Why do we call it fairy tale romance or even use phrases like fairy tale endings?
The more I think about it the more I realize that fairy tale romance and even fairy tale endings are nothing to aspire about. I mean let’s go through the fairy tales one by one and see how creepy they are and not at all romantic.
Let’s start with Snow White. In this story, Snow White was poisoned which made her drift off to deep sleep. She was then laid out in a glass coffin. Pretty scary so far. But then a prince comes along and sees her and kisses her thus waking her up again. They just share a kiss and they are said to be in love and live happily ever after.
They know nothing about each other and all we know about the prince is the fact that he likes kissing girls who are in a coffin. Necrophilia alert!
Well, agreed that Snow White was technically not dead when the prince kissed her but there are still many more concerns I have. I mean what about consent. Is it OK to go and kiss any sleeping person? And when the said person wakes up do you really think love and romance will be the first thing in their mind? I don’t know about you but when I am in a deep slumber, I hate being woken up, even if it’s with the best kiss of my life.
Moving on to Cinderella. This tale puzzles me even more. Imagine you get all dressed up and go to a nice party. There you meet a cute guy and spend the next few hours dancing and talking. You have fun but you don’t share your name or any contact details. After the party, you both go your separate ways. Only a few days later you find the same guy in your building asking every girl to try on the shoe you dropped at the party.
Would you find it romantic? I would call it creepy stalker tendencies. I mean if a guy can not recognize you from your looks or even voice and thus has to rely on your shoe size that doesn’t sit so well with me.
And again they barely know anything about each other and they get married and somehow its called fairy tale ending. If this happens to one of your friends you would be worried about her. But in this story, we all celebrate the ending. Cinderella story is iconic.
Imagine if the prince found someone else with the same shoe size. How would the story end then?
Let’s explore Rapunzel as well. She spent her entire life locked in a tower not meeting anyone. Then she ends up with the first person she meets. Literally the first and the only person she meets. At least as per the book version of the story. Disney version is slightly better at showing their relationship develop over one whole day.
I think I know what the problem is with all these fairy tales. They were not written to be romantic or even had a happy ending. These stories were written to scare children to behave better.
Think about it. Red Riding hood has a very clear cautionary message. Stay on the well-defined path. If you stray, the bad wolf would hurt you and your family.
Other tales may not have such clear messaging but they certainly belong to the horror section and not romance. Poisonous apples, glass coffins, putting your foot in a shoe every female has tried to put their foot in. Just imagine the grossness of the shoe.
How are these fairy tales not categorized as horror? I am definitely terrified and we didn’t get into the really bad tales of Beauty and the Beast and the little mermaid.
In Beauty and the Beast, I can relate to Bella’s love for Beast’s library. I am totally on board with her choosing to stay for the library. What bothers me in this tale is the fact that the Beast was cursed for being rude to a witch. In his defence, he was just a child and probably all alone if he was the one opening the doors himself. So cursing him was really uncool even for witches.
What can I say about the little mermaid that hasn’t already been said too many times? Losing your voice and literally changing yourself just to be with a guy is not an advice anyone would give anymore.
So, in conclusion, all I have to say is that Fairy Tales should not be associated with Romance. And we should use the phrase Fairy Tale Endings to denote horrific endings.