Help! I'm a Confused Little Girl
I saw The Chronicles of Narnia yesterday. It was ok, not great, not terrible. The thing that struck me was the portrayal of women. It’s not particular to this story, but all fairy tales really. I’m not sure what little girls (or little boys, for that matter) are supposed to learn from female characters in fairy tales. It’s clear that the male characters are meant to teach loyalty, courage, and sacrifice. These ideals resonate with me. But what lessons are to be learned from the Ice Princess and the two little girls? At one point, one of the little girls was reprimanded for ‘trying to be smart.’ WTF? Maybe I don’t see the moral there, because I’m not female. Maybe I don’t see them, because there isn’t a moral there to be seen. But why? The easy answer is to say that men wrote all the fairy tales. Fine. So what would female characters look like if the stories were written by women? What lessons would they teach little girls? If I were a little girl, values should I be encouraged to prize?
posted by Donkey Boy at Sunday, December 18, 2005
1 Comments:
(1) I would say that the Chronicles of Narnia are different than a traditional fairy tale. To say the least, they'er not traditional. See: Lord of the Rings. It's no coincidence C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were friends.
(2) What was the movie's take on the girl's reprimand? I suggest that it was not promoting that viewpoint, but that it was instead something that was consistent with the idea that Narnia is an antiquated society. After all, it's not like they were technologically advanced.
(3) All the above being said, Lewis was no post-modern feminist. Though I like his writings. The Screwtape Letters is especially interesting.
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