Andi-O:

 

RIGHT ON, MAN! Your post about Snow White et al and FTBYAM was

exactly the stuff of a novel I've been working on (and my

chromosomes are NOT xx). Marlo's project poisoned (like the

apple in Snow White) my entire childhood with false --

utterly false! and damaging! -- ideas about what the realities

of life as an independent "free" thinking female would be

like in this culture. Atalanta? WRONG! William and his

"doll"? WRONG! The "tender sweet young thing" who gets

eaten by tigers for being a cutie-pie? WRONG SQUARED! It

just doesn't work that way at all, so maybe the feminists

needed a dose of reality with their treacle back in the

seventies, but we certainly shouldn't (as you so aptly

point out) discourage kids from looking coldly and objectively

and if possible intelligently and in a well-informed manner

at what they look at in film and the media today. I would

have to mention Disney's Beauty and the Beast here, because

 I think kids would really benefit from a diverse reading of

the text, including the original fairy tale version and

Jean Cocteau's surrealist version in film. Also, Anne

Sexton's "Transformations" for older girls, and Donald

Barthelme's "Snow White" as soon as vocabularily and

cultural-awareness-wise possible for young boys AND

girls. Satire is the best way to wake people up --

not propaganda from the so-called "other side."

Be a good dad and don't maintain the binary --

gender means a heck of a lot more than male vs.

female! Keep the faith --

 

Amy Nelson

 

Amy Nelson

Department of English

Rutgers University

[log in to unmask]