I sat down and started thinking to myself:
What is it about fairy tales that makes people go crazy???
As little kids we obsesses over them dying to be princesses and knights and as adults we're just as bad. We all fall victim to the nevereding search for a "fairytale" ending- a Happily Ever After. Then it hit me, One day in the midst of ranting about the unrealistic fantasies of fairytale dreams I realized how much fairy tales were tied to the real world.
Think about all the fairytales you know. Cinderella, Princess & the Frog, Beauty & The Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid etc...now subtract the BIGGEST element that connects them- MAGIC. When you take away Cinderella's fairy godmother and Sleeping Beauty's cursed spinning wheel, you've stripped the story down to something real. Cinderella is just a story about a girl trying to escape an abusive parent. Sleeping Beauty is really just a plug for the foster care system. Beauty & the Beast? Classic girl falls for the ugly guy who really has more personality than the handsome, rich arrogant asshole. Princess & the Frog? Cocky, arrogant, charismatic, handsome jerk falls for the one girl who sees past his bullshit. When the magic is gone, these are really just the same stories we share with each other throughout the years.
Even the storylines all follow the same formula as reality:
Boy meets girl + unnecessary drama involving everybody else's opinions + a learned lesson= happily ever after.
The problem is we forget the story doesnt end where the movie does. We're left with the image that the couple lived a life of never- ending happiness where love conquers all. Unless the sequel shows up, we never really know what happens down the line. Don't think for one second Belle never told the beast to shut up and control his temper. Naveen was a young, handsome ladies man, you really think marriage stopped that? All these stories imply a change for the better but you forget people will be themselves for life. Habits may change but the core of who we are stays the same. Im pretty sure Snow White got interrogated to no end about living with 7 men. And Jasmine? Don't ever assume she was ok with taking care of Al for the rest of his life. On top of that all of these hopeless romantics are teenagers. Ariel was what? 16? How long do you thing a marriage with a 16yr old girl is going to maintain bliss? As a result of this we have 21yr olds picking their 8yr olds up from school after a shift at Target. No to blame Disney for society's short comings but it definitely adds to the picture.
The best part about these fairy tales is the one thing that we over look- they have a human element that makes it possible for us to have our own "happily ever after". All these characters are really just as fucked up as the rest of us, so once we can accept the humanity within them, some of you may realize you've got prince charming or princess such and such by your side already- minus the fuss of pumpkins and poison apples =0]
A Rose Grows In Brooklyn
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