A thing that's beginning to annoy me
Nov. 7th, 2011 06:07 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
giandujakissThe pop cultural tendency to demonstrate that one female character is "better" than another female character because she rejects traditional female roles/accoutrements. It feels like putting women in an impossible position.
So last night, we learned that Snow White in this 'verse differs from the "traditional" Snow White in that she became a fighter and a bandit. It's unstated, but fairly clear, that this makes her cooler, better, nicer, more suited to the prince, etc., than his actual fiancee, in large part because the fiancee appears to follow female-traditional modes of behavior and dress (I mean, I think the fiancee is supposed to be evil, as well, but it's basically part and parcel)
And I'm finding this frustrating, the implication that Snow White can only be good and deserving of true love and happiness if she fights traditional concepts female comportment and rebels against the messages about proper femininity. It's like, society tells women they have to act in a certain way in order to be good/find love/find happiness/etc, but then any woman who listens to those messages is portrayed as inferior to those who don't. And since, on a meta level, both messages are coming from the same place - i.e., media portrayals - it's doubly annoying. "Here's what you should do, ladies! Except when you shouldn't and are a bad person for listening to us!"
It's not an uncommon contradiction, but for some reason, it particularly bothered me in this episode of OUAT.
So last night, we learned that Snow White in this 'verse differs from the "traditional" Snow White in that she became a fighter and a bandit. It's unstated, but fairly clear, that this makes her cooler, better, nicer, more suited to the prince, etc., than his actual fiancee, in large part because the fiancee appears to follow female-traditional modes of behavior and dress (I mean, I think the fiancee is supposed to be evil, as well, but it's basically part and parcel)
And I'm finding this frustrating, the implication that Snow White can only be good and deserving of true love and happiness if she fights traditional concepts female comportment and rebels against the messages about proper femininity. It's like, society tells women they have to act in a certain way in order to be good/find love/find happiness/etc, but then any woman who listens to those messages is portrayed as inferior to those who don't. And since, on a meta level, both messages are coming from the same place - i.e., media portrayals - it's doubly annoying. "Here's what you should do, ladies! Except when you shouldn't and are a bad person for listening to us!"
It's not an uncommon contradiction, but for some reason, it particularly bothered me in this episode of OUAT.
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Date: 2011-11-08 05:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-08 08:06 am (UTC)