants in our environment.
This is the first step to discrimination, then you can add contempt, cultural wrongs, old ideas seeded between the first successful persons trying to keep their gains to be shared by anyone. And seated on the throne of our feelings: Pride, which makes us realize how insecure, vulnerable and indigent we are, so we try not to let any possible adversary near us. Hence discrimination, hate, and scorn!
I do not know if I have answered your very deep question, but I think I gave you some morsels to bite. :)
Yes, Indeed I have a lot to think about now. I really appreciate your comments. Thank You :)
Deleteeverytime we cant live in reality sometimes we need to be in a world which is just build by us..mite for some its a world of bmw,iphones,for some only choclates,candies etc and for a guy a gal of his choice and similarly for a gal a guy a hansum guy coming in horse r in a jaguar..it can b anything..so its not abt updating our fairy tales actually...its more abt widen ur dreams ur imagination which keeps u have and den after becoming happy can get back to ur real world :)
ReplyDeletethank you :)
Yeah but my concern is regarding the message they convey and the light in which they display women. In most of them, women are portrayed as weak damsels in distress and I completely disagree with that.
DeleteI would love a book review from you! My name is Robyn Hill, and I am an author on Amazon Kindle with a 5 star review status. My number one book is a pre-teen read, beginning with grade 4, but even adults love it. It is a magical bubblegum adventure through several fun, delicious and hilarious mishaps. I have included the smashwords link where I offer it free of charge.
ReplyDeleteGrum!
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I really love this post, it's a fantastic discussion-starter.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree with all your points, I kind of have a...sentimental soft-spot for those fairy-tales. How many nights did I spent falling asleep to a Disney movie, featuring a beautiful princess and her Charming? It's more than true, these aren't the values our society holds anymore (and that's a good thing), but I don't exactly think we need to replace or update the old fairy tales.
Instead, I think we need to make new ones. Disney movies are already doing this, with Brave and Mulan, and even some older ones like Pocohontas show more equality.
Think about it like this. Fairy tales are our history, they come from a time when the princess needed and wanted saving. With the right stories about womens' independence and partnership to balance them out, and parents who actually talk to their children, I don't see why both can't co-exist.
I do, though, think it's amazing - in the best possible way - that today's society has a mentality prone to posing these types of questions. Not only women's liberation, but racial, sexual and religious equality are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were when the princess still needed her Prince Charming.
Makes me wonder what new fairy tales will be coming out a decade from now.
I'm a new follower. I found your blog through goodreads, and I really like it! I'd love, if you have the time, if you could check my blog out at http://www.paper-fantasies.blogspot.com.
Thanks so much!
-Kelly